Earlier this summer, my father-in-law purchased Norton Antivirus to install on an older computer that contained his years of work on our family tree. He was unable to get the antivirus program to install, and a window popped up with a phone number, suggesting he call Norton support. My father-in-law called the number, and a person tried to help him install the program. He now knows that the program did not install because his computer had Window XP, but the person who helped him did not identify that as the problem. The Norton employee told my father-in-law that he would have someone else call him back. A person soon called my father-in-law and identified himself as a Norton employee. This person also tried to help my father install the program, to no avail. Then, the support representative told my father-in-law that since he was over 50, he could allowed the representative remote access into into computer. He gave my father-in-law instructions on how to begin the remote access session, and then had control of my father's computer. Once in, he told my father-in-law that the antivirus would not install because he had 1600 cookies. He offered to forward my father-in-law to someone he claimed worked with Microsoft, to buy "Microsoft Silver," which he claimed that would take care of his problem. My father-in-law refused to purchase the program and asked the man to get out of his computer. The man said that he would close the session, but that, afterwards, my father-in-law's computer would no longer work. The man closed out all the programs, shut down my father-in-law's computer, and hung up. True to his word, the computer would not boot, and it appears the man had deleted some critical system files.
My father-in-law purchased Norton Antivirus and allowed the Norton support to gain remote access to his computer because he trusted the company. It is appalling to know that one cannot trust those who "...are the difference between crossing your fingers and protecting your Stuff."