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Scareware on your Computer

I went into the office to use my PC and it had a page covering the screen advising me to STOP or my PC would eventually crash! I tried everything I knew of to erase or make my computer usable again, unplugged it, etc. I finally called the 800 number on the page. I knew it would be a scam and when money was mentioned, I hung up. Then, since I bought the PC at Best Buy where they have the Geek Squad, I called them. I have a two year warrantee that includes the Geek Squad. I talked an agent there who explained that they call what happened to me "Scareware" and, yes, it was a scam!

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Then he advised on how to clear my PC. At the same time, you need to push down on three keys; CTRL, ALT and DELETE all at once. That should clear your computer back to how it was! He then went on to make sure everything on my PC worked. This just a THRIFTY tip to my fellow Thriftyfun readers! Hope it helps you!
Editors Note: On PCs running Windows, Ctrl-Alt-Delete brings up the security options screen and allows you to access the Task Manager. If you are worried about a message you see on the computer, it is a good idea to get a second opinion from somebody at Best Buy or Staples.

Don't ever give somebody your credit card info over the phone unless you are sure they are reputable.

Source: Best Buys Geek Squad

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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
July 28, 20171 found this helpful

I work in a school. We have an IT team and they give the same advice. When we press control + alt + delete we were told to go to the Task Manager and to stop the page

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 969 Posts
July 30, 20171 found this helpful

I once did the seemingly proper thing and ended up losing my computer for 10 days.

I had just sent a package. So two days later when I got an email from the USPS that my package had been lost, I opened it. Yep, you guessed it.

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Mine was called System Fix, and they said everything is okay except this particular file which they can fix for just 29.95. No, I sent the tower home with my daughter and she had to almost wipe it clean. Never again.

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 523 Posts
July 30, 20171 found this helpful

The 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' is good to know and will often get you out of a jam. It has worked for me.

The last virus I had, (many years ago), had complete control of my computer. I could not even use Ctrl-Alt-Delete. There was no key I could touch that did not bring up the virus page.

I had programs on my computer which would remove the virus but the virus would not let me access them. I quickly got rid of this virus. It cost me nothing.

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I keep a bootable copy of Ubuntu (though it could be any Linux operating system) on a thumb drive. I booted to Ubuntu. The virus was not written to have any interactions with Ubuntu. I was able to use Ubuntu to set Windows back to a time before the virus attack.

Ubuntu is free. The thumb drive about 4 dollars. Saved me no telling how many hundreds of dollars. I wont be without a bootable copy of Ubuntu.

 
July 31, 20171 found this helpful

Thank you so much for the valuable info! mvmarcy

 

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