[94bird]

Well, I'm writing this from a work computer. I haven't had browser access for the internet for about a week now. Something called incredifind hit my computer and has taken out my Internet Explorer. It apparently got on my system before I got my firewall and Ad Aware.

I now have the following software on my computer to keep crap like this off of it:

Zone Alarm
Ad Aware
NAV
Spam Net

Today I finally found some files at work that should help fix it, but they amount to another 4 programs I will periodically run on the computer to find things like this. Hopefully they work.

It's just amazing to me that people write code like this just for the fun of it. What a waste of human life.

[94bird]

I now have a new computer. Got an e-machine that will suit my needs just great. I ended up trying to reformat my hard disk on the old computer and start over but realized it was pointless. It's a computer I built a few years ago and had a 6 Gb hard disk in it that I've carried from many previous computers without reformatting it. There was just too much junk, and when I got to the point of reformatting the hard disk and reinstalling Win98 I realized I was wasting my time. My old computer will now be reformatted and cleaned up and used as a 2nd computer in the house, which means I can take my time doing it. My new e-machine is damn quick though. I don't know if my old network card was slowing down my internet connection or what, but I'm routinely getting 360 Kb download speeds in IE with the new one. I almost never got over 100 and was normally in the 30-60 range with my old computer - same modem and line connection.

By the way, I tried CWShredder, LSPFix, you name it I think I tried it. Some of this malware is just downright awful.

I highly recommend Zone Alarm as a firewall, Spybot and SpyWareBlaster. They're all free. They stopped many new programs trying to get on my old computer as well as this one already. I obviously learned about them too late on my old computer.

Now to transfer more files to the new computer. I was using a tape drive for backups (yep, a rather old tape drive). Just got a 80 Gb USB external hard drive that is great. I've obviously been spending too much time at work and on the car the past couple of years. There's some really neat new technology out there. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)