Saturday, February 25, 2012

Just told a lie...

"I dinnae hae a computer, cannae understand them." Was my reply to a very pleasant sounding asian gentleman who had phoned to offer to help me with problems on my computer. That's twice this week that we've received similar calls. Must be a succesful industry, how many do they successfully scam, 1 in a 1000 perhaps?

8 comments:

William Gates said...

Ah but you do. Remember he phoned you because a Windows server registered that your computer had problems which only they can fix for a large fee

You'll be telling us next that you don't have a credit card!

Anonymous said...

Never click the send button when the screen tells you that a problem has occurred and do you want to send an error report.

neilscot said...

Happens a lot, here is a link to what people are saying about it..
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01234765093/8#p354887438262691807

Jim said...

William Gates - Some say that the fee for fixing it is often £396. If you deny having a computer, they usually go away.

Anon number one - you advise
'Never click the send button when the screen tells you that a problem has occurred and do you want to send an error report'.

Is there a basis for not doing it, please? Microfoft do have a purpose in asking for error reports.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jim

When you send an error report to Microsoft, information such as your IP address, operating system version, browser, regional settings etc. are also collected and sent to Microsoft. This information is said to be used only to create aggregate statistics. Miscrosoft also confirm that the error report may contain "personal" information - if you believe this to be the case Microsoft suggest that you do not send the report. So, if you are comfortable with Microsoft having that information then go ahead and send the error report. However, I prefer not to risk sending Microsoft personal information.

Jim said...

Thanks, Anon no. 1. That's a fair summary

Anonymous said...

I had trouble with messenger in that someone contacted me pretending to be my daughter. I have not used Messenger since and have turned it off. I did not know where to turn to get help about this. Anyone know?

Graisg said...

Was it someone that got into your daughter's account Anon?
I used Messanger a few years ago but deserted to Skype. I suppose the danger exists with all forms of online communication. Perhaps other Gurnites might has suggestions.