Zombie Attack!
Iconitis; Are you at Risk?
The scourge of office personnel from Albuquerque to Zimbabwe, Iconitis has shown its awful face here in Indiana, again. Thousands have been infected, and it even spreads into the ranks of the IT professionals from time to time.
Iconitis causes the individual to lose the ability to operate any portion of a computer that does not have a corresponding icon. You know the fellow worker in your office that can not type a document on your computer, because there is no icon for Word on the desktop? Perhaps a book keeper that can not run Quickbooks when some one else logs on to her computer and forgets to log out?
I’ve seen many people so devastated by the disease that they can not log on to their own computer if their name doesn’t automatically appear in the username box. Can you imagine forgetting your own log in name? The poor thing…
Yes, it is true even the most savvy tech people have become infected from time to time. Just recently I had a senior bench technician ask me how to run a diagnostic on a hard drive. Now this may not sound too bad, but remember it is a senior technician that has been scanning hard drives from the same workbench for several years. The problem was that the software for scanning hard drives had an icon on the desktop that had been accidentally deleted by another technician. Now of course there was an icon in the “programs” menu, and you would expect a senior technician to also know how to find and run the original executable.
But that’s just how insidious this disease is, even the most experienced technician can fall prey. With the release of Office 2007 we have seen a marked increase in new cases reported on our tech support phone lines. We have heard reports of the disease spreading throughout the world as Windows Vista teams up with Office 2007 to move every icon and every menu to a new location.
Doctor Apu Nahasapeemapetilon of the CTDC (Center for Technical Disease Control) in Springfield, North Takoma, said “With this new software from Microsoft I will be not having much time for discussing with you the spread of this disease, my time will completely be taken with support phone calls from major OEM customers to my homeland. Thank you for your call very much.”
Dr. Nahasapeemapetilon
Keep an eye out for the symptoms of Iconitis. Recognizing the
symptoms is critical to early detection, and early detection is critical to
leading a normal productive life. Common symptoms include: staring at the
screen blankly with ones hand lying limp in front of the keyboard, some victims
will roll their heads around as if the icon will appear from a different viewing
angle. Often you will hear the person speaking with the help desk and they
will be saying something like “but it’s not there!” or “I
can’t find the internet!”
This last statement will often come from a person in the advanced stages of
the disease, where they actually “lose the internet” because they
don’t have a big blue script “e”
on their screen.
Treatment is available, in the form of Windows for Dummies books, and evening adult computer courses. But in the most extreme cases it may be necessary to show the victim the “Start” button on the task bar, and explain the purpose of all those little folder icons. Reintroduce the victim to the “Programs” menu and its icons slowly, as the reintroduction of icons too quickly can cause mental overload and possible breakdown.
For more information on Iconitis and other technical diseases, consult with your own personal Geek at 317-733-0213.
by Steve Weigle
I know that sometimes it seems like we are just trying to scare you, and with Halloween coming up shortly it only seems appropriate for me to continue with talk of bots, worms, zombies and such. The truth is we have people in our shop every day that have fallen victim to these ghastly phantoms.
I mentioned in an article about phishing earlier this month that your computer could be turned into a “Zombie” spewing out spam and other malware infested email, and I thought this would be a good time to share some information about how to protect yourself. I won’t bore you with a do’s and don’ts list, but I will give you some links to a few short videos that come from, believe it or not, the government and Microsoft. Yes, I was surprised too, but they’ve done a very nice job of explaining what these dangers are, and what to avoid.
At the OnGuardOnline website there are interactive quizzes that are great for learning about threats like Spyware, P2P file sharing, Spam Scams and more. I really enjoyed the videos and tutorials available under the “Resources” tab like “Teaching Your Children To Be Safe Online” and “Defend Yourself Against Viruses and Worms”
Do yourself a favor a take a little time to cruise through this website and watch some of these videos. I’ll bet you find it more educational then you think.
The FTC has a site which
is directly related to the site above and has an interactive video on phishing,
as well as links to tips on fighting spam and articles on the work they are
doing in this area. They also have another site dedicated to online safety
in general.
You can see these sites at:
ttp://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/
spam/index.html
http://ftc.isafe.org/sharing.html
http://ilearn.isafe.org/
So enjoy the Halloween season, and take a few minutes to learn about what you can do to keep your computer, your kids, and your wallet protected from that Ghosts and Goblins.
