Update on the rogue telephone calls.

I have had a call at last!!!!

The number that called me is 02538020308.

They say they are from Help and Support Centre from Microsoft, and that they are Microsoft Certified Technicians.

They then got me to run eventvwr and prefetch to show errors in my system. There will always be errors here and they are harmless and down to software not operating correctly sometimes, this is nothing to worry about.  He kept making noises and saying 'Oh my God' etc...

In the prefetch folder he said, these are not opening properly, this is a security risk, not good, an indication of bad software, all very amusing!!!

He asked if my computer had been slow recently, I said 'YES', apparently this is down to all of these errors.

I then had to type in www.support.me, I did this and then a website opened.  I was then given my secret special 6 figure number that I was not allowed to tell to anyone, he would not tell me why. This is simply a 6 digit code to allow him to take control of your PC.  He then asked for me to confirm my name, telephone and email in the chat box. I did this and then told him who I was, that I am a computer technician/engineer and all the stuff he had told me and many of my customers was complete and utter rubbish and that I would be reporting him.  I thanked him for the call as I had been waiting for one and this would help better with my support for my customers.  For some reason he then hung up???

DON'T FALL FOR IT PLEASE, I COULD HAVE LET HIM GO FURTHER TO SEE WHAT THEY DID TO MY COMPUTER, BUT IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN GOOD AND WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN A REQUEST FOR MONEY. IT IS A SCAM. I HOPE THIS HELPS.

WARNING

It has come to my attention recently that a number of customers have received telephone calls from a company claiming to be Microsoft.

They say that you have had problems with your PC and that they can take control of the PC remotely and see what the problem is, they then advise that they can fix it.  The supposed fix is not free and ranges from £80 to £200 for one year.  You actually get nothing for this as the whole thing is a SCAM.

Please do not let them take control of your PC, so far the ones that I have checked have been virus free following their efforts, and the stuff produced on screen to frighten you into buying the software were nothing more than harmless lists and processes, all quite normal in the Windows environment. It is not beyond the realms of possibility for them to plant malicious software on a PC.

If you receive this telephone call, do not let them take control of your PC and do not let them have any credit card or bank account numbers.

If they phone and it is as described either put the phone down or tell them that you have a computer engineer, he looks after your PC and you will need to speak to him first, they are normally upset by this and put the phone down again.

The above is nothing to worry about providing you follow my recommendations.