off topic - driver update ???

[lowell holmes]

I get this email that my computer drivers need to be updated. They want to charge me to do it

I am reluctant to send them my name and credit card info..

Am I wrong about this? I just do not send credit card numbers to any one..

[Tom Levy]

This is definitely a scam. Do not open any files, click any links or send any information. Just mark as spam / delete and move on.

Tom

[Lonnie Gallaher]

+1 about what Tom said. If it ever sounds too good, too strange, too anything, delete it at once.

[Jim Koepke]

Driver updates are almost always free. Drivers are the things that allow your computer to communicate with things like a printer.

What always gives me a bit of fun is when some idiot who can barely speak English calls and says they have gotten an alert that my Windows PC has been attacked or something. One time my response was to tell them my computer needed to be turned on and could they hold. The phone down and the TV was turned on. After a couple of minutes the phone was checked and the person was still their. Again they were asked to wait again and they questioned why. That is when they were told my program wasn't yet over. They hung up on me.

Sometimes other games with them can be fun.

It is kind of fun since my computer isn't a Windows PC.

Other times my response is, "we do not do business with criminals." They always claim they are not criminals. That is when they are told if they are calling us, since we are on the National Do Not Call Listing, they are committing a criminal act just by calling. That has also gotten some of them to hang up.

Now that it comes to mind we haven't had one of those calls in a long time.

jtk

[Dan Hulbert]

When "Windows" last called me to tell me I had a computer problem, I offered to transfer them to my Cyber Security Department. Haven't heard from them since.

My general rule is that if a business that I don't regularly do business with calls or emails me , it's a scam. If it is someone I do business with, I call them or email them directly.

[Tom Stenzel]

Since this is the 'neander section I'm assuming the computer is powered by kerosene. Or steam. Or maybe a crank. ;) OK, so maybe the crank is me...

I normally don't waste the time like Jim does but when I was in chemo and had lots of time with nothing to do I liked to give the scammers the runaround. The idea was if I wasted their time that was someone else they couldn't get to. My desktop runs Linux. The tablet runs Android. No Microsoft. Still get emails to "update" my windows computer though.

The local paper had a story about someone that was scammed. The supposed Windows company wanted payment in, get this, iTunes gift cards. Don't know how the cards were sent but the person lost money, something in four figures. Ouch.

Lowell, that's the long answer. The short answer: don't send them anything.

Shorter answer: SCAM.

-Tom

[James Waldron]

The majority of users do, in fact, need driver updates, simply because most don't know what drivers are, don't know that they have any, and have no idea they can be updated. As said above, they enable talk between the operating system and 3d party hardware, such as printers, routers, your mouse if you have one, scanners, and so forth. Updates can be important for security purposes to keep hackers out of your system; sometimes they make your equipment work faster/better/etc.

Just don't fall for driver update scams! All driver updates I've ever run across are free from either the operating system producer (Microsoft/Apple/etc.) or from the applicable hardware manufacturer. I always start with the hardware manufacturer web site, which normally will provide a direct link to a drivers download page. You will normally have to tell the site what model you have to find the right driver. Then there will be a link to download (sometimes download and automatically install) the selected driver. If it's not automatically installed, you will have it saved; just double click the file name to install it. Any other steps required will show up as an on-screen prompt.

Takes longer to describe the process than to use it.

[lowell holmes]

Thanks guys. I just get aggravated at such posts. I would never respond to them. even to chew them out.:)