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Mother Google Knows Best: How to Take Down Hackers (For Dummies About to Have a Panic Attack)

Quotes of the week:
"Unless your name is Google, stop acting like you know everything" -Unknown

"Relax... We're all crazy... It's not a competition"-Unknown

"Of course I talk to myself ! Sometimes I need expert advice" -Unknown


Mother Google Knows Best:
How to Take Down Hackers
(For Dummies About to Have a Panic Attack)


DO NOT PANIC! DO NOT PANIC!, I remember telling myself Friday afternoon as I saw my computer give me an alert that I had a virus. It looked like on of those alerts that Microsoft's Windows Defender (The antivirus that comes with most computers that run on Windows OS) gives you when there is something wrong. DO NOT PANIC... Windows Defender will fix it all. I foolishly thought as I was about to make the worst mistake I could have ever made....

This is Command Prompt (aka cmd) on my computer.
...I clicked on the little red button that said "FIX NOW". Suddenly, Command Prompt pops up and a bunch of commands start to pop up on the command prompt screen. My mouse started moving all by itself and clicking on files and opening internet tabs. It was almost as if a ghost had taken control of my laptop. I knew it was no ghost. It was a hacker.

A window popped up with the Microsoft logo claiming to be the Microsoft official website. It said I had a serious Spyware issue and  told me to call the "Microsoft technical support hotline" so that the "technical experts" could fix the issue.  This is when I made another critical mistake...

...Yes, I called the number*. Now, I know what you're thinking. How could I be so stupid to think that that was the Microsoft official website and that the number I was calling was the Microsoft official tech support hotline? Well... These hackers were clever, and I am a very naive person. They made the website look almost identical to the Microsoft website. Identical to the point where the website even said "microsoft.com" at the end. Also, keep in mind that I was panicking and my computer was being hacked at the moment... I was not exactly thinking straight.

*Just a note: the phone numbers from this hacking company were : 1-844-586-228, and 1-844-828-7814. In fact, if you even want to reach the guy that talked to me, dial the second number and just dial the extension number 1013. BEWARE OF THESE PEOPLE. They will show no mercy in making sure you get a terrible virus on your computer. 

Evil Technical Support:

The call directed me to some guy with a thick Indian accent claiming to work for Microsoft. He told me to go to this website to connect my computer to his so he could see what was happening. Later on, I found out this is the same website that the people from Microsoft use when they are helping you troubleshoot any issue. He ended up connecting to my computer. He started typing commands into command prompt and even made it seem like I was being attacked by a virus. He said that my computer was infected by this computer and network virus called the "Clampi" virus. Then, he started asking for about $ 300 dollars to fix the problem.


Thank goodness by this time my mom had already gotten home from work and was there with me when he started asking for personal information like credit cards, home address, phone number, etc.

When my mother asked if they worked with Microsoft, they gave her a link * that showed them as if they were partners with Microsoft.

We finally realized then that the people who had installed the virus and hacked my computer were the same people we were talking to... My mother said she did not have the money right now and asked him to call back. This gave us just enough time to call Microsoft support to see what we could do and report the hackers.

* Note: you have to type in Yayservices on the search box to get the "company" that hacked my computer

Microsoft Support

We were directed to a really nice guy who also happened to be from India. He told us that the whole website that they had sent us was a scam and that Microsoft had no partners. He was an amazing help and he connected to my computer the same way the hackers had done. He was able to take out the hackers and delete most of what they had installed. He also made me fill out a form to report the hack and follow up on the hackers so that they would be shot down.

Problem solved! (Lol... just kidding!)

We thought everything was fine now. However, today when I turned on my computer, it would not turn on the volume, wouldn't let me connect to the internet, and it took forever to load or even turn on. I called Microsoft Services again, but they were no help whatsoever. In fact, they wanted me to pay like $500 USD just to get a technician to look at the computer and fix whatever was wrong. The guy that talked to me did not even bother to listen to what I had to say!

I was so mad I almost wanted to just throw my computer away and switch to Apple. Maybe they would be nicer than those Microsoft jerks...

Literally how I felt about the Microsoft technical experts...
Image link


When everything else fails, mama Google comes to the rescue

I refused to pay $500 dollars to fix a computer that cost me about $800 dollars! That was ridiculous. This is when I decided if I wanted anything done, I had to stop relying on the people from Microsoft who were all about money... So I went home to mama Google. 

I researched the symptoms that my computer was having for about a couple hours. After pretty much becoming an expert in Command Prompt,  System Recovery, Control Panel Settings, and having to factory reset my computer, I finally fixed it. No thanks to Microsoft...


If Google didn't know so much, I don't really know what I would have done! Especially considering most of my homework nowadays requires a computer. 


A few tips for panicking dummies like me:


1. First of all, DO NOT PANIC! It only makes it worse, and it will make you act crazy (or crazier than usual in my case) and you will end up doing something that you will regret.

2. If you ever get an alert that you have a virus or spyware, no matter how legit the alert looks, do not click on it! Call Microsoft costumer service right away. The real number is 1 (800) 642-7676.

3. If your computer ever gets hacked, this website helped me a lot.


4. While the Microsoft people can be a great help. Sometimes they may not be very helpful. Don't be afraid to do your own research about the situation (from trustworthy websites of course).


5. If you ever talk to a company that claims to be from Microsoft, they are not a trustworthy company. Microsoft has no partners. Always call Microsoft directly.


Final Tip: Use Command Prompt!!! People often overlook CMD, but it can do really cool things like track down ip addresses, see who is connected to your network, annnnndddd, in case you did not know this, it can play the movie Star Wars! 


To get to command prompt, press the windows key and the "R" key together and in the box type in "cmd" without quotations and press enter. 


This is it for this week! Just remember that sometimes good things can come out of experiences like this one. If this had never happened I would have never discovered how to use command prompt, and I would have never become so aware of hacking, and how easily it can happen to anyone.


Don't doubt the power of Google!








Comments

  1. also, here is a link to a Microsoft malicious software removal tool : https://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/malware-removal.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And here is a link to the greatest apology ever written for the command prompt (and an insightful reminder that we are all marching metaphors), "In the Beginning was the Command Line" by SF Great Neal Stephenson:

    http://cristal.inria.fr/~weis/info/commandline.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just started reading it.... it is super awesome so far!

      Delete
    2. I just started reading it.... it is super awesome so far!

      Delete
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