I fell for a scam, now is my computer infected (correct version)
About a year ago, I got a call from a nice Indian man from "windows computing", who said that Microsoft had informed his company that my computer was sending an unusual number of error messages. He asked if he could scan my computer and fix things. Now my computer indeed was working very slowly, and had windows issues, so I said yes (without verifying he was who he said he was). Then I told him about the other computers in my house, and he was eager to scan those as well. So I let him scan my Mother's new $1000 computer (running windows 7), our old laptop (running windows XP) and my desktop - running windows XP. After he worked on it, my computer started running very well indeed, just like new. And then a few days later, the troubles started. Our computers could not access the printer. So I went to the HP site. It was phished. It was not the HP site, our browser had been redirected to some weird page. I called the "geek squad" at Best Buy, and they confirmed the page was wrong. They also said that Microsoft doesn't call people to fix their computers, and doesn't deputize companies to do that. So being alarmed, we reformatted all our computers, reinstalled windows, put back files (except for exe's) and assumed we had thwarted the hackers. But odd things happened. First, the hackers kept calling us every few days. Sometimes they were threatening. One time I politely asked the caller why he kept calling me, and he told me to "shut up!" My computer slowed down again dramatically. Sometimes it crashed. I called the geek squad about my mother's computer (which had not slowed down), and which was protected by Norton 360. The geek squad gave it a scan, and found 40 spyware programs on it that Norton had not. This is strange. Just to be sure that I had really talked with the "geek squad" (I was even worried that my telephone could be "phished") I went in person to a Best Buy, and they verified that I was on record that day as having spoken with a representative by the correct name. I called Verizon, to see if they could track down the phone numbers of the hacking company. The people I talked to kept directing me in the wrong direction, one assumed I had digital phone, which I did not, and the upshot seemed to be they couldn't help, after giving me lots of lectures. I got several calls from nice sounding non-Indian (American) ladies about my bank account and credit card. They wanted to know what branch I banked at, and how much money I had, and how much stocks my family had. My family has very little money, so whatever I told them could not have encouraged them. Recently I bought a new Dell laptop, installed Norton 360, and then connected to the internet to get the Windows 7 updates. 62 of them were downloaded. I resolved first - not to load any files on it from my other PC's, and secondly,not to share files with any other computer, and thirdly not have email on that computer, and fourthly - not to click on any popups on the bottom right of the screen, no matter how legitimate they seemed. I would also stay away from facebook, youtube, and other sites prone to viruses. However, since I was using a wireless modem from a router that serves all our computers, I asked a tech person at "Staples" whether sharing a modem router with infected computers could get my new laptop infected. He said yes. Even sharing a printer can get you infected. Unfortunately, when I set up my laptop, windows 7 asked me if I was on a trusted Home Network, and I said yes. Probably I should have said I was on a "public" network, which is less trusted. Also, another security expert told me that in the interval when I am connected to the internet, but before the actual time that the anti-virus is updated, there is the possibility of a virus infecting my computer. He had recommended using a alphashield box and a netgear router to prevent this. I think he had also recommended putting on "windows essentials" immediately. But the person at Staples told me to save my money on the alphashield box and the router - he said viruses could get through those, so why bother? I also did not bother with windows essentials, because I could not find the instructions that referred to them at the time. Anyway, it is crucial for me to have a computer that is not infected with anything. It would also be helpful to find out if my other computers are infected. Norton says they are not. On the other hand, maybe once you have allowed a hacker to get at your computer, you can't trust Norton any more (though I had reformatted). My Dell has a function key that can restore the computer to factory settings, but I'm worried that that might not work either - what if the Bios is modified by a virus so that the function key doesn't work safely or restores something else? At this moment, I've very confused. Any help is appreciated GIDEON
September 14th, 2012 5:18pm

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