the poop happens world we live in thread 2XXX

[Rosencrantz]

just had a virus scare

shit, first red flag was that I was using Internet Explorer instead of Firefox (my main browser). But there wasn't any red flagging after that; I pretty much click a link to a news site on my dad's website, and it had a weird article that was just some quote on life. I bring up the fact that it's my dad's site because he's huge on information security, and it's pretty much his job to clean computers from malware infections. Naturally, I closed the article, then proceeded to go to Youtube (I use IE almost purely for browsing Youtube). Then, the page started popping up without my control, and I almost shit myself. I closed the pop-ups, and multiple ones took its place. None of my anti-virus software began to alert anything at the time, but I couldn't stop them from popping up.

So I flipped the power button to stop it all.

I rebooted, kept my internet off during the reboot, nothing popped up when I started up again. I ran a Malware Bytes quick-scan, and it said I was clean. I ran a Symantec scan, and it said I was clean. I deleted all of my temporary internet files and cookies on IE. I rebooted my internet, nothing came up. I ran a second Malware Bytes quick-scan, still said I was clean. I think I'm in the clear now, I just did another reboot to check and see if there was anything malignant (there wasn't).

Jesus Christ, I can't afford to lose this laptop of mine. This isn't one of those "I'm addicted to the internet and vidja gaems" kind of deals, this is the only thing I've got that's keeping me in contact with my professors regarding assignments and work in general. This is the only thing I've got to access professor notes and various other necessary files that I need to study from. This is the main place where I need to finish a 27-page project for a 4-credit class, keep in contact with groupmates on finishing a different project in a 3-credit course, keep in contact with my CS professors/co-workers in case there had been a mishap in a code I wrote and I need to re-run it on my end so they can complete their exams, access the textbook pages for another 4-credit course very relevant to my major, finish a resume for a co-op class... And, this is all going into finals week.

I'm legitimately shaken up right now, my entire term could have blown right the fuck up in my face if something happened to my laptop. I'm talking outright failing some courses because I couldn't prep for final exams, or finish final projects. If this happens, I lose a literal fuckton of scholarship money, money that's permitting me to attend this college, and money that prompted me to choose this school over the other offers I got two years ago. Oh, and did I mention these credits don't transfer? Because these credits don't transfer.



Thankfully this venting's making me feel better. I need sleep, anyway.