Is it ever a good idea to let someone from another country take remote control of your computer

[JC Ridley]

I downloaded a free program and the next day, I decided it wasn't right for me. I went to the control panel and tried ti uninstall, but it has been a nightmare. It gave an 800# to call and they wanted to take remote control of my computer. I could hardly understand the person, I think probably from India. He said he could do it with no charge, but I have a lot of information stored and really don't trust a site that will not let me uninstall myself. Your thoughts?

 

[Mousemonkey]

No, no and no. This is one of the better known scams, don't fall for it.

 

[zink1701]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NEVER!

 

[zink1701]

Try uninstalling the offending software in safe mode

 

[moulderhere]

I would take your computer in or find a really good computer friend to fully check it over.

I would have it connected to the internet and run netstat command to check for any established network connections associated with any processes which could be something bad (ie remote desktop application).

I would then run full virus scan.

If this were my computer personally, i'd back up the data and re-install windows.

What you downloaded is called scareware - an application designed to scare you. However people then hijack the ad and things go sour very fast.
Please do not take the phone call seriously, if they call you ignore the phone call.

Buy your geek friend a pizza, beer, whatever it takes to have them check it over.