Call Brady, Computer Services

Did you or a family member already give someone access to the computer before realizing it was a scam?

1. Disconnect the computer from the Internet immediately.
Unplug the Ethernet cable, turn off Wi-Fi, or shut the computer down.

2. Do not keep using that computer until it has been checked.
Do not log into email, banking, shopping, investment, or password manager accounts from the compromised computer.

3. From a different trusted device, reset the password to your email account first.
Your email account is the “master key” for password resets on many other accounts. Also turn on two-factor authentication if it is not already enabled.

4. Change passwords for important accounts.
Prioritize banking, credit cards, investment accounts, retirement accounts, shopping accounts, PayPal/Venmo/Cash App/Zelle-related accounts, Microsoft/Google/Apple accounts, and any password manager account.

5. Check for unauthorized changes.
Look for email forwarding rules, deleted messages, new recovery email addresses, changed phone numbers, new trusted devices, or new MFA methods.

6. Call banks, credit card companies, and investment firms if any financial information may have been exposed.
Ask them to check for suspicious activity, block transactions if needed, and issue new cards or account numbers when appropriate.

7. Have a trusted technician inspect and clean the computer.
They should remove remote-access tools, check startup items, browser extensions, saved passwords, malware, suspicious user accounts, and security settings. In serious cases, the safest option is to back up personal files and rebuild the system.

8. File a police report if money, identity information, or property was stolen.
Also consider reporting the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and placing a fraud alert or credit freeze if identity information was exposed.

Every one of your browsers has the option to send Notifications, and I recommend turning them off on all browsers. Notifications allow a site to pop up ANY message they want in your system tray. I've seen notifications that pop up p**n, that pop up "You're infected, Call Microsoft at 800- # # #- # # ," and more. They can be quite misleading. Even if you don't use a browser on your system, turn off Notifications in Edge, Chrome, and Firefox if you don't have a specific need to keep them.

Did you know that with Microsoft OneDrive you can share files/folders easily with a friend or family member, and also access/edit that data from your smartphone? Lots of folks have these services but don't have a good understanding of how powerful the technology is.

Create a folder with all the details of an upcoming vacation. Reservations, flights, restaurants. Access it from your phone during the trip, and then archive it when you are back so you always have access to all the details of your trip.

Do you need help setting this up? Sharing it with a family member? I'm glad to help!