V
VickiGraff
Guest
Does the sudden appearance of a local user account (that I did not create) on my Windows 10 laptop mean that it's been hacked by malware? Here's the background:
When I was on an Oxfam website in Google Chrome on Wednesday, I suddenly got a solid blue screen with an error message, a pop-up box warning of a failure of Windows Defender to block an intrusion of anonymous activity, and an audio warning to call 1-855-767-7969 immediately to remove the threat. (I do not use Windows Defender.) I googled that phone number and saw many reports, as I suspected, that it's a scam trying to sell people free software and charging for time to repair a phony malware intrusion. I clicked the box that said it would prevent that website from generating scripts (or some such, I don't exactly remember), clicked OK to get rid of the pop-up and stop the audio loop, closed all the browser tabs and restarted the computer. Then I ran a computer scan with my ESET antivirus program, which found no threats. All seemed to be working OK after that.
However, the next day I noticed that an unknown additional local account has been created on my laptop, called "vkoptwcjxx." If I go to settings and click on accounts and other users, I see it with buttons to change the account type or to remove it. I think I should remove it, but I'm VERY concerned that someone has managed to hack into my laptop to create this. I can't see how it would appear otherwise.
Have others experienced this? What do you recommend I do?
Continue reading...
When I was on an Oxfam website in Google Chrome on Wednesday, I suddenly got a solid blue screen with an error message, a pop-up box warning of a failure of Windows Defender to block an intrusion of anonymous activity, and an audio warning to call 1-855-767-7969 immediately to remove the threat. (I do not use Windows Defender.) I googled that phone number and saw many reports, as I suspected, that it's a scam trying to sell people free software and charging for time to repair a phony malware intrusion. I clicked the box that said it would prevent that website from generating scripts (or some such, I don't exactly remember), clicked OK to get rid of the pop-up and stop the audio loop, closed all the browser tabs and restarted the computer. Then I ran a computer scan with my ESET antivirus program, which found no threats. All seemed to be working OK after that.
However, the next day I noticed that an unknown additional local account has been created on my laptop, called "vkoptwcjxx." If I go to settings and click on accounts and other users, I see it with buttons to change the account type or to remove it. I think I should remove it, but I'm VERY concerned that someone has managed to hack into my laptop to create this. I can't see how it would appear otherwise.
Have others experienced this? What do you recommend I do?
Continue reading...
