Microsoft Rep trying to sell anti-hacker !! (bit of a con?)

I took office off the the old computer and then tried to install on the new but got a message to say that there was a problem and I needed to ring them (free uk number).
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How exactly did you do this? It may be worth putting down exactly what you did so if anyone searches in the future this thread will show up.
 
If only I could remember!
I recollect doing a google search about installing microsoft office and thought I was upon a microsoft site.
I was asked to put in my product code , which I did.
A few seconds went bye and then a picture appeared saying there was a problem as , if I remember correctly , my code had already been used ( which did not surprise me as I half expected some hoop jumping given I had used such before ) and a number was given to ring for help.
I cannot recolect now if at the same time I got a message which appeared bottom right of screen asking if I wanted help and I may well have clicked on it and entered into a conversation.
End result was that I rang the number and they rang me back
(I am unable to remember if I had given my number as part of the text messaging or if i gave it as part of the telephone conversation I was having)

my apologies for being so vague!!! - it was only towards the end AND AFTER that it dawned on me that there might be an issue and why did I authorise remote access!! - no idea!!

Fortunately I do not let any program save my passwords e.g I have to put in my password to look at my e-mails or to sign on here etc.
 
It sounds very much like you had a lucky escape with no black screens and no sensitive info on your pc. just backup your games and other data you want then you can put them all back on without spending several hours re-installing :)
 
I say no black screens as I do not remember any and I was sat in front of the machine all the time .

It is possible that the screen may have gone black for a split second and I did not notice!! - is this important ?

Assuming the worse if I were to invest in a n other ssd , load windows on to that and 'lose' the drive upon which windows was and is currently installed would this solve all problems or is it not worth it?

Thanks for input. :)
 
the black screen would usually be longer than a second or so. it's just so you cant see what he is doing then he can steal stuff behind your back, well in fact, right into front of you. a new ssd to reinstall windows is fine as it would be a different install and would not allow the user to connect remotely. just make sure you disable remote access so it doesn't happen again.
 
AgedIdiot said:
As mentioned I did reinstall windows and found that a small partition could not be deleted - which is worrying me.
Looking at disk management the 'problem' (if it is ??) drive has 3 partitions :-
1)Recovery (|529 mb)
2) 100 mb Healthy Efi system
3) 476.31 gb Healthy (Boot,Page File,Crash Dump,Primary Partition

Cannot make any changes to either 1) or 2)

is this normal?
Is it anything to be worried about given possible hack?

Advice appreciated :)
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It's normal
During Windows install delete the partitions until its 1 large unallocated space
If it won't do it
Start pc with Windows disc/USB in it
As soon as its ready for you to interact
Press shift+f10
Then use Diskpart to select the drive
Ie if only 1 drive
Select disk 1
Clean
 
If it's your own build, I'd be surprised if it has a non-deletable "recovery" partition? such things are normally for proprietary builds! Unless you made it yourself, I'd be very suspicious. On another note, you can always just type a phone number into Google and see what it comes up with! there are a number of sites like "Who called me?" etc. they normally give an indication of bad experiences if any. I have access to certain reverse lookup directories and records, I cannot say how,why, or which, neither can I divulge what they say, but it's not a good number, let's leave it at that.
 
JollysH1 said:
If it's your own build, I'd be surprised if it has a non-deletable "recovery" partition? such things are normally for proprietary builds! Unless you made it yourself, I'd be very suspicious. On another note, you can always just type a phone number into Google and see what it comes up with! there are a number of sites like "Who called me?" etc. they normally give an indication of bad experiences if any. I have access to certain reverse lookup directories and records, I cannot say how,why, or which, neither can I divulge what they say, but it's not a good number, let's leave it at that.
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It's not a factory restore type of recovery partition
It's for the windows recovery/troubleshoot tools if your pc won't boot
 
Decided to bite the bullet and have ordered today via overclockers a Patrriot Viper VPN100 M2 (512gb) hd which will be delivered next week.

Will then have a 'clean' drive etc:)

Cost of £80 for peace of mind - from my perspective a great investment.

Just need to check that the new drive will fit(asus x570-e) as it has an attached alu heat sink resulting in a 10.5 mm depth.

Not all over yet but hopefully getting there.

M.y thanks to all posters !!

P.s. What am I going to to with the Adata 512gb m2 drive which is to be replaced??
 
AgedIdiot said:
Decided to bite the bullet and have ordered today via overclockers a Patrriot Viper VPN100 M2 (512gb) hd which will be delivered next week.

Will then have a 'clean' drive etc:)

Cost of £80 for peace of mind - from my perspective a great investment.

Just need to check that the new drive will fit(asus x570-e) as it has an attached alu heat sink resulting in a 10.5 mm depth.

Not all over yet but hopefully getting there.

M.y thanks to all posters !!

P.s. What am I going to to with the Adata 512gb m2 drive which is to be replaced??
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See if adata or your bios has secure erase software /bios option
Then use it as a data drive
Could have done that rather than buy a new drive
Or clean it with Diskpart
 
Mr Mcgoo said:
I hate to say this, but yep you were hacked but the way it has been done may not be illegal. Did you give permission to access your pc remotely? As Rannoch has asked, did the screen go black at any point? Finally did you give any bank details or have any details stored on your pc that during a black screen he could have took without you realising?
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LOL no-one was hacked.

He gave someone access to his PC, this is something very different.

As others said, this is a typical scam. Have a look here:

 
I did once have a similar thing, but it was via Microsoft themselves. All I needed was to re-install Windows 10 on a machine, carefully located the number via microsoft.com, rang it and after some kerfuffle the very foreign "tech" guy asked to remote access the PC, why did they need to do that all I needed was an activation key... It smelled fishy, but I was firm in denying the request, eventually I got a key, popped it in and all seemed well. Was a rather off experience, and that was from (from what I can tell) Microsoft themselves! Since then, I just use the automated service, much less dicey.
 
Have made final decision .

Cancelled the order for new ssd (having researched a little it was clear it was too deep to fit in either of the boards m2 slots.)

the new machine has a 512gb m2 ssd + a 1tb m2 ssd and a 1tb ssd - somewhat overkill for what I use my machine for. E.g the second 1tb drive is not used.

Will therefore remove the , possibly, infected ssd and do a clean install on the 1tb ssd - the 1tb shows as one partition only and has already been formatted.

Will keep the 512gb ssd for now - i will have another go at disinfecting it later and re-use .

Although the 1tb was in my machine if an d when I was hacked it was only a game drive and as far asI can tell was/is good!

If anyone considers I am doing the wrong thing please advise.

N.b. Am proving again what an AgedIdiot i can be :eek::(
 
Thanks for the secure erase advice EXCEPT Asus says to check the ssd compatablity list and can I find any such list - not a sign.:mad:
 
AgedIdiot said:
As mentioned I did reinstall windows and found that a small partition could not be deleted - which is worrying me.
Looking at disk management the 'problem' (if it is ??) drive has 3 partitions :-
1)Recovery (|529 mb)
2) 100 mb Healthy Efi system
3) 476.31 gb Healthy (Boot,Page File,Crash Dump,Primary Partition

Cannot make any changes to either 1) or 2)

is this normal?
Is it anything to be worried about given possible hack?

Advice appreciated :)
Click to expand...

Its a normal partition added by Windows and its disk manager won't let you delete it you'll need a 3rd party tool like partition wizard and possibly a bootable usb stick. Normally I'd say don't bother but considering whats happened I'd remove those too personally windows install media will setup new ones.
 
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