Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Why No Beauty Feature?

After two weeks, my computer is still infected with a virus that causes redirects when I click on a search result link. A saint on a malware board has been helping me. The guy is a serious saint with extraordinary patience. I have run program after program, including a script he custom-wrote for me.

Yesterday, the moment I got home from work, I started running his instructions for the day. The scans ended sometime in the middle of the night. It was beyond frustrating that I could not capture the report when I awakened. It said there were threats detected, and we wanted to know what they were. The program itself had frozen sometime after 2:00 am.

I'm going to keep working on this problem until my computer is entirely clean. I do not want to have it re-imaged, which is a royal pain, nor do I wish to switch browsers. Stay tuned, and thank you for your patience.

I do own a MacBookAir. I appreciate your suggestions to buy a MAC, but my photo software only works on PCs.

Photo courtesy of officeprofessional.com

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hang in there CG...I'm sure I speak for many of your loyal followers when I say we are here watching, waiting, checking in, and hoping for the day you can enjoy blog time again! Denise at aeiokid at comcast dot net

Olivia J said...

What a pain to deal with! Just a suggestion, if you do have a MacBook Air, you might want to try installing the Wine program. If you google you will see there is one for MAC and this allows you to run PC programs. I use this to run my Irfanview on Mac and it works like a charm.

Elizabeth said...

Computer problems are always such a pain, I feel for you - and am super impressed by the quality posts you have been uploading even while dealing with malware. I actually got infected with a similar virus a few years back and was tempted to just give up and go the Mac route myself but I'm glad I didn't. Anyway, keep fighting the good fight, CG!

Mona said...

What browser do you. Use?
Also have you looked at the option section of the browser and look under extension and or plugins , sounds like something is hijacking your browser and could be something in the extension and just disabling it and if you can removing it, it would be something that you do not recognize

I'm thinking it may be something along that line If it is happening with your browser, and to test it it I would search for something on the browser you use and search the same thing in a different browser like Firefox or chrome and see if both give you redirects

Charlestongirl said...

Thanks, Mona. Been there, done that. :) Long ago. We are into heavy duty script running now.

Charlestongirl said...

Thanks, Elizabeth. My helper and I will solve this. It's only a matter of time. Last night's scan may have done the trick. I am testing now.

Charlestongirl said...

Thanks, Olivia. I can try that and will. However, I won't give up my PC. I guess I'm a dual-world user. :)

Charlestongirl said...

Hey there, Denise. Thanks! I'm hopeful this is almost over. If not, I can always have my computer re-imaged.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I had the same problem you are having and malware software wouldn't pick it up or fix it. I had a redirect virus and the only way I could get rid of it was to download combofix . The program has warnings on it not to run it...etc.. if you don't know what you're doing---but I've run it on several of our computers that have gotten this redirect virus and it removes it without damaging files or other software loaded on computer. Take care. Katherine

Rosemary said...

Just a note to say I'm sorry you are still going through this, CG. I'm glad you have that fellow helping you, writing programs and such. I'd be fit to be tied at this point if I were you.

Rosemary

Mamavalveeta03 said...

We can be as patient as you need us to be! I just hope that you get it all figured out. I think that I may have the same virus, so I'm running all of the programs you suggested.

Charlestongirl said...

Katherine, thanks, I will ask my guru about it. So far, without enough time, it looks like last night's exorcism might have worked. :)

Charlestongirl said...

Mamaval, I have a whole lot more links to share. I will, once this is behind me.

I am, Rosemary. This has been an ordeal. I've started dreaming about results screens. Really!

Unknown said...

Oh man, when you first blogged about your computer problems, I didn't think they would last so long :/ Good luck, CG! We're all missing and looking forward to "regular programming" soon.

Mona said...

If you are way past that stage I wish you luck and it sounds like you got some good help, but if it ends up you have to reformat do not pay to do it your friend or myself can help with that and it would be the last resort.

God luck and if. Can help out let me know

CGirl said...

How very frustrating! I hope it is resolved already or else very soon! I love your blog and am happy with whatever you can post.

Running with Scissors said...

Sorry to hear you are going through all of this... stay strong! Hopefully it will be over soon. Christy x

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say I love your blog and I hope you get your computer fixed soon. It's so crazy how dependent we all are on technology now (me included) but it's like running water and power now - gotta have it. Hang in there.

Virginie said...

Miss your blog....Hope it will fix soon!

Anonymous said...

Hi, there is nothing wrong with having a PC, as opposed to a MAC :) You just need a good antivirus software like Norton. You have to pay each year for it but it's worth it. My bf is in high tech and he knows the best of the best :) I have been using it for multiple years and it's so much better than McAfee on many levels. Hope you fix your computer soon.

Charlestongirl said...

Katherine,

I just downloaded and ran ComboFix. Here's hoping!

Charlestongirl said...

Anonymous,

Actually, Norton is no longer highly respected. It's not even on most "best of" lists anymore. Norton unnecessarily slows down your computer's performance.

I have a good program (well, I thought) that was #1 for a long time. I plan to replace it when this year's license expires.