I sincerely hope all of y'all had a better start than I did! About 5 days into January I realized that my feeling not up to par was leading to something else: a very bad head cold, which I assume I caught from the adorable little girl who was among the relatives at my house for Christmas. It hit me full force last weekend, I think. (I've kinda lost track of time.) I thought I could handle it until I woke up one day feeling very dizzy and nauseated, along with the nasal symptoms. Spent most of the day lying down and using all the home remedies I could think of. Then something happened that scared me: I was the equivalent of DEAF in my right ear. But. I would have to be near death and know it before I'd go to an emergency room or call the Rescue Squad (my first 10 years of employment were in a hospital x-ray department). I have lost track of time, so will just say I tried every home remedy I could think of, including nasal douches. Yuck!
Anyway, two days ago, my hearing returned, and I began feeling like I would live. Noticed I had several messages, no I.D.s, on my home phone, so listened, and was told by a sincere sounding woman that "this is an emergency call. The license key on your Microsoft computer has expired. Please call this number ...." The next call, same woman, was "this is a follow up of an emergency call ...." and repeated the first message. My thought, after calming down, was that it was a hacker, but, I thought, they had my land phone number and info about my computer, and what the heck was a license key? So I called the number, and after the first ring, a man with a very guttural voice said something. I did not understand a word, and told him so, and he mumbled something about my computer. I repeated I could not understand what he was saying, so then in a much easier to understand voice, he (or someone else) said, "are you looking at your computer?" I said no, it was in another room, with no phone, so I'd have to call back on my cell phone. I asked for his name, and he said, "John Smith."
That was all I needed to know. No man with a name like John Smith would speak in a voice like that (believe it or not, my first thought on hearing that guttural voice, was ?Russian? Anyway, I hung up and tried to call my brother-in-law, a math/computer science major, but got no answer. So called the help line for my cable hook-up, and when I told the person who answered why I was calling, he said it sounded like somebody was trying to hack into my computer.
I thanked him and decided to log in and see if everything was OK. My security was on and up to date. I logged into the Microsoft help line and went through the automated Q&A and was given routine advice, including, if anything else happened to notify my state attorney general.
I am quite happy to say that my cold is better, I can hear out of both ears, and my computer seems fine.
Glad everything is ok, Libby!
I, too, had that nasty head cold. It didn't affect my ears, hit my sinuses end eyes to the point my right eye was swollen and weepy. I haven't had a cold that bad in a long time.
Glad you are better, Libby and that you were astute enough to know someone was trying to scam and hack your computer. A more gullible person would have believed them.
Abby, hope you are feeling better.
Quote from: AbbyTC on January 15, 2017, 06:51:33 PM
Glad everything is ok, Libby!
I, too, had that nasty head cold. It didn't affect my ears, hit my sinuses end eyes to the point my right eye was swollen and weepy. I haven't had a cold that bad in a long time.
Thank you, Abby. Glad you came through it OK. The last time I had something that bad was in the 12th grade. I was out of school for at least a weekl.
Quote from: Purplelady1040 on January 15, 2017, 08:36:42 PM
Glad you are better, Libby and that you were astute enough to know someone was trying to scam and hack your computer. A more gullible person would have believed them.
Abby, hope you are feeling better.
Thank you Purplelady for the good wishes, and especially for that comment about me being astute. I was really worried there for a while.
Quote from: libby on January 16, 2017, 12:21:54 AM
Thank you Purplelady for the good wishes, and especially for that comment about me being astute. I was really worried there for a while.
I was telling my husband about it and he said there are no license keys on computers as you own it. He said someone more naive would have gave them the info and gotten hacked.
Quote from: Purplelady1040 on January 16, 2017, 08:51:10 AM
I was telling my husband about it and he said there are no license keys on computers as you own it. He said someone more naive would have gave them the info and gotten hacked.
Thank you so much! And please thank your husband for me.
:smile:
Quote from: libby on January 16, 2017, 10:41:26 AM
Thank you so much! And please thank your husband for me.
:smile:
Not a problem. He is my computer guru!!!
Lucky you!
Quote from: libby on January 16, 2017, 05:54:47 PM
Lucky you!
Yep, soon to be 24 years of lucky for both of us. He is a great husband, father and my best friend. We have no secrets from one another and he laughs at the antics that I tell him about on here. He doesn't do forums but he gets a kick out of the fun I have on them
Quote from: libby on January 15, 2017, 05:22:10 PM
Noticed I had several messages, no I.D.s, on my home phone, so listened, and was told by a sincere sounding woman that "this is an emergency call. The license key on your Microsoft computer has expired. Please call this number ...." The next call, same woman, was "this is a follow up of an emergency call ...." and repeated the first message. My thought, after calming down, was that it was a hacker, but, I thought, they had my land phone number and info about my computer, and what the heck was a license key?
Any time you receive a call, an e-mail, a text etc. like that, it's a phishing and or hacking attempt.
Any time you get a number you don't recognize, you can Google the entire number (area code included) and get an idea who called - don't ever download anything from any place that provides that information.
Make certain you computer has plenty of security. I highly recommend Avast antivirus - free version - but I also use others security programs, there are some great free ones, in conjunction with that anti-virus program.
Quote from: Purplelady1040 on January 16, 2017, 08:51:10 AM
I was telling my husband about it and he said there are no license keys on computers as you own it. He said someone more naive would have gave them the info and gotten hacked.
Your husband is mistaken, and it doesn't have to do with what you're implying.
Microsoft has software license keys and they're usually found on a sticker on your computer. It doesn't 'expire' as such.
While I'm far more familiar with MS, MAC also has license keys.