I had intended to do something on part of the wonderful address presented at the Mississippi County Veterans Day Ceremony at the courthouse Friday, but that was going to involve some research, and as I am typing this on Sunday, I am hoping against hope we do not have one of the repeated power outages and related power surges we have been having all day because of the wind. So this is going to be short and sweet, and I will do the Veterans column at a later time.
I woke this morning and checked my Facebook updates and email on my smart phone, as I always do, and was met with a flurry of seemingly panicked friends screaming (typing IN ALL CAPS WITH LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!) about a hacker of some sort. So I drug myself all bleary-eyed to my computer to see what they were all upset about.
And there it was. And it wasn't pretty. And it was EXACTLY the type of thing I would have scrolled past and not touched on a dare, but apparently some people like to view videos of people with big ugly growths on their necks, because in order for the thing to spread you have to interact with it in some way, such as clicking on it to watch the video.
However, if you do click on the post in any way, it infects your Facebook account, steals your profile information and sends itself to everyone on your friends list. And it says you sent it.
There have been a rash of these things, and the solution if you get one of them, as I understand it, is to change your user name and password on your Facebook account. The problem is, they are not usually as obvious as this one.
There was a game on Facebook that the teenagers used to play a lot. Yes, I have some teenagers as friends; my granddaughter plays some Facebook games, and her little friends join her in those games. So when they posted those "so-and-so answered a question about you" things, I saw the posts. However, that game has become almost completely infected, and I notice the only person who seems to be playing it now, thank goodness, is "Facebook User." In other words, the hacker is out there, but nobody is biting anymore.
Another one is the birthday card function. Now, once upon a time, I used to send e-cards to friends. This was an easy and free way to send some of the most adorable, animated cards to loved ones, and I also loved receiving them. Not anymore. Most card sites, even Hallmark, have been infected multiple times by viruses, so I no longer send or open e-cards.
Another one is "Here is something for you" or "Get game cash free." These are fairly new ones, and also unfortunate because at one time people could actually send game elements for free to other game players. The free gifts on the game sites are still OK, just not the posts that only show up as Facebook wall posts.
The website www.snopes.com is a great resource for checking what is a scam or a virus, and what is just a rumor. I went on that site and did some checking before I wrote this, and here are some common false rumors you will encounter on Facebook:
1. The old Facebook is going to start charging for membership. Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire. And he got that way letting people have Facebook accounts for free. 'Nuff said.
2. Facebook is going to shut down at some time in the future. See above. Duh.
Apparently, there is a dislike button that appears on some Facebook posts. According to Snopes, that DOES contain a virus, so leave it alone. And I guess I am going to have to stop trading Beatles and Beach Boys videos with my cousin in Illinois, because they are managing to infect most YouTube videos as well.
Facebook is a great way to share memories and special events/occasions with friends and family, and to share some good clean fun with the people you love who are so far away you would not normally even hear from them more than every couple of years. You just have to watch out for the party-poopers, and there are always going to be some of those around.
I enjoy hearing your comments. Please feel free to contact me at the email address listed below.
plenbooks@live.com