Sunday, February 03, 2013

Umhh, That Wasn't From Me


 Strange things have been occurring on my computer lately.  E-mail has been disappearing.  And at least one of my e-mail accounts has been hacked.  If any of my blogging buddies got an e-mail from me a while ago with the subject Dave T and a mysterious link, don’t click on the link.  I have no idea what clicking on it would do, but it can’t be good.
 
   (I know I should have put that warning out on a more timely basis but based on what I saw, very few people actually received that e-mail and the ones who did know better than to click on strange links in e-mails).
 
   I suspect the Chinese as the hackers, though why they would want to tamper with me personally is a mystery.
 
   My computer has been acting strange for a while, with inexplicable slowdowns and freeze-ups.  But I’d gotten used to that as a new normal.  I did the usual de-fragging and deleting unwanted files.  That seemed to help a little.
 
   Then about two weeks ago I ordered some expensive tickets to a charity food and wine festival in Miami, Florida.  I opted for the tickets to be sent to me on-line by e-mail so I could print them out.  They arrived fine but before I got a chance to print them, they flat out disappeared. 
 
    Of course I panicked.  There was a disclaimer that the tickets would not be replaced for whatever reason and they had cost me several hundred dollars.  I asked Yahoo to do a recovery in case I had accidentally deleted them.  Yahoo did do their recovery, but my e-mail with the tickets were still missing.
 
    Even more panicked, I telephoned the ticketing outfit and explained what happened.  No problem.  They just re-sent the e-mail with the tickets and I wasted NO time printing them out.  Even printed out two copies just in case.  It wasn’t long after that my computer began sending out the fake e-mails. 
 
    I changed my passwords to my e-mail accounts then checked my computer for viruses.  By jove, the scan discovered a few infections.  Hmmmmm, where was my anti-virus protection on that one?  Anyway, I cleaned my drives and hopefully all is well.  I guess if I get to Miami and find out that some couple have already claimed my spots at the food and wine festival with my original tickets,   I’ll know what happened to my original e-mail. 
 
     And if I run into that couple with my tickets I can guarantee what will happen down there.  FOOD FIGHT!!!

     Just to show this blog is being posted by the real me, I attached the photo below of a new piggie bank I got for Christmas.  All those who know me know that I'm a big-time Michigan fan.


    Isn't he too cute?