Tag: Windows

Sometime it’s the simple ones…

The box art of Windows 1.0, the first version ...

Working in tech support – or being a “geek on hire” – has its moment. Some problems are a nightmare, or you just get blamed for stuff that’s not your fault because… well, you’re the IT guy and you should be able to fix Windows.

Then you get the occasional easy one. Like this:

*phone rings*

Me: Hey, Vlad. WHat have you broken this time?

Vlad: Nothing. Well. When I boot the PC up it stops and asks me about boot devices and stuff. I get past that and into Windows and try to open a web browser. Everything flickers and flashes. It’s just unusable.

Me: OK… here’s a theory. Grab the keyboard on each side.

Vlad: Yeeees….

Me: And tug it, gently, towards you. About an inch.

Vlad: Erm. OK. …. …. …. It’s stopped flashing!

Me: The desk you’re on’s really small isn’t it?

Vlad: How did you know?

Me: You had the keyboard crushed under the monitor so it was pressing on the function keys.

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Anatomy of a Malware Scam

The box art of Windows 1.0; the first version ...

Jesper M. Johansson has a very interesting 8-page article up on The Register entitled Anatomy of a Malware Scam that’s well worth a read. It does start a little techy, but I urge any Windows user to have a browse through it just to see how “clever” the thieving ***** who write this software really are.

It’s quite an eye-opener and I’ve seen a couple of other examples of this “in the wild”, particularly since I returned to Asia where anti-virus/anti-spyware software on public PCs is a thing of legend.

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