It's confirmed - being nice doesn't pay off. At least that's the case when someone came to me and asked for a 2 MP3s, and I agreed to scour the net for her. The silly thing was that I accepted the job even though I wasn't equipped for it. I didn't have any reliable download programs for downloading free music. And it was at an hour where no one who could recommend a program to me was awake.
So being the great surfer that I am, naturally the first thing that came to mind was "Google it"! That was either the worst idea any brilliant person could have; or the best idea and idiot could have. Either way, it's not something I'm proud of.
I successfully found a download link... the catch - must install plug-in. Of course I was suspicious, but it was late and I really wanted to get it over with. "What's the worst that could happen" went through my mind. And as you probably have guessed, as soon as the plug-in loaded itself, all sorts of popups appeared. My heart stopped for a quick moment as the size of my entire vocabulary was reduced to a single word – SHIT! My only consolation, the download went smoothly and I got the MP3.
I plead insanity!
But what’s done is done. I figured since I already fucked it up, might as well get on with the task at hand and figure it out later. While in the midst of the 2nd MP3, I decided to offer my friend 2 more songs, based on the time left before I turned in. The sad fact was I had to download each of the 4 songs from separate sources due to availability & connectivity. It couldn’t get much worse anyway.
None of my efforts to remove the spyware/adware/malware were successful. My antivirus is ill-equipped, and the free removal tools available online were ineffective. The last resort – FORMAT C:/. This is of course nothing new to me given my history of idiocy in the world of the Internet.
So I made a quick dash to Low Yat Plaza on Saturday to pick up the latest pirated copy of WinXP, with all the latest security updates. There’s even a crack for Windows Genuine Advantage… meaning I can get updates from Microsoft even though I’m using a pirated copy. Cool eh?! Cost – RM5. You really gotta love these software peddlers. They’re really up-to-date, the service is great, and the prices unreasonably cheap.
1 hour backing up files from the old platform, another hour formatting, installing & tweaking my newer Windows XP, and one final hour reinstalling all the essential software. Total 3 hours time expense for 3 minutes of stupidity. And you know me, there’s always a bright side. In this case, I’ve got a newer WinXP. I’ve also got a nice clean desktop again. I now have Media Player 11 which looks really cool. And… I now have reliable download software for movies (BitLord) & music (LimeWire).
Want any songs? I’ll be happy to get them off the net for you… at a price!
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