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Post-Malware Miscellany

Kristen sweeping up the deck.

Me sweeping up the deck after giving a haircut. Photo by Lisey.

My blog is (still) clean.

And I am still over the moon about that. I’ve been kind of obsessively checking it, using Sucuri’s free site scanner. Every time I hit “verify”, I feel slightly nervous, and then relief floods over me when I see that my blog is turning up green and not red.

I have to say, if you ever have a problem with malware, I highly recommend Sucuri. They’re very reasonably priced, and all of the people that I dealt with were very polite and helpful. For $89.99/YEAR, they’ll monitor a single domain and clean up malware, no matter how many times you need cleaning.

My particular brand of pesky malware needed 3-4 cleanings in a 12 hour period, so I consider this to a very well-spent $89.99.

Plus, I have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that they’re scanning my site every 6 hours, even while I sleep. So, if I have any new malware show up, I should be able to identify it and fix it fast. Yay Sucuri!!

(no, I am not affiliated with them. Yet. I’m going to sign up for their affiliate program, though, because I do so love to advertise for companies I use and love.)

Free (not-fake) AntiVirus

I want to apologize 1000 times over to any of you that had virus problems as a result of visiting my site on Tuesday evening (that’s when my site got infected, although over the weekend there was a problem with a network ad as well). As soon as I saw that my site truly did have malware, I hired help to fix the problem, and as I mentioned above, my blog will continue to be monitored around the clock.

I’ve also taken steps to further secure access to my blog and to my ftp account to prevent hackers in the future.

In short, I want my blog to be a safe place for you to visit and I’m doing everything I can to ensure that!

Of course, you can run into malware anywhere on the web, so you should have anti-virus software on your computer. The good news is that you don’t have to fork over a bunch of cash for a program. In fact, you can get a program for free.

Mr. FG, who works in IT, recommends Avira (they offer a free program in addition to a paid one) and Microsoft Security Essentials.

(we’re not affiliated with either of those programs…we just use them on our systems.)

And now for two frugal things, just because I need to talk about something other than malware, or I may go crazy.

I made fruit leather

Remember the yucky pears I told you about in last week’s Food Waste Friday post? Well, I peeled them, cooked them, and mashed them the same way I do when I make applesauce.

Unfortunately, the flavorless-ness of the pears was apparent (or, um, aPEARent. Hee.) in this pearsauce, so I decided to try making fruit leather.

My kids love to have fruit leather as a occasional treat, but my goodness, I hate the amount of plastic trash that this stuff produces. Because of that, I’ve been wanting to make my own for a while now.

I lined a two glass baking pans with parchment paper, spread the pear puree, and dried it in a low oven (200 ° F) until it looked like fruit leather. I spread mine kind of thick, so this took quite a few hours, and even so, I think I could have let it dry a little longer.

The kids liked it, though, and I’m pleased that my not-so-hot pears have now all been eaten and are not sitting in my compost bin.

I do think a food dehydrator would work a lot better than an oven, though, especially in the summer when you don’t really want your oven on all day. I’d like to try making my own beef jerky too, so I’m thinking I might look into getting a dehydrator. Any thoughts/recommendations you have on that topic would be great.

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Sandy

Saturday 4th of June 2011

I'm just wondering what other "fruit" leather you could make......I've never thought of it before, and I rarely (if ever) buy it for the kids.

Also, I have a convection oven.....wondering if it would work as well? Low temp with the fan on????

Valerie

Friday 3rd of June 2011

I bought my food dehydrator at Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon, it was cheaper than Amazon. I have an american harvest. I am glad I didn't spend a lot of money on it. I have made fruit leather. I liked the peach I made the strawberry was OK. I also made Beef Jerky that turned out awesome, but really we just don't eat that much food-or maybe just don't eat that of that stuff. I make my granola in the oven, it isn't practical to make a big batch in my dehydrator. The novelty has worn off and it just sits. I might use it in the future but right now, not so much. ON clothes, I love the jeans for my kids, though they only have slim up to size 12 and my son just entered a size 14 so I am buying Levi's now or other brands with adjustable waists in size 14. I have better luck at Good Will. ON cotton shirts seem to have gotten thinner and thinner. Wash them a few times and mysterious holes show up. I bought the Groupon for it because I had a $10 credit anyways, so I got it for free. I need new clothes because I have lost weight, there is a blue halter dress that looks cute and I want it ($27.50). Forgot to use my ebates too...

shannonc

Friday 3rd of June 2011

funny I was just considering buying a dehydrator. I was reading a book about clean recipes and she talked about sprouting your wheat then dehydrating it then grinding it for flour. I thought I would try it to see if it proved yummy as well as making jerky and fruit rolls. I have 4 kids, so this may be one of our science projects this summer!! I am also looking for an ice cream maker. I prefer ice cream with stuff I know what is in it vs. artificial junk.

Valerie

Friday 3rd of June 2011

I have been using my neighbors Cuisinart Ice Cream maker....Ice Cream makers are something that you should try and find used because once people find out there is a bit of effort and time involved they don't bother. When I asked my neighbor if I could use hers (with intentions of giving it back, I wanted to make sure I would use it) she let me know it was too much work for her...so I still have it (2 moths later) I have used it at least once a week, if not twice. I make a chocolate and vanilla every couple of days. They say 1.5qts but you can only make 1qt because it expands. I use Allrecipes for recipes. I do the frozen custards (with eggs) and have to cook them first. But I either double or triple the recipes then put them into qt mason jars and put them in the frige-then take out a qt when I want to make up some ice cream. It has to be VERY cold anyway or it takes longer to set up this way it is all ready. Cook up 2 batches once a week and I have enough for the next 2 weeks. I love making ice cream, I just bought 7qts of Cream and 6qts of Half and Half at Costco today because we were completely out. I am not sure if it is really cheaper (if you buy it on sale that is)..I paid $3.29 for a qt of cream and $1.75 for half and half. If you pay full price for Breyers (here that is $5.49) then I guess it is cheaper. I just suggest you go full fat/sugar or you won't be happy with the results.

TreeHugginnMomma

Friday 3rd of June 2011

I am toying with a solar food dehydrator and a solar oven for this summer. Both will be located on my porch roof (less access for nosey neighbors/kids/animals). I will be sure to post about it when I do it. Because I work during the week I think I would only be able to use them on the weekends, but it sure beats heating the house up.

Amber@neuronmommy.com

Friday 3rd of June 2011

Oh and sorry for the nosy question...are you wearing a headband or a wrap? Thanks :)

Kristen

Friday 3rd of June 2011

It's a headband. I wear it on days when I don't feel like straightening out the mess that is my wild bangs. ;)

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