[firewolf08]

Has anyone contracted the Windows Defender virus? I have NO idea how I got it-- well I have a gut instinct but don't know for sure. Last night I was checking my email-- thankfully I was done writing and submitting articles-- and all of a sudden something popped up on my screen saying that I have x number of infected files that need to be removed from my computer.

Now I am not one to fall prey to that kinda stuff except if it's a legitimate popup from one of my own computer programs like AVG or another Microsoft program. BUT I clicked it because it looked VERY legit and the next thing I knew there was this icon on my desktop that said "Windows Defender" or "Systems Defender" or something along those lines.

Well, I didn't download that icon or program and by this time I knew that something was screwy. I tried to delete the Windows Defender icon-- b/c it appeared to be a "shortcut" icon-- and after I deleted it-- or attempted to delete it anyway-- it was REPLACED by 3 PORN ICONS!!! I was appalled and am frankly feeling a little mad at this point.

This was all on my laptop-- using my desktop now-- haven't actually turned on my laptop since last night because the next time I do I have to work on getting rid of the stupid virus first.

I guess here's the moral of the story, though; there are 2 for right now:
1 - Don't accept "friend" requests from LinkedIn from people you don't know (I'm not POSITIVE, but the whole thing started as soon as I clicked a LinkedIn accept friend request link in my hotmail inbox)

2- MAKE SURE that you have some sort of browser protection, strong firewall or defender before letting your kids surf the internet.. or other software or something that will CATCH this before it happens. I have a 2-year old daughter and this whole thing has just made me realize that i will NEED to actively protect her from intruders and viruses like this that happen out-of-the-blue. I CERTAINLY wouldn't want her on the computer trying to delete a shortcut or virus only to find out that porn icons suddenly appear on the desktop. So for all the moms here who have kids (and I know there are lots of them), let this be a warning.

And lastly-- sorry to the mods for posting this here if you don't feel it belongs-- it is sorta writing related as I talked about finishing up the articles I was working on last night, PLUS i don't know of any off-topic threads on the forum, PLUS the writing forum is where I've been hanging out a lot lately.