Antivirus System Pro

Bloody rogue malware. That's what it is. Far from what its name suggests. It's not an antivirus but is the offender of your computing system itself. A disabling annoying money leecher to be exact.

I was surfing online when suddenly my firefox browser disappeared. Then a pop-up message from an icon resembling a sliver and blue shield on the tile appeared saying that my computer has been infected, followed by an automatic full system scan by antivirus system pro. And it detected a whole conundrum of trojans, viruses, spywares, malwares etc. But, I can't remove them unless I proceeded to BUY the software!

Only then I realised that this is not a resident of my Windows and that my normal Avira antivirus had been subtly compromised and converted into a partner. I quickly shut down the system in the hope that it'll miraculously disappear but of course life isn't that simple.

On restarting, I found that I could not open any applications, not even control panel to try and remove the bloody fellow as all attempts were intercepted by an error message stating that the selected application is infected! Amidst all the pop-ups of in-your-face marketing of the cure-it-all Antivirus System Pro and porn sites, I somehow managed to go online through Firefox. IE has completely been held hostage and was working hard churning out unsolicited pop-ups. First instinct was to google 'how to remove antivirus system pro' which came up with a lot of options- most of which I tried for the next 3 days to no avail :(

The only thing that kept me sane was the decision to download an application called rkill which managed to terminate the processes of extortion by running it at startup. This at least allowed me to go online without the harrassment of pop-ups, and gave the false impression that my baby's well...only to be reminded again of the stark truth when the system restarts. The scourge was evidently still there and rkill was only a temporary measure for suppression or invisibility. Amidst the threat of reformating, I decided to change strategy and gave it my last shot before I had no choice but to dismantle my baby.

And lo and behold, the step-by-step guide to removing Antivirus System Pro which worked for me...
1) Run system in safe mode with networking
2) Remove old compromised antivirus
3) Download Malwarebytes and an up-to-date reputable antivirus (obviously not Antivirus System Pro!)
4) Scan full system with both (they should be able to detect and remove)
5) Turn off the computer
6) Say your prayers, hold your breath, do whatever it takes...
7) Start in normal mode.
.... And it's gone! No more pop-ups, no more intrusion of privacy, no more money extortion!!!

I figured the key thing I missed in the past 3 days was Step 1 because I did do everything else but in normal mode though. So maybe that's why it didn't work til now. I just hope my baby stays well.

Damn those viruses/spywares/malwares and their leecherous creators!!!

My First Love

I didn't know what to expect. The anticipation heightened my flurried excitement. I imagined what it'd be like and how it'd affect me. I thought about it instead of concentrating on important tasks. I found myself planning my days around it. And finally after a whole week, I finally had the time.

The moment of truth...

Bomb Cosmetics

The waft of a sweet scent was the first to greet me. A tad bit too strong. And as I peeked further into the box, it was the sight of those handmade yummy delights that left me gushing like a McDreamy amateur stalker. Save for the distinct soapy scent, I would have been poisoned by a deceiving box of tantalising cupcakes. Maybe that's why the fragrance is so strong. It's to remind people that they are non-edible!

I picked the top right pink ball of love as the first to grace my long awaited rush-free bath. And it was goooood. Not the bubbly fun kind of good as it only fizzed away into a shea butter scenting milky pool of water, but instead it was better as it ended up being the luxuriously soft, pampering, rich kind of good. The best bit is how the silky water texture felt like it had miraculously seeped into my skin and all the goodness of the pure essential oils had been locked in as the softness and scent had remained up til now which is already 6 hours since I stepped out of the bath despite my non-application of routine post shower/bath moisturiser in this dry cold winter weather! So yeah it's gooood.

I have 5 more luxury balls left and am already contemplating using the one on the bottom left corner tomorrow ;)

It Hurts.

It's deeper than a scratch. It catches my breath to the point that I sometimes choose not to breathe. Amidst the dull ache, there are sudden glimpses of reality which jolts me back to life. Even then the numbness remains. The trapped soul in the lifeless body that in a false glimmer of hope tries to co-exist but as soon as a cold breeze blows, it shatters to a heap of sharp shards. Cutting the limp drained exterior from within. Through the thick cloak of numbness.

I closed my eyes. I shut out the world. I lied still. I breathed as little as I could. But I still breathed. Even if they were shallow occasional attempts. I don't know why. But I still breathed. So it hurts. The cold searing thrusts that I imagined would end it all didn't and rhythmically persisted instead. The grazes of injury boldly aired. Veiled only by a mask of apathy. The very core of my existence being sheared silently yet surely.

It hurts. More than I'd like to admit. And as long as I continue to breathe, it'll hurt.