Possible online windows scam
On 2 occasions an asian voice has phoned me purporting to come from Windows Care Online UK to tell me that my PC is at risk from hackers. To support this argument they have lead me through the process of looking at Windows Event log entries with the error and warning filters on and said that the entries, about 3 per day on average, indicated that my PC is at risk. They then invited me to go to their website www.windowscareonline.co.uk at which point I terminated the call. Does anybody know if these people are authorised by Microsoft, as they claim, and is my PC really wide open to hackers, which they also claim. My PC is protected by an up-to-date version McAffee which shows no infection of any sort.
June 6th, 2011 2:16pm

"Derekbutler" wrote in message news:deee242e-eb71-4d88-9c63-ed2b3cff8016... On 2 occasions an asian voice has phoned me purporting to come from Windows Care Online UK to tell me that my PC is at risk from hackers. To support this argument they have lead me through the process of looking at Windows Event log entries with the error and warning filters on and said that the entries, about 3 per day on average, indicated that my PC is at risk. They then invited me to go to their website www.windowscareonline.co.uk at which point I terminated the call. Does anybody know if these people are authorised by Microsoft, as they claim, and is my PC really wide open to hackers, which they also claim. My PC is protected by an up-to-date version McAffee which shows no infection of any sort. MS *never* cold-calls users for any reason. It would have taken court orders for them to access your IP and telephone number to call you anyhow - and no court would give that for a virus infection. Most people get errors every day on their system - which are perfectly normal for that system, and nothing to fret about. I'd almost take a bet that if you ask the caller for their phone number, it turns out to be a cell-phone (so that it can't be traced) - do you have callerID on your line? does the number you get from them coincide with the CallerID? It's a scam, pure and simple. (and the windowscareonline site has never been registered, either!) -- Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
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June 6th, 2011 2:36pm

On Mon, 6 Jun 2011 11:16:33 +0000, Derekbutler wrote: On 2 occasions an asian voice has phoned me purporting to come from Windows Care Online UK to tell me that my PC is at risk from hackers. To support this argument they have lead me through the process of looking at Windows Event log entries with the error and warning filters on and said that the entries, about 3 per day on average, indicated that my PC is at risk. They then invited me to go to their websitehttp://www.windowscareonline.co.uk at which point I terminated the call. Does anybody know if these people are authorised by Microsoft, as they claim, and is my PC really wide open to hackers, which they also claim. My PC is protected by an up-to-date version McAffee which shows no infection of any sort. Nothing they claim is correct. They are scammers, and your hanging up on them was wise. This has become a common scam lately. By the way, although you may think your computer is protected because McAfee is installed, it is not well protected at all. In my view (and that of lots of others of us here), McAfee, like Norton, is among the poorest security software available. For an anti-virus program, I recommend eSet NOD32, if you are willing to pay for it. If you want a free anti-virus, I recommend one (do not run more than one) of the following three:   Avira AntiVir Avast Microsoft Security Essentials   You also need anti-spyware software. I recommend that you download and install (freeware) MalwareBytes AntiMalware. Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP
June 10th, 2011 3:38pm

I have had similar calls and they now quote a Manchester UK contact number 0161 4085666 .... I run with full AVG Internet Security .... Dereck J Roberts Swansea
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July 8th, 2011 8:36am

"Dereck J Roberts Swansea" wrote in message news:9739e6cc-624a-4448-8ee6-1c55918aa6b3... I have had similar calls and they now quote a Manchester UK contact number 0161 4085666 .... I run with full AVG Internet Security .... Dereck J Roberts Swansea The website quoted by the OP appears never to have been registered (which is unusual!) It seems that they are trying to cash in on the .com of the same name - which appears to be 'iffy' in terms of its webhost (based in Bangalore) and domain ownership (Calcutta), and was only created in August last year. The following is interesting to note... http://mcs-notes1.open.ac.uk:8080/TBTDoc/SafeCompBull.nsf/50225E5652BC475D80256E1E00663FD1/0F310EAAAB6DCF9880257779002C0509?OpenDocument (actually posted 10 days before the .com site was first registered) -- Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
July 8th, 2011 9:16am

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