Smart House Solutions - are they legit/safe?

[KCETech1]

police arent going to care, especially after the panic of last week. I would just get your system clean loaded. if you need a win 7 installer dvd
Legal Download from DigitalRiver: Windows 7 SP1, 13 languages
just use the one that matches the COA on the bottom of your laptop

[Undecided84]

911 no. that's only for emergencies. you are not in a life threatening situation. Also I'm not familiar with USA police system. You should seek advice with someone familiar with USA law.

If you go to a store to do a system restore probably they'll just restore the system to a previous configuration. That won't work. you have to make absolutely sure that the data is erased. Like it was suggested, zeroing is a good method. then install OS from scratch.

How do you do that?

[spacecowboy]

If I were you, I would also do some research on internet scams, viruses, phishing and all things that can compromise your system and personal details. If your going to be using the internet, you really need to know about these things in this day and age.

[__-_-_-__]

How do you do that?

the easiest way, remove the drive, connect it externally to another system, use some software to secure erase the external drive. you have dozens of softwares to do it. hd tune will do for example.
when it completes the erase just connect it again to your system and install the OS. fixed.

http://www.identity-theft-articles.com/

[Undecided84]

the easiest way, remove the drive, connect it externally to another system, use some software to secure erase the external drive. you have dozens of softwares to do it. hd tune will do for example.
when it completes the erase just connect it again to your system and install the OS. fixed.

Identity Theft Protection Home

I haven't the slightest idea how to do any of that.

[Undecided84]

This is how I gave him access to my latop.

I pressed the windows key and R at the same time. Entered "iexplore www.support.me" and clicked OK. And entered the 6 digit code he gave me into a new windows boxed. Ran the program and clicked OK.

[spacecowboy]

Google support.me it's a well known scam.

You need to do fresh install of windows as stated. If your not sure how to do this, you need to find someone who does.

[tijo]

There is no way around reformatting your computer. If you have restore discs you could use that, but i would still wipe the HDD to be on the safe side.

Here's the FAQ on how to use dban if you want to wipe the hard drive: Frequently Asked Questions | Darik's Boot And Nuke. Note that dban will destroy the data on the entire drive, not just one partition.

If you have a partition you'd like to keep like a recovery partition you could use eraser: Eraser. Note that if there is malware on the partition you didn't wipe, that could pause a problem if you don't scan and scrub it.

Afterwards reinstall windows and the relevant drivers using either the restore discs if you have them or by following the thread KCETech1 linked and then installing the drivers manually.

[alexUW]

I would take a guess and say those people that called you will hijack your computer data and hold it for ransom. Like the above poster stated, google "Smart Mouse Solutions Scam"


I would backup your most important data and do a clean install of windows [reinstall windows to the factory default state].

[MrDJ]

some great advice above but also note if you have email accounts on your computer that are logged in all the time then these scumbags have now got all your friends email accounts as well so they may well start getting spam.
this also applies to facebook as well as you can see all your friends emails and phone numbers on there now.

in other words on a normal day when you turn your computer on, do you have yahoo,msn,hotmail,gmail etc etc. when you click on any of your email accounts do you have to type user name and password each time. if yes then they might not have access unless this trojan is one of them clever ones. if you do have your user name and password saved then the crap has already hit the fan.
remove your internet cable immediately.
then to be honnest the only option in my eyes is a total hard drive clean with either mbam or killdisk. i wouldnt even save anything thats important as this could also be infected as you gave permission for them to enter your computer.
if youve never used mbam or killdisck before then if you have a local store that could do it for you then that might be an easier option but it will cost.

this sure is a lesson well learnt. but these twats out there are getting very clever and sound so convincing.

good luck and keep us updated.