Computer Question... and MORE BOOKS
Okay, computer question first. Hoping somebody on my F-List can help me!
I do a virus scan every Sunday. Came up clean. On Wednesday and Thursday, my friend got weird emails from my email addy, both with attachments, that I did NOT send. So I did more scans tonight.
Ad-aware found two tracking cookies. I don't think that causes it. Norton came back completely clean for viruses. Spybot found 5 DSO Exploits. I have no idea what that means. I deleted/quarantined them.
Does anybody know if DSO Exploits can infect or cause my computer to send out emails with attachments? If so, any idea on how to prevent? Or any idea how else this can be happening? (I know that there are certain viruses that go into a person's email, search their address book, pick a name from it, and send email under that name so it *looks* like that person sent it... at this point, I'm thinking maybe that's what happening. *shrugs*)
So... BOOKS. Work is slow as molasses so I'm getting lots of fun reading done for the 50bookchallenge. Comments under the cuts are lengthy!!
25. Cravings by various authors
I picked this up because it features a new Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter story by Laurell K. Hamilton. Turns out, Anita's story was almost the one I was least interested in.
The tales:
A) Blood Upon My Lips by Laurell K. Hamilton
I remember discovering Anita Blake in "Guilty Pleasures", way back when. Man, I loved Anita -- she was funny, tough, smart, sexy and she didn't need any man... or vampire... to rescue her. There was always an element of titillation to the books -- for some reason, meeting with ubervamps always required Anita to dress like Bondage Barbie -- but somewhere along the way, Hamilton got lost. Anita became practically superhuman, Jean-Claude was relegated to sidekick, and the stories became one long PWP. Except, unlike "good smut", the reader (and often Anita) rarely ever get "release"! There is buildup - we can't - buildup - this is wrong... endlessly, pages and pages of it. I'm about ready to throw up my hands and give up.
Oh, and I betcha she uses this story, verbatim, as the opening chapter of the next Anita Blake book.
B) Dead Girls Don't Dance by MaryJanice Davidson
This book is worth buying for this novella alone! I knew I'd like it as soon as I saw that the author had quoted "The Princess Bride" in her intro! This is a vampire tale unlike any I've read... irreverent, cheeky and funny as hell. Newly made vampire Andrea Mercer finds herself snacking on her old college crush, Daniel Harris. But Daniel's not scared or freaked -- just a little put out that the girl he "rescued" is chewing on him! Well, one thing leads to another -- as Daniel tells Andrea, "You've ruined me for live girls!" -- and the couple end up heading to Minneapolis together, so that Andrea can pay homage to the new vampire queen.
Really, really well written, tons of fun. There are two novels featuring Andrea -- "Undead and Unwed" is out now, and "Undead and Unemployed" comes out in August. I'm definitely going to be picking them up!
C) Originally Human by Eileen Wilks
This one is about Molly, a succubus. An interesting storyline, and a bit of a mystery to solve when a hurt, amnesiatic stranger literally drops at Molly's feet. I love a strong, capable heroine like Molly, but I won't be compelled to search out other stories by this author.
D) Burning Moon by Rebecca York
The weakest link in the group of four. Involves a werewolf who's investigating his wife's murder, and his involvement with a blind clairvoyant. Pedestrian writing, and waaay too schmaltzy and Harlequin Romance-y for my taste.
26. Everything's Eventual by Stephen King
This is 14 short stories. All of them held my interest at the time of reading, but only a few have stuck with me. Autopsy Room 4 is pretty creepy. Paralyzed man wakes up in an autopsy room, desperately trying to communicate to the ME that he's alive in there. 1408 is a haunted hotel room story with a gradually escalating eerieness. And The Little Sisters of Eluria -- my fave. This is a story of Roland of Gilead!! It takes place pre-"The Gunslinger", so no worries of spoilage. I hadn't realized how much I missed reading of Roland till I read this story. And I've really really been trying to hold out till "Wolves of the Calla" and "Song of Susannah" come out in paperback, but I know I'm going to crumble like a cheap pie crust soon!
27. Black Dawn by D.A. Stern
In Stephen King's "The Stand" (classic King), he starts the story with a disparate group of people spread throughout the country. And by the end, all these people have come together, their storylines weaving together in a battle of good vs. evil. D.A. Stern seems to be attempting something along the same line, except there's plotholes galore, huge gaps in logic, and some of the main characters are so similar in the way they are written that it's hard to remember who is who. So I keep reading... and the ending of the book so completely pissed me off that I regretted the time I'd put in to reading it!
.
I do a virus scan every Sunday. Came up clean. On Wednesday and Thursday, my friend got weird emails from my email addy, both with attachments, that I did NOT send. So I did more scans tonight.
Ad-aware found two tracking cookies. I don't think that causes it. Norton came back completely clean for viruses. Spybot found 5 DSO Exploits. I have no idea what that means. I deleted/quarantined them.
Does anybody know if DSO Exploits can infect or cause my computer to send out emails with attachments? If so, any idea on how to prevent? Or any idea how else this can be happening? (I know that there are certain viruses that go into a person's email, search their address book, pick a name from it, and send email under that name so it *looks* like that person sent it... at this point, I'm thinking maybe that's what happening. *shrugs*)
So... BOOKS. Work is slow as molasses so I'm getting lots of fun reading done for the 50bookchallenge. Comments under the cuts are lengthy!!
25. Cravings by various authors
I picked this up because it features a new Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter story by Laurell K. Hamilton. Turns out, Anita's story was almost the one I was least interested in.
The tales:
A) Blood Upon My Lips by Laurell K. Hamilton
I remember discovering Anita Blake in "Guilty Pleasures", way back when. Man, I loved Anita -- she was funny, tough, smart, sexy and she didn't need any man... or vampire... to rescue her. There was always an element of titillation to the books -- for some reason, meeting with ubervamps always required Anita to dress like Bondage Barbie -- but somewhere along the way, Hamilton got lost. Anita became practically superhuman, Jean-Claude was relegated to sidekick, and the stories became one long PWP. Except, unlike "good smut", the reader (and often Anita) rarely ever get "release"! There is buildup - we can't - buildup - this is wrong... endlessly, pages and pages of it. I'm about ready to throw up my hands and give up.
Oh, and I betcha she uses this story, verbatim, as the opening chapter of the next Anita Blake book.
B) Dead Girls Don't Dance by MaryJanice Davidson
This book is worth buying for this novella alone! I knew I'd like it as soon as I saw that the author had quoted "The Princess Bride" in her intro! This is a vampire tale unlike any I've read... irreverent, cheeky and funny as hell. Newly made vampire Andrea Mercer finds herself snacking on her old college crush, Daniel Harris. But Daniel's not scared or freaked -- just a little put out that the girl he "rescued" is chewing on him! Well, one thing leads to another -- as Daniel tells Andrea, "You've ruined me for live girls!" -- and the couple end up heading to Minneapolis together, so that Andrea can pay homage to the new vampire queen.
Really, really well written, tons of fun. There are two novels featuring Andrea -- "Undead and Unwed" is out now, and "Undead and Unemployed" comes out in August. I'm definitely going to be picking them up!
C) Originally Human by Eileen Wilks
This one is about Molly, a succubus. An interesting storyline, and a bit of a mystery to solve when a hurt, amnesiatic stranger literally drops at Molly's feet. I love a strong, capable heroine like Molly, but I won't be compelled to search out other stories by this author.
D) Burning Moon by Rebecca York
The weakest link in the group of four. Involves a werewolf who's investigating his wife's murder, and his involvement with a blind clairvoyant. Pedestrian writing, and waaay too schmaltzy and Harlequin Romance-y for my taste.
26. Everything's Eventual by Stephen King
This is 14 short stories. All of them held my interest at the time of reading, but only a few have stuck with me. Autopsy Room 4 is pretty creepy. Paralyzed man wakes up in an autopsy room, desperately trying to communicate to the ME that he's alive in there. 1408 is a haunted hotel room story with a gradually escalating eerieness. And The Little Sisters of Eluria -- my fave. This is a story of Roland of Gilead!! It takes place pre-"The Gunslinger", so no worries of spoilage. I hadn't realized how much I missed reading of Roland till I read this story. And I've really really been trying to hold out till "Wolves of the Calla" and "Song of Susannah" come out in paperback, but I know I'm going to crumble like a cheap pie crust soon!
27. Black Dawn by D.A. Stern
In Stephen King's "The Stand" (classic King), he starts the story with a disparate group of people spread throughout the country. And by the end, all these people have come together, their storylines weaving together in a battle of good vs. evil. D.A. Stern seems to be attempting something along the same line, except there's plotholes galore, huge gaps in logic, and some of the main characters are so similar in the way they are written that it's hard to remember who is who. So I keep reading... and the ending of the book so completely pissed me off that I regretted the time I'd put in to reading it!
.