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06/07/2006:
VirCrash.Part.001.2006.0425


VirCrash.Part.001.2006.0425

PARCEL... MY home PC got infected with 'that-which-I-would-not-speak-of' (/that-which-I-would-not-hyperlink) computer virus.

This would be the first MAJOR infection of one my drones since 1996. That was ten years ago. College days... just months after I was given a PC I could truly call mine.

Yes... that experience was terrible enough that it caused me to religiously install/run/update five tools for protection. Along with a truckload of common sense (You can buy a dozen at a discounted price at Waltermart), cybernetically-enhanced instincts and paranoia.

(Of course a pet tiger who could sniff computer viruses/worms when hungry. (And this one's hungry all the time.))

A reliable anti-virus application, a paranoid 'stand-alone' firewall (no... not the one that comes bundled with SP2), an all around ---ware immunizer/remover, and a couple of 'top secret' tools were there for me all these years.

(Except for the ---ware tool since these SPY/MAL/ETCwares just went fashionable a couple or more years ago but vhoi their growth almost made me forget the existence of 'old school' computer viruses.)

What makes things more ironic is I got infected when I was downloading an update to one of my protection tools from a respectable site.

Just like ten years ago when I was infected upon bringing home a copy of an infected set of virus definitions from our computer lab.

(Edit... apparently judging from the trail of infected files after SEVEN HUGE hours of scanning, I got this days before... which makes the virus a 'that-which-I-would-not-speak-or-even-think-of'. It might try infecting brainwave frequencies too.)

I don't have an internet connection at home so I depend on downloadable manual updates. (And probably CATALYST (the office PC) is not infected after all since it updates automatically but I'll find out once I'm there.)

It infects 32-bit .exe files. And I probably felt the symptoms before when it would automatically rename the files I am copying to lowercase. I did suspect but seeing the dates and byte sizes to be what they should, and the processes panel showing no hoodlum-looking process, and items being intact after MSCONFIG-in'... I chose to ignore.

As of now I'm not yet sure of what the root cause of this one is... let me waste my time and investigate further.