I thought my old laptop was done in and panicked when I was told my accounts were probably being hacked and maybe emptied. Here’s what happened:
When my computer began running very slowly and I couldn’t access gmail any longer, I contacted what I thought was Google Help by phone. I allowed the representative to access my computer remotely to “assess the extent of the problems”. He told me that dozens of foreign sites were using my computer and could access my bank accounts and other information—and probably already had. He even showed me on my screen a long list of those sites’ IP addresses. He said he could “fix it” for $369 to start (could go up from there) and keep my information safe in the future (by selling me software). Something didn’t seem quite right, but I was frightened. Before proceeding, I spoke with my daughter who recommended Contact PC. Her company, and she personally, had a long history of working with Contact PC and trusted no one else. I took my laptop to them.
As it turned out, the “Google representative” was a fake, had given me erroneous information, and apparently disabled the safety/protection features on my computer. The folks at Contact PC cleaned it all up for me. They installed protective software (at no extra charge) and got my laptop running faster and more efficiently than it had in years.
I always viewed computer people like the stereotypical used car salesmen—condescending, speaking computer-ese that no one else can understand, trying to sell you everything but the kitchen sink. But they were empathetic and explained everything in terms I could understand. They could have told me I needed/sold me a new computer, and I wouldn’t have known the difference. But they were honest, and let me know my laptop was still in good shape. They saved me hundreds of dollars and gave me peace of mind.
Anne R.