Tech Corner

I've mentioned in the past the terrific Windows Secrets newsletter, started years back by Woody Leonhard and now run by Fred Langa.  It's worth subscribing to for free (and they have a paid version, as well, with additional information.  Though the free version is packed.)

It can also be accessed online, and if you click on this link, here's a good, important article from the other day about a prevalent -- and growing fast -- phone scam.  How prevalent and fast?  As Langa writes, "It’s now so common, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center) issued a Jan. 7 special alert,'“New twist to online tech support scam.'”

Variations of the scam have been around for a while, but in this incarnation the scam involves a caller saying that he's from a Microsoft Partner company, and their servers have been sent information that indicate you use Windows on your computer which has been infected.  What's so good about this particular article, however, is that a Windows Secrets reader got one of these calls and documented what went on.  So, what you have here is basically a transcript of the call of what actually takes place.  Plus, at the end, Langa gives some tech resources to protect your computer from actually getting infected and what to do if it does.