Post by Gio » 30 Dec 2014, 08:26
vahju wrote:
My thought is that this is a scam. No software support company is going to proactively send you a popup on your machine to tell you your getting hacked and to call their support line for assistance.
And your reasoning is just fine.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/regulators ... operation/
Any advice on how to clean this machine and recommendations on anti-virus software would be appreciated.
When a tech-aware scammer has had access to your system (and probably with admin privileges), there is no telling on what he/she may have done. It is an entirely different situation, it's not as if it were a mere virus attack. You can try a
System Restore, or if you wish to be on an even safer side, reinstall windows and back up only the files that you know are essential for that PCs users (mostly text files, images and videos - no executables or downloadable stuff).
Who knows if your stepfather may one day decide to type in his credit card numbers to buy you those shiny new shoes on that online store?
[quote="vahju"]
My thought is that this is a scam. No software support company is going to proactively send you a popup on your machine to tell you your getting hacked and to call their support line for assistance.[/quote]
And your reasoning is just fine.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/regulators-smash-global-phone-tech-support-scam-operation/
[quote]Any advice on how to clean this machine and recommendations on anti-virus software would be appreciated.[/quote]
When a tech-aware scammer has had access to your system (and probably with admin privileges), there is no telling on what he/she may have done. It is an entirely different situation, it's not as if it were a mere virus attack. You can try a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Restore]System Restore[/url], or if you wish to be on an even safer side, reinstall windows and back up only the files that you know are essential for that PCs users (mostly text files, images and videos - no executables or downloadable stuff).
Who knows if your stepfather may one day decide to type in his credit card numbers to buy you those shiny new shoes on that online store?