It starts when your phone rings, with the caller ID showing an unfamiliar number. When you answer, the caller (usually, but not always, speaking with a foreign accent) informs you that there’s a serious problem with your computer, and that they’re calling to help you correct it. If you believe anything they say, you’ll end […]
Ever since personal computers first became widely used in the 1980s, their primary storage medium has been the conventional hard disk drive (HDD). Over the succeeding decades, HDDs continued to boast ever increasing capacity, speed and reliability, even as their prices kept dropping. Consider that for much of the 1980s the cost of a then
It happens all too frequently. A client comes to me for help with a computer emergency – maybe their hard drive died, or they got hit with ransomware, or they mistakenly deleted some files they later realized they still needed. One of the first questions I always ask is “do you have a backup?” All
Recently, I worked with a client to address several issues with his laptop. One of the issues was that he was seeing repeated warnings from his Avast antivirus/security software, suggesting that he needed to take certain actions. As I worked with the machine, I discovered that he had at least eight separate subscriptions to various
Wi-Fi hotspots are wireless services set up in coffee shops, airports and other public areas, enabling users to access the internet on their laptops, tablets and phones. Scammers sometimes use these hotspots in the commission of their crimes. Typically, they will set up their own “look alike” hotspot in the same area as an existing
