It started out innocently enough. I had just finished working yet another manic Monday, and was looking forward to a leisurely night in front of my computer. I planned to check out the answers that others had given to the daily memes, play with my NeoPets a bit, and talk to some friends. But, alas, my Neopets are now starving, I never saw those other answers, and my conversation with my friend was cut terribly short. "What caused my plans to go so far awry?" you may ask. I can answer you with a single word:
Spyware!
Yes, that evil stuff often lurks in the most unlikely places. Tag Boards are just lying in wait everywhere, waiting to do their evil. This is perhaps where I picked up mine, for I got it from someone's blog... I am not sure which is more evil, the spyware itself or the Tag Boards for foisting those little nasties upon us! Anyway, here is what happened: I clicked a link in the comments box of one of the Monday memes, intending to compare my answers to those posted there. The page was loading rather slowly and I was not feeling particularly patient at the time. I decided to close the window and check someone else's answers. Imagine my surprise when I close the window and see that my computer is downloading something that I did not approve! Damn that security hole in Internet Explorer! I break my internet connection and close all of my windows. There are two new icons on my desktop, and another in my quick links. ARRRGH!!! I run Spybot. It takes over fifteen minutes to run and remove the offending parts of these unwanted programs. With that done, I procede to remove what is left of these unwanted programs. All is well, or so I think... I reconnect. Windows start a-poppin' up everywhere! Spybot has missed something, it seems. I try to restart, but the multitude of windows popping up prevents my computer from responding. I must press the dreaded button to shut it down. Oh, Joy! Now I must deal with a scan disk as well as another fifteen minute run of Spybot... It finds a registry key change that it missed earlier. Order is once more restored to my PC, but it is now 1:30 AM. I am tired. I go to bed, my leisurely night has been shot to Hell!
The Kicker
The offending spyware was placed on my pc by a site trying to sell a spyware removal progam! My response to them:
