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Saturday, September 11, 2010

I've Been In A Pickle!


I'm sure everyone has heard the phrase, "I'm in a pickle", and I have to say that I have been in a pickle for weeks and weeks because of my darned computer! If it wasn't for my dear blogger pals I wouldn't have known that you were having so much trouble uploading my website, leaving comments, or simply viewing my blog  and I want to thank you for pointing the issues out so that I could correct them. Because of you and because I do not want to lose my sanity while blogging, paying bills on-line, etc, I have done some computer "housekeeping" and I suggest you take my advice and do the same if you have experienced computer problems as well. Here are a few of my housekeeping tips:



First of all, remove unnecessary clutter on your sidebar but if you would rather not then please make sure the widgets and buttons and website links are free of viruses or else they could cause your computer to slow down or worse. Unfortunately, many of us are not aware that our blogs are full of viruses and thus we could be infecting other blogs without realizing it. Scary stuff!



After I decluttered my sidebars I contacted Stopzilla by phone to ask them about their anti-spyware program and I have been impressed so far! Here's hoping that Stopzilla continues to keep me virus free and happy forever and ever, Amen.


When my Stopzilla scan completed its task I was surprised to find out that my Pets Blogroll widget went into hiding. Apparently, Stopzilla did not appreciate the viruses that Pets Blogroll had to offer and kicked them to the curb. While I enjoyed networking with the bloggers from Pets Blogroll I removed my blog from their website or else I would be in a pickle again and again. I have nothing against Pets Blogroll (and I told them that, too) but I think the website got infected because other blog members have unknowingly brought their viruses to the site (and I was one of them).

So, dear friends, I hope these 3 housekeeping tricks have been of some help to you and if you have any housekeeping tricks up your sleeve, please share them. Thank you!


 

29 comments:

  1. You're right that we should all have some kind of anti-virus program. Yours seems to be working--I was finally able to read your blog without that looooong wait. Hurray!

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  2. Hi there, I am not having any trouble right now with your blog. And I am leaving a comment so we will see if it goes through. I think a lot of people have trouble with Blogger with comments etc. Glad you told us about Pets Blogroll. I don't so much on there, but I think I will take it off anyway. I have a good antivirus right now that is working. It is called Trend Micro.
    Hope your new stuff works all right for you.

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  3. Hurrah! Your blog loaded in a flash! Usually I click on your link and go get a cuppa...
    I use Norton and Lavasoft on all three of my machines.

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  4. Wow, that was a good couple of housekeeping tips to live by! Thanks for sharing them!

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  5. Dear Friends,
    If I had known it was THAT aggravating to leave a comment then I certainly can understand why you were frustrated with my blog issues!
    I just performed a test from Amos' laptop and found another culprit has been slowing my computer down and it was my photo gallery that was on the right hand margin and it was provided by WWW.PHOTOSNACK.NET and I urge you to GET RID OF IT IMMEDIATELY! As soon as I left a comment, it went right through in seconds! Yipppeeeee!
    Thank you, thank you, thank you, for being so patient while leaving comments in the past but now you won't need to be patient any longer!
    Your pal,
    April

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  6. Yep had tons of trouble every time I visited. I got rid of pets blogroll too! Thanks
    Benny & Lily

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  7. I wasn't having that much trouble. I'm just behind on all my blog reading and commenting, I think. I'm glad you've gotten your issues cleared up, though.

    lotsa licks, Lola

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  8. Great tips!!!! I try to keep mine very very very very simple and up-to-date but these darned viruses seem to be everywhere!!

    Nevermind - these handy tips ought to put a stop to them! So thanks again!

    take care
    x

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  9. Thank you for sharing the great tips.:) My Mommy isn't too computer savvy so our page is pretty boring...I mean, empty.

    Love,
    Teddy Bear

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  10. I don't recall having any problems with your blog but is sure loaded quick. Good tips fur sure!

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  11. You definitely loaded a lot faster for us this time! I'm glad you found some stuff that worked for you!

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  12. HOOOOOORAY !! Your blog came up in 22 seconds and I was able to scroll down as quickly as I was reading..
    Seeee we really LOVE your Blog and YOU and just kept patiently waiting for things to ... move along.
    I know I really appreciate all that you have done to make your blog easier and speedier for us.
    AND... IT WAS JUST WONDERFUL OF YOU TO POST ABOUT THE CAUSES OF THE PROBLEMS. How very very considerate. I truly respect you for your fine Blogville Citizenship!!!

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  13. Wow... from the time I clicked on POST COMMENT it only took 17 seconds to say it was posted and then only 5 more seconds for me to be able to put this comment up!!! WHEW.. My Ears were Blown Back by the Speed!!!
    YEA!!!!!!

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  14. huh...we didn't even hadany problems commenting...it was prolly cause most people useded PC's and not MACS like I gots. heehee

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  15. I teach a group of women in a group I belong to how to maintain your computer. There are way too many widgets out there, anybody can make one, and people find them so cute and easy to install & have no idea that they are the crux of many problems. Same goes for Facebook, avoid all those applications that so many people use. Always stick with reputable sites. Use a good virus scanner and a spyware checker like Spybot Search & Destry & do regular scans. Always check for updates before scanning. If you use Firefox, they have a plugin you can download & install called YSlow. If a page is uploading real slow, just click on the icon and it will give you a rundown on all the scripts that are loading so you can see what you should get rid of. Just some extra tip.
    Hug's Erin & Mom

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  16. Hi Daisy-
    Thanks fur posting that. We always liked you and wanted to comment, but your site always shut us down!
    Wyatt

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  17. I have been having problems getting to your blog (it would always freeze whenever I tried to access it). but it is so much quicker now! thank you!

    Chewy

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  18. Wow thats better, I have also had a tidy up to, I hope follower's don't get upset by how much of a tidy up I've had!!!
    See Yea George xxx

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  19. Hi there friends,
    I appreciate all of these tips and now that I know that I should scan my computer regularly I will do so often! I was unaware that I should scan regularly (forgive me, I am not techie but I am learning)! I think I should download an additional virus scan so I may reinstall Spybot or I will do the Yslow scan via Firefox. Can you tell that I paid more attention to my writing and literature classes rather than to my computer teachers while in college? Dead giveaway,right? HaHa!
    Last night I found (and removed) 2 other things from my computer and here they are:
    1. www.blogtoplist.com --- when I went to the site to remove my blog a pop up appeared saying something like this---"Wait! Don't leave until you play this game or this game!" Grrrr!
    2. Wibiya (a bar that is found on the bottom of some screens that are supposed to make it easy for bloggers to share blog posts on Facebook, etc). I'm sorry Wibiya fans, that bar has shut me down more times than I can count; perhaps my computer shut down for other reasons but I find it to be a suspicious device).
    3. Blog Farm - Another website where you can add your blog for networking and ranking purposes BUT I forgot to mention that Blog Farm "left the building" during my Stopzilla scan. I guess Blog Farm was scared of Stopzilla....heeeheeee!
    Thanks again for all of your tips and thank you for the vote of confidence because I was starting to wonder if my blog was losing it's appeal or that my pet sitting clients or my furry family members were losing their star quality status!
    Thanks again, dear friends, for your honesty and for your sense of humor too!
    April

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  20. Thanks for all the great tips! I'm going to look into Stopzilla NOW!

    One note, though. I've been using Wibiya without a problem for a while now. I use a Mac but I don't know if that matters. Could it be that Wibiya and something else on your computer are banging heads?

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  21. Thanks for the info Daisy!

    Your pal, Pip

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  22. Still having issues... Yours is the only blog doing it for us. It takes about 5 minutes to load and is very sticky - and when I click out, it locks my machine up! I've been reading your blog on Reader, but haven't been commenting because of it! :(

    Sam

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  23. It amazing that there are so many nasty people out there that love to mess up your computer. Thanks for all the info on the sites you think are contributing to your virus nightmare. I am assuming you have a Microsoft based computer? My MAC fortunately seems to be OK for now, although I've noticed my spam has increased with the volume of people going to my site.
    Good info and thanks again!
    Sage's Mom

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  24. Your blog loaded much faster today. I got rid of Pet Blogroll a while ago because it didn't seem to be doing what it claimed it would do. It didn't increase my hits at all and then I was notified that they were going to start accepting more advertising. I want to control any advertising on my blog, so I said bye bye. Hasn't made any difference in readership as far as I can see.

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  25. Crikey! Who knew? Thanks for all this info. We should do more housekeeping - on the blog AND in the house :)

    The Road Dogs

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  26. I love that we are all banding together in an effort to stop viruses so that we can QUICKLY get onto each other's blogs without a problem! I think we should all arrange a "board meeting" each week or at least once a month to join together and blog about anti-virus/speeding up our computers advice, don't you agree?
    I have heard through the grapevine that joining blog hops has been problematic for some. In other words, some bloggers have received spam e-mails, etc, after joining blog hops. For the love of God, please tell me that isn't true! Please! I don't know if I can live without blog hops b/c it helps us get to know one another faster! Ahhhhh!

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  27. Thanks for posting the info on my blog - my comment issue was self inflicted but I had no idea of the other issues (so thanks very much).
    I was looking at your above blog - ouch ( I was thinking bubble wrap clothes for you).
    Mr Monkey

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  28. Thanks for becoming a follower of my blog via Keepin' Company Thursdays. I am now a follower of yours. Those tips are handy and I agree that it is advisable to do what you can to make sure you don't infect yourself or someone else with a virus. Glad to hear it worked out for you.
    As for the pic with your hurt nose, OWWW! Seems like you took it in great stride.

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  29. Oh yes we ARE kindred spirits!!!! I cannot believe the timeliness of this post!!
    Will let you know if the virus program that Road Runner is installing for me WORKS!
    I think the virus I had (just on my husband's portion of the computer, which is strange) came from him....hoping it wasn't from the blogs that I visit but thanks so much for the heads-up!!!

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