ioneabee Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 has a customer call me on her mobile as "John from Microsoft" (with a thick Indian accent) was on the land line talking her through the "problems" she had with her computer. we all know the scam, but unfortunately, peapole are still falling for them anyway told her to hang up and hit the power button on her laptop for 10 secs to shut it down - which she did, but unfortunately on re-start he had activated syslock (which I've never seen them do before) - this is basically a windows feature that provides security to stop unauthorised access to the pc ie genuine, not a virus or malware/spyware. So the question - I've hunted and only come up with if you can't guess the password, you're scr@wed - this is a Win Vista machine and guess what, I can't guess the password !! - I've used Hirens tools to clear any use account password, but this obviously doesn't clear syslock. Has anyone got any solution other than a complete re-install of windows ? I've wipped the hard drive out and am currently backing up her data Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ioneabee Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 ok - bit of an update I also copied the backup files from the registry and replaced the existing ones ie sam, system etc etc and I have the laptop back up and running now checking for what else that scamming barsteward did to the machine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 (edited) There is a tool I would of suggested we use at work to crack into machines where the local admin account had been forgotten. But guessing you've almost sorted it Edited July 26, 2014 by grundy225 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fodder Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Glad you've sorted it. When you first posted I thought it was a sector based tool and was trying to think what the desktop guys in work use but they have an enterprise licenses for this sort of stuff. I hope you've educated your client accordingly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMballistic Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Anymore problems ioneabee and just call this guy, ...he'll sort it out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Anymore problems ioneabee and just call this guy, ...he'll sort it out. Amazing film!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fodder Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Oh and they never say they are from Microsoft. I've tried to get them to say they are but they will always say something like "windows support desk" and when challenged if they work for Microsoft they sent and say similar to the above quotes. I work from home from time to time and if I get one of these and I have time I try to string them along and act as though I don't know what I'm doing.... They get so frustrated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Yeah, had them call me before saying "I am Microsoft Certified" Usually ask "MS certified in what?" Normally get a reply that sounds like "Uhm......" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Never heard of this before but wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ioneabee Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 definately called themselves "from Microsoft" I even tried to get contact details from them ..............they gave me, not difficult to guess............john@microsoft.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fodder Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Hmmm interesting. I've tried to get them to say they are from Microsoft before and they twist and turn to not say they are. I told one lot I was from MS and I was running a trace on their phone line as well as recording the conversation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhackyWill Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Good luck getting anybody to answer the home phone in our house... The ringer been turned off since it was installed.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.