When the button is pressed it takes you to a page to “Purchase” the virus scan program to be able to continue. Of course it’s fake, it’s not the virus scan program I have installed you say to yourself. I tried to close it, I tried to use my real virus scanner, I tried “Task Manager” to stop it, no other browsers would open, only the one you were using when you contracted it. Everything kept pointing to “Purchase”

I shut down and restarted in “Safe-Mode” (restart: after the screen goes black, start tapping your F8 key repeatedly until a screen appears, Arrow up/down to select “Safe Mode”, press Enter) I used my Spybot S&D to remove the initial programs and stuff associated with it. After that I did virus scans and used a few other programs designed to remove Malware but all came up empty after Spybot S&D removed what it found.

None of my browsers worked. I basically had to go through the Network setup wizard and establish a network connection again. Then I had to go to Internet Settings (Windows XP…. Control Panel>Internet Options>Connections-tab>Setup, follow the wizard) That got by browsers to at least work, but none would bring up a web page. I did a System Restore back to a few days before the incident. (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore) That got me back online, but things were still not right….

I went to my un-infected Desktop PC and went online and changed all my passwords anywhere I had important business because after doing a search around Google, Microsoft had a page explaining what this virus was and does, It first tries to fool you to buy the product, then it steals your passwords, looking for FTP servers to put itself on to spread further. I didn’t want to take any chances so I changed everything important.

I did a search for help and whenever I clicked a search result, it would take me someplace other than where I wanted to go. But not on everything, luckily, important places like MSN support, Google support, some fix-it sites, etc… worked fine. So I now had  Hijacked /redirect search results. I did manage to find a great place that basically does the same thing a Tech place would do if you took it down there and paid who knows how much money to have it cleaned.

I went to TechSpot.com where I found other people who had my same problem. It is a several step-procedure, customized to your particular malware/problem. Here is a link to my forum/post and what I had to do to clean my system. If you need help, don’t follow my procedure, every one is different and the scripts they create are catered to only my PC.  Follow the “8 step” procedure before posting (sticky post at top of page) It is all volunteer work, these fellows do this on their own time so be patient, it takes a while, Mine took about a week.  You might swear you are being ignored but everyone does get helped.

Cheryl didn’t find anything at the flea market but I found an old mason jar I’m going to use to make a bird feeder. Here are the few pics I took.

1. Cut ribs into 2-rib sections

2. Place in a dutch oven or heavy sauce pan. Fill with enough water to cover ribs. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes

3. Grill over medium/high heat, turning once, for about 10 minutes, adding BBQ  sauce after turning the first time. I salt and pepper the meaty side and cook that side first.

These aren’t the fall off the bone ribs we crave but they are delicious and tender enough for a quick meal.

Check out the latest photos here

Service south was halted by CORP around April 15 2008 because it claimed it was loosing money going south of Ashland. Loads originating north of Ashland would be hauled north to Eugene then sent south from there on the Union Pacific. (Instead of originally going south over the Siskiyou Summit to Black Butte to join the UP there.)

A big battle ensued between CORP and shippers, mainly veneer and log mills in Yreka,  and  by the Yreka Western RR. who services the mills, then exchange them with CORP in Montague, CA.

Originally, CORP would take a train of cars originating in the Rogue Valley to Hornbrook, CA, a midway point on the south end, drop that load off and pick up the loaded Log cars, Veneer and an occasional wood chip car and bring them north to awaiting plywood mills etc…  Another set of engines would resume taking the cars from the Rogue Valley south to Black Butte Junction, The shippers felt CORP was asking way too much money to take their loads North, plus reduced shipping days. The logs and veneer have been coming north on trucks ever since.

1 & 2- leaving Weed ~ “old and new” passing old Edgewood Store

Mt Shasta in background ~ passing siding at Gazelle ~ past old tractor Grenada

old tank car ~ fuel tank ~ old tressel

heat waves ~ old Montague station ~ Klamath River bridge

I you like, I have more pictures here

It started out as, me wanting to sync my iPod Touch browser bookmarks with Firefox. As you may know, iPod syncs with Internet Explorer (IE) only, and I needed a way to sync my at-the-time browser-of-choice, Firefox (FF) with IE so it in turn, would sync with the iPod. Also having both a desktop and laptop computer I wanted synced as well. I discovered X-Marks sync tool at the FF  extensions add-ons site.

With it and the extension for IE you can easily sync “Favorites”(IE) and Bookmarks (FF, Chrome) and multiple computers. It even automatically puts the items from the  IE “Links” folder and FF’s “Bookmarks Toolbar” in it’s respective folders.

Lately, I have been using Google Chrome browser almost exclusively. Chrome already automatically syncs it’s bookmarks between it and other Chrome browsers. I discovered today there is an extension for Chrome to sync with the X-Marks!

Now, to start out, before you just hit the “Sync Now” button, there is some simple prep that the X-Marks sync utility can do for you.

(click the “Run Setup Wizard” button)

With all these browsers having favorites stored on them already you must figure out which one (browser) you want to use as the starting point. Probably the one you use the most and has the most recent saved favorites/bookmarks.

First, just to be safe, backup your bookmarks from the ‘parent’ browser according to the respective Export instructions for that browser. Next bring up the X-Marks utility screen. (see above) click the “Run Setup Wizard” button. You will be prompted to set up an x-marks account. Your favorites are saved online and you can visit the site from anywhere in the world should you need to and access your favorite bookmarks. Setup a user name and password. When you get to the Sync now section…

… click the “Change Sync Settings”…

Now since this is the first sync, to be on the safe side (and anytime later on you want to start from scratch) choose the …

“Discard bookmarks on the server, keep bookmarks on this Computer” The screen might look different, depending on which browser x-marks version you are on.  It should only take a few seconds.

Now the bookmarks are saved online to the ‘server’. The next step and for all other browsers from now on, On this first sync session, choose the…

…”Keep bookmarks on the server, discard those on This computer. This is so you don’t end up with double bookmarks (trust me) that you will have to manually delete, unless you like having duplicate bookmarks (These steps only take effect the first sync)

Now all your bookmarks are exactly the same on each computer/browser! Choose the “Automatically Sync” option it the settings “Sync” tab, from now on any time you save a bookmark it will show up on all your browsers.

Also, X-Marks won’t let you accidentally delete your bookmarks. If more than a usual amount of bookmarks are synced for deletion or change, it will ask you “are you sure you want to do this” and give some possible other  sync options.

Note: even though you choose  to Automatically save bookmarks, it takes a few minutes sometimes for it to sync that way, so it is a good habit to manually sync after saving or deleting a new bookmark just to be sure it gets synced

The streets were lined on either side with spectators, not packed mind you, but for some reason several fellows felt the need to jump out in the street to take pictures with their “big” fancy cameras and block other people from getting anything but their backsides.

Here are this years shots

Old wooden Indian ~ Famous Jacksonville Tavern

“Peter Britt” ~ Chinese Dragons from San Francisco

Dragons ~ Chinese orphan girl ~ schoolkids masks

I almost missed the long golden dragon thanks to the idiot standing in the middle of the street taking pictures. It was a beautiful morning, but we weren’t in the mood to fight the crowds after the parade so we went over the the museum and checked things out there.

Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad (CORP) has an Engine  in Weed, CA  (GP38-3 #3809) that switches the local mills, and trades out cars with the Union Pacific RR  from the junction at Black Butte, CA.

CORP runs on the older, more mountainous, former Southern Pacific Siskiyou Line, Union Pacific runs on newer, less mountainous,  former Southern Pacific “Natron Cutoff” mainline. The two meet near Weed, CA at Black Butte, just off of the South Weed exit of I-5. There is an old water tower there and there used to be an old water spout for filling the tenders, until a misfortunate accident involving an Amtrak train and some cars fouling the main line, causing the Amtrak to derail and wipe out the old spigot.

Read more about the history of Black Butte Yard/Jctn.  here

It is a rare thing indeed to actually see the job #701 in action when you have to travel 80 miles and only get down there once or twice a year or so. Northern California recently had storm after storm dump tons of snow in the area, and I was anxious to get down there and get some train/snow shots (actually, my Jeep was threatening to cut me off if we didn’t go play.) It was just by luck that I was there about 5 minutes before it arrived at Black Butte. It must first climb around a steep grade to get there and I could hear the horn and laboring prime mover.

I knew right away what it was, as earlier in the day, I had seen the load and engine waiting at the Weed yard.

(above)  taken at Weed Yard

(above) Arriving at Black Butte.

(above) backing train to existing load. Mount Shasta, (middle) Black Butte, (right)

(above) Old water tower, CORP employee SUV, he ran around throwing switches for them, probably no conductor on board.

Up until this point it was not a great day for spotting trains. I stopped at Yreka Western RR on my way down there, no action, just a few of the engines sitting at the depot. Then I went down to Dunsmuir where the snow was deeper but no trains. Just the snow removing equipment sitting idle in the yard.  (below)

I did see a train however, just as the CORP train got next to the mainline, backing it’s load, a south bound mixed freight rolled through with two helpers on the end.