Category: Computer

XP Antivirus 2008

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer, Scams, Tech1 Comment

I was looking at a website and it said that I needed to download active-x or something to view a video and we had to go to the grocery store real quick. When we came home I noticed Norton Anti-virus was going nuts saying it was blocking a virus and I saw this program running called Antivirus XP 2008 on my screen saying I had all these viruses on my computer and wanted me to click something to get rid of them. I knew something was wrong because I didn’t install that program and for some reason it wouldn’t allow me to uninstall it through the control panel. I used the laptop to search for it on Yahoos search engine and found this:

http://www.xp-vista.com/spyware-removal/xp-antivirus-2008-removal-instructions-xp-antivirus-2008

Please, take a look at the pictures and memorize them so if this happens to you then you will be able to arm yourself. You don’t have to bookmark this site or keep the email if you don’t have this issue but just remember to search for it through a search engine so you can be able to get rid of it. I was able to get rid of it but I had to follow the instructions on this website. I hope for your sake you don’t get this but in case you do make sure you get rid of it right away. Oh, one of the things you will notice is that your screen will be blue or maroon, your wallpaper will be gone. That is a good indication that you have problems.

Update: After I went through all the steps to remove this thing I went to lay down on my bed to watch TV and I noticed that it went to the Windows Login screen so I got up and clicked my name and went to see the screen saver settings, I right clicked the desktop and clicked Properties and there are 2 tabs missing.  Desktop and Screen saver.  They are gone!  I don’t know how to get it back.  If I have to reformat my hard drive I’m gonna be pissed.

Another update: I get these email supposedly from CNN.  They are usually 1 line emails with a link and I clicked it to see the video for a news story and it said that I needed the active x thing and that is what happened.  I was trying to see a news story.  I am not going to click any of those emails ever again and just assume it’s a link to a virus.  My Norton is still finding virus’s left over from that and deleting them.  So, if you get emails from CNN make damn sure they are really from CNN and not a fake website.  Just go directly to CNN.com instead just to be safe.

Kodak All-In-One Printer

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer, Pictures, Products I Like1 Comment

Darrin bought me a Kodak All-In-One Printer for Christmas 2007. He bought it on Shop NBC and it was a very thoughtful gift. It has a scanner and you can print directly to 4×6 glossy photo paper with its very own slot to keep the paper.

It has SD card slots for several different kinds of memory sticks so you don’t even need a computer to print your pictures from your camera. Just put the memory stick in the printer and it prints directly to 4×6 photo paper.

The scanner does a fantastic job scanning with its Kodak technology where it fixes colors and stuff. It’s a great product. It’s selling point is that the ink is cheaper. The black ink is $10 and the color ink is $15. Good deal right?

Last month, after I’ve had it for about 6 1/2 months, it started messing up big time. I bought brand new ink cartridges for it and it ate it all up and I barely even used the ink and it was printing with white lines and all of a sudden it stopped printing the red and yellow ink. Darrin bought another package of ink (black and color together is $22) and still no red and yellow. I cleaned the print heads with the basic clean and deep clean and mind you these are brand new ink cartridges and cleaning the heads ate up all the ink on these BRAND SPANKING NEW ink cartridges.

The black has like 1/3 left and the ink is less than 1/4 left and it has the ! exclamation point on it saying it is running out and I need more. I haven’t printed anything yet for crying out loud. BRAND NEW! This used to be a good kick ass printer, now it’s crap. All it’s good for anymore is for scanning, that’s it. And it was $250. What a total waste of money.

Update: Kodak did do right by me and they sent me a new print head which totally fixed the problem.  So please don’t let this blog post change your mind about buying a new Kodak All-In-One printer because it really is a good printer.

My Computer is Slow

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer, GamesLeave a comment

It appears that my computer needs to be reformatted once again. I really hate it when that happens. I’m going to try uninstalling stuff that insist on running when I turn the computer on first and see if that helps as well as defragmenting (again). I want to try everything I can to avoid reformatting.

Every time I get on EverQuest it takes forever to log in then once I get on it disconnects then I have to wait another 15-20 min before it lets me back on again. Last night I totally missed the raid because of it. It just kept freezing.

I think it might be Yahoo Widgets that is doing it to me though. So I’m going to just make it so it doesn’t start with Windows. Hopefully that will help. I do like the widgets though because of the TV Guide and Coke Rewards feature. Those 2 are really the only widgets I need. It makes it so much easier to enter my coke rewards and to view the tv guide without having to load the website and wait forever for it to load.