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There's a fake Windows 10 upgrade email scam that could take over your computer
Business Insider ^ | 08/02/2015 | Steve Kovach, Tech Insider

Posted on 08/02/2015 5:59:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

There's a new Windows 10 upgrade email scam going around that has the ability to take over your computer if you fall for it.

The scam, which was discovered by Cisco's security team, sends users an email that appears to come from Microsoft. It asks users to download a file to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. But if you install the file, it actually puts something called ransomware on your computer.

The scam email looks like this:

windows 10 scam emailCisco

Ransomware is a type of program that takes over your computer until you agree to pay the bad guy who made it. These bad guys usually ask for the digital currency Bitcoin since it's untraceable.

This is what it looks like if you download the file in the scam email. The program locks up your computer and demands payment to return everything to normal:

windows 10 scam payloadCisco

Here's what you need to know


(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: emailscam; virus; windows10; windowspinglist
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1 posted on 08/02/2015 5:59:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Nice they should be hunted down.


2 posted on 08/02/2015 6:03:32 AM PDT by riverrunner
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To: SeekAndFind
 photo 554979_547401801957244_786071377_n_zpsizmvicoz.jpg
3 posted on 08/02/2015 6:27:06 AM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: SeekAndFind

Users can bypass the ‘notice’ and go straight to the MS webpage to download the 32-bit or 64-bit installation part. It is about 18Mb.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10


4 posted on 08/02/2015 7:11:40 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: SeekAndFind

WIN 7 doesn’t run some of my expensive applications correctly. I suspect WIN 10 will be even more hostile to them. I believe I will go back to XP and just leave it off the Internet. Those applications are my livelihood.


5 posted on 08/02/2015 7:44:45 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: SeekAndFind

I got an invitation to reserve Windows 10 upgrade, but I don’t think it was on an e-mail. I believe it was on an update notice type icon on my task bar. Does Microsoft do it that way?


6 posted on 08/02/2015 9:17:17 AM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: JimRed

That’s the way Microsoft does it for Windows 7 and 8 users.

Many FReepers have gotten this same notice and done the update. Majority of those posting have said that the update was seamless.

Just search Windows 10 on the search facility of FR and you will see many threads after July 29, 2015 where users talk about their experiences with Windows 10 updates.


7 posted on 08/02/2015 9:22:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind; Abby4116; afraidfortherepublic; aft_lizard; AF_Blue; Alas Babylon!; amigatec; ...
More on the Windows 10 Encryption Ransomware ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

See also same basic content: Wait, STOP: Are you installing Windows 10 or ransomware? (CTB-Locker masquerading as Win10 upgrade!) - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3319282/posts

8 posted on 08/02/2015 12:43:33 PM PDT by dayglored (Meditate for twenty minutes every day, unless you are too busy, in which case meditate for an hour.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I have a Win7 VM that I keep around to play with. Maybe I’ll click the link just for fun.


9 posted on 08/02/2015 1:17:09 PM PDT by zeugma (The best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun)
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To: dayglored

MS not ready to install on my Toshiba.
I’m having to restrain myself from buying an Alien computer. It would plug into the living room Samsung, but would require a plug in keyboard and mouse, which is a downer.


10 posted on 08/02/2015 1:47:01 PM PDT by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: GingisK

I have a slew of graphics apps that Win7 and in some cases, even XP won’t run.

The software companies never bothered to “fix” the issues, either.


11 posted on 08/02/2015 2:12:34 PM PDT by Salamander (We're ALL Dixie, now.)
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To: TomGuy

useful link for Widows 10 downloads..,,,,,,,thanks


12 posted on 08/02/2015 2:17:13 PM PDT by dennisw (Useful)
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To: Salamander

Salamander, would you mind name ng some of those apps? I have been running Windows 7 since the beta and have heard of very few apps that wouldn’t run on it. It is a pretty vanila NT kernel mostly the problems were with drivers on old hardware.


13 posted on 08/02/2015 2:28:12 PM PDT by Woodman
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To: Woodman

Painter X.
Kai’s Photo Soap, and pretty much anything by the now defunct MetaCreation co.
Those are two off the top of my head.
There’s lots more of them, just beloved apps I used to use all the time.
MicrografX Photo Paint is another.
I thnk I got the name right on that one.
Corel ‘ate’ most of those companies and not for the betterment of any of them.

I’m pretty much stuck with Photoshop for my graphics kicks, now.


14 posted on 08/02/2015 2:34:11 PM PDT by Salamander (We're ALL Dixie, now.)
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To: Woodman

Office 97 will not load on vista, win 7, win 8. My old Word Perfect 8 loads just fine on all of them.


15 posted on 08/02/2015 2:42:51 PM PDT by Abby4116
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To: Salamander

Yes those are some oldies. I Guess I’m just spoiled, they may be programs that were originally designed to run on top of DOS. Most people aren’t aware that windows went from having a DOS kernel in 98 to NT in Vista. XP could run quite a few of those older programs, but not all. Windows 7 pretty much left them behind without upgrades. The real problem you have (IMHO) is that those companies either went under before patching their software to run on NT Kernel based systems. If you ever tried to use Win2k or NT as a home operating system (like I did) you probably would have dropped them or found alternatives long ago. NT sucked as a home operating system, Microsoft tried to get it to work well with Vista because XP had many issues as well with older programs.

I guess the lesson we all should have learned was not to throw out old hardware and OS’s. I do miss some of my old DOS Games, productivity programs I need to keep current to stay employed, so I have left them all far behind.


16 posted on 08/02/2015 3:04:42 PM PDT by Woodman
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To: Abby4116

I was a Word Perfect genius. I did get one of the later versions with an IBM PC I owned but after many years of using Office as well, I couldn’t really see investing my time in it again. I Sorry to hear Office 97 wasn’t running on 7. I thought I had it running on 7 at one point, but it may have been because I have the full professional versions. I am running Office 2010 pro on Windows 10 no problems, but I haven’t checked to see if any earlier versions will run.


17 posted on 08/02/2015 3:08:37 PM PDT by Woodman
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To: Abby4116
Office 97 will not load on vista, win 7, win 8. My old Word Perfect 8 loads just fine on all of them.

Office 2000 works fine on Windows 7. I think I have it on my Windows 8 laptop too.    freep mail me if you want office 2000

18 posted on 08/02/2015 3:17:37 PM PDT by dennisw (Useful)
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To: Salamander
My problem is that programs I use to "pay my bills" no longer work correctly when used on WIN 7. Microsoft took the liberty of changing the behavior of certain systems dialog boxes. It is usually considered "polite software" to introduce a new function instead of changing the behavior of common dialog boxes and related functions. This was a rule that Microsoft introduced and then followed for years.

This is tantamount to changing the behavior of functions in clib.

19 posted on 08/02/2015 3:30:32 PM PDT by GingisK
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I’m going to hold on to Win7 as long as possible. I have little experience with Win8, and it was absolute garbage. Win10 doesn’t look much different, and I might as well attempt to write my own OS. Win8 has an option to make the UI look like Win7, and I haven’t seen anything yet if Win10 has the same option.

I mostly just want DirectX 12 so my quad core can be unlocked for gaming.


20 posted on 08/02/2015 4:21:40 PM PDT by wastedyears (Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls, out Sept 4th, 2015)
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