my pc does not have a network card in it.

yet, the files in the "safe image" appear to have been appended to at some point. i've compared it to an earlier backup, and the most recent has all kinds of sysprep files and scripts and shit. somebody has altered this image....

that would suggest three possibilities:

1) somebody has physically entered the premises. and, if that's reality, i have no solutions. i can't know what they did. i can't undo a set of infinite possibilities. i can't protect against that.

i actually remember this topic coming up in the mscse training. the topic was networking security, and somebody kept asking "but what if they're there?". like, after every slide, as though it was a systematic analysis. over and over.

eventually, the trainer got fed up and actually called his boss in seattle (he was actually from redmond, and sent to ottawa to train us) to ask her what to do with this guy, and i'll never forget the response.

"i actually called my boss in seattle, and i'm going to give you an official response from microsoft - if the bad guys can actually touch your computer, you're officially fucked. that's officially not supported."

and, he stopped asking.

i have to go get groceries sometimes. i have to shower. and, i'm going to party, from time to time, too. i can't protect against people coming in here and installing things...

that should be against the law, but it seems like it's the police that are doing it. if this is reality, i'll just have to cope.

1b) somebody installed a wireless communication device somewhere, and i don't know where it is. they're then altering the image that way. again: i can't protect against a device i'm not aware of, even if i'm almost certain it's there. and, what would stop them from reinstalling it if i found it?

2) i'm schizophrenic and imagining this.

when i catch things, i'll delete them, but the premise that something is broken and i can fix it and it will be better after seems to be flawed. this appears to be perpetual. somebody is going to be bothering me forever.

the sewer stench just came back, too.