Another update and hello (OT)

[Brinatello Gal]

Hello, all,
I'm writing this from my uncle's computer.  Sorry, I haven't read all 117 
emails or deleted the 128 pieces of Junk Mail yet and I feel as though I've 
missed out on quite a bit.  For those who didn't know, I was attacked by 
three viruses on August 27, my birthday, and ever since then, I've had major 
problems.  The viruses were SoBig, a Trojan Horse, and W32 Badtrans, all 
infecting very important system files.  Since I couldn't repair the files, I 
had to delete them.  Things haven't been the same since.

On August 29, my dad stopped by to take my sister and I out to lunch.  I 
told him about my 'green screen' monitor and he offered to buy me a new one 
for my birthday!  After lunch, he drove us over to Frys and I picked out a 
brand new 17" flat screen by Envision.

The new monitor didn't take kindly to my old computer and I have not been 
able to change the screen resolution or the colors in Control Panel.  I'm 
forever stuck with HUGE icons and 16 bit Colors.  I figured if I 
re-installed Windows 98 (like HT suggested), it would refresh all of the 
Windows programs, including those in Control Panel.  It did nothing.  In 
fact, it's what caused my Internet connection to stop working.  Because my 
ISP, Juno, didn't come with the computer, Windows is treating it like a 
foreign program.  When I connect, I hear a dial-up and the connection is 
made, but every web page cannot be displayed, I can't send/receive email, 
and I can't chat in AOL Instant Messenger.  So, pretty much, anything 
related to the world wide web has been banned.  When I talked to Lisardo, I 
was in the process of restoring system files and kept screwing up big time 
to the point of what looked like my hard drive was erased.  I figured out 
what I did wrong and got back to semi-normal track.  I hope she didn't mind 
my moans and cries over the phone.  I haven't been myself lately.

Last night, I tried calling Juno, being unable to get a hold of anyone...for 
free.  The only way you can physically speak to a Tech Support person is you 
have to give your credit card number and they charge a $1.95 per minute.  I 
ended up doing it, the guy walked me through the whole set-up and gave me a 
reference number for I don't know what.  When I tried connecting, I got the 
same results of no world-wide-web connections.  I think I just blew $20 of 
my money.  :(

I'm now trying a free 30-day trial to Earthlink just to get Internet access 
and get a Live Update to Norton.  That's my main goal to see if there's any 
other hidden bugs.  I feel with how my computer is acting, I have a worm 
inside of it that I can't see or read.

To make a long story short, my computer is on the verge of death.  I believe 
I've done all I can and now, my last resort is to wipe out the entire hard 
drive.  If Norton detects a worm or more viruses, I'm going to start saving 
all my files to Zip disks and start from scratch.  I found a Window XP 
program at Target and thought about purchasing it.  $99.99?  Hmm, at this 
point, it may be worth it.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk TMNT with you guys.  There's tons of 
emails from the list and I think I need to change my Yahoo! Groups mail 
filter so that I don't get 200+ emails again.  I appreciate all the birthday 
wishes and gifts I received.  My screen was huge so I had a hard time seeing 
Lisardo's drawing she sent me.  On my uncle's screen, it was much better.  
Thank you so much!

Hopefully, I will return with a much better working computer soon.  Until 
then, I'm off again.  Take care all, and I love you mucho.

Brinatello

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