If you receive a phone call from someone who claims to be from Microsoft and says that your computer has a virus, hang up.
This call is probably from a cybercriminal who wants to charge you for a bogus service or trick you into installing malicious software on your computer that could capture sensitive data. Then, they might even charge you to remove the software that they tricked you into installing.
Microsoft does not make unsolicited calls to ask for personal information or to charge you for computer updates. You can update your computer automatically and for free with Windows Update.
For more information, see Phone Scammers: Here to help...themselves.
If you think you might have already been a victim of this scam, learn how to report it.
Get more information about how to avoid tech support phone scams.
For the third and last installment in our series on how to stay safer when you shop online this holiday season, we have a few tips on what to do if you think you might already be a victim of a shopping scam.
Check your statements. If you think you might have given away personal or financial information to a cybercriminal, check your bank and credit card statements. You should do this regularly, especially over the holidays.
Get more information about what to do if you think you’ve been a victim of a scam.
Change your passwords. Change your passwords on shopping sites, your email account, bank account, and other online financial institutions. Don’t use the same passwords for each of these accounts.
Get more information about creating strong passwords.
Report scams, fraud, identity theft, or other abuse.
For more information about how to stay safer when you shop online, see part one and part two in this series.
Your best friend from high school is probably not a cat burglar. But do you know everyone on your friends’ and followers’ lists (or everyone on their lists) on your social networking sites? If not, don’t post information about your holiday travel plans.
More information about social networking safety.
While you’re at it, take a few minutes to adjust the privacy settings on your social networking site and any apps on your smart phone that share your location information.
More information about using location services more safely.
Also, avoid giving vacation details in an automated “out of office” email.
More information about email and web scams.
Last week we gave you three tips to help protect yourself when you shop online. Here are three more tips to help keep cybercriminals from ruining your holiday.
Never make online financial transactions on a public or shared computer. Public computers in libraries, internet cafés and copy shops are convenient, but not always safe. It’s fine to use them to browse for gifts, but make sure you use a secure computer whenever you enter your credit card information.
More information about using a public computer.
Give only enough information to make the purchase. Be wary if a merchant asks for additional information like bank account information, social security number, or other personal information. You could be on a fraudulent site.
Protect your credit card online. You don’t have to limit your shopping to the most popular retailers to stay safe online. You can use a third-party payment service like PayPal to shield your credit card number from online merchants.
More information about third-party payment services.
How do you protect yourself when you shop online? Let us know in the comment section below.
Whether you start your holiday shopping on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or right now, here are three tips to help you avoid scams and fraudulent websites when you buy gifts online.
This is part one in a three part series. Read part two and part three. And if we missed something, let us know in our comments section below.
Use an updated web browser. Check your browser to see if it provides the protection you need. Internet Explorer 9 is the newest version of the Microsoft web browser. It helps protect you when you shop online. Download Internet Explorer 9 now.
More information about Internet Explorer 9.
Use a secure website. When you enter your credit card, look for signs that the webpage is secure—a web address with https and a closed padlock beside it are good indications that the webpage is secure.
More information about secure websites.
Choose strong passwords. If you store your information at an online shopping site, make sure to choose a strong password that uses eight or more characters.
More information about strong passwords.
Get more tips on how to shop online more safely.
We recently received this question from a reader of this blog:
“Hi! I am running Windows 7 with Windows Defender. Why does the Action Center say that I don’t have antivirus protection?”
Windows Defender comes with Windows 7 and although it is your first line of defense against spyware, it’s not technically antivirus software. The Action Center lets you know you need to download antivirus software. If you want to protect your computer against spyware and viruses, you need to install antivirus software, such as Microsoft Security Essentials. Microsoft Security Essentials is free if your computer is running genuine Windows software and it provides real-time protection against viruses, spyware, and other unwanted software for your personal computer or small business.
Get more information about antivirus software.
Download Microsoft Security Essentials.
Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of every month. Today Microsoft released 4 security updates for Microsoft Windows.
Get the updates.
Watch a video about the updates.
To get more information about security updates and other privacy and security issues delivered to your email inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Today the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) posted details about the November security updates. On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, at approximately 10 AM Pacific Time, Microsoft will release 4 bulletins.
The easiest way to get security updates when they're available is to turn on Windows automatic updating. For more information about how this works, see Understanding Windows automatic updating.
The Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification Service offers details about security updates approximately three business days before they are released, which allows customers (especially IT professionals) to plan for effective deployment of security updates.
Advanced Notification includes information about:
For more information about the security updates that will be released on November 8, see Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for November 2011.
For official risk and impact analysis, as well as deployment guidance, visit the MSRC blog. If you are on Twitter, you can follow @MSFTSecResponse.
Last week a member of our team shared a phishing scam that she’d received in her personal email account. The bogus email claims to come from Microsoft and asks the recipient to respond to the email with their user name and password to avoid permanent cancellation of their account.
This is a scam. Microsoft never asks for user names and passwords in an email. For more information, see How to recognize phishing email messages, links, or phone calls.
Here’s what the scam looked like, so you can avoid it. If you think your Hotmail or Windows Live Mail account has already been hacked, you can take steps to recover it.