Ramblings of a Frustrated Crime Writer: June 2021

Monday 28 June 2021

Chrome extensions are useful until they hijack your laptop with charmsearching

THERE IS NO CHARM IN CHARM SEARCHING

A couple of days ago I noticed a very strange thing happening with my Windows 10 laptop. No, not the usual constant updates that make me crave my Chromebook.

No, the problem I had was whenever I searched for anything it was redirecting me to something called charm searching dot com and that would take me to bing where it would come up with the search results and not Google which is my default search engine.

Have you heard of it? Despite its name there's nothing charming about it. I certainly hadn't been acquainted with it. Then I did my research and what I discovered made me scared to use my laptop.

Charmsearching is the name of a fake search engine and browser hijacker. When your computer becomes infected with this malware your searches are redirected to this fake search engine. There is a chance of your personal data being heavily compromised.

I had to eradicate this dangerous nuisance and fast.

GET OFF MY LAPTOP!

I tried several things - including downloading Combo cleaner - that people who seemed to know what they're talking about suggested. A quick scan took over 4 hours and found absolutely nothing.

I checked all my browser settings and blocked the search charms website.

But no matter what I tried, including uninstalling and reinstalling Chrinrm

SOLVED - Check your Chrome extensions if you have any👍☺️

Thankfully, then I came across a discussion group and they suggested that chrome-extensions could be the problem. Apparently these extensions which I find useful when they're not screwed up my computer, can work perfectly fine for months and even years only to be corrupted.

Methodically I disabled them all and one at a time I enable each extension and checked to see if I still had charm search. Eventually it was gone. No more redirects when I put in a search.

The culprit in my laptop's case - an extension that takes screenshots that I had been using for months with no trouble.

If I get any more problems the first place I'll head to is extensions.

Monday 14 June 2021

Why I love zombies

I'm not the only one obsessed with the dead who rise

I often get asked when people look down my list of published books why I wrote a zombie novel? It doesn't seem to fit in with my profile - I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years and a crime writer.

I've written books on compassionate living, bullying due to my bitter experience of it, caring for your dog because of my experience of having rescue dogs all my life and I'd even written comedy books.

How does that fit in with being obsessed with humans who die then come back to life, desperate to devour human flesh?

I'm obsessed to the point of coming up with theories of how an actual zombie apocalypse could start. When I go for walks with my rescue dog I think about where would be the best place to be holed up if the Dead started to roam the earth. How secure would that place be? How would we get food?

How would we survive?

Seeing zombies through the eyes of Rick Grimes

That's the one thing the zombie genre gives you - pure escapism.

Zombies give me something else to think about other than the problems we all face in our lives - nightmare neighbours, rude and obnoxious people who don't speak to you for 5 years and then out the blue accuse you of something nonsensical, constant worrying about money and the welfare of those we love.

Zombies are my escape from the true horrors of the world - could anyone have imagined a pandemic like the one we are experiencing - and daily existence.

Unlike real life, living humans who don't die and come back to life, with zombies you know where you are - avoid them or if they bite you and you die and then come back as one of them.

If only life were just as simple.

I also love to be scared - whether it's a movie, TV show, or in a novel but not in real life. There are enough things to scare you in real life.

I also love exploring how the zombie apocalypse brings out the best and worst in people. I enjoy the way anyone can be redeemed.

And that's one of the other things I enjoy most about the genre - how it explores the best and worst sides of human nature. Nothing shows someone's true colours as much as a zombie apocalypse.