I was telephoned by someone who asked for me by name. He said he was from "Oxford Shear" (or something that sounded like 'Shear'. who were hired by Microsoft to fix computers that had been attacked by hackers. He said that Microsoft had detected that my pc had been hacked, and he would walk me though how to fix it, and was I online now, 'OK?'. I assumed he wanted to take remote control of my computer to do something. He had an eastern accent and I could hear a lot of call centre type background noise. I was unwilling to give control of my computer to a cold caller. I said it was not OK and I didn't know who he was, and he hung up. Was this call legitimate? I have read there is a security loophole in Window XP that hackers had exploited this summer.1 person needs an answerI do too

Yes. Scam. It's like any other scam that has used mail/email/phones in the past. If you didn't call someone because you already knew you had a problem and were therefore expecting a call, hang up. Verify you have a problem and then call someone *you* trust if you do. This is not just a rule for computers - but everything.-- Shenan Stanley MS-MVP --How To Ask Questions The Smart Wayhttp://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

On Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:35:18 +0000, Perry190 wrote: > I was telephoned by someone who asked for me by name. He said he was from "Oxford Shear" (or something that sounded like 'Shear'. who were hired by Microsoft to fix computers that had been attacked by hackers. He said that Microsoft had detected that my pc had been hacked, and he would walk me though how to fix it, and was I online now, 'OK?'. I assumed he wanted to take remote control of my computer to do something. He had an eastern accent and I could hear a lot of call centre type background noise. I was unwilling to give control of my computer to a cold caller. I said it was not OK and I didn't know who he was, and he hung up. Was this call legitimate? Definitely not. It was a scammer. > I have read there is a security loophole in Window XP that hackers had exploited this summer. If you gave him no personal information, and didn't allow him accessto the computer, you did the right thing, and are in no danger. Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP