beware of malwares

i just wasted a lot of time trying to get rid of annoying malwares from my computer. "malware" is short for "malicious software" which can be in the form of a virus, worm, or trojan horse that infects your pc when you unwittingly browse through the net and encounter pages which require you to download "plugins" thinking they are necessary to view certain features of such websites.

it's the first time i've ever encountered this irritating type of malware which appears as a constant alert message on your desktop tray telling you that your computer is in a "critical status" and needs some sort of anti-spyware software. it leads you to a suspicious website that supposedly provides the solution to your current pc catastrophe.

what's even more annoying is whenever i start the internet explorer browser, it goes to the said anti-spyware website and displays all sort of information that will send an innocent computer user to cyber-paranoia, forcing him to believe that he needs to download the suggested anti-spyware software (which could also be just as harmful).

even if i tried to change the internet explorer settings to use google.com as the homepage...it won't let me do it anymore. it is locked to that freakish fake anti-spyware website. they have a special term for this, it's called "homepage hijacking."

i googled my problem and found out that my pc was infected with two executable files called "dcomcfg.exe" and "atmclk.exe." i did a file search and pinpointed their location to the system32 folder of windows in drive c:. deleting them isn't easy as pie, either, because they aren't deletable when you're in normal mode of windows. solution? you have to restart your pc under safe mode with networking and then browse the folder where the malwares are and then delete them. restart under normal mode and then they're gone.

i hate having to put on my computer geek hat when things like this happen. i got it fixed, thanks to online forums detailing the procedures on how to remove malwares from your pc. it is just so time-consuming and not a very fun way to spend your weekend.

but my weekend wasn't so wasted after all. despite the rains, today it was cloudy just long enough for people to attend the 25th annual denville street festival hosted by the denville rotary club. there was a huge slide for the kids and a small ferris wheel, square-dancing, singing, crafts and food. here is how my expenses went for this event:

spending money: $20

-pretty wooden bird house feeder: $10.00
-two handcrafted wooden ornaments: $2.00 (a dollar each)
-sunday paper (to supply myself with flyers and coupons): $1.00
-hotdog: $2.00
-"honesty" organic mango tea: $1.25
-funnel cake: $3.00

...and it left me with 75 cents in my pocket. i'm very happy with the bird house feeder. i've been meaning to get one.