cinaed

So, last night I was watching a DVD on the computer, enjoying my night, when all of a sudden a little screen pops up and says, "Error, Media Center requires a 32-bit color scheme" or something to that effect, and next thing I know, my computer screen is blue, gray, black, and white, totally screwed up.

I panic a bit, cursing under my breath and telling my best friend that if my comp is broken, I'm going to cry on her shoulder. Then I turn take out of the DVD, turn off the computer, and let it rest for an hour or so. When I turn it back on, yay, the color's back to normal.

...However, now all of a sudden I keep getting "Not enough memory to run this application" errors and Firefox and AIM keep quitting on me. Uh. Any clue what's going on? All I have open is Firefox and AIM. You wouldn't think you need too much memory for that, right?

...Who pointed out that I could install Symantec via the school website and showed me the link to dl and get the anti-virus software. Yes. I'm a dumbass for not figuring it out myself.

But yay, computer fixed! No creepy computer lab for me!

...And Window Live Messenger actually let me on. *hasn't let me on in over a month* Sweet!

*does a happy dance*

AOL News

NEW YORK (Feb. 2) - If you have computer files you'd rather not lose, now is a good time to make sure your anti-virus software is up to date. A worm set to activate Friday will corrupt documents using the most common file types, including ".doc," ".pdf," and ".zip."

Hundreds of thousands of machines are believed to be infected, mostly in India, Peru, Turkey and Italy, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finnish security company F-Secure Corp.

The worm , known as "CME-24," "BlackWorm," "Mywife.E" or a number of other monikers, even tries to disable anti-virus software that is out of date, he said.

Thus, users should make sure their software is turned on and has the latest definitions, generally available for free from the software vendor's Web site. F-Secure also has created a free removal tool.

"If you are infected, and you find out about it today, you still have time to get rid of the virus," Hypponen said.

As worms go, the spread of BlackWorm is relatively low. But worms these days are generally designed to help spammers and hackers carry out attacks, not to destroy files as this one does. So the impact this time may be more severe.

Microsoft Corp. issued an advisory Tuesday warning customers about the worm , which affects most versions of its Windows operating system.

Users should be safe if they have the latest anti-virus software or if their computers are set with limited privileges, a common setting in larger organizations. They are vulnerable if they, like many small business and home users, leave their computers set with full administrative rights.

And users should check the date on the computer. The worm hits the third of every month, so if the computer's local calendar settings are off, Hypponen said, files may be destroyed sooner or later, even if the computer is never turned on Friday