It’s a Blog ! Not a Log !

so here it is, this evenings post . .its been an exciting week in the life of Vince, to start the week I had 2 PC’s at work infected by what I’ll call the DHL email virus.

This was a little bugger of a trojan/malware that came via a zipped file attached to an email purporting to be from DHL, the body of the email went along these lines :

Dear customer!

The courier company was not able to deliver your parcel by your address. Cause: Error in shipping address.

You may pickup the parcel at our post office personaly!

Please attention!
The shipping label is attached to this e-mail. Please print this label to get this package at our post office.

Please do not reply to this e-mail, it is an unmonitored mailbox.

Thank you.

DHL.

once the zipped file was opened it contained what appeared to be an excel spreadsheet, however upon clicking on this spreadsheet you discovered that it was in-fact an executable file, which within and instance had disabled/uninstalled your Anti-Virus software and proceeded to install a fake Anti-Virus program which was now telling you that you had 70+ virus’s that it could clean, but only if you bought the full version for $49 by entering your credit card details, it also installed a number of backdoor trojans and probably for good measure a key-logger.

Well after the 2 users informed me (happened to 2 people on 2 different days, even after I’d sent an email after the first instance warning people of this email) I downloaded Malwarebytes and Superantispyware onto a USB stick and booted the PC’s into Safe Mode (follow the link to learn how to boot into Safe Mode.

Once into Safe Mode I installed both programs and run one after the other, which resulted in over 80+ virus/Trojans hiding on the PC’s, so as instructed it removed them and rebooted the PC, however this wasn’t the end of the problem as one of these nasty little buggers messed about with the registry which resulted in first the Logon/Logoff screen looping every-time you entered your User details and also once this issue had been resolved denied access to the Task Manager and Display properties for the desktop.

After googling for a bit I found these instructions for changing the Registry settings back to there original perameters (details here, much thanks go to the  Ian Luke Kane for posting this info), there are 2 solutions to resolve the issue, me being me went for the Tricky one, I suggest if you have a Windows disc as it asks to go for the easy one as if you don’t know much about Registry editing you could do more damage than good.

Once I’d completed these steps, just to be sure all the virus’s were gone I removed the hard-drives from the infected PC’s and attached them to my PC as secondary drives and ran Malwarebytes, Superantispyware and Mcafee Virus scan on them, which resulted in about 6 more infected files being found, after running one more time with a clean bill of health, reinstalled the drives back in there original PC’s, then reinstalled the Anti-virus software . . .  I then sent out an email again warning people of this DHL Virus Email . . .  touch wood no one else has so far fallen  for it and got infected.

After the excitement of virus infections at work it was time for some relaxation and downtime for Vince, how better than to get on Twitter and chat to various people I know on there and it was thanks to these Twitter types that I made a wonderful discovery which has swelled the 38,000 tracks I have the option to play in my iTunes library to well over 100,000 tracks.

So what is this discovery then ?

Well its a piece of software called Simplify Media, which lets you share your  music on your PC using  programs like iTunes and Windows Media player, its like Spotify in a sense, but different, once you’ve installed the software you can invite other people you know who use it to share your library and vice-versa, once you’ve added them you’ll need to ensure that you’ve turned on view shared library’s in iTunes, wait a little while for the information for their library of music to be updated on your machine and then you can simply click on a track in their shared library in your itunes.

Here’s what Simplify Medias FAQ says about how it works :

Simplify Media software lets you browse and play remote music using the iTunes, Front Row, Winamp, Windows Media and Rhythmbox players, and remote photos using the Simplify photo viewer, iPhoto, and Windows Explorer. Specialized music and photo applications are also available for the iPhone and iPod touch mobile devices.

Media is streamed directly between computers over the Internet within small groups that you control. Your group can be made up entirely of your own computers, for example home and office or home and iPhone. You can also invite close friends and family to join. Once an invitation is accepted, you will be able to view and play each other’s libraries when online. See more

All I can say about this piece of software is go and download it, its fucking amazing, there’s even an app for the iPhone which lets you stream your music onto the iPhone(download it here , which for me is great, I’ve so far used this app to stream music to my iPhone and then using the Blue-tooth connection from my iPhone  I’ve streamed this same music through my car stereo, so instead of being limited to what CD’s or waht tracks I have on my iPhone I now have 100,000’s of tracks to choose from while driving my car . . .  how fucking cool is that.

The other good thing about Simplify Media, is that if I’m at someone house and there music’s shit, as long as they have an Internet connection and iTunes (just a case of downloading it) I can install Simplify Media on their PC logon using my details and I have access to my music to play . .  get innnnnn, no more shitty music . .  (not saying all my friends music is shit by the way)

Heres a screen shoot of the app open showing just how many tracks I have access to stream now (names  blacked out for obvious reasons)

Simplify Media Library

If you haven’t got this app, what are you doing still reading go and download it now and if your a friend or mine email me your Username and I’ll invite you to share my library.

Now after that immense plug of Simplify Media, back to the mundane part of my life.

Wednesday was spent at electriks helping Luke Unabomber with Mac problems/issues again, actually I can’t call this mundane as it was a laugh doing it, Lukes a funny guy when your trying to teach him Mac stuff, anyway just a case of showing him how to move files from one Mac to another.

Thursday was curry night were I prepared my body and soul for a rather nice Tandoori Chicken Masala which I must say was very very tasty, though it has repeated on me throughout the day . .  but it was worth it.

And now to today Friday . .  well believe it or not I’m ending the week resolving  Virus infected PC’s again, this time, its a laptop that’s suffering, not from the same virus, but one very similar i.e. it installs fake software and Trojans, again I’ve run much the same procedures as with the previous machines and thus far its discovered about 80+ infected files, I’ve cleaned these off and now am just in the process of running the secondary scans, they should be finished in about another 1/2hr, which has given me all this time to update my blog.

Hoping that once the scans are finished it’ll just be a case of installing some free anti-virus software on it and passing it back to the owner and seeing how much he’s willing to give me for doing it, I usually charge a bottle of Bombay Sapphire and 4o Lambert and Butler, which I think is fairly reasonable  . .  don’t you ?

As for tomorrow I’ve got to pick up an PC from Amanda at the Nook which again is virus infected, so after walking Blue grabing a Latte in Electriks I’ll spend a couple of hours sorting that out and by the most of my weekend will be gone, but hey I enjoy doing it and one day I might need a favour doing which they can help me with . . .  what comes around . . goes around as my old mate used to say . .

There as promised a post to my blog, hope its to your satisfaction and isn’t to long and boring . . .  if it is tough shit I’ve typed it now so there  . .

Good night

that’s what I am, just not had the energy to post on the blog on a regular basis for quite a while now, think its been the winter blues that have been causing it, all these dark nights when I’ve been getting home from work’s to blame.

I shall attempt to remedy that by telling you about things that I’ve done int the week that’s been and gone . .

Sunday was spent walking Blue and then heading over to electrik bar in Chorlton for a most enjoyable night of Sundays 1 Deck Session where the DJ on the deck that night was the wonderfully moustached Andrew Weatherall . . . and boy what a moustache he has . .

Over the course of the evening he played everything from Rockabilly, the Clash, the specials and just about anything else that took his fancy, thoroughly nice man and thoroughly good entertainment was had by all who attended, these 1 Deck sessions at electrik just get better.

Should also point you towards @undeleted’s Blog were you can find a much better write up of the evening and who is the man responsible for this pioneering new camera interview technique “The Chest and Chin”

Monday through to Wednesday weren’t all that exciting just the usual drudgery of work and wondering if we’d be hit by another white out with the snow, the only highlights were watching the new series of Survivors starting on the BBC, which gave me and no doubt a few other dotted around Manchester the opportunity to play spot the Mancunian location, the most obvious was the exterior of the Midland Hotel, where they took Tom to operate on, didn’t recognise anywhere else, but that’s probably down to the fact the BBC have moved production of the new series to Birmingham, so expect to see local shots around there in the coming episodes.

Also spent some time uploading a few more videos onto YouTube . .  yes and they were of the dog Blue, but do you blame me, she is after all the prettiest dog in the world

First up in her new video adventures is the quilt sucking episode, it seems that when you leave Blue alone in the bedroom she has a habit of bunching up the quilt and grabbing it in her jaws and just  “Sucking”

She treats it like its some sort of security blanket or something, anyway here’s the proof and just check out the so serious face when she clocks the camera filming her

Next up there’s Blue enjoying the summer in Longford Park, filmed this earlier on last year, but just never got around to uploading it

Then came Thursday and today, not much to blog about I’m afraid.

As for tomorrow there might be more to blog about, as I’ve instituted #DogClub on Twitter and will hopefully have a few peeps joining me and Blue on our Saturday morning walk around Ivy Green, though this might change to another location as yet undecided.

Also I must say hello to Adrian or to his friends Eddy Layton, who I’ve recently discovered reads my blog from time to time, so Eddy if your reading this say hello to my mum next time you see her and say hello Mrs L and Paul for me.

As mentioned earlier headed across to Chorlton to take Blue round Ivy Green, met up with Luke at Electriks then headed across to Ivy Green, anyways decided to head along the Mersey to Jackson’s boat for a beer, absolutely stunning views with everything totally whited out by the snow, like being in another country.

Met a few other dog owners along the way and just generally enjoyed the walk and then it happened . . . Blue headed for her favourite bend in the Mersey, where she usually goes for a drink of water, but the edge was all iced up and Blue being Blue didn’t bat an eyelid, just went storming onto the ice, well ice and a 7.5 stone dog don’t exactly miss and the next minute there’s the sound of ice cracking and Blue disappears into the inky black water of the Mersey to reappear a few seconds later out of the ice hole she’d just created.

Soon as I saw her disappear I dropped my camera and dived down the rivers bank trying to get to her, she was a couple of feet out, way beyond my reach, but luckily for her and me there was a fcuking big branch log just laying nr the bank, so used this to smash through the ice and create a passage for her to get to the side, scariest 60 or so seconds I’ve experienced in a long time while smashing that ice I can tell you.

So managed to get her to the side and she was back to her normal self in a few minutes, though slightly damp for her ordeal, she soon shook it off, then headed to Jackson’s Boat so she could warm up and me and Luke could get a beer.

Apart from the unexpected dip in the Mersey it was a pretty good afternoon, nothing like trapping through snow and cold bracing fresh air to make you feel alive, finished the afternoon off with some very tasty French Onion soup at electriks, now at home watching Blue chilled out on the bed with Mel pampering her.

Might head out that way again tomorrow, but this time stay away from the ice . .

I may be some time . .

Yep thinking of braving the cold winter scene that is Manchester and heading to Chorlton to take the dog Blue for a walk round Ivy Green and along the Mersey to Jackson’s Boat for a nice warming bowl of soup . .

Anyone car to join me, hit me up on Twitter

went to Elliot Eastwicks Pub Quiz tonight at Electriks in Chorlton and scored a respectful 56 points, came 4 or 5, no prize though, had a good night saw Luke and Jerry in there and met a few new people, good night indeed, only been to 2 of the quiz nights so far, need to go more often I reckon, highly recommend it to anyone who’s not been, tonights specialist subject was the baby jesus.

119, originally uploaded by BagRat.

Heres some photo’s I took of Blue at Longford Park enjoying the fresh layer of snow that fell on Saturday in Manchester, as you can see from the picture I think she quite likes the snow . . .

Also just took some general photos of the Park in its winter blanket of snow, think I got a few good ones, including a couple of Mel

Afterwards we headed to Electriks in Chorlton for a much needed Mulled Wine and a sausage bagguette, also sorted out our tickets for New Years eve at Electriks end of year Riot, which should be a corker I reckon

Just finsihed work and walked out into the car park to find my car covered in a freshly laid carpet of snow, which means I can have a mad moment with Blue our Cane Corso, she goes mental when its snows (see the video below)

So once I’m finished on here and got changed out of my work clothes me and my best friend are going for a walk round Longford Park and maybe chase some Squirrels in the snow, then after go get a nice Mulled Wine at Electrik Bar in Chorlton.

Back later

electriks in Chorlton cum Hardy after dropping off a printer at Jerry’s, had a quick pint with Luke and chatted about his trip to Berlin, seems like it might be a place well worth visiting from what he’s been telling me. just have to see if we can get a dogsitter next year so we can have a long city break there maybe.

Also paid a visit to Zam Zam’s for one of their very tasty Chicken Tikka Kebab’s, best in Chorlton if you ask me, nice and spicy, also spotted Elliot Eastwick doing some very shit parking, musta clipped the kerb a couple of times trying to get the that Mini parked up, should report him to the council for chipping the kerb

marathon and am now heading to Imperial War Museum North, back later with photos and stuff

and all I’ve done is take Blue for 2 walks round Chorlton and chilled the rest of the weekend away, though I have spent about 4hrs geotagging alot of my flickr photo’s, so now at least people can see where they were taken, also started to make a few sets out of our Cornwall and Dorset holiday photo’s as they were a bit messy to be honest.

Also watched the movies Moon and Pandorum, the Moon is well worth seeing, but Pandorum’s just a basic SciFi scarer, nothing special, also got hold of District 9 which I hope to get around to watching sometime tomorrow evening, look pretty good and the reviews I’ve heard of it seem to agree, anyway work in the morrow so sorry its a crappy post, but its been a quiet weekend.

Nite nite