Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Friday, September 22. 2017

Delhi


In response to several warnings, I responded to my browser and mail provider. It's been a 12 hour on and off conversation with some guys in Delhi.  They seem to know exactly what they are doing, and are polite with perfectly-grammatical if accented English. I am fairly sure one of the guys learned English from a Scottish teacher.


The point is that I had a few hundred attacks on my computer over 48 hours, some foiled and some not. Some of these evil programs penetrated my email and my laptop. Of course, nobody cares about my info, but I do not like roaming intruder programs, worms and all that, messing with my machine. Russians?


So the guys in Delhi sold me on a fancy new firewall and got rid of a lot of stuff that CCleaner could not. My old firewall was obsolete, about 4 years old. As readers know, it is a bit creepy the way the techies can take over your machine and do whatever they need to do. I guess you just have to trust them.

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 13:51 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Perhaps CCleaner was the culprit:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ccleaner-compromised-to-distribute-malware-for-almost-a-month/

one example from a search of "CCleaner compromised"
#1 Sancho on 2017-09-22 14:42 (Reply)
I experienced something similar a couple of months ago and it turned out to be a complete scam. Hope yours wasn't.
#2 Otto Maddox on 2017-09-22 16:09 (Reply)
The last time one of them called me telling me he was from Windows support I decided to play along and act as if I would give him my credit card info soon. I tired of it after a few mins and asked him point blank how he could look himself in the mirror when his job was to rip people off. He cursed me and I told him the feeling was mutual. I have warned my mom and kids about this but don't know what else I could do. If I block the number, the scammers would just use another number.
#3 Dangerous Dean on 2017-09-22 17:04 (Reply)
NJ: There is, of course, a simple answer to having your system invaded:

http://www.docmercury.com/backup

One 5-minute bathroom-cleaning-up exercise and everything's back to normal.

Beats the heck out of spending 12 hours on the phone.
#4 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2017-09-22 19:17 (Reply)
Got a call once from a guy who was obviously of Indian origin. He told me about the problems they found on my computer and said he could fix them. I told him I had a Mac. He hung up on me. Made me laugh out loud.

Seven Macs in 30 years without any virus problems. Twenty years online without any virus problems. Sure I spent more money up front. But it has been worth every penny.
#5 Bodie on 2017-09-22 19:44 (Reply)
" He told me about the problems they found on my computer and said he could fix them. I told him I had a Mac."

I've had the same experience. Even had them tell me they knew what was going on in my computer, then used obvious Windows terms.
#6 Mike K (Link) on 2017-09-22 21:54 (Reply)
The guy actually woke me up. If it happens again maybe I can string them along for awhile.
#6.1 bodie on 2017-09-22 23:19 (Reply)
I am the owner of an Apple Authorized dealer in Ontario, Canada.
I am a big Maggie's Farm fan.
Here are a few tips to use in these situations. Never call any number showing up on your screen for tech help. They are the culprits that caused the problem.
If they call you, it is a scam for certain.
Most of these issues can be resolved with a free program called Malwarebytes for Mac or PC.
If you download it ahead of time, you can run this app if your computer is compromised.
If the problem cannot be resolved this way, take it to a local tech.
They will resolve it, and you know they are legitimate.
#7 Phil Taylor (Link) on 2017-09-23 04:48 (Reply)

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