Warning to computer users!

There are always people out to con you and the current spate is nothing new, never the less many stand in regret so please heed my warning. If you get a phone call by some IT company claiming you have a virus on your PC and it needs removing ASAP don’t give them your card details or let them have access to your pc. They cannot tell if you have a virus on your PC only your internet service provider can and that’s only when it’s spamming the network. Even if these people could they’d have no means of matching it with your telephone number.

These people often claim to be Microsoft but the latest group say they are 2gro an IT support group based in America. They may well be true going by their facebook profile. I’m not sure if they are just forcing business, stealing card information or taking personal information off peoples computers. Whatever it is don’t fall victim.

Thanks for that Kal. I almost fell for a phishing scam the other day when I recieved an e mail supposedly from PayPal asking me to update my personal details. Luckily I had my clever head on and got in touch directly with PP. You have to be so careful today.

The phone scam happened to a friend of my son's just recently. It was just after a major hardware failure with their machine and unfortunately the young man's Dad almost fell for it and blamed the lad for the motherboard frying!

Thanks for raising this issue. I was attacked by a Facebook virus on Saturday and lost the computer for a day whilst it was removed and rebooted. Since then I have backed up all my photos and documents onto disks and have them stored safely away.

I periodically get a virus alert appearing on my pc warning me that my computer is being attacked by various nasty wee beasties and even naming them. Usually I just ignore the warnings because I have AVG's latest prodct protecting me. However the other day I thought I would take up the offer to have this altruistic program which appeared to be offering to clean up my pc of all unwanted intruders and I pressed the suggested button. Imagine my surprise when I was asked to download some software and I could have it for a reduced fee. Needless to say, I wiped it off my pc. It must still be hovering about somewhere in the bowels of my pc because it comes up every now and then. The moral of that story is that you don't get owt for nowt and if you are properly protected in the first place you should have no problems. I never open anything that I don't recognise and never accept freebies from unknown sources. Remember, kiddikins, never take sweeties from strange men.

Yuo did right Alan but you do get somethings for free. Anti-virus companies generally make you pay for the support of the product and some fancy unwanted add-ons which just slow your computer down. Avast is my shiled of choice. Only ever use a single anti-virus, but might I suggest anti-spyware. Malware bytes and microsoft security essentials are two good of this type. They find things anti-viruses don't.


Might I suggest for you Mike, Dropbox. A fantastic back up system which has change the way I work. This save a copy of my work to my account on their server and updates all my computers with the latest version, so not only is my work backed up all my computers have the latest version.

I recommended Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes on another thread - both free of charge. I would also recommend not backing up on to CDs. Get yourself an external hard drive. Massive storage capacity and safer than CDs which can become corrupted, I discovered. I lost a few family photos that way. Nothing too vital, fortunately.

Thats what happened to me Alan.

I am getting rid of Vista tomorrow, saying hasta la vista to it forever and getting Windows 7 installed.

Windows 7 is an improvement.

Wise move.

I am now running on Windows 7 and using Mozilla Firefox and its fantastic. So fast, and much better than what I was used to.