Genuine or con-job? My tech support from Microsoft

[osarusan]

Right, here'e the story. I own a legal copy of vista home premium, installed.....maybe 2 years ago without any problem.

Maybe it's completely unrelated but I moved to Japan about 3 months ago, and last week when I started up the laptop (Dell), instead of seeing my usual screen - icons, links, taskbar at the bottom, start menu, wallpaper image etc, I got a pop-up from microsoft (apparently from microsoft) telling me that my copy of windows could not be validated/verified/authenticated and I would no longer receive updates from windows. The pop-up contained a link to go online and validate online (at http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/validate/, which I went to, but the green circle -icon for a task in process - never stopped circling). As a result of this, I wasn't even able to turn off the laptop properly. I did get onto what (I believed to be a) microsoft help page, where I entered my details and problem.

Next time I turned it on, everything went fine. I got an email from microsoft (apparently) telling me how to fix the problem, and then next time I turned it on, I got the same pop-up, with all the other problems too. Same problem attempting to validate online also.

So I got a call from a guy (apparently) from microsoft, telling me to go online and validate. The laptop started up fine, but when I told him that the validation hadn't worked, he got me to check the properties of my windows through my start menu, which showed it was activated and working. Then he asked me to download this program (http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+genuine+validate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=QjB&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB%3Aofficial&source=hp&q=microsoft+genuine+advantage+diagnostic+tool&aq=2l&aqi=g-l5&aql=f&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=cfd4938828d57dcb&biw=1366&bih=610) and run it - it would tell me if my copy of windows was genuine or not. Or I could uninstall my security software (avast) which might be stopping the validation process, validate online, then reinstall Avast.

I told him I was kind of unsure about doing either of those things - I didn't mention my suspicion that the whole thing might be some sort of scam, but he must be aware that this is what I'm thinking. Not so much from anything he's said/done, but just because I know there are a lot of scams out there. He didn't press me on any decision ,just said he'd call back in a day or two to see what I'd done, if anything.

So, at the end of all that - does anybody more pc-literate than me have any advice? Is what he's asking me to do perfectly sensible, or ludicrous in the extreme?

[horton]

It's a more common issue than you'd think. My parents computer had a similiar issue. The problem lay with one of those regular Windows updates your computer regularly makes you download being faulty(sorry can't be more technical) and it thinks your copy of Microsoft isn't genuine. On my folks computer, on all four corners of the Desktop it'd say "Your copy if Windows may not be genuine", after a bit of Googling I found the update at fault, uninstalled it and Windows went back to normal(still recieve regular updates no problem). That program is grand, and will hopefully solve your problem. It's definitely not any scam/spyware type thing. Download it and see what happens.

[dahamsta]

If the domain name part - up to the first / forward slash - ends in microsoft.com you should be ok. If it's anything else, even if microsoft.com is in there somewhere, it's not ok.

There is a scam going around with phone calls from "Microsoft", but they tend to be utterly unsolicited, with no computer involvement until after they call.

[John83]

If the domain name part - up to the first / forward slash - ends in microsoft.com you should be ok. If it's anything else, even if microsoft.com is in there somewhere, it's not ok.
Just on that, hover over the link before you click on it. I've seen stuff like microsoft.com (http://nihilism.donkeyporn.net/bankofireland/) in phishing emails.

[paul_oshea]

Thats just anchors/links and text, is that stuff not really that common? do people not actually view the url as the site opens? people under the age of 60 i mean.

Not having a go at you John, but thats something i wouldn't even tell anyone, just assume they know/check it automatically.

[dahamsta]

They don't, and phishers use tricks like hiding different urls under links like http://www.microsoft.com/secure/help/free-boobs (http://scary-scam-site-three.com/free-penis-extensions-and-TWELVE-MILLION-DOLLARS), and other tricks (http://www.microsoft.com@beecher.net/).

People, in general, aren't IT literate. All these people need is a certain percentage of those people.