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Post by sonex on Feb 14, 2013 12:00:51 GMT 10
Yesterday instead of my usual pages coming up when I started the computer, there was a blank white page with a big notice from the Australian Federal Police. This stated that I had broken internet laws, pornography, downloading stuff, etc, and my computer was now locked.
I had to send these people $100 when they would then unlock my computer. I knew of this scam, but thought they only targeted business people who obviously are in serious trouble if they cannot access their computer records.
I would not have sent them any money, simply on principle, I'd have bought another computer. However, with the help of my daughter and my security technical people Trend Titanium Maximum , eventually my computer became unlocked. It was complicated and took a couple of hours. My fault because I had received notice from Trend to upgrade and I hadn't done this. I tend to click on the "do it later" thing. So people, keep your stuff backed up and up to date virus protection.
There was even a picture of a keyboard all locked up with handcuffs, rotten sods.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2013 12:32:49 GMT 10
You beat that sort of crap by starting your computer in SAFE Mode, then going back to an earlier restore point. Then you trawl through your computer's registry to find out who did it and then you indulge in cyber warfare against the bastards.
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Post by sonex on Feb 14, 2013 13:14:10 GMT 10
You beat that sort of crap by starting your computer in SAFE Mode, then going back to an earlier restore point. Then you trawl through your computer's registry to find out who did it and then you indulge in cyber warfare against the bastards. Yes Kiwi, that's was basically the last step, starting in safe mode, earlier restore point. Before that though, it involved the use of a laptop and a mobile phone to download something which took 8 minutes and a usb. It also took quite a few tries to get the start in safe mode to work. Thanks for your advice though, I'll know what to do if it happens again.
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Post by garfield on Feb 14, 2013 13:18:15 GMT 10
I had one once that erased my restore points, clever honeys aren't they.
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Post by garfield on Feb 14, 2013 13:20:32 GMT 10
Anyway the only real protection is make sure you have backups and just do a format, I've got two computers with the same info on them, ones not connected to the net though plus another hard drive with all my stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2013 13:51:57 GMT 10
I keep everything I need to start and run both of my laptops on an external hard-drive, as a last-resort backup.
I can plug that hard-drive into either laptop, hit the power button and go directly into the computer's BIOS without starting windows, then configure the computer to start windows and all drivers directly off the external hard-drive. Once I have done that, I can then access the internal memory on the laptop in question (both have solid-state-digital-memory instead of a spinning hard-drive) and fix any problems, including getting into the registry to discover who did what to where.
Then, if I found out that any bastard had hit that computer, it would be total war! And I know a few nasty tricks when it comes to fighting back, including disabling their computer's cooling system, then overclocking their processor. You should see what that does to a computer. My motto is “do unto cyber bastards x 1000 what they have done unto me!”
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Post by Salem on Feb 15, 2013 18:39:03 GMT 10
Last year my father got a call from someone purporting to be from Microsoft and saying they found a virus on his computer. He told them he doesn't even own a computer but his daughter does and she isn't there. The woman just hang up on him.
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