What bemused you today?

[Oldboy]

What bemused me today was the Co op bank sending me an E-mail asking me to retrieve my account , Which they had locked for security reasons 

I'm certainly not stupid  and I don't have an account with them.

I had to clear my cookies and history after as I had clicked on the link to see what they wanted me to do   

they asked for my sort code  account number or credit card number. Ha ha ha

Be careful about clicking on links contained in spurious emails. I never do, but the reason for suggesting caution is that my anti-virus program gave me a pop up warning this week about an html file in an email that had just come in. I regularly see the signs of removed zip files in emails, but this is the first in a while that was html related.

Never click or open an email that you don't recognize or know who it's from. Click or opening any email could run code which you don't see running but could load all sorts of nasties on your computer. I just click the report spam button and then delete it from my mail. 

[Beryl]

Yes you are right.
At first thought it was to do with my  loyalty card and was gong to ask them why, until I clicked on  "Click here to retrieve account" I cleared all the cookies and history.
My son is an IT consultant he told me about the codes when you click on a link and gathering info.

[StephenBatey]

It's more than just cookies that's the issue. If you click on a link and open a page in a web browser, unless it's a very basic text only site, you're going to be executing html code on your computer. Html code, just like any other, can load a virus. Some browsers block sites known to be infected; some "big names" have been hacked and infected in the past. I never click on a link in an email unless I'm certain that I not only know the person it purports to come from, but am sure that they would send such an email as well. I often get emails supposedly from people I know which consist of a simple message like "Hi Stephen, you might be interested in this link". I know the people well enough to know that they would never send such an email, and it gets deleted.

I've used a basic Windows 3.1 email program for years (since I had to switch from a better OS/2 one when OS/2 was discontinued). It fails to respond to html code and shows everything text only, which is safe. The downside is that some people send htlm mail, so I get "From" appearing as ?utf-8?B?QnJpZ2h0b24gJiBIb3ZlIENpdHkgQ291bmNpbA==?= with a subject of ?utf-8?B?QnVzIHBhc3MgcmVuZXdhbCBhcHBsaWNhdGlvbiA=?= (actual example, using copy and paste of From and Subject of an email from Brighton Council about my bus pass renewal). This obscurity is a price worth paying for me, knowing that plain text doesn't actually result in anything being executed.

[Beryl]

Yes. You are right. My son explained it all to me. I didn't know about the links and the things that can happen when you click on them. Luckily I don't do any online banking and keep all my passes  else where. It's amazing what hackers can do.
This page just asked for you sort code account number or a credit card number. Bit of a give away.
My niece's mum fell for it and was taken for £550.
My eldest son is a policeman. The first time I had a scam was a phone call telling me I had a virus. I said "|No I haven't" my so said "Now you have just told him you have a computer"
You have to be so careful.
Thanks for the advice Stephen and Oldboy

[Hinfrance]

Been out this morning braving the crowds of bovine eyed Christmas shoppers. Normally I go into town early to catch the shops when they open, surgical strike, but Mrs H wanted to come with me today and getting a woman to move her *rse is a struggle at the best of times; first thing on a Saturday morning is not the best of times. So we were late, and hit the immutable mass of wandering vacuity and dull wit that characterises this time of year especially. Aargh!

And none of the shops had any ducks.

[Oldboy]

And none of the shops had any ducks.

Take some bread to the local pond and you should find plenty! 

[chris2pher]

My very first dslr (canon 700d) that I've had a month fell off my tripod onto hard floor. Most of it works apart from in manual and press the shutter and the mirror goes up, but it doesn't fall until I press the shutter again. Majorly pissed off. Will this be expensive to fix?

[anglefire]

I'm saying this here and not in either the annoyed or happy threads, because I don't know how I feel.

I've actually received the money for my Discovery that I technically sold at the end of January - but had to fix a couple of things before it went - one was a split (at the join) exhaust which took about 1/2 hour to sort and no cost - the other a self inflicted mistake that cost the thick end of £500

Came to to the transfer online tonight - and the service is only available 7am to 7pm 

So I am annoyed I can't actually do the "paperwork" and happy that it is sold to someone that will use it properly and bemused that I don't know if I'm happy or sad.

It's the longest I've owned a car, except for a Rover P6 3500S, but that only did about 2000miles in 20years. I've done some 174000 in the 7 years I've owned the Disco - and driven all bar about 4or5k of them - the rest being a mate of mine on off road trips.

[Oldboy]

The universe was created by a quantum fluctuation of the vacuum according to the scientists, also called a false vacuum which could collapse at any moment. Is this pixelated building precede the collapse of the vacuum? 



 

[Hinfrance]

When I woke up this morning my allegedly 'radio controlled' alarm clock displayed 14:43, 24th March. Presumably it must have been hacked by the Russians, as they are responsible for everything that goes wrong with computery things.

[Reinardina]

When I woke up this morning my allegedly 'radio controlled' alarm clock displayed 14:43, 24th March. Presumably it must have been hacked by the Russians, as they are responsible for everything that goes wrong with computery things.

How do you know a computer is at fault?

[Hinfrance]

You mean you think it might have been THEM interfering with the radio signal from Germany? Mmm, better reinforce the tinfoil hat.

[Reinardina]

Or it could be correct, and you haven't realised you've lost all sense of time.

[Simple]

I do not know how old your clock is, but the millennium bug might have finally arrived.

[Oldboy]

I do not know how old your clock is, but the millennium bug might have finally arrived.