This is a short one!
Sirens! — While I was on the computer, a loud horn went off. It repeated every few seconds. It was incredibly loud and terrifying. The computer said I was hacked and gave me a number to call. It said it was Microsoft but I didn’t believe it. I’ve had similar things happen without the noise and all I did was reboot. This time that didn’t work. I was feeling frantic. I have a service subscription for my newer laptop so I called them. As I suspected it was a fraud. I had to do a hard reboot (holding down the off button for what seemed like a long time) and reset. All was good. It erased cookies which means that I am not instantly recognized. WordPress wanted my first born to log in. It quickly recanted after it found out that my firstborn was a cat. I am somewhat computer savvy. This would be terrifying for someone who isn’t. It felt like someone would come through the computer with guns blazing. The techie shared some stories of people smashing their computers. Yes, it was that alarming.
Smells – This weekend we got together with family. I had agreed to make some more complicated ethnic dishes that my mom used to make. It’s a two-step process over two days. From my husband’s perspective, the problem was that one included cabbage of which he is not a fan. For two days the delightful (?) odor of cooked cabbage hung in the house. I’ll take that over cat farts any day! Or old people smell.
Sights – Inflatables are back! There is a neighborhood nearby that has young families. There are always inflatables in the yards for almost every occasion including St. Patrick’s Day. They are up for Christmas. It’s a sign of the season.
So how was your week?
Really glad you didn’t give into the frightening noise and call that scam number! Will never understand people who make it their business and devote time and energy to try to scam people! They are the real Grinches!
On a happy note your streudels look so yummy! 🙂
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The strudel was yummy and is gone. Three huge pans of it…gone!
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LOL! Guess you need some elves to get busy making more!
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Nope! It’s something special we get twice a year. Once at the reunion and now at Christmas! Any treat given too often takes the specialness away. Except for chocolate. That’s always special.
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You have a point there! 🙂🍫🍫
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I have never heard of the sirens and this scam. I have been reluctant to wear my buds now because it would probably blow my eardrums out. I love that you are making your Mom’s homemade strudel♥ SSNS and I have been talking about trying to make The Mama’s Christmas stollen. We love cabbage with potatoes and kielbasa!
Inflatables… another “just no” like the spray painted Christmas trees.
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I’ve had the scam once several years ago but it wasn’t accompanied by the loud beeping. It just locked up my screen. I turned it off and when it went back on it was gone. This time I had to do what they called a “hard reboot” holding down the off button for like 30 seconds, waiting 2 minutes and then turning on. I also reset which eliminated cookies and history. That worked and now I know how to do that. I’ve only had it happen twice but the techie said that it gets people because it’s scary. If you call the number on the screen, you have to pay a hefty service call and they unlock the screen. I wish crotch rot on those scammers.
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“crotch rot”… I will have to remember that. I’ve got a couple of people I’d like to wish that on.
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Blasted scammers! I’m glad the fix wasn’t much worse. Do you have any kind of anti-virus software going? If not, you may want to think about it. My family used to make the cabbage strudel too!
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I have anti-virus but evidently it doesn’t block this. The screen is completely locked so you can’t exit the internet (which is where I think it comes from). The strudel was wonderful!
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Wow – that is terrible! So glad the hard reset worked! I bet it was – some of those old recipes are time and labor intensive, but so worth it 🙂
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The computer issues you describe are the kind of alarming scam that occasionally upsets my 87-year old mother. She is aware and wise enough not to fall for the scams but she doesn’t know how to back out of them and it’s very stressful. It really is a problem and yes, upsetting.
More happily, I love cabbage and would love to taste your dish! 😉 I don’t mind the smell.
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I think of older people when it happens to me. It’s very easy to get snookered by this. It has big letters that say Microsoft so they don’t believe it’s a scam. I love cabbage too. Sadly my husband doesn’t. Not only doesn’t he like it, he doesn’t like the invasive cooking smell either! Wish I could reboot him!
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I didn’t know the scams made a noise too … yikes! There are more bells and whistles to Windows 10 that I initially thought. I’ve had the red pop-up before with toll-free number to call. They are as bad as, if not worse, than robocallers with their shenanigans. There is a house that I pass on my walks through the hood sometimes that has so many inflatables and they all collapse every morning – some folks leave them up 24/7 but this homeowner has then collapsing … I’d like to see when they all rise or collapse … it would be a sight to see. I’m not a fan of them, but I have a very small house and any inflatable would likely dwarf the house. 🙂
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This was the first time I had the scam with the beeping. It’s not associated with Windows 10 though as my husband got it with Windows 7. I’ve never seen them inflate or deflate and that would be awesome!
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Scary indeed. A girl at work, years ago, when we first got Windows just prior to Y2K time (they worried we would crash and burn as we were on a Unix-based system and our accounting system would crash if everyone was putting in time at month end), a secretary clicked on something she should not have, and what looked like a bug started crawling across the computer screen. It became the talk of the office and we all went to have a look. A flat bug with lots of legs and the computer guru spent all afternoon getting rid of it. I often wonder if they all inflate/deflate at exactly the same time, like the same timer?
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An actual insect image on the screen? Yuk! I think they are on timers otherwise it would be a lot of work.
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Yes it was and it was flat with lots of legs crawling around her screen – we all went to look at it. Amazing and they had to shut down the whole system to ensure it did not transmit to the rest of us.
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I very nearly fell for that scare scam. I too hit something that made the siren noises and it scared me. I almost fell for it. Whew!
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It was so loud and startling! Far louder than any setting on my computer.
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Good to know about the siren scam. I’d probably just reboot (fortunately I’d never call the number) but I’m sure it would scare me at first. What a thing to do to others. Some people just suck. No inflatables in our neighborhood, but I did walk by a yard full of them today. Can’t say I’m a fan…
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I haven’t found anyone who is a fan but people do it for their kids or grandkids. At one house the people next door had a 6′ plastic snowman that lit up. It was so tacky they put it in the back yard. Their son loved it. It wasn’t Christmas without it.
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Mostly boring retired folks in our neighborhood 🙂
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That’s a good neighborhood!
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I’m glad you wrote about the computer being hacked. We’ve had that before, and I didn’t remember what we did to stop it.
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The noise wouldn’t stop. I finally turned all the sound off on the computer by using a fast key. The screen itself was locked so it was useless. It was terrifying for a short time. Then I got mad!
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You had a right to get mad. The people who do those things are reprehensible.
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Yes I wished crotch rot on them.
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I haven’t had that siren happen since I switched over to a Mac, though I suppose that’s probably a matter of just luck than having anything to do with using a Mac. What I do get, however, are alerts from Norton when it catches something. The sound they use always scares the bejesus out of me. – Marty
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Noises from the computer always signify the end of the world to me!
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I have not heard sirens but we do get calls all the time saying that there is something wrong with our computer and they would be happy to fix it. LOL.
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We’ve gotten calls on the phone about that too. Also telling us that it’s expiring but this one came out of the computer. It was scary!
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It seems the inflatables have gone out of favor here – replaced by those projection lights that cover the entire house with snowflakes or what looks like angry green bees from OZ. At least the projectors are designed to look like small presents stuck on a stake in the yard during the day and only take one long extension cord. (Odd the porch pirates haven’t seemed to be taking those little “boxes”)
Any sudden computer scam event is terrifying. Glad yours resolved easily. Whew. You do worry about the even older computer owners that get scared or responds as that computer hack demands. So much to watch out for – and to remain calm over
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We have some of those projection lights around here but the inflatables are still here. Dirty laundry during the day! 🙂 I worry that when I get old and dotty I’ll fall prey to those hoaxes.
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I am a huge fan of the Christmas lights….I love tasteful Christmas Decorations, but inside and out. I am not a fan at all of any of the inflatables. But then again I am not a fan of the inflatables in the Macy’s Parade! Does this make me a Scrooge?
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No, it makes you normal!
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Hey – don’t be rude! One day you’ll be old, if you’re lucky, and then you too will smell as bad as cat fart!
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Well, that boat has sailed. We call it old people smell!
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Glad you got your computer sorted. Luckily I have Hubby on hand, but if he wasn’t here…..?
Good week over here. The tree’s up and we are pretty festive. Yay!
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Much as I whine about the work of putting it up, it is festive. I’m enjoying the lights and treating myself to doing nothing today.
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We’ve had another late start to the day (dog was poorly night before last) so we haven’t done much. Busy day tomorrow though. Last minute shopping and delivering reindeer.
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I know someone who paid money to get their computer “unlocked” with that Microsoft scam. Not sun. And Gracie had a fit with an inflatable Santa today. She stood looking at it for a moment and then started barking at it, and watched it behind us all the way down the rest of the block. It was really quite entertaining.
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Sometimes I wonder what pets think. Gracie (who I think doesn’t see real well) will react to odd things even if they are not new to the house. She will stalk, then smell before she feels comfortable around it.
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I’ve had that Microsoft scare happen years ago, but can’t remember what I did to get it to stop, maybe just turned if off. It was certainly loud and scary. My European grandmother used to cook cabbage a lot and the smell would linger for days. Not a fan of inflatables – I find them tacky. New neighbours moved in at the end of the block, and they have tons of them, I lost count after 30. I can understand it if you have kids, but they don’t. I even saw an inflatable Nativity Scene this year, right next to Snoopy.
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Yes, you do a hard reboot to get rid of it. That means turning it off and waiting for a while. Cabbage does linger. It’s good at first (just like a fireplace) and then gets a stale smell to it. 30? That’s a lot!
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Ah yes, the inflatables…I want to carry a large needle with me when walking the neighborhood. After taking a photo of the Knuckleheads in front of them. Jeez, they sure are noisy!
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Like I said the neighborhood next to us has kids. (at least from the look of the inflatabless!) Sometimes it’s incongruous — a religious figure next to Snoopy!
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Inflatables are the precursor to bad taste. No matter what neighborhood they’re in.
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You can always find them around kids. I think kids love them!
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Well that makes one of us. 😈
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Cabbage odour does linger, doesn’t it. We had a visitor the day after, and I apologized for the fragrance. He said, “Not to worry. I like a house that’s lived in.”
That was nice of him, don’t you think?
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Definitely. My husband was on an errand when I started frying the cabbage. He came home and said, “Why does the driveway smell like cabbage?” Not only the driveway but our whole house. I eventually burned a candle to get rid of the stale cooking smells.
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We’ve experienced that siren too, very loud and unnerving. Glad it all worked out for you. I don’t mind the smell and love the taste of cabbage. I’d be fine making something with two steps but over two days, nope. I’m not that into cooking. 😊
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This was an old time cooking favorite from my mom so it was an act of love. Sometimes I will bake cookies or pastries (rarely) where I make the dough the day before but I can’t think of anything else that requires two days.
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If it was a old favourite, stirred love and brought back memories it would be worth it.
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It was both for me and my family. Missed my mom!
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I’ve experienced the sirens before. In a quiet room, it can certainly scare you!
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Yes, I wanted to climb under the bed with the cats. I wish they could block that stuff. Someone who is not savvy would call the number on the screen and get taken for a ride.
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I’m not a fan of the inflatables. Especially when they show up as a yard full of deflated piles. Glad all worked out ok with your computer.
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The morning after for inflatables looks like dirty laundry day!
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Inflatables are all over my neighborhood, too, especially now that there are more children. And this year, there’s a Hannukah inflatable: a rabbi holding a menorah. I enjoyed seeing that one, especially.
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For Halloween, one nearby house that a yard with inflatables from one end to the other. It was startling! I’ve never seen so many for Halloween. Haven’t seen the rabbi one. I have a friend that I’d love to buy that for.
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Glad you had a number you could call . . . instead of calling the hackers!
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I was happy with how it turned out but it was frightening even for me who knew it was a hoax. I don’t know how they took over my sound system and amped it up. I had to turn off the sound! Even the cats took off for under the bed.
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There’s something to be said for the pre-internet age!
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