It was a spyware program that directs you to go to a website to purchase a product to delete the fake viruses it tells you that you have on your computer. That product is obsolete, so it may be trying to capture passwords, credit card data, etc. It cost me $85 to dowload Norton 360.5 first, then the power eraser which is part of the security software. My system is clean now. Thank God the virus wasn't more malicious.

Pat Tucker



-----Original Message-----
>From: Melissa Diamanti <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Feb 17, 2011 10:59 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Pipe Bowl ID-WARNING
>
>She wasn't the only one who had that problem!
> 
>I don't know enough about computers to know who to blame. I just know I had to spend the rest of the day getting my computer cleaned up. I think my security system listed 11 viruses, plus some trojans, spy-ware, and mal-ware. It was pretty freaky and made me very wary of opening links.
> 
>Since I had already deleted your original post, I could not post a reply. But I probably should have posted a warning to others on HISTARCH, once I got my computer cleaned up (I hope).
>Meli
>
>--- On Thu, 2/17/11, Mark Branstner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>From: Mark Branstner <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Pipe Bowl ID
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 10:49 AM
>
>
>Hey Folks,
>
>Just got a call from somebody (I apologize for having deleted the message before I wrote down the name) of someone who suggested that my IMAGESHACK link downloaded a bunch of viruses to her computer ...
>
>Talked to our IT guy, and that simply is NOT possible ... That is not the way links work, and that would not have happened.
>
>If IMAGESHACK is corrupted, I can't speak to that, but the viruses did NOT come from our computer system.
>
>Mark
>
>
>-- 
>Mark C. Branstner, RPA
>Historic Archaeologist
>
>Illinois State Archaeological Survey
>Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability
>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
>209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
>23 East Stadium Drive
>Champaign, IL 61820
>
>Phone: 217.244.0892
>Fax: 217.244.7458
>Cell: 517.927.4556
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>When you think of that perfect retort five minutes after the conversation is over -  that's when you're:
>
>"... bursting with the belated eloquence of the inarticulate ..."
>
>Edith Wharton in the "The Age of Innocence"


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