Thursday, August 20, 2015

Malware

If I could get hold of the hacker who made the malware that infected my *NEW* computer, we'd have one less hacker to worry about.  All I did (and I'm not sure the family believes me) was run a Google search for FAQ for an certain HP freeware program.  When I clicked on the fourth one on the list, BAM I had hundreds of pop-ups, some had music some had AVIs and none of them could be closed.  I hit the OFF button, but when I restarted it picked up where it left off.  In addition it swapped the search default to Explorer (I use Firefox).  My son spent hours laboriously removing programs one by one, but still all the programs just installed the day before were non-functional, except for the one that hijacked Firefox. Our final attempt was to run a program called MalwareBytes.  It found 1200 incursions and finally, yesterday, my son reformatted the hard drive and  loaded all those programs back again.  MalmareBytes is up and running and finds one or two spywares or adwares every time I run Firefox. 

I have trouble grasping the spitefulness that would create this for no better reason than because they could.  I'm not a valuable target, or even an interesting one as far as I can see.  I only hope that changing all my passwords (and what fun that is) will limit what new damage could be done.

I'm off for now, hope all of you are doing well, and I will be in a better place (mentally) then.

Tshirt for the day:  "I'm not a pessimist; I'm an optimist with experience."

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Hear Ye, etc.

As if coping with my post-surgical eyes wasn't enough, I have been fighting an ear infection too, after getting water in my ear when I showered.  Finally went to the clinic and had it irrigated and got antibiotics.  They also told me to take Claritin or sudafed.  I rooted around in the medicine cabinet and found some of both of these, so I took them every-other-day.  God forbid I buy some at the drug store which is *right beside* the clinic.  Anyway, it is starting to clear up.  What??  You said?

DH went to Best Buy yesterday and bought a tablet.  He has been reading online reader novellas on his computer in another room and would go for hours.  It made his neck stiff and his wife (me  
!) annoyed to be left in the living room while every body else is pecking away on their computers.  However, I will soon join the group, working with my new HP computer.  No more crashes and broken internet connection for me.  What is even more amazing (not a hand-me-down computer) is that we bought it direct from HP with Windows 7  !! and not 8 or 10.  I can always upgrade should I need to.  But with 7, my learning curve is non-existent.  Now if I can install Family Tree Maker on my poor old (10 years and counting) MacBook from 2005 (and it was refurbished then).  I want to be able to take my data with me when we go to courthouses, etc. doing genealogy.  I had it on the old thing, but when I updated the OS on the Mac the FTM wouldn't work.  Now I am fiddling around with Parallels and a copy of FTM for Mac that I bought for $ 5.  We shall see.  There is always pencil and paper, but I found I tended to take notes about sources and info I have already gotten.  After all, I have ~ 2500 individuals in the data base, I can't remember more than a handful.

So to sum up, my eyes, ears and memory are currently fading.  Old age is not for sissies.

T shirt for the day:  "My mind not only wanders it sometimes leaves completely."


Thursday, August 06, 2015

Splish Splash

The title refers to the sound our boots make when we are en route to the barn.  At least the mud isn't sucking them off.

Second cataract removal was a success.  At first I found the left one was crystal sharp at 6 feet and over; and the right one gave me good close vision.  But, as they healed, I see everything as a blur.  I got a new pair of glasses last week, and they make it really hard to see my feet (like on the stairs) I have already fallen on the stairs before the surgeries .  And I had hoped to be able to see clearly without glasses at all.  Rats.

I have been to see the psych doctor and she has tweaked my meds yet again. A new one, in addition to the 4 antidepressants I already take.  And she wants me to take my bedtime meds at dinner time instead of bedtime.  This is aimed at getting me to awaken in the morning and not go back to bed after eating breakfast.  I usually get up around  2 pm.  Good thing I don't work now, isn't it?

The horses are doing fine staying outside.  We put them in the barn the night before the shoer came, and had them on butazolidan (sp?) for the week before, so Willie would be more comfortable when his hind hooves were trimmed.  It worked great, even though we had to mix it with maple syrup.  Usually molasses is used, but Willie turned his nose up at that, and the same with applesauce;  if the syrup hadn't worked I would have been forced to grind the tablet, mix it with applesauce and put it in a 60 ml syringe with an irrigation point, and force feed it to him.  Not a pretty picture, me with applesauce everywhere and realizing just how tall horses are when they raise their heads to the ceiling.  Stepladder?

Anyway, that is done for the next 8 weeks.

 Onwards, here is the sticker for the day:  "So when is this "old enough to know better" supposed to kick in?"