Tutor
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4 Messages
Possible scam?!?
My wife's XP computer apparantly got infected with a virus. She called a trusted company for help. They referred her to Microsoft, a soceific phone number which rang over to hyadea.com They are supposedly a tech support company, Microsoft partner. They cleaned her computer of viruses, installed Norton antivirus (yuck) and "installed security software" on our Uverse gateway/router/access point to secure the wireless access point, or so they said. All done when I was not there. Can an outside company actually push a security software program to an ATT Uverse modem via "administration level" access or have they scammed us? They appear to have run a DOS batch file that did something, but who knows what!?!
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ATTDmitriyCM
Former Community Manager
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10.4K Messages
10 years ago
Hi @rumpuscat
I'm not familiar with this company, and I can't tell if they're really a "Microsoft Partner", but if they cleaned up your computer and it runs well and feels secure, they probably did what they promised.
Some of points I want to address:
1. Windows XP is really outdated now, and Microsoft had discontinued all support for it, as well as any and all security patches and updates. A good antivirus can help with some threats, but without any official support, it will always be vulnerable. I definitely recommend updating to a newer version.
2. In my personal opinion, Norton is a decent product, with good detection rates, but it does work best on a powerful computer, is can be a resource hog and slow down an older machine significantly. And then there is the price of course... Windows 8.1 has its own build in security, and Windows 7 has Microsoft's Security Essentials for free, so again, IMO updating your OS if the best move.
3. "Installing Security Software" on your Gateway... I kind of doubt that, maybe they worked with your PC settings to optimize and secure it as much as possible, but I really don't think they would be able to install anything on your Gateway. Might be a good idea to call AT&T Tech Support and ask them to check your system, just in case.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you,
Dmitriy
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rumpuscat
Tutor
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4 Messages
10 years ago
I guess I'll contact ATT tech support (actually that's what I thought I had done here) A few other things have manifested since they did their work, mainly lost configuations and such, requiring re-installation of some applications. Still thinking they like to scare people into purchasing stuff/services for the money's sake and not really doing anything except perhaps eradicating a virus and installing Norton. Yes I know the box is still XP. Finances allowing, we will upgrade hopefully soon. Originally this box was a Windows 2003 server (Dell T105;Opteron duel core) that I re-formatted and installed XP on to and gave to my wife to replace an even older machine she had (She didn't need or want the server OS at all). This whole issue of them pushing a "security program" into my access point just seems like they are lying to me.
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