Posted 12:13 AM by MEATHEAD

Well, another month has gone by so I figure it's time for another post! :) I'm just too damn lazy to keep up with this thing. Anyway.... on with post. Still no TV but there is progress. The place that picked up the service agreement has had the thing for almost 4 weeks now and they just got around to looking at it last week around this time. I keep calling for update every couple of days and I don't get the brush over but I get excuses instead. Becomming more apparent though that I'll get a new TV out of the deal. Looks like there is enough damage that it would cost more to fix that the retail price I paid for so it's now up to the service agreement people(Best Buy) to decide yah or nay on new TV. I hope to just get some sort of voucher for the original price so I can upgrade and just pay the difference. I'm looking at either the same size, 27 inch, flat screen or bump it up to a 32 inch. We'll see. I was able to snag a 13 inch from home so I'm not totally without life :)

Job going well. Stressfull but enjoyable if that makes sense?

Now for the core of this post! Computer Virus's For the past two month there has been a slew of new ones out doing damage accross the board. It all started with Blaster! That killed just about all our remote users on 2000 and XP and it was NOT fun trying to talk them through updating their virus definitions and getting them the patches and removal tool. Then the Welcia struck the following week with some of the same havoc because the idiots didn't bother applying the patch they were told to. The e-mail ones don't hit us at work much cause we have some good failsafes in place. I want you to read this next part very carefully. If you use or own a computer, I assume you do since you're reading this, you ABSOLUTELY NEED a virus protection program!!!!!! Not only to protect yourself but to protect others. I don't give a shit which one you get but fucking get one! Spend the measly $30-50 bucks a year and get one damnit! I don't care if you dial up once a fuckin month for an hour! That's enough time to get something bad. There are plenty of choices out there: Norton, McAffee, PcCillin, etc. Personally I use PcCillin $50 to download or for a shipped CD. I can't tell you how important it is. I still get Klez warnings bounced back in my e-mail. That virus is almost 2 years old. Most of the e-mail virus's like Klez and new lastest and nastiest ones SoBig.F and Swen have their own smtp engine meaning they e-mail themselves to multiple people. Where do they get addresses to send to you ask? YOUR contact list!!! These buggers RANDOMLY select a To and From e-mail address from your contacts list OR e-mail messages and start mass mailing. What does this mean? For example let's say my e-mail is in the address book of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who I don't even know and this dumb fucker doesn't have virus protection and has the Klez virus or something similar. That virus now could select my e-mail address and enter it in the From box and sends it out to another e-mail address that the virus stole who has virus protection and is detected and removed from the e-mail. Why is this bad? Cause I get the fucking bounce back or system admin message warning me for sending a virus out!!! Do you know how annoying that is? I can't tell you how much spam and bounced e-mails back because of this and all because cheap, lazy muther fuckers can't spend $50 bucks a year! So please get a virus protection program and keep it up to date! Yearly renewals are usually cheaper, like $20-$30 to renew your subcription to continue to update virus definitions.

How else can you protect yourself? Firewall protection is essential if you have a broadband connection. Black Ice or Zonealarm are the top ones. I use Black ICE. WindowUpdate!!! Get all critical updates.

Hopefully you understood all that shit up above but if not just comment or e-mail me and I'll help you. If you need advice on what programs you may need just ask and I'll give you the lowdown on the different ones out there. There is also a free online scan you can do Housecall

Ok! I'm done venting for the evening. Seriously, if you need help with this or need a better explanation let me know.

GO CUBBIES!!!!!!!