computer viruses - yuck!

Spent all weekend getting my laptop virus free. I knew our virus scan subscription had expired a while ago, and I was just lazy about renewing it. So I finally decided to go on the company website and renew - and I couldn't get to the website! I tried several other big name virus scan sites and those too weren't working.

First I downloaded a new copy of the virus scan program on a different computer and burned it to a CD, then copied it onto the laptop. Ran that and found about 14 viruses, but still could not get to the virus scan websites. So after hunting the web, I found that this can be caused by spyware.

I found a tech forum where someone had asked about the exact same issue and was referred to the free program Malwarebytes. I couldn't get to the website directly, but I did find the file at downloads.com. The trick, as I read on the forum, is to change the name of the setup file (I called mine "pleasework.exe") because the virus/spyware will not let you open the file as it is named. That worked, and I was able to do a full scan, which found about 20 issues. After cleaning them and restarting, I was able to get to the virus scan websites and update all my software. Yay!!

Needless to say, no crafting got done this weekend because of all this hassle. And I'm not sure I'll have time to get anything done this week either. I may have time this evening (after I print off the x-mas cards), but tomorrow I'll be at a meeting all day and probably not get back until late. Wednesday we're going out to dinner with hubby's friend, and Thursday will be my last chance to get some holiday shopping in. Friday I have a Girl Scout meeting (I'm a troop leader), but after that I may have time. Saturday will be cleaning and packing for our trip to Jersey next week to visit my family. I can probably get some crafting in on Sunday, but I might just want to be a bum and watch x-mas movies ;-)

Oh, and I tried a fantastic new recipe last night for Chinese chicken. It's not exactly like what you get from takeout, but it was pretty close. I rarely measure, so forgive the estimations. I heated some canola oil (maybe 1/4 cup) in a high-sided pan over med-low heat while I sliced the chicken breasts into 1" x 1-2" pieces. I covered them with a light layer of flour (added a few dashes of salt to the flour). To the oil in the pan, I added some soy sauce (only had about 2 tbsp left), garlic powder, onion powder, ground ginger, and chicken stock. I added the chicken and kept turning them until they were fully cooked. Because the heat was low, they didn't fry, but some of the "sauce" did stick to the chicken and gave it pretty good flavor, especially paired with some minute rice. Next time I'll use more soy sauce and maybe some white wine and cut out some of the oil. Hopefully this will make more of a sauce/gravy, rather than flavored vegetable oil. But not too bad, if I do say so myself!