While I was at Spiece Fitness last week a desperate phone call was received from a first time caller. Their problem began when they received an email from an anti-virus software company. It was a confirmation thanking them for their subscription and informing them of a $300 refund. The caller did have this companies product so they thought it was on the up and up.
They called the phone number in the email message and allowed a technician to connect to their Microsoft Windows computer. The technician had to “check” the software and verify that the refund could be granted. My caller realized it was a scam and turned off their computer as the technician became threatening and rude. The technician was determined to get banking account number from them and luckily didn’t get it.
I made an on-site service call later in the day to repair the damage. The compute operating system was examined and there was a remote control program installed. Another problem was discovered which was worse than the first one: this was Windows 8 and not 10 as I assumed. Windows 8 has been retired from updates so it isn’t safe to use on the internet.
We discussed their options for the computer. They could upgrade to Windows 10 which would cost around $100 just for the software. The other option is install Linux Mint which is free, more secure and faster. I got out my Linux laptop and let them test drive it and they liked it. We backed up their user data to their thumb drive to protect it. We could have installed Linux dual-booting with Windows 8, but my client wanted no trace of windows 8. Linux was installed over windows 8 and things went well. They could get on the internet, open their documents, and feel safer.
If you’re running an older Microsoft Operating system, let me help you with Linux so you can have peace of mind instead of getting hacked.