A friend on MySpace has been experiencing problems of recent with his account after it was hijacked. His access to his own profile has been, at best, only "sporadic" since and because of who it is I am sad and grumpy. (He's a good guy - a friend I keep a closer eye on than some because of his own set of life's circumstances.)
Having no children of my own I guess I sometimes get caught up in the role of doting father-figure to some. There are some of my friends on Myspace who are truly thought of as virtual kids of my own. I'm proud of them to the point of caring whether they're getting good grades in college, feeling well and are happy and fulfilled, etc.
Anyways, the point of this blog. I can't stand people who create havoc for others by creating malicious code ("computer virus") that they then release onto the unsuspecting public. As I said earlier, a friend was caught up in a web of deceit when his computer became infected via a trojan worm virus on Myspace. The virus was a keystroke tracker. His password for his MySpace account was compromised and... I really don't know what all happened after that. Only that messages were being purportedly sent out from his account that DID NOT FIT HIS PERSONALITY. I was beginning to wonder if he might need to see a shrink (until he was able to get a message out to inform me of what he was facing with his account and the virus). His messages were very out of character and his relationship status kept changing on his profile. (Since I knew that he was in a committed relationship that was kind of the dead giveaway something wrong. I could be mistaken but I don't see he and his partner ever breaking up; no matter, HOW young they might be. At least, I pray he never has to go through that.)
So life begins to get back to normal, then...
This morning, I get a message from an account I don't recognize here on MySpace. Go to read it and am immediately told "You have to login to do that." I remembered this was precisely what others had said happened immediately before their REAL PROBLEMS would commence. (They would "log in" and what happened next was some kind of keystroke tracker would "track their keystrokes and send the password back to some unknown person who would then use the information to hack in and take over their profile.)
A bit panic-stricken since I have a number of friends I care a lot about, and with whom I didn't wish to fall out of touch with because of some @sshole who was creating code to break into users accounts here on MySpace, I quickly CLOSED the browser. Ran a scan of the computer using MacAfee anti-virus software (locking down the firewall as well), restarted the browser and DELETED the offending email. I had to close the browser a couple of times and restart, logging in, before I was able to do all of this successfully ... but [eventually] think I was able to get rid of the message/code and change my password.
I'm blogging about it because each one of you should be on your guard against these computer viruses. No, I'm not paranoid (but I've seen others come across [computer] viruses over the years that would make a grown man froth at the mouth in anger). I realize we live in a world that includes half-witted, though apparently technologically savvy, little creatures whose only joy in life is to create a little chaos for their brothers and sisters - and I have no patience for them. Anyone who creates and/or knowingly distributes computer virus code is, in my opinion, not worth the space they take up in this world.
And don't think that if you're a friend, my attitude will change. Imagine this. An EX friend of mine made the mistake of admitting he "collected" computer viruses as a hobby. Okay. WEIRD hobby. His mistake was making a comment in jest one day that he should send "somebody neither one of us was very fond of at that time" a computer virus. He was shocked by my tumultuous anger as I berated him for even thinking of such a thing. For some strange reason, this is and has always been a hot issue for me. Probably because I have been reminded time and again of just how annoying it is when you are affected by these viruses. One year I wasted two days trying to figure out what the hell was going on with my computer (I forget what the symptoms were but remember being of the impression I needed to replace the video card - so did). Problem was, the new card "did not work either." I would [eventually] discover it was a frikken' computer virus. I followed tech supports advice and cleared out the virus; the video restored and life returned to normal - but not before I'd spent some hard-earned money to buy a new [video] card and anti-virus software. (I chose to keep the card because it was an upgrade to what I was using previously and I liked it, but... You get the point.) Of course, my mantra since that day was never to be without anti-virus software that was both current and running on my machine.
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