One moment's inattention.

[Stonepounder]

So, tonight I'm multitasking. Playing Elder Scrolls Online, watching the news, periodically checking my e-mail, letting the dogs out and in and out and in, yadda, yadda.

I' checking my e-mail and there is a message from Google Photos saying my pictures have been published. Huh? I don't remember posting any pictures that would go through Google Photos. So, I click the blue button that says "View Details".

After I get done kicking myself several times for not checking the sender address or looking at the address that the "View Details" was sending me to, I sit back down and pray that I got stupid for the most incompetent hacker ever. Because the screen I was sent to was one of those that inform me that I have been infected by a virus and to call an 888 number immediately so a 'skilled technician' can walk me through how to disinfect my computer. I discover that I can't close the tab, nor can I switch to another tab. I can, however, just close Chrome, thunk.

Then run a full virus scan, reboot computer and don't get any warnings from MicroSoft or Macafee. My knees begin to regain functionality. And I just hope that my incredible positive energy lasts through next Tuesday and presages a Blue Tidal Wave!

[royable]

1. Very likely what happened to your computer was that it displayed a mostly harmless Web page

that presented false information saying your computer had been infected. But to follow up on the lie, the Web page provides you with a handy number to call to talk with someone who could kindly infect it for you.

Good move to run a full virus scan, just to be sure, though. To be doubly sure, if this applicable to your anti-virus software, make sure you've just run an update so that it will use the latest list of viruses.

[Stonepounder]

2. Hope so.

I just feel so stupid. My first programming course was at Ohio State. The language was FORTRAN and we coded it on punch cards and got one compile a day. I usually am pretty careful about clicking on links I don't recognize. My bank wants me to change my password? Click here? Not a chance! I will go to my bank's web page using the address I always use and check my notifications. Etc. (I actually had my Netflix password hacked by someone in Germany who changed my viewing preference from English to German, but that's another story.)

I'm a little regretful of the millions of $$$ that I have passed up from Princes, Kings, and Financial Ministers in Africa and the Middle East, not to mention the lotteries that I have won that I didn't even buy tickets for. (I even had an offer from the UN that I had been chosen for my amazing work and it came with a cash prize.) Not to mention the free stuff that I have won.

But my motto has always been better safe than sorry. This was just a momentary brain fart and I was reminded that if your are going to be on a computer, be careful.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. I haven't clicked on a bogus email (yet), but I have seen popups...

telling me I've just gotten a virus, and "click here" to get rid of it.

Laughable, right? But it read my bios, or something, and identified my machine so it looked scary real.

Fully backed up, I thought about clicking just to see what would happen. Then I thought-- maybe not.