Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[maculangand]

Hi! I need some help regarding a phone scam i received about 3 days ago. A man with an accent of Indian nationality called and identified himself as a windows employee and told me that my computer is at risk of crashing because it is highly infected. Although hesitant, i went on with his instructions and i was fooled to such extent that i gave him a number and he was able to remotely access my computer and showed me those red warning signs in the event viewer. I didn't fall on his scheme of me buying that $299 worth of computer firewall, tune up and something else. To make the story short, he hung up as soon as I told him i'm not buying and tried to ask for his number. what im worried about is what are the risk for me since he was able to access my computer remotely and i'm worried about that number that he got, i have no idea what number i gave him. I did re-install my OS, just like their advise over the internet but i'm still worried. Please help me on what I can do to prevent them or any other scammers in acessing my computer. thanks a million!

 MD

[PC_confused Super Phishing Phryer]

Hello maculangand and welcome to the Community.  I'm sorry to hear you've fallen for a scam that is going around, I guarantee you won't be the last...  There have been a lot of Post lately, about phone scammers trying to get access to a users PC.  They can be very convincing..  Before we get started, would you let us know if you are running any security programs (Norton's NIS2011, NAV2011 or 360), what is your PC's Operating System and any Service Pack upgrades?  A lot of questions but they help to narrow down any help we can give.  Are you seeing any unusual messages, getting redirected to another site, any error messages, anything strange happening? 

[maculangand]

thanks. i have NIS2011 and Windows 7.

[maculangand]

and i do sometimes being redirected to a different site but that's not something new.

[PC_confused Super Phishing Phryer]

Hello again maculangand and thanks for the additional information.  Have you made sure you have the latest updates, for NIS2011, and tried running a full scan in "Safe" mode?  And as a second or third opinion, would you care to download the free versions of Malwarebytes' or SUPERAntiSpyware, to see if your system still comes up clean?  They both play well with Nortons.  There are some more powerfull tools out there, but see if these find anything first..  Come back and let us know if they found anything.  We'll go from there. 

[delphinium Norton Fighter]

maculangand:

When you reinstalled the operating system, was that a repair install or a format and install.  What these scams want is to get access to a machine to install a keylogger or other spyware.  MBAM and SAS, as well as Norton should find any issue, but if you are still concerned, you can visit one of the free malware removal forums for a more in-depth look at specific logs to check your system.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/

http://forums.whatthetech.com/

[maculangand]

norton fighter: i'm not sure if i did repair install but i didn't reformat yet. all i now is that i re-nstall at factory default settings ( if that's how you call it.). is it safe to download those malwarebyes and super antispyware? where can i find them and are they free to install?

spam crusher: i did run live updates but i only do full system scan ca't find that"safe" mode scan.

I did turn off the remote access in the control panel, will that help? a friend told me that would be enough/

Thanks  to both of you!

MD

[maculangand]

sorry, i meant spam squasher.

[huwyngr Norton Fighter]

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maculangand wrote:

sorry, i meant spam squasher.

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Actually none of those are identifiers but show a level of experience!

The Identifier is the first line like   maculangand   delphinium  or PC_confused   .....

[PC_confused Super Phishing Phryer]

maculangand - I do not have Windows 7, I have Windows XP, but I think the procedure from my HP should be the same.  Click on Start, ShutDown, then Shutdown agin.  In the Shutdown Window, click on Restart, then click on OK.  When you PC starts rebooting, press the F8 key about once a second.  You should then see a screen with a lot of options, arrow up and click on Safe Mode.  While in the Safe mode, you will only have access to the very basic files and drivers.  Try running Nortons from here.  To get out of the Safe Mode, you will have to restart your PC.  In my previous note, the links to Malwarebytes' and SUPERAntiSpyware were highlighted, all you should have to do is to click on the link and you go to the site where you can download the programs.  Hope this helps, come back and let us know.