Last week was a reprint of a scareware article I wrote. It’s a common tactic, often using a popup. I got a call from my friends who were having the problem and I went over to their home to see it in action. It was great, and repeatable. The reason it was repeatable was because it wasn’t a popup at all. The scareware was an actual website.
 
What happened was the victim does a search, in this case on Netflix. The search results present in a dropdown box which was trying to complete what you were searching for. So you start by typing Netflix, and it comes up with choices like Netflix Account, Netflix Login, Netflix Specials, blah blah blah. Netflix Account was selected in the dropdown box and BOOM, the screen shows all kinds of computer stuff in the background and a popup that says Microsoft has Detected horrible stuff and you MUST call the number on your screen.
 
That wasn’t actually a popup, it was a website made to look like it had a popup, and it was not able to be closed. It was possible to go into Task Manager, select Chrome, and End Task. It was just a website designed to fool the viewer, nothing was actually on the computer per se. On further checking, it was actually a PAID AD on Google, which I find highly annoying. Paid Ads can come up on a legitimate search and they say Ad, in a box underneath it. Look for them. Most are likely legitimate, but this one was not. If nothing were selected from the dropdown box and you just hit enter, then a standard selection of search results on Netflix is presented, with the offending Ad on top. Sneaky, but you can see it was not actually a Netflix URL there.
 
So, by doing a “proper” search, instead of the dropdown box, it brings up all the websites and URL’s, and we were able to see the “Netflix Account” search was actually this phoney Ad with the dire warnings and the lie that it was Microsoft.
 
It was really clever. Horrible. And clever. And the person on the other end of the phone was also very clever, and very believable. He was also a gravy sucking scumbag rat b*st*rd.
 
Below shows the dropdown box. In the case of my computer, the “evil” Netflix Account page doesn’t even show. I don’t know why. In any case, you can see by selecting any of those choices below, you don’t really know what you will get, as they do not show any URL’s associated with them.  

​What’s good about this is that the URL is listed, and the first choice is https://netflix.com.
That’s clearly Netflix. What came up for my friends was something completely different, and did not show Netflix in the URL.
If a “popup” comes up like that for you, DO NOT panic. It’s not Microsoft, you probably don’t have a bunch of malware (yet), and absolutely DO NOT CALL the phone number or give anyone remote access to your computer. If you just aren’t sure, turn off your computer and call me or Carol. It won’t get worse if your computer is off, so why do anything right away? 

This is a reprint from a Tech Tip written last year.  Pop Up Scams are the single most written about topic in this column.  Microsoft will NEVER take over your computer, nor will Apple or the FBI.  They will NOT call you on the phone, they will not legitimately 'pop-up' on your screen telling you to call them because they detected malware or viruses. Please do not give remote access to your computer to anyone you aren't married to or that didn't spring from your loins.

Pop-ups are annoying. A pop-up may be a warning that takes up your entire screen, and appears to not let you do anything but read it, or click something on it. Often, it's a dire warning that you have terrible virus' on your pc, or have just been hacked. Sometimes there's a number to call for help. DO NOT CALL THEM. It's fake. They will want to take over your computer and "fix" the issues, and then charge you $370. So, here's a money saving tip, reboot your computer. If you know how, do a ctrl+alt+del and open task manager and cancel it. Or just press and hold the power button till your computer shuts off. When you turn it back on, that nasty pop-up should be gone, and if it is, you can send me $150, and buy a copy of MalwareBytes. You've still saved about $170.

The other scammy annoyance is the emails. I've now been getting them with actual valid email addresses, and names in them. Usually no subject, and never anything personal. Just a link in an email. Again, do not click the link. Eventually, these scammers will start adding some personal touch to the emails to make them seem more realistic. It will get tougher to spot these, and believe me, I've fallen for them too. I let my guard down, getting an email from my daughter. It was a couple years back, and I clicked the link. I realized immediately my error, rebooted my computer, and ran my anti malware programs. It happens to the best of us. The best thing to do is be aware, and be skeptical.

Similarly, I am also getting phone calls that have valid people's names and the 685 prefix, but they aren't. That's spoofing. They are sales calls, robots, and they really bug me. That shouldn't even be possible, but the phone company allows spoofing. Grrr. 

Another one we've been getting. Windstream sends an email saying there's a problem with my account, we need to fix it right away or the account will be closed imminently. Uh-huh. Just delete that one, it's fake.

Ah, for the good old days, when all I had to worry about was a Nigerian Prince, or Banck of America wanting something. The spelling errors were a great tip-off. I don't get those anymore. Now I have to pay attention.

Here is a link from the REAL Microsoft support about the issue and suggestions on what to do if you do fall victim to this.   Click Here.
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By Carol Bondy
This week I received a Facebook Friend request from an Emily Smith. I didn't recognize the name but I did recognize some of her friends.  What I also noticed was that Emily, other than describing herself as an "Abiquiu Fan", shared no personal information.  She reposted local posts but there were no personal posts.   There were no images of Emily.  Since that time "Emily" has changed her last name from Smith to Sheppard and continues to make friend requests to locals.   Neither an Emily Smith or an Emily Sheppard is a subscriber to the Abiquiu News.

​As I said, I did recognize some of her friends.  Facebook will show you mutual friends when you get a friend request.  I contacted them and all but one responded that while they did accept "Emily's" friend request they did not know her.  In some cases they saw mutual friends and thought she must be ok.  I've since heard from others that they received a request from this account but didn't know her and didn't accept the friend request.

What's the endgame?  It could be malicious.  It  could be someone just wanting to troll for information.  Worse case scenario is that it is a scammer. Scammers create fake Facebook profiles and request to be your friend to gain access to personal information that you restrict to "friends only." This information may include your contact information for spamming or other personal information that might be useful in setting you up for a phishing attack.  

When you accept these type of friend requests you are putting both your information and your friends' information at risk.

​Product Recommendation of the Week - Blink XT Home Security Camera System with Motion Detection, Wall Mount, HD Video, 2-Year Battery Life and Cloud Storage Included - 1 Camera Kit

Periodically Abiquiu Computers recommends products.  We recommend products that we have personally used or researched.  What is new is that we are an Amazon affiliate and if you purchase any of these products through our link we receive a small commission from Amazon.

Carol came across this during Amazon's Holiday Savings.   So far we have some great shots of our dogs and the UPS driver! This is easy to install.   We purchased the weatherproof one pictured below.  Alerts are sent to your phone or you can just check in.  Some of our kids were out here and they had one in their apartment that they used to check on their kitties.

Blink

• WEATHERPROOF FOR OUTDOOR OR INDOOR USE: Place and move your wireless Blink camera anywhere around your home both inside and out. Start off with a small system and expand to up to 10 cameras on one Blink Sync Module
• MOTION DETECTOR: Built-in motion sensor alarm, when motion detector is triggered, Wi-Fi cameras will send an alert to your smartphone and record a short clip of the event to the cloud
• BATTERY POWERED SECURITY SYSTEM: Wireless home camera with 2-year battery life, powered by 2 AA Lithium batteries (included), data is sent from IP cameras over Wi-Fi
• SMART HOME VIDEO SECURITY WITH HD VIDEO: Simple self-install home monitoring in minutes; easy to control wireless cameras with the free Blink Home Monitor iOS or Android app (Requires iOS 10.3 or Android 5 Lollipop or higher)
• FREE CLOUD STORAGE: Totally wire-free, with no monthly fees or service contract required

Click link below for more information or to purchase.

Carol got an email recently, seemingly from her own email account, threatening to release a list of all the porn sites she visits, and pictures of her from her webcam. It seemed real to her, and she was a bit nervous about it.  (note from Carol, the list of all the porn sites I visit did not seem like a valid threat but I did feel that my computer could have been hacked) I downloaded and ran Malwarebytes, and it did indeed find a Trojan, something I almost NEVER see in a scan. I most often, by far, see PUPs, or Probably Unwanted Programs, which are mostly an annoyance rather than a threat. Malwarebytes Quarantined them and I then deleted them from Quarantine.

In this case, Carol sent notifications to her email provider, website host, and added some extra security. My impression is that it is actually more a phishing scam than an actual hack. However, better safe than sorry. Apparently, this type of scam has been getting more common, especially with the sex site listing threat. You can read an excellent article about this sort of thing  HERE.

You’ll notice he mentions it may even contain your password, though Carol’s email did not. Providing a password would certainly make the threat more serious, however, it still doesn’t mean your computer was hacked. Some server somewhere may have had a breach with your security info in it, and that may very well sound familiar as it happens ALL THE TIME. So, the typical things apply here: change your passwords, don’t use the same passwords across everything, and for goodness sake, use a password that’s at least somewhat complicated. The password “Password” is a LOUSY password.

Additional note from Carol: on many services, especially banking, two step verification is offered.   What this means is that after you put in your password there will be an additional step of entering a code sent to your cell phone, or answering a security question.  It's a pain but it adds another layer of security.  If you have Malwarebytes on your computer, update it and run it. Although there is a free version, we recommend the paid version as it runs in the background and protects you all the time.  I did not have this running on my computer but you better believe I do now.  Link to purchase on Amazon available on right.

For the Abiquiu News, in addition to SSL I've added a fire wall to the site itself to make sure it is safe for you to browse and download from.  

I usually tell people to buy a new computer, and give me their old one. This is certainly the time of year you should have done that, however, I do understand not everyone wants to give up their computer quite yet. If your computer is less than 5 years old, that's not very old at all. If it's over 7 years old, you've definitely gotten your money's worth and should probably consider a new computer. If you are still working on a computer that is 10 years old, then I congratulate your stubbornness.

Whatever you are working on, there are likely ways to get it to run a little faster. Getting rid of clutter is always a great idea, and it's pretty much free to do. Delete documents and pictures you don't need. CCleaner is a free program you can run on a PC or Mac that will clean up the system a bit. There's a paid version too, if you want.

Ultimately, you may need a faster computer. You don't necessarily need a new one, but you may need some newer components. I generally recommend memory as the first step. If you can upgrade your memory, do so. It's generally the cheapest and easiest component upgrade. I've written about upgrading to an SSD drive before. A Solid State Drive has no moving parts, and it will be noticeably faster than a mechanical drive. The prices have come down so much that I just bought a 500gb SSD for $55 yesterday, on Amazon. Just because! I already have an SSD in my computer, so I'll be putting that one into something else. I was looking at daily deals, so check those out. And remember to check the ratings on Amazon before you buy. The price is up to $69.99, still a great price.  Click the Amazon link on the right.
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If you're lucky like I was, you may be in a Goodwill and see an entire motherboard with a core i5 CPU in it. I found one for $10 a year ago and swapped out my mobo with a crappy Atom processor. Not only did it all work, it is SO MUCH FASTER than my old computer, it's wonderful.
​I'm putting in an article about upgrading your computer HERE. You can get some ideas.
Another thing, a free program to download is called SPECCY, from Piriform. It will give you more detailed specs about your computer than Windows will. Just an FYI.