Spinney
Bimbleur extraordinaire
- Location
- Back up north
Hi folks
Scam warning
(I've put it here, not in the electric cafe, as more people are likely to read it!)
Just got a call from an Indian chap, claiming to be from a computer support company, who was calling because they knew my computer was running slowly. (Scam, I thought, but decided to string him along). He got me to open the Run box, and type in eventvwr (which I'd never used before, but is clearly some kind of event log).
Him: "Click on Application, and tell me if you see any red crosses or yellow exclamation marks. How many are there?"
Me: "about 80"
Him: "Oh, dear, these are serious errors with your computer! Click on the top one and tell me what it says in the description window".
So I did, and told him what it said. He muttered some more about how serious it was, and got me to click on another part of the event viewer. Unfortunately for him, the error message was clearly something to do with me ejecting a CD-ROM before closing the program on it earlier this afternoon! Serious error indeed! So I decided to string them along some more...
To cut a long story short, he went through a bit more, then passed me on to his 'technician' who tried to sell me an annual 'software warranty' for £63 a year, and ended up just managing not to call me stupid for not wanting 'insurance' against the software going wrong!
Checking the company name he gave me on the web (Support On Click), there are lots of chat threads about this - from extortionate 'software support' deals, to some people allowing them to remotely access their PCs so the 'support people' can speed up the machine for them (so god knows what info they harvest or virus/worms etc they introduct).
I hope most folks are too sensible to fall for this kind of thing, but according to those message boards, some people do - especially older folks who fall for the scare tactics they use.
You have been warned (and if you have an elderly mum or dad with a computer...)
That is all.
Scam warning
(I've put it here, not in the electric cafe, as more people are likely to read it!)
Just got a call from an Indian chap, claiming to be from a computer support company, who was calling because they knew my computer was running slowly. (Scam, I thought, but decided to string him along). He got me to open the Run box, and type in eventvwr (which I'd never used before, but is clearly some kind of event log).
Him: "Click on Application, and tell me if you see any red crosses or yellow exclamation marks. How many are there?"
Me: "about 80"
Him: "Oh, dear, these are serious errors with your computer! Click on the top one and tell me what it says in the description window".
So I did, and told him what it said. He muttered some more about how serious it was, and got me to click on another part of the event viewer. Unfortunately for him, the error message was clearly something to do with me ejecting a CD-ROM before closing the program on it earlier this afternoon! Serious error indeed! So I decided to string them along some more...
To cut a long story short, he went through a bit more, then passed me on to his 'technician' who tried to sell me an annual 'software warranty' for £63 a year, and ended up just managing not to call me stupid for not wanting 'insurance' against the software going wrong!
Checking the company name he gave me on the web (Support On Click), there are lots of chat threads about this - from extortionate 'software support' deals, to some people allowing them to remotely access their PCs so the 'support people' can speed up the machine for them (so god knows what info they harvest or virus/worms etc they introduct).
I hope most folks are too sensible to fall for this kind of thing, but according to those message boards, some people do - especially older folks who fall for the scare tactics they use.
You have been warned (and if you have an elderly mum or dad with a computer...)
That is all.
With a straight face, he managed to say "double left click ... wazzat?.... with my mouse?" 
