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woodson

234 posts

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#212771 12-Apr-2017 09:03
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Hey guys/gals

 

Quick backstory - a friend rather naively clicked on a Facebook popup ("Warning your computer has been compromised" or some such) which then led her to call a number - she then spoke to a guy, apparently in the US, for an hour, who remoted into her PC, showed her lots of "problems" (I imagine event viewer warnings) and said he could help. He installed some sort of spyware removal software, and finally got to the part where he told her how much all this would cost, at which point she hung up.

 

So, my question is this - will using the Windows 10 "Reset this PC" to wipe everything clean be enough, or is a proper drive wipe and then re-install recommended? I'd rather do the former, as the PC is a pre-built HP desktop with no Windows key sticker on it. I imagine this means the licence is baked into the BIOS, but I'm not too confident about finding the key, then securely wiping the drive before re-installing.

 

My major concern is that they may have installed some key logging software - is this 'normal' in such scams? Will the "Reset my PC' option be enough to guarantee a clean machine??

 

 

 

Would really appreciate any advice.  :)


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gehenna
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  #1762003 12-Apr-2017 09:28
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Format and reinstall.  


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