Attacked by malware!

MSN Live Messenger was installed on my laptop eons ago but only recently, I started actively using it as a tool for communication. It was useful for keeping in touch with friends through real-time chats and also an excellent channel for nightly catch-ups with Hubby when he is away on business trips. I particularly found it fun punctuating sentences with the custom emoticons. And so I enjoyed the various chat sessions.....

Till I was hit with a malicious spyware last Tuesday! It came as an innocent message from a friend, whom I have chatted sporadically with. There was a hyperlink in that message and out of curiosity, I clicked on that link and the moment I did that, my laptop hung and my heart sank. Soon after that various incidents started happening to confirm my suspicion of a malware attack - my laptop prompted me to set the system date and time, my wireless printer refused to print, error messages about missing startup files started popping up upon bootup and my internet browser started leading me to dubious websites whenever I go onto the net.

I am usually very careful about cyber security, only visting trusted internet sites, opening email attachments that I have been expecting and generally preferring to err on the side of caution rather than subjecting my laptop to possible virus infections and such. Thus the Tuesday episode left me completely frustrated and helpless as I sought to remove the malware. After several futile days of seeking assistance from Hubby and reputed online spyware forums, I decided to take the most drastic action of reformatting my harddisk.

Now that I am back online, I have increased my cyber paranoid and upped my security settings. Yes, I know, I know. I should have known better, what with my computer science degree and all. Well, all I can say is that I should have heeded my instinct instead of ignoring the antenna that had gone up. I will be more careful.....

But then again, those authors of malicious spyware, malware, virus, etc, are certainly getting craftier. I dread and indeed, may God forbid the day should any such script get past my firewall again. Sigh.....