h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Virtual me has been hijacked. Or to put it in technical(ish) terms a rogue dialer has found its way into my home pc and hidden itself.

Until it's found and exterminated I can only risk very, very short times on the internet at home - I can only really post here during lunchbreaks at work.

So, my not being around is not because I've been run over by the proverbial , or by s, or anything else of a y nature.

Got to ,
Waz

(PS Also Ran1, if you're reading this, have a wonderful time on your trip to the seaside and I should have listened to you about virus checkers etc.

BlueBird, if you get here; for your oak tree.)

Oh no.
By the way, how can a bird be run over by a , out of curiousity?

It is theoretically possible for a sea bird to have an encounter with a shark. And I suppose for a non-seabird blown off course and over the water by a gale. And of course some sharks live in captivity, so there is always the remote possibility that a shark will escape, take up rollerblading and run down an unsuspecting bird or two.

try this place and its free too which is nice



http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

Being a fan of nature and science programs, I've actually seen a shark eat a bird and it was kinda cool in a macabre sort of way . The really impressive one was the shark picking off a seagull as it was flying . And Muskellunge (a large variety of american pike, very toothy, always hungry) regularly eat ducks. OK, so its not a shark, but imagine seven feet of ANY fish with teeth like that, close enough for me .

Missing your kind comments LLLWaz, hope your computer feels better

Really sorry to hear this, Waz ... what a bummer !

Cheers all, even spynxx, though I can't read that post without wincing!

With the help of a tip from the IT guy at work on how to find it, the rogue dialer has been located and booted out. . The pc is now heavily guarded with spyware (Rev. Jack, I'll check that site out, I just used one provided by my ISP and I've no idea how good it is), firewall and virus hunter. So, fingers crossed, all's well.

The phone bill looks ok too, I don't know how up to date the data is when you ring to find out your call costs but so far so good and no loan s should be needed.



Jodan, did you know a mainstay of the lammergeiers' diet is sheep bone marrow?

And Hy-pat/pot/pay/poet/pate-ia, that they are infamous for having killed an ancient Greek poet by mistaking his bald pate for a rock and dropping a potentially tasty turtle on it?

Just thought I'd mention these things, while we're discussing bird facts an' all...


Waz (now in danger of being run over by Backlogs)

Congrats and welcome back.

You're a nice lammergeier, though, right?
You, heh, wouldn't eat one of us, right?

(with toupee)

Yay *cheers* Waz!

Interesting...

Well....as one who is petrified of sharks...you've now all spoilt my happy place!

Glad to know the computer is behaving a bit more Waz. Luckily for me, rogue dialers can't get into my head so hopefully I too will be back on track soon...although maybe I should install spybot through my ear

I've got spybot and I love it. Just one problem though. I *keep* getting trackers from advertising.com and can end up with 50 in half a day and it...annoys me.

Kat

That's an easy fix. Just configure your antispy software to disallow cookies. There's usually a section for 'allowed' tracking cookies and should be utilized for places you frequent to speed access to the site when logging in. Also, tracking cookies can't hurt your system so there's not a whole lot to worry about.

And it's good to see you back kat

Well it's all virus free and secure now - but it does run slow sometimes, and it's a bit buggy with all that stuff running in the background.

Better than being hijacked though .

Waz

Interesting lammergeier fact no.3 : lammergeiers can spot toupees a mile off.

It's good to know you're debugged, Waz. And thanks for the warning about the toupees.

Do you think I'm collecting enough lammergeier facts for an EG entry?

Definitely! But you'll need to tell everyone how to pronounce it. Especially the hillbillies.

I regret that I wasn't able to go to the coast while I was in England. Being a seabird must be nice. All that freedom and being lifted on the air currents.

I'd have to find out how to pronounce it. There isn't even agreement on how to spell it out there on the internet.

Its latin name is Gypaetus barbatus (fact no. 4, on a roll now). That would make a cool username, I've never liked 'Waz' - best I make of an initial bad choice.

We couldn't even agree on how to pronounce Waz. Really! I thought it was like "wahs". But Ben called you - heck, I don't even know how to write it. Like the first syllable of average with a w and a z.

Don't go on trying to figure out how to pronounce user names again, H, I don't have room in my nickname

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all wrote EG entries about the species of animal we are? You about your bird thingy, me about sheep and H about country bumpkins.

Very dear LLWaz.

I am so sorry my dear about the virus. When I came back I found that Macafee was advertising the fact that I had to have an update. I spent an hour this morning downloading another year's membership but I am nervous that it was my granddaughter using my pc which started it off. I hope that it did not come from me [ or rather from her using my pc.

I should learn my lesson.Never lend your pc to anyone.

I have a new telephone and can at last hear what is going on. Wonderful I have just had a wonderful hour long talk to my daughter in Johannesburg. She and her husband are leaving tomorrow. They are going through Botswana, past the Okavango swamps, the Kalhari desert then up through Etosha up to angola , and the Kunenen river and that Kokoveld (I think) What a wonderful trip. Just taking camping equipment with them.

I have asked her to write a diary about it. My father used to go there before I was born.

Hope you get the virus sorted my
I so my picture of you!!.

With affection

Christiane Also Ran1