'Computer Support' WARNING!

[mick2me 3,033]

The other day I was at the inlaws, my father in law received a phone call.

He then went to his computer and obtained some information which he gave to the caller.

I went to see what he was doing. He said the caller was someone he paid to monitor his computer and they had rang him to say hackers had accessed his computer overnight.

He was asked to go to a website,

and asked him to download and run a small file which accessed his IP address and gave a password number, which he gave to the caller.

I sat down at the computer and watched as the caller took control remotely of his computer. My FiL assured me they were genuine support who he had paid to help him with his computer.

He opened Notepad so we could type messages to each other.

The caller then Brought up the windows task manager and highlighted a running process 'CSRSS.EXE',

He then said, "Do you recognise that file sir" and then said it was a 'Trojan' that the hackers had placed on his computer.

I asked how the file had got there how we could get rid of it, he then said he could get rid of it and asked for new computer name and password which FiL entered!

I asked how hackers were able to access a computer that was switched off and he said.

"They are hackers, they can get in"

He then typed that he could install software that would remove it and protect him in future.

"The cost would be £149 for one year or £199 for 5 years" (BARGAIN?)

We terminated the call and rebooted his modem to get a new IP address.

I am certain he has already paid them for support before, and it came about as a call he received

previously, (random dialing?)

csrss.exe is a vital windows process which cannot be stopped, it is sometime used to carry trojans

when infected.

Once someone takes control of your computer they can drop anything on to it, this includes keyloggers that record your banking login and credit card information.

[mick2me 3,033]

The scam in operation

[ronsolostar 0]

you did good MICK2e then again you know what you are doing,I,m afraid if it had been me I might have got caught,as of now I am still trying to figure out which way is up.You did well to bring it to our attention..If i see you in a pub I,LL buy you a pint or maybe a scotch.ronsolostar

[poohbear 1,360]

Well...I thought they gave an excellent service...Especially their...'WE'LL WASH YOUR ELEPHANT FOR FREE!' offer.

[mick2me 3,033]

ammyy appears to be a legit and very useful program when it is not being used by scammers.

Remote access to your computer can be used by friends to log in and maintain it.

But never allow a stranger access.

[taxi ray 170]

I got something a couple of weeks ago, it was meant to be from the police, it stated that I had been visiting dodgy web sites and that I needed to pay a fine and until I had paid up they would lock my computer. I dont know how they did it but the computer was locked as soon as you started windows this pop up would appear and the computer was locked. But I managed to set it back to a previous restore point.

[Cliff Ton 10,467]

I got something a couple of weeks ago, it was meant to be from the police, it stated that I had been visiting dodgy web sites and that I needed to pay a fine and until I had paid up they would lock my computer.

If you search something like scam police website lock you will find pages of examples of that particular scam.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

I just get emails from FBI, Western Union etc saying I have millions of dollars been left me by relatives when they croaked their last breath....LOL

[Beefsteak 305]

Nice.

By the way does anybody know if the JAVA problem has been solved yet, I get the "Your JAVA needs to update" every time I switch on each of the computers in the house, the first time I did this it put a silly little virus in , it didn't take much removing, just annoying that's all. I made some inquieries at the time (About Christmas time) and discovered that they were working on it i have just not heard anything since.

[Limey 242]

I think the JAVA issue was fixed in the latest update (Java 7, update 17) - at least, I do not seem to have any issues with it.

Also beware of some of those online sites that claim to clean up your computer - especially if the diagnosis is free. There was one a few years ago that, if you ran the free "checkup", would install a trojan that forced you to their website everytime you ran your browser. Their solution was to purchase the software! The other solution was some serious registry editing - not for the feint hearted! I had to do it to two machines at work - not a pleasant task!

Edit: I did notice, and had not noticed before, that the JAVA install is browser specific. I use Google Chrome and never had an issue so I wonder if it was browser related?

[Beefsteak 305]

I think you may be right re it being browser specific as I only seem to get it when I initially log on , I automatically load up Internet explorer first to use my yahoo home page, then I open Google Chrome to do the more complex tasks that need a bit more computing power.

i'll take a chance when I switch on tomorrow and give it a go.

[Limey 242]

Can't you load the Yahoo page in Chrome?

[Beefsteak 305]

Yes , it's just an automatic thing as all my favourites are on the IE version and I can't seem to get them on Chrome for some silly reason.

[Limey 242]

Got it! I seem to remember I could not transfer the favorite list either - but I have been using Chrome for so long I forget!

Have you tried this:

http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=96816

[Beefsteak 305]

OOH ta, that looks good.

[Beefsteak 305]

Sussed it , thanks.

[Limey 242]

Kewl!

But I think it may be relatively new that it works - I don't remember that feature in the past!

However - I MUCH prefer Chrome over IE, for all sorts of reasons!

[Beefsteak 305]

It's a bit of a fiddle afterwards, you have to add their bookmarks toolbar to the top of your screen , but it's given me access to all the other stuff I use regularly with one quick click, rather than scrolling throught to find it again

[Fynger 841]

Found a weird thing........when we changed over to Chrome ..we had to import our bookmarks ( in real terms add our favorites to their window )....thats fine...but quite often i take a copy of my favorites and stick em on another drive...cos yer never know when that may come in handy....but since changing to Chrome ive added more favorites to my list..so was gonna take a copy of my 'favorites' folder...just to discover NON of the latest ( added with Chrome ) are in there.....so ...where do they go ???..( ive searched my 'C' drive and they dont show up on it.

[Limey 242]

Chrome keeps all the settings, including the bookmarks, in the "cloud" but you can download them:

http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=96816

The "up" side of this is, if you use more than one computer, when you log into Chrome on another computer, your bookmarks, history, etc. are all there!

[Fynger 841]

Cheers Eric....that could be usefull ...ta

[littlebro 234]

Chrome also stores your favourites in the 'Chrome' folder which is in the user application files. These are hidden unless in folder options you select 'show hidden files'. This works for XP, I cannot say how it works in Windows 7 or 8.

Having said this, anyone using Windows 8 yet? Any good?

[Beefsteak 305]

Not yet , (Watch this space , if my latest funds arrive in time I may be upgrading this PC , to a new one. This one will go to my daughters room (As long as I can shift all the porn.............................LOL) and my lad can have the spare laptop to play his games on (Weekends only of course)

[bazza 71]

Chrome also stores your favourites in the 'Chrome' folder which is in the user application files. These are hidden unless in folder options you select 'show hidden files'. This works for XP, I cannot say how it works in Windows 7 or 8.

Having said this, anyone using Windows 8 yet? Any good?

Been using W8 since last chrimbo.

Greatest load of crap that I EVER came across.

I'm seriously thinking of dumping it and installing W7.

It's just not up to the easiness of my old XP2.

Baz

[Limey 242]

I still run XP pro, but thinking of going to W8, mostly so I can upgrade to a newer version of Microsoft Office so that I am in sync with what Mary uses at work. Fortunately, I can get the "educators" discount on the Office Pro - which makes it almost affordable!