Tuesday, July 22, 2008

YOO-HOO! I'M HO-OME!

I have missed you all so much! I’m so glad to be back.

Arriving at the town house on Friday, the first thing we did was start up the computers, noting immediately that we had no internet service. We were advised by CableOne, our town internet provider, that someone had hacked into our email account and had set up two accounts from which they were sending junk mail. We were further advised that this could be the result of a virus or a security issue with our new router and that until we took our machines to a “dealer” for a complete check – both the PC and the laptop -- our internet service would remain disabled. It felt like the end of the world – and CableOne didn’t care.

Mike ascertained that the router was secure, but since it was the weekend, we waited until Monday to take the computers to a “dealer.” After discussing computer viruses at a family gathering Sunday night, I just about decided to opt out on computers – just about. But – making a long story short – the computers were both cleaned and the tech said not only were they clean, they were some of the cleanest he had ever seen. So, we picked them up this afternoon – but that’s not the end of the story. We still could not access email or our CableOne account, so Mike and I spent an hour on the phone with CableOne techs getting our account and our computers up and running. The whole thing felt like a nightmare. CableOne did agree to reimburse the $25.00 service fee on the computers, but that hardly seems to compensate for what we’ve been through.

We expected to go back to the farm this afternoon, but we decided to postpone until tomorrow.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So they quarantined you and it was their mistake?? Hmmm...

Kathy said...

In our view -- yes, that's what happened. And -- they were quite rude about it. They treated us like it was all our fault -- and we really feel it was an issue Cableone should have caught. Not a lot of competition for Cableone, though.

Hallie said...

Hurumph! Hallie does not like it when people are bad to HER people. Glad that you are back online! I was still checking regularly even though I knew you wouldn't be back until today.

Got Pride of the Yankees through Netflix. Cried like a baby. What's new...

debdog42 said...

Make sure your firewall is up to date and the settings are correct. Cable One filters email for viruses but they do not provide firewall protection. Also make sure your network file sharing is turned off.