the hell with computer viruses
Okay. So here it goes. Just last month, I bought a new Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo for my Sony Ericsson walkman series mobile phone. I bought it for about 2000 bucks at the PC eXpress shop in Magallanes. Then just about last week, it became defunct. Useless. My two thousand pesos went to the trashcan [not literally, but figuratively, since all I got now for my 2k is a definitely useless black microchip printed with Sony and a big 1GB in it]. I remembered how that mem stick slacked off, I remembered how I was seated inside that can with all those people cramped inside, on my way to the University, listening to some old Arch Enemy tracks trying hard to chill and relax although I was far from relaxing; it was very hot, and there were so many people talking, walking in and out at the different stations, and unfortunately the aircon is not working [as usual, when you always ride in the last car of the train]. So I have to close my eyes as to not to feel giddy and stuff. But then, as the violent music blaring desire and fear in my mind goes on, with my eyes closed, I started to smell something nauseating, now don't ask me what the hell was that, for my eyes were closed; I just swear there was an Arab in the f***ing train. Oh well, sorry for that, I'm not being a racist or something, but we all know how they smell- and it's now nice. So, enough of the Arab thing- let's get back to where my mem stick started to become useless. Just as I have said, I was listening to Arch Enemy's 'Anthems of Rebellion' album when suddenly it stopped and started playing Radioactive Sago Project's 'Masarap'. Upon hearing Lourd De Veyra's voice, I was alarmed. Not because he is my idol, but because of the fact that I was listening to Radioactive a while ago but it is not in my current playlist. For a split-second I thought I was being mugged [talk about being paranoid] and the thief accidentally changed the track. The thought roused me from that moment of stupor and I instantly dug my pocket for my cellphone. Then I saw something weird: the display says it was Arch Enemy, Anthems of Rebellion album, 'Leader of the Rats' song, but my cellphone was actually playing Radioactive Sago Project! What the f**k, I thought. Then I thought it was just some kind of a bug with my cellphone so I turned it off. And when I tried turning it on again, it wouldn't. It would just show the welcome screen and then nothing. I tried several times but the cellphone is giving me the same response so by then I knew that it was the mem stick that was causing this mess. I removed it and then tried the phone again and tada! It worked. Minus my precious images. Minus my 600+ tracks. I tried inserting the mem stick but it causes my phone to hang. Again, I tried several times. Then I feel like crying. I went home after my classes without anything to listen to. Without RAdioactive Sago Project, Arch Enemy, Cradle of Filth, Descendents, NOFX, Big Mountain, Selecter, Specials etc., only the noise of the squalid places I absentmindedly pass by everyday.
By the time I arrived, I went on looking for that receipt, hoping to get a warranty so that the mem stick would be replaced or repaired or whatever. I just thought I can no longer live without my music [that's hyberbole of course, since I already had lived without it when my expensive headset got destroyed]. I saw it, and as stated in the piece of paper, they are going to replace it in one week after the date of purchase; and it has a six months warranty, on which they can repair it, but it is not for free, meaning I still have to pay a certain percentage of its original price. So I have to think first, since I got no money and the place is not so far but let us just say that it is difficult to go there with cheap transportation, meaning I had to go there with a taxi that would cost me 200pesos all in all. And I could buy a lot of things out of that 200pesos.
But then when I was about to go to have this residue of modern technology checked, when we were hanging out in the classroom enjoying a 'no-professor-hour' viewing images in my friend's laptop when she showed us a screenshot image of a new virus, told us that it was from the Ateneans. Oh my god, I thought. I was shocked not because it was from the Ateneans [of course] but because I recognized what was in the image. It was the Autorun message that the OS will prompt when you inserted a Media Storage device in the USB port, when the storage device have more that 2 types of files. But instead of seeing the usual recognizable programs [such as Windows Media Player for music and videos, Open Folder to view files option and et cetera] what's on top of the list is a program, a rather strange and weird one. It is e_ttm. Not exactly, but it looks that way. It is a program that will autorun, and Windows will ask you if you would like to use the program found on the disk. I suddenly remembered myself quickly tapping the Enter button repeatedly the last time I inserted my mem stick into the memory card reader. And I was so damn sure I saw that program and I was afraid that I have used the program after all. Then I remembered how my desktop pc dramatically slacked off in terms of performance. It became slow, even in accessing folders, which is strange, when your pc has 2GB DDR ram. My friend told me that beware of that virus which will make your files disappear and will make your storage device defunct after two weeks. She failed to tell me it also slows your pc down. Hehehe.
So it saved me the trouble of spending 200pesos and the feeling of being stupid. I am proud to say that I am no longer an abecedarian when it comes to buying gadgets because I have been a techie ever since. I have my first computer when I was in kinder. My first cellphone in grade one and et cetera. And as far as warranty is concerned, they'll only repair or replace it if the damage is natural, or took place in the factory, not if it acquired viruses due to your own carelessness. At least I did not look like a complete idiot inside the shop.
So why am I writing about this just now? After all of a sudden? Because I think the same thing happened to my flash disk, which refuses to save anything just now. It's not my fault. My sister's. So I have to System Restore the desktop again. I'm so glad virus makers are still being kind. They don't disable the System Restore first.
By the time I arrived, I went on looking for that receipt, hoping to get a warranty so that the mem stick would be replaced or repaired or whatever. I just thought I can no longer live without my music [that's hyberbole of course, since I already had lived without it when my expensive headset got destroyed]. I saw it, and as stated in the piece of paper, they are going to replace it in one week after the date of purchase; and it has a six months warranty, on which they can repair it, but it is not for free, meaning I still have to pay a certain percentage of its original price. So I have to think first, since I got no money and the place is not so far but let us just say that it is difficult to go there with cheap transportation, meaning I had to go there with a taxi that would cost me 200pesos all in all. And I could buy a lot of things out of that 200pesos.
But then when I was about to go to have this residue of modern technology checked, when we were hanging out in the classroom enjoying a 'no-professor-hour' viewing images in my friend's laptop when she showed us a screenshot image of a new virus, told us that it was from the Ateneans. Oh my god, I thought. I was shocked not because it was from the Ateneans [of course] but because I recognized what was in the image. It was the Autorun message that the OS will prompt when you inserted a Media Storage device in the USB port, when the storage device have more that 2 types of files. But instead of seeing the usual recognizable programs [such as Windows Media Player for music and videos, Open Folder to view files option and et cetera] what's on top of the list is a program, a rather strange and weird one. It is e_ttm. Not exactly, but it looks that way. It is a program that will autorun, and Windows will ask you if you would like to use the program found on the disk. I suddenly remembered myself quickly tapping the Enter button repeatedly the last time I inserted my mem stick into the memory card reader. And I was so damn sure I saw that program and I was afraid that I have used the program after all. Then I remembered how my desktop pc dramatically slacked off in terms of performance. It became slow, even in accessing folders, which is strange, when your pc has 2GB DDR ram. My friend told me that beware of that virus which will make your files disappear and will make your storage device defunct after two weeks. She failed to tell me it also slows your pc down. Hehehe.
So it saved me the trouble of spending 200pesos and the feeling of being stupid. I am proud to say that I am no longer an abecedarian when it comes to buying gadgets because I have been a techie ever since. I have my first computer when I was in kinder. My first cellphone in grade one and et cetera. And as far as warranty is concerned, they'll only repair or replace it if the damage is natural, or took place in the factory, not if it acquired viruses due to your own carelessness. At least I did not look like a complete idiot inside the shop.
So why am I writing about this just now? After all of a sudden? Because I think the same thing happened to my flash disk, which refuses to save anything just now. It's not my fault. My sister's. So I have to System Restore the desktop again. I'm so glad virus makers are still being kind. They don't disable the System Restore first.
posted by Jhed Rotten at
6:29 PM
2 Comments
