Crafty Nerd PSA: Chrome crashing? Pop-ups on Firefox? Blame BetterSurf.

Edit 1/30/14 10:57 am:  It seems like a new influx of people are getting infected with BetterSurf – and the BetterSurf malware may be behaving differently than it did when it landed on my system.  So, for those of you who are stumbling across this page in your efforts to rid your system of BetterSurf, please understand the following:

  • The steps I compiled were from my own experience.  This is how I got rid of BetterSurf – your experience may be different.
  • I do not work in tech support – I just teach people how to use computers.  While I know enough do do system troubleshooting on my own, I am by no means an expert.  I can’t reach out from the depths of the internet and help you get rid of BetterSurf aside from what I’ve posted here.
  • If you want to know more about what BetterSurf does, or the steps below don’t work for you, check out this site.

I’m happy that this post was able to help an incredible amount of people (over a thousand at last count), and I hope it helps more people out as they deal with this unpleasant bit of malware/adware.

Edit 11/15 8:34 am:  I can’t believe how many people I’ve helped out with this!  If any of you who’re stumbling across this post are of the nerdy or crafty persuasion, please visit The Crafty Nerd’s Facebook page, or add my blog to your RSS reader of choice.

Still not quite sure how this virus is being spread around – some rumors have it as coming from YouTube, others remark that it’s hitting web developers pretty hard.  If you hear anything about where it’s coming from, post about it in the comments – I’d appreciate it.

Edit 11/14 6:14 pm: Holy crap I think this is the most visitors my site has ever had in an entire day ever.  I hope this walkthrough’s helping people out – share it with everyone you know!  I’ve added a section on how to remove some of the additional files that BetterSurf may have sneaked into your computer.

I know, I know, I don’t tend to do this sort of thing here, but as this was a sneaky little bit of malware that crawled into my Chrome installation without any sort of fanfare… I figured it might not be a bad idea to share with my readers.  (Plus, I’m all kinds of angry.  I’ve been spyware/malware/virus free since I don’t know when, and having something sneak in undetected… grr.)

I noticed yesterday that Chrome on my desktop and laptop computers had been crashing – while I figured it was just the Hangouts extension crashing the whole works (in the reviews of Hangouts on the Chrome Web Store, it’s notorious for crashing in all sorts of spectacular ways) and it was nothing to be worried about.  Well, this morning, Chrome crashed so spectacularly that I had to go into Task Manager and clear out the stuck Google Crash Handler processes before Chrome would even open up again – and then as it did open, a little pop-up from Chrome appeared saying “Extension BetterSurf was installed, and has been causing problems” or something to that effect, and gave me the options to disable or remove the extension.  (I’ve seen a similar window when the Adobe PDF reader extension was giving me issues.)  Since I’d never seen BetterSurf before in my life, and certainly hadn’t installed any extensions lately, nor visited any remotely questionable sites, and I also have AdBlock running on my computer too, I removed it – and then visited Google Search to see what else was out there about this.

I first found this forum thread on the subject – which was exactly what happened to me.  Chrome crashed, upon reboot the extension was installed.  The extension’s not limited to Chrome users, though.  Firefox users are affected as well, as noted by this post.  The extension seems to pop up windows advertising similar services/products to sites you’re currently visiting – which is never a good thing.  There’s also an analysis overview of BetterSurf over at Malwr.com, for those interested.

So, it might be a good idea for everyone – whether or not you’ve installed any extensions lately – to go take a quick look at what’s installed and get rid of BetterSurf if it’s there.  For Chrome users, just go to the Options menu in the very upper right hand corner (just under the Close button), point to Tools, and then click on Extensions – it’ll bring up the list of all the extensions you have installed.  If you see BetterSurf in there, click the little trash can icon to the far right of BetterSurf’s listing in your extensions – Chrome will confirm that you really want to remove it, so click Remove, and it’s gone.

There it is, lurking in my Firefox extensions. And I haven't even opened Firefox since the AJAX class I took in July! Grumpy Jasmine Cat is not pleased.

There it is, lurking in my Firefox extensions. And I haven’t even opened Firefox since the AJAX class I took in July! Grumpy Jasmine Cat is not pleased.

Firefox users – go to the Firefox menu at the top left of your Firefox window, then click on Add-ons – it’ll bring you to the Add-ons Manager.  Click on the Extensions tab, and should you see BetterSurf there, click Disable.  Firefox will require you to restart, so do that, go back to the Extensions tab on the Add-Ons window, and it’ll show you that BetterSurf has been disabled.  There’s not much else you can do from here.

Yep, this sucker just made itself at home...

Yep, this sucker just made itself at home…

This next part is for both Chrome and Firefox users.  The last thing to do is to remove the BetterSurf folder from your Program Files folder on the hard drive – mine showed up in the Program Files (x86) folder.  Drag that sucker to the recycle bin, right-click and then select Delete, either way will get rid of it.  Make sure to empty your Recycle Bin afterwards.  If you go back to Firefox afterwards, you’ll notice it’s not in the list of installed extensions, which is exactly what we wanted!

This next part involves a little bit of digging.  Another post mentioned the following, regarding this stupid BetterSurf crap…

There are several other things it does to your PC, including a TASK it schedules to run called AmiUpdXP, which you can find and delete from c:\windows\tasks\AmiUpdXp.job on windows 7.

 

Other things I have found: A folder is created in your appdata/local called SwvUpdater which is referenced by the Task to run Updater.exe – the frightening part, since it will be able to download and execute any future malware/virus/worm.”

I went and investigated on my own computer – and found the AmiUpdXp.job in Tasks, as well as SwvUpdater in apps/local.  Since I’ve deleted them already (and my computer hasn’t imploded), there are no screenshots for you, but here’s how to take care of the next part.

To ditch the AmiUpXp.job file, you’ll need to go into C:\Windows\Tasks – inside that folder may be a couple of different things, I deleted the AmiUpXp.job file and moved onto the next step.

SwvUpdater is indeed malware, according to ShouldIRemoveIt.com – and you can read more about it and what it does here.  I may have been ridiculous and just deleted the folder for SwvUpdater, but you can actually uninstall it via Windows, too.  Just go to Control Panel, then click on Programs and Features (or Uninstall a Program if you’re in category view).  Scroll down, and look for Software Version Updater.

See it? This stupid little thing's been hiding in my computer since October, apparently!

See it? This stupid little thing’s been hiding in my computer since October, apparently!

Select Software Version Updater from the list, click the Uninstall button at the top, and there you go.  (To double-check that it’s really gone, for those of you who feel like it, go look in your User/AppData/Local folder and make sure that the SwvUpdater folder is gone.  You’ll have to make Windows show hidden files and folders first.)

Nobody’s quite sure how this little piece of malware snuck its way onto computers- rumor has it that it’s been spreading through YouTube somehow.  Hopefully this’ll help people who’ve been infected with this stupid add-on get rid of it!

This has been a Crafty Nerd PSA – hope this info helps my fellow crafty nerds, and others around the internet!

Grumpy Disney? no. (er, I mean, YESSS.)

Aheheheh.  I do apologize sincerely for my absence over the past few weeks – with NaNoWriMo approaching (and then starting), I’ve been wrapped up in plotting and writing and such… and on top of that, I started another Doctor Who scarf, so… yes.  I am not dead, just crazy.

So much so that I just about died when I saw this enter my Facebook news feed this morning.

part_of_your_no_by_tsaoshin-d6f5s39Yes, that is Grumpy Cat as Ariel, The Little Mermaid.  Yes, I am very glad I wasn’t drinking coffee at the time.  I might have snorted it all across my monitor otherwise.

Eric Proctor (TsaoShin on DeviantArt) is the wonderful mind who came up with the delightful idea of inserting Grumpy Cat into various Disney films – with the simple premise of: ” the appearance of the cat must derail the plot of the film.”  And oh, would Grumpy Cat derail these films, haha.

he_mele_no_lilo_by_tsaoshin-d6mzn6rI mean, come on.  Grumpy Cat as Lilo?  Adorable.  I love the little fist-bump she’s giving Stitch.

tale_as_old_as_no_by_tsaoshin-d6k8keeAnd this last one is my absolute favorite – especially for the look of horror on the Beast’s face as Grumpy bats at the rose.  Oh lord.  I just about died.

If you want to see more, check out the Grumpy Disney gallery on DeviantArt!  Eric’s other artwork is great as well – he’s got some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic stuff, and this little treat that made me squeal with delight.

toothless_sculpture_2_by_tsaoshin-d69y1jnOH MY GOD YOU GUYS IT’S TOOTHLESS.  And he looks so much better than any of my little clay Toothlesses.  (Toothli?)

So yes, go check out his artwork, and stay away from the beverages while you look at the Grumpy Disney gallery – trust me, your monitor will thank you.

Meanwhile, AUGH I’ve written almost 300 words that aren’t novel related!  I MUST WRITE MY BOOK.  (For those curious: the working title is For Whom the Bard Sings, and it’s a fantasy novel loosely set in the D&D Eberron world.  If it comes out as well as I’m hoping, maybe someday I may eventually publish this one… maybe.)

Back to writing! 😀

 

 

 

 

Tiny little review of a tiny little game: Love Letter

Last night, I had the opportunity to play a new game – it’s a short and sweet little game called Love Letter.  Michael and I played it while at dinner at the local Chinese buffet place – because why not have a little game with your dinner?

51Z6pBcHybLThe premise of Love Letter is simple – Princess Annette is pretty darn popular, and has quite a few suitors wanting to get a love letter to her.  However… she’s locked herself in a tower, and it’s your job to try and cozy up to the people closest to the princess in hopes of getting your letter to her.

61QKHd7QoBLThere’s a small deck of cards with various people from the castle, with different numbers on each card.  The number indicates how close that person is to the princess.  Each card also has a condition on it – for example, the Priest card makes it so another player has to show you their cards, and the Countess card has to be discarded if she’s caught with the King or the Prince in the same hand (scandalous!) – these conditions can make game play pretty interesting.

At the end of each round, whoever has the highest numbered card in their hand gets their letter to the princess, and they earn a token of her affection (which is a little tiny red cube).  Once a player earns enough tokens, they win the princess’s affection (and therefore the game).  The game can be played with 2-4 people, and the amount of tokens needed to win changes with the amount of people playing.  For two players, you need seven tokens to win.  It’s a pretty quick game to play, especially depending on what cards you end up with.

Michael and I managed to play through an entire game in a half hour – I was wiping the floor with him for a chunk of the game, as I kept getting lucky and getting the princess card (I mean, how much closer can you get to the princess when you’ve got the princess card?) – however, then Michael kept getting cards that made it that even once I’d gotten the princess card I’d have to discard it (and therefore lose the round, because the princess card’s condition? When discarded, you lose the round).  In the end, Michael swooped past me, captured the princess’s affections, and won.  I was so close, too – I was two tokens shy!

So, in short, this is a good little game to play if you’ve got a little bit of time to kill and want a small game to play – the entire game fits into a bag roughly the size of a dice bag, and doesn’t take terribly long to play.  It’s also pretty entertaining, too, and is pretty inexpensive to boot!  You can find it here on Amazon.

So, in short, The Crafty Nerd’s verdict?  Pretty darn awesome, and I suggest you give it a try!

 

 

Embarking on a new cosplay project!

Or, as I’ve been titling this project in my head, “How To Turn Yourself Into A Dragon”.

Toothless is best dragon.

Toothless is best dragon.

Yes, I’m going to try to put together a Toothless costume for the 2014 convention season.  I may even start as early as tomorrow.  And it’ll be my first time assembling a costume this complicated, especially without any sort of pattern!  I’m excited.  And kinda nervous.

I’m no stranger to the world of do-it-yourself cosplay.  While I don’t exactly have the skills for super frilly over-the-top costumes, I know where my strengths lie, and I work with that to make costumes that will look good, even being simple.  Like my Pinkie Pie costume, or my Fourth Doctor costume.  And I have done work without patterns before – Pinkie Pie’s skirt was done completely freehand.  I’ve also done three sailor fukus with no pattern (yes, not only did I dress as Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter, but I also dressed as my own fan character, embarrassing as it is to admit), and an entire Princess Peach costume as well – with varying levels of success.  I know what I’m about to enter into – this isn’t unfamiliar territory.

cute_black_dragon_hoodie_by_calgarycosplay-d31u6dkAnd I do have some visuals to work off of.  I’ve seen this around the internet in a number of places – this is one of them, as well as on DeviantArt – and while I’d love to buy one, I can’t really justify spending $300+ on a sweatshirt.  (And having made a Toothless plush myself, I know that a fair bit of work went into it, I’m quite sure, but is it really $300 worth of work?)  I’d much rather make one myself, too.  I had a blast making Toothless, and I’d love to do something similar, something on a slightly bigger scale, something fun.  And not to mention pretty darn recognizable, especially for the summer conventions, with How To Train Your Dragon 2 coming out in June.

So, how the heck am I going to approach this?  How am I going to start?

Determined dragon is determined.

Determined dragon is determined.

With determination, that’s how!  Heh. I figure I’ll start with stuff I’ve already got – I’ll be using the pattern from the Toothless plush for inspiration on how to construct the head and tail.  I’ll also take advantage of ready-made stuff – such as a pre-made sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants.  And the pictures posted of the sweatshirt give me quite a few ideas of how to construct things.  From there, I can construct Toothless’s little… head tentacles?  Not-quite-horns?  You guys know what I mean.  Anyhow.  I can construct a way to add those to a sweatshirt hood, and then add hand covers and wings and a tail.  (And maybe foot covers, for the sweatpants, if I can swing it.)  The most laborious part will likely be the scales – I have no idea how I’m doing those yet, but those aren’t my main concern anyway.  Those’ll likely be the last things I put on.

But yes.  I am going to make a Toothless costume.  And it will either be epic, or be an epic failure.  I’m leaning more towards epic, myself.  And of course, as I build the costume, I’ll keep everyone updated.  I know I have a lot of fellow Toothless fans who read the blog, and I want to share the process with you guys!

So, stay tuned – Project How To Make Yourself Into A Dragon will start soon.

 

 

Anime Music Videos of Yesteryear

I freaking love anime music videos.  I remember going around to people’s dorm rooms to watch ones they’d downloaded, in the days before YouTube, and keeping a collection of my favorites burned to CD to free up precious disk space on my computer. (Many of these were back from the days when all I had for hard drive space was 12 gigabytes, spread across three hard drives… my cellphone has more storage space than that now!) These are just a handful of my favorites – not all of them are available anymore, and a handful of them, including a certain Pikachu-themed video some of my friends might remember that’s done to a Mindless Self Indulgence song, aren’t exactly family friendly – and I do try to keep it family friendly here, for the most part – so here, enjoy some anime music videos from days gone by!

Jinnai and the Bugrom

I first saw this one at Otakon back in 2005, during an AMV competition.  The song promptly got stuck in my head for the next week.  It was really well done – I remember scrambling to find some paper to write down the name of the video, so I could find it when I got home, haha.

Evangelion: Engel

This is one a friend of mine showed me back in 2001 – I was in awe of how amazing it was, especially with the meticulous attention to lip syncing and everything… it was great!  Plus, the whole video is just… awesome.  Definitely one of my most favorite videos.

No need for Polka!

Because what’s an anime music video roundup without some Tenchi Muyo done to Weird Al? 😀

Mini Goddess – Everybody Have Fun

I think this may have been my first introduction to Oh! My Goddess ever.  I was… mildly curious, after seeing this – I knew it wasn’t the actual series, but I was all “hmm, just what the heck is that show about?”  (Interesting tangent – the Oh! My Goddess movie was the first DVD I ever owned.  I still have it, too!)

Sailor Moon on Jerry Springer!

What else can be said?  It’s Sailor Moon.  On Jerry Springer.  Thanks to Weird Al.  (Stick around and watch to the very end – there’s a pretty amusing mention of Save Our Sailors, a campaign to bring back Sailor Moon that many of the younger Sailor Moon fans may not remember (or even know about).  SOS was a little out in left field, to say the least…

Daft Punk – One More Time

And this last one is actually an official anime music video – way back in the early part of the last decade (yikes, I feel so old just saying that!), Daft Punk had an entire anime movie made for their album Discovery, and this is the first part.  The movie, for those curious, is Interstella 5555 – The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. (yes, lots of fives)  It’s really, really good, especially for what’s essentially an anime with no speaking roles.

Hope everyone enjoyed this peek into yesteryear – if anyone else has any favorite anime music videos they want to share, post them in the comments!

The Crafty Nerd goes to the renfaire!

I absolutely love renaissance faires.  It’s so much fun to get dressed up in costume and pretend you’ve slipped back in time to the Renaissance days… 028

…just like Bryan and I did last weekend, at the Ohio Renaissance Festival!  Despite me coming down with a cold, we still had lots of fun.  We watched some stage swordfighting, perused the wares of many a shop, and got to enjoy my favorite part of any renaissance faire – jousting.

079

 

Yes, the Knights of Valour were there at the Ohio Renaissance Festival, including a couple of favorites from the TV show Full Metal Jousting.  They do real, full-contact jousting – it’s really exciting to watch!  (And a little frightening when someone gets violently unhorsed…)

While sitting at the joust, waiting for the queen to arrive, I happened to see a rather familiar pair of people in the stands…

031Yes, even the Doctor and Amy Pond were in attendance at the joust!

040I do love finding the Doctor at renaissance faires… at last year’s Ohio faire, I saw a Tenth Doctor wandering around outside the castle walls, waiting for the faire to open with the rest of the crowd.  I also saw a fair amount of people wearing Doctor Who t-shirts, heheh.

If you’d like to see the rest of the photos I took at the faire, here’s a gallery of them all!  I will say, my new camera did a very good job of taking good photos from a fair distance.  I think this was a good investment for my blogging, that’s for sure.

 

 

The new scooter: a story told in photos

For those of you who haven’t been following the Facebook page, or who haven’t had to put up with me in person the past couple of days, I’ve been sick.  Not super sick, not “oh crap I should go to urgent care” sick, but sick enough to be whiny and spaced-out.  BUT.  I know my loyal readers are looking for something, anything, to read – so, I give you the story of my new scooter – mostly told in photos.

2013-09-20 13.13.43

Hey, look, it’s the scooter truck!  I wonder what could be in those giant boxes that say Genuine Scooter Company on them.

Continue reading →

A letter to Scooterlou

2012-05-05 11.41.58

Dear Scooterlou,

It’s been a good nearly two years together.  We’ve been through a lot of good times, a couple of bad times, and one really nasty time (I’m pretty sure I shielded you from the road that one time we were in an accident together), and rode 1,730ish miles together (give or take).  You’ve taken good care of me, and I’m pretty sure I’ve taken good care of you – aside from covering you in stickers, anyway.  And that nasty spill on College Ave.  You’re my first scooter, and I love you to death.

But… y’see, I think I’ve outgrown you.

I know, I know, you’ll say “but come on, you haven’t gotten any taller!  I’m short and dainty and perfect for you!”  But over the past twoish years, I’ve been learning about what I really need in a scooter.  I need something that, while being a 49cc scooter, can go up hills without sounding like it’s having an asthma attack.  Something that can go from zero to useful in a short amount of time at a stop light.  Something that doesn’t piss off the drivers behind me because I’m slowly making my way up to 35 miles an hour after turning onto a new road.  I also want something a little bigger, something a little taller, something a little zippier, something a little more reliable.  (And I’m not saying you’re not reliable!  I am, however, saying that you have been in the shop a couple times over the past two years, and I’ve heard Honda Metropolitans have certain things that get problematic as they age.)

I’m getting a Buddy tomorrow, Scooterlou.  And you’re going to end up finding a new home.

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Things that The Crafty Nerd has been up to…

I know, sometimes I’m not very good at this “regular posting” thing.  Especially during the school year.  I’ve got to kick my own butt about it, and remind myself “hey, you have people actually maybe wanting to read what you write, so you have to write something”.  Even if it’s just something little and silly like that pony creator I posted a few weeks ago, it shows you guys I’m still alive, right?

Well, here’s what I’ve been up to that’s keeping me from posting regularly…

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“I’m not that crafty,” he says.

My husband, who I’ve affectionately dubbed Mr. Crafty Nerd, claims he’s not crafty.
Mister Crafty Nerd, pondering his allegedly uncrafty status...

Mister Crafty Nerd, pondering his allegedly uncrafty status…

“I’m not a designer or anything,” Bryan says.  “I’m not crafty.”  But as you peek into his office, you can see some evidence of his creativity.  There’s a bookshelf that’s been turned into a standing desk.  A Nerf gun that’s been disassembled, painted, and reworked to look very steampunky.  Costume elements from his steampunk costume, worn at Gencon.  A backlit monitor stand, with LEDs adding some ambient light to his computer setup.  If you wake up his tablet, you’ll see a background with a space-commander-esque insignia and a widget proclaiming “Welcome Commander Hoey”.
Sure, he may not consider himself crafty in the conventional sense, but he’s definitely a creative guy.