AVG detected no viruses or suspicious behavior at all, so I took that as a bill of good health… my mistake. The file did actually extract a video, which was the previous week’s episode. I thought everything was still fine, but a few seconds later, AVG Resident Shield started popping up saying all kinds of files that start with hjgrui*.dll were infected in my C:\Windows\System32 directory. I went back to the post on Newzbin and sure enough it was then tagged SPAM/VIRUS with all kinds of comments on it; I wish I had checked the community’s reaction first. Apparently Nod32 was detecting the virus for its lucky users. Another user said he fell into the same trap as me and “should have known better,” but that he got rid of it with ComboFix.

I ran ComboFix in safe mode and it popped up the dialog you see here in the post (click to make it larger). The title of this post comes from the sentence in the dialog that reads: “Kindly note down on paper, the name of each file.” Grammatically incorrect sentences that sound like little old ladies wrote them crack me up when juxtaposed with a rootkit detection warning. ComboFix was able to completely remove the infection and AVG Resident Shield no longer shows any traces, but it makes me uncomfortable running a previously compromised machine. I’m going to upgrade to Windows 7 as soon as it’s released and do a clean install.

I’m not sure what the dolts who make and post this kind of crap get out of it, unless it’s some sick version of computer schadenfreude, but my guess is that its to make computers into botnets for attacks/spam, something of which I’d like no part. This just goes to show, even an experienced software developer is capable of accidentally installing a rootkit trojan, so never be complacent and never let down your guard when dealing with untrusted sources. When in question, just don’t run it, even if it promises to be something you want. Do as I say, not as I’ve done.

I love the Emergency Medical Hologram from Star Trek: Voyager.  Played by Robert Picardo, he is probably my favorite Star Trek character from any Star Trek, save possibly Wesley Crusher, played by Wil Wheaton.  I’m big into Star Trek, and most people won’t care about this post, but I went to the trouble of editing and cutting out the ECH part of Voyager episode 6×04 – Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy and posting it on YouTube for everyone to see.  It’s below.

I was reminded of how awesome he is from a very inaccurate and completely incorrect article Courtney sent me via del.icio.us.  In case anyone has forgotten how awesome the ECH is, especially during his transformation from EMH to ECH, watch the video.  You can also subscribe to my delicious or Courtney’s delicious to keep track of links we find interesting.  In case you’re wondering what I find so awesome, it’s his transition from medical teal to command red and then the appearance of his captain pips after he activates the ECH.

The source for most of the things I linked for Star Trek, Memory Alpha, is the best source for all things Star Trek and is an amazing community-powered resource.  For your viewing pleasure, an EMH music video remix is after the break.

I’m a Doctor – The EMH (Music Video Compilation)

It was Alabama vs. Colorado.  Apparently, I’m supposed to cheer for Colorado, since Bama is LSU’s arch enemy or something.  Colorado kinda sucked, especially their weak offense, and they lost 30-24.  Colorado did take an actual buffalo and parade it all around the field, so that was pretty neat, and I think we were on TV for a few seconds, but I’m not sure.

It is cold outside, and I don’t really have any cold weather clothes.  I was wearing my normal Old Navy jacket and my City Name Sports Team T-shirt (apropos).  When I arrived at Jenny‘s apartment to go shopping, eating, and to the game, Rachel informed me that I’d be freezing.  I thought we were just going to get a new jacket with a hood and some gloves for me, and Jenny and Rachel were going to get gloves.

Jenny let me know that hoods aren’t cool and made me get a pea coat.  I’d never even heard of such a thing.  I also got a sweater from Marshall’s and a hat and gloves from Wal-Mart.  I like the sweater, and I’ve never had any of those either, but I don’t know how I feel about the pea coat yet, and that stupid thing was $50, even at the cheap store, Ross.

The pea coat, hat that covered my ears, sweater, and gloves kept me nice and warm, and I drank a little which helped too.  Now I have cold weather clothes and I’ve been to a football game!  We got there right as the 1st quarter was ending, and left 3 minutes into the 4th quarter to beat traffic.  We caught the end of the game on ESPN HD and watched Colorado lose.

Then I played some kind of gun game on Jenny’s Wii.  I think it’s called Crossbow Training or something.  There was no Mii for me on the Wii, so I created one of those first.  That was the hardest part!  I got silver on my first try on the game, but it’s not as fun as shooting real guns. 

I just had a contrast shower for the mind. You won’t understand that until you finish reading, so just bear with me while you read this.

Chris and Natalie came over to my house to watch TV. Well actually it was because Natalie was in town from Baton Rouge and we wanted to go do something with her but Shreveport sucks. We ended up watching the latest episodes of LOST, South Park, and Family Guy.

LOST was simply amazing. That reminds me that I should give an obligatory shoutout to the best LOST blog ever. The episode was without flaw and I’m glad it’s finally back. I was really starting to miss it, but the Dharma Initiative (see that blog) videos/viral marketing kept me going in the interim.

Then we watched the latest South Park. It wasn’t a real episode of South Park. They showed the characters from South Park a few times, but it wasn’t a real episode. See for yourself. The entire episode was a huge advertisement for World of Warcraft (purposefully not linking to it). That is the worst game ever. I played it for about 3 hours on Chris’ trial account that he had. He says I didn’t play it correctly, but I will tell you that the most fun I had in that game was going to some carnival and typing /dance a lot. WoW just sucks, as a game. If you play that game, what the hell is wrong with you?

That was literally the worst television show I’ve ever seen. I hope that Matt and Trey, the creators of South Park, got a lot of money to sell out like that. That was the most incredible misuse of my hard drive space that could have been possible. The funniest part of the entire episode was Cartman literally having explosive diarrhea expelled on his mother. Yes, that was the funniest part, because the rest of the episode was about World of Warcraft and their loser online world.

So, could good come from that? Yes, but not directly. After that excuse of a show came on, we watched the latest episode of Family Guy. Family guy is already one of, if not the, funniest shows on television. I had already seen the episode 3 times before I watched it tonight, and I had laughed a lot each time, but not as thorougly as this time. It was as if the South Park episode had cleansed my mental palate and made it ready for an incredible feast of intellectual enjoyment. I must consider this the equivalent to a contrast shower for the mind. I laughed tonight at Family Guy like I’ve never laughed before, if for no other reason than it was so funny in comparison to the “comedy” of South Park I had previously viewed.

In other news, Jet Li’s Fearless is an awesome movie. I watched it twice, and I’d go again, but people just ruin movies. I’m going to stop going to the theater unless I have a really good reason to do so in the future. I’m not going to go just because it’s Friday anymore.

I apologize for this post being slightly out of anger, but I couldn’t bottle my rage about this abomination with which Matt and Trey have decided to start the South Park season. I wish they were dead. I can’t even talk to Chris about it, because he’s one of the WoW losers, and he thinks it was a good show. He thinks I’m the stupid one for not liking it. Every time I hear people talking about “XP” or “Manna” I want to go berzerk.

What in the world can people see in staying in a virtual world every waking moment of their life. When you start the game, you have to go around killing what look to be anthropomorphic rats. I guess some people might find them attractive. You have to do that and collect apples and gold and report back to someone who gives you new shoes. I shit you not; people spend all day and night doing this stuff. If you want to see an accurate depiction of the life of a WoW player, watch that episode of South Park. If you want to see an episode of South Park, don’t watch it.

That intrigued me; normally flashbacks just piss me off when trying to follow the plot line of a show, so I started watching the episodes my roommate had. I was immediately hooked, and now I’m waiting four more weeks for more LOST. Every single episode ends on a cliff hanger. While you can certainly start watching it at any time since ABC recaps the info you need for the current episode, you really won’t have an appreciation for what makes the show so great, the cast.

Jack
Jack is the hero at the beginning and he’s a skilled doctor and surgeon. He becomes a natural leader and is a compelling character when making crucial decisions for the entire group.

Kate
Kate is the yang to Jack’s yin, or at least it appears that way up until some stress enters their “relationship”. She has a troubled past that was recently revealed and was actually a prisoner on the plane. Don’t worry, that’s not really a spoiler; it was in the first few episodes.

Claire
Claire is a pregnant aussie woman. Everyone has to care for her and views her as a burden at first. Charlie becomes a surrogate husband for Claire.

Charlie
Charlie is a washed up rock and roll star for a band called Driveshaft. They have a hit song, You All Everybody, that is extremely catchy.

Sayid
Sayid was a former Republican Guard in Iraq and used to torture people for a living. Despite his violent past, he reserves judgement until he has all the facts. He’s extremely intense.

Locke
John Locke has to be the most interesting character for me. We constantly learn more about him and I absolutely love his voice. He’s a tracker. He’s a box company collections manager. He’s in a wheelchair. He’s walking. He’s a carpenter. He’s an explosives expert. He is everything, and he is one of the main reasons I’m hooked on the show.

I could go on listing other characters, and each have their own storylines, but those are my favorites. Be sure to check out the show when you can, and buy the first season on dvd, or rent it via Netflix.

I think if you give LOST a chance, it won’t disappoint you. It’s my new favorite show, and sure to be one of yours as well. ABC doesn’t do a good enough job of marketing; I guess I’m going to have to do it for them. It’s in reruns right now until January, but it’s Wednesday nights at 9/8 central.