Healthcare For Geekware
Sooooo… while I was working late tonight a malware/virus company made the mistake of calling me (Angela) to try to get me to allow them access to my computer. And I have to say, I had a GREAT time with these guys — obviously Steve and I don’t get out much. I happened to have my cellphone nearby and I recorded the entire affair. Is it awful that I had a fun with these dweebs? (Does that make me a bad person?)
I’ve uploaded the exchange. Want to hear? Want to know what they are trying to do? Want an example of how this works? Take a listen. (And don’t worry about reporting their URL, we already did that!)
Please, please don’t let people like THIS bamboozle you. Microsoft will NEVER call you and no technical support will EVER call you. If someone calls you or if there’s a number that pops up on your computer for you to call to eliminate malware and spyware — it’s a scam. Don’t fall for it.
Again, I had an absolute BLAST with these jerks. It was fun to play dumb about what they were trying to do. And it was a wonderful opportunity to educate our clients (and the general public). Do you blame me for doing my best to frustrate the begeezus out of them? The typing you hear is me preparing a report to Google on them. Yeah. I did that while I was on the phone. 🙂
Be sure to listen until the end… what a hoot!
Now, with all this said. If you have any questions about your computer, call us. We won’t call you, but we are always here for you to call us. (And, unlike these guys, we actually want you to be safe online.) Truth.
You need to know that when these guys call, and they gain access to your computer, they are doing so to INSTALL malware and viruses and to charge you money to remove what they caused. It’s pathetic, really. They should be hung by their toenails. Seriously. *shaking my head*
Adobe Reader – used by so many computer owners – now does not even ASK before downloading McAfee Security Scan Plus in tandem with the Reader download. That is an underhanded practice.
At Danville Computer Doc, we despise sneaky “no options” downloads. That is called malware. And when it’s a piece of “you know what” like McAfee — that we never EVER recommend for any client. Yes, it’s that bad — as you can imagine since they now have to swindle unsuspecting users to download their junk.
In addition, Adobe Reader takes the liberty (again without asking) of changing your “default program” for PDFs to itself. What a royal pain!
So, if you want a better way to do PDFs — try Foxit Reader. It’s what we use. It’s faster, it’s lighter-weight, and it doesn’t come with piggy-backing, unwelcome programs — nor does it assume that it’s the only game in town and change your preferred program without asking.
Also be warned that this is automatically checked on Adobe Flash installs. So be careful to uncheck it when installing Flash too.
If you have already been suckered into this malware install you can uninstall it as follows:
If you have any questions about this, call us. If you want a recommendation for good virus protection (hint: It’s NOT McAfee), call us. 859-755-4344..
Today, Microsoft is sharing their new operating system — Windows 10 — for free to Windows 7 users and Windows 8 users.
And, if you take them up on that offer, you will be “sharing” stuff too — like, for instance, your wifi password — with every contact you have on Skype and Outlook — and possibly Facebook. No kidding.
This new “feature” called WiFi Sense doesn’t share your password, but offers an encrypted key to allow your contacts to use your wifi when they are within range. It also means that your information is stored on Microsoft servers. Yes, it’s encrypted, but that’s just a little too invasive for the Doc’s comfort level, so he doesn’t advise using this without seriously considering the possible security dangers inherent in sharing your information.
Yes, you can turn this off, if you don’t want to allow it — but you need to be aware of it, especially if you decide to use the easier, “express” installation, which will turn this on automatically.
You have now been warned.
Encrypted or not, if another device is accessing your network, it HAS your password and a savvy hacker can use that to gain a little more information that you might be willing to share.
For more information, consult the FAQ page over on Microsoft’s page — and then do a little independent research and see what the hacker sites and the security sites have to say about it — BEFORE you open up your private network to contacts.
If you have any additional questions about this, give us a call. We are here to help — 859-755-4344.