Windows Tech Support Phone Scam

I have now had 4 calls from so called Windows support.  This is a scam. 
 All the numbers are similar, but may not be an indication of where they are based.

The call normally starts off with them saying "Hi I am calling you from Windows" they will go on to say that there is a virus on your machine and this is the reason for the call.

They explain how you can detect if there is a problem by taking you to what is called the Windows Event Viewer.  The viewer logs harmless errors. What the scammers do is then ask you to read out some of the numbers you see. Their reply will always be you have a virus and need to download some software.  They will often direct you to a website to download it I do know of incidents where they email you the software.  You are then asked to install this software.The software then takes over your computer remotely. They will then detect this mythical virus and demand payment for its removal. If you don't comply they will either encrypt all your files or remotely change the computer password or both. 


Remember Microsoft will never make unsolicited call, emails  to provide tech support, or ask for financial details.

What do you do if you have been affected already. You can go to Microsoft's website page about these types of scams. Or report them directly to their Report a Technical Support Scam page. 

I am waiting for the next call as I am going to string them along, by wanting double glazing. After all they did they say they are from Windows. 

In case you are wondering the phone numbers they use are 

1. 00 1 585 410 2495
2. 00 1 585 410 6036
3. 00 1 585 410 7217
4. 00 1 585 414 0647

I also did a telephone number look up and they are based in Rochester New York and are on the Verizon mobile network.  But most scammers will spoof the caller ID so that it appears that this is the number they are calling from when in fact are actually calling from another country. 

Windows Update part 4

Microsoft issued a whole load of updates this week, these have nothing to do the previous failed attempts, so these should be fine for your computer. They are to do with various older versions of Windows 10. Apparently there are more flavours of Windows 10 than Baskin Robbins has ice creams (not quite but you get the idea)

 As for the failed updates newer presumable fixed versions  are with the Microsoft Insider testers. But no news at the moment  as to a release date. 

As always I will keep you posted.

Windows 10 updates part 3

You really couldn't make this stuff up if you tried could you.

 While the last two attempts at updates have caused Windows users to find that some files have been deleted and some get the BSOD. It has now come to light that now some users have no audio.

 Being unable to organise a party in a brewery comes to mind. microsoft has yet to comment on this yet. But various users on a Microsoft forum, Twitter and on Reddit have commented though. They get the message "No Audio Device Installed"


How to fix a broken audio driver after the recent Windows 10 update:

A Microsoft Support Employee has come up with this fix:

An Intel audio driver was incorrectly pushed to devices via Windows Update for a short period of time earlier this week.  After receiving reports from users that their audio no longer works, we immediately removed it and started investigating.  If your audio broke recently, and you're running Windows 10 version 1803 or above, please check to see if the incorrect driver was installed. To regain audio, we recommend you uninstall the driver.

1. Type Device Manager in the search box
2. Find and expand Sound, video, and game controllers
3. Look for a Realtek device, or a device that has a yellow triangle with an exclamation point
4. Click on the device to select it
5. From the View menu, choose Devices by connection
6. Look at the parent device - this will be called something like "Intel SST Audio Controller" (Intel Smart Sound Technology driver version 09.21.00.3755)
7. Right-click the controller device
8. Choose Properties
9. You should get a dialog like below. Click on the Driver tab as shown.
10. If the driver version is 9.21.0.3755, you have the driver that was sent to you incorrectly.
11. Click Uninstall Device. You will get a popup asking if you want to remove the driver too, as shown.
12. Check the checkbox as shown, so the driver will be removed.
13. Click Uninstall.
14. When the driver is uninstalled, reboot your system.
15. Your audio (speakers and headphones) should now work.

Good luck

Will keep you posted. At least Microsoft keeps giving me material for my blog. 

Windows October Update part 2

Oh dear. After pausing the recent October Windows 10 Update 1809. It appears Microsoft has rolled out a newer version that fixes the previous problems. 😁 Yeah I hear you cry. Not so fast.

Guess what this update has even more problems. Users are reporting that they are getting Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors. At the moment the majority of users affected are ones that have HP computers. 

  

A post on a Microsoft forum claimed that an HP desktop machine refused to boot up after the update. And another post on the same forum has said that the update has affected several of their computers at work. 

Reddit and Twitter users have reported the issues. Most of these users seem to be reporting an error called "WDF_Violation" This is to do with the Windows Driver Framework. One HP user managed to track the error down to a file called HpqKbFiltr.sys. Deleting this file cured the problem. Now this file is the keyboard driver. But not all affected users have this file and some who have deleted it still get the BSOD. 

A person working for  the Microsoft support team has said that reports are coming in of this update affecting other computer systems such as Dell.

Come on Microsoft sort this out. You have a duty to your 400 million users. 

Windows 10 October update

Microsoft has done it again rolled out an update that breaks more than it fixes. 

The latest October 2018 update was supposed to bring more functionality  to Windows 10.

 But people are complaining that its deleted files, photos and other types of documents. 

 Microsoft have something called the Insider Program which is a group of individuals who test new updates before they go mainstream. So how many people are in this group? Well apparently over 10 million people signed up for it. So how was this amazing fail missed. Well it wasn't looking on the Insider forums, as many there reported problems with file deletion and also that the Edge browser couldn't connect to the internet.

 Microsoft has said only a small percentage of users are affected, but at over 400 million downloads of Windows 10 even if its 1% that have been affected that's still 4 million users. Not a small amount in anybody's book. 

 First thing Microsoft did was to warn people not to update their computers, not an easy task since updates for Windows 10 are automatic. And now they have said "We have paused the roll out of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809)* for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating. If you have manually downloaded the Windows 10 October 2018 Update installation media, please don't install it and wait until new media is available.". So hopefully no more users will be affected. 

 So if you have been affected  what can you do. Dona Sarker who runs the Microsoft Insider Program has said that Microsoft has tools available that will help you get your files back. So you should contact Microsoft support in your country. Here is the link for the US Microsoft site . And here is is for the Uk site . (just click on the words US Microsoft site or UK site)

Come on Microsoft get your act together, no more automatic updates and go back to semi automatic where you ask the user if you want to update. 

And remember back up your data. If you don't know what to back up, write a list of all the files you can't live with out. These are the ones you need to back up. And check out my post Whats in the clouds .