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Matt U. wrote: I can only wish they would call me regularly. Kinda makes me sad that they don't.
You know there are chat lines for lonely people like you?
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I understand they charge you per minute... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I didn't realize I was lonely? 
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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Then you've learned something today. Be happy about that.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Far from it.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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Hmm.
Look, if the CP Lounge decides that you're lonely, you don't get to debate the point.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I have no need to debate what is true. 
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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I had these people in a quite extended conversation one time, out of curiosity following all their instructions ("10,000 items in the event viewer?! Oh no! Those are all viruses that have infected your system!") until they got to the point where I was to download an executable from their web site and run it, at which point I refused to go any further and then engaged the caller and two of his supervisors in an extended discussion about the ethics of what they were doing and offering the question whether they might personally prefer doing something better with their lives than preying on people who don't know anything about their computers. They were by that point denying that they had started the call by claiming to be Microsoft, and I was actually quite surprised at how long they were willing to talk with me once it became clear I actually knew what I was looking at and that I wasn't going to do whatever it was they wanted (which seemed to me most likely to be "purchase a useless 'security' product from them," although maybe it was something more malicious). I could only imagine that they were willing to talk so long because they wanted to avoid me reporting them to someone, but I'm not really sure, maybe the employees there are so clueless that they actually don't know they are being employed to scam people.
Chrome didn't come up on that call, though. Maybe they've now moved beyond a simple exe file to a Chrome extension or something, since that might set off alarm bells for fewer people.
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A friend of a friend got a call like that. Ended up doing what they said, downloaded some nasty thing, and they held all of his data ransom. Not sure if he paid or just lost all of his data, but it was bad.
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I have had a couple of calls that starts with something like "Hello this is your tech support, there is a problem with your computer." At this point I say "Oh really? Which one?" ...and they hang up!
[edit] I think one of the callers actually said they were Microsoft.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Microsoft actually sued few companies (including one Indian company) for exact this thing. Sad to see how few rogue elements are giving bad impression of the country..
Thanks,
Milind
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Hi,
I had also these calls about 6 months ago, attacking me at home, but I said that I had no computer ...
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My dad amazingly got suckered by one of these scams. He panicked. We (his sons) told him to reimage. He called Dell, which gave him the steps (I wonder if they have a note that this is the second time they've had him reimage a computer? The first time was when he got a system with Windows 7. I told him to copy over the Music, Video, Documents and Images folders separately. He decided to save time by just copying the entire users directory. Mind you, this is the same man who once asked if it was safe to delete all the files in "System32". I almost said "yes.")
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One word - virtual machine. Oh, wait; that's 2.
Just make sure you aways have a Vm set up just waiting for the call - give them full access to do what they like - let them take control and faff around - express concern,
Go to the site they give you to enter credit card details (it is fun saying you don't have one for a while - tehn admit you have a debit card - you can feel the pressure building)
Then enter random digits into the credit card thing - read out the error message.
Keep trying
Eventually they will get you to tell them the number so they can type it in.
Express concern - but eventually let them persuade you it is safe to give them your CC number.
Go to this site[^] and read out one of the test credit card numbers.
it is fun to read a number like 5491426628441786
as
Five Four Nine Four......teen Two Six (pause) Six Two....huindred and eighty four ... four Seven (pause) teen Eighty (pause) six
Hours of fun!
Eventually, hopefully there will be an audible sigh of relief - or a gnashing of teeth depending how good their credit card system is!
I like to end the call by thanking them for their time, and telling them how delighted I am to have been entertained like this for so long, for no charge.
if they think the transaction has been successful (hasn't happened to me yet but I live in hope) I intend to tell them that a friend is having problems too - could I give them his number to call - and give one of my other numbers.
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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I am still kicking myself I don't have a VM set up on this machine (if I was using my Windows 7 box, I would have done that), I did play the phone is braking up though, must make a note of that web site and hope for another call.... We do need an :evil: smiley !!!
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I don't call that "from scratch" at all - where is the machine code? The compass and bar magnet? 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: where is the machine code? The compass and bar magnet?
I suppose you want me to start with the invention of making fire???
Marc
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No - I'm not a Luddite!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Yes, and I'd like it to install nasaly.
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Does that mean it has to stink?
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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What colour would the fire be .... and what do people want from fire?
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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Thanks you, Marc !
«A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards ... as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push» Wittgenstein
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BillWoodruff wrote: Thanks you, Marc !
You're welcome! It was a fun article to write, and I ended up rewriting the original code base because as I was writing the article, I realized I didn't like some of the original design choices.
Marc
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Fun, wasn't it? 
Did one myself a while back in...um...was there a Delphi in '93? Or did I use Turbo Pascal?
Of course the web was much simpler then...
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