There are currently emails being circulated asking customers to complete a survey and provide personal details. These are fake. Most Banks will never send emails asking you to provide any account or Internet Banking details.

Even if the emails seem to be genuine they often are NOT.

Local business Computer Troubleshooters Strathpine has been recognized for service excellence and professionalism in supporting local business and homes for their IT support by winning the 2011 Computer Troubleshooters QLD Franchisee of the Year. The award was presented to local business owners Tracy & Les Pedler at the recent Asia Pacific Conference held in Brisbane. Computer Troubleshooters is Australia’s largest IT Support Franchise Network and part of the World’s largest IT Support Franchise across 28 countries.

“Having started the business only a couple of years ago it is a great honour to be recognized amongst the group. We have strived to provided outstanding services to our clients in Strathpine and across the north of Brisbane, we aim to be the number one computer support business in the area” said Les Pedler  “These days there are too many risks for businesses and home computers,  not having reliable technical support for the IT systems is a risk in itself, we see ourselves in partnership with our clients to help them get the best results. We really want to deliver locally on our brand promise of “Technology Solved”.”

Replace desktop computers every 36 months. Using computers beyond thirty-six months increases the likelihood of failure without warning, as hard disks, power supplies, motherboards and other critical components are more likely to malfunction and fail the longer they’ve been in use.

Install and regularly update proven antivirus and antispyware software on all computers. Viruses and spyware frequently render systems inoperable or slow, and are a primary cause of error messages and system problems. An effective defense strategy using recommended antivirus and antispyware programs will keep systems running optimally.

Use quality surge protectors on all systems, and uninterruptible power supplies for servers or other critical components. Electrical fluctuations, surges, spikes and lightning strikes all can damage sensitive computer components and cause system problems or lost data. Using good quality electrical protection components, replaced every 24-36 months, will minimize these problems.

Ensure cooling fans are clean and functioning properly. Today’s computers build up tremendous amounts of heat, so having functioning internal and external cooling fans is essential.  Fans should be checked and cleaned regularly to be sure they’re working

Organize software carefully. A leading source of recovery delays is an inability to locate software CDs and licenses. Store original installation media (downloaded programs, CDs and DVDs) in a safe, readily accessible location. In addition, ensure required subscription, service plan, contract and licensing information is stored with the corresponding media.

If you receive a telephone call purporting to be from “Microsoft” and someone says that you have viruses on your computer and they can help clean your system, just abuse them and hang up!

This is a total scam – Microsoft will never call you, unless they are responding to a previous sales or technical enquiry that you have made.

In the last 12 months we have had over 100 clients and colleagues who have been caught by this rip-off for at least $120 and in some cases  $thousands.

Typically these criminals will ask you to download some software from the internet that gives them access to your PC.  They will then steal copies of your address book / email contacts and your documents.  They will also ask you for approximately $120 on your credit card to “clean”  your PC.
So they will then have your credit card details.

The really major issue is that they also install a hidden program on your PC that will secretly email them details of your logins to any financial institutions, eBay, ComSec, PayPal etc in the future.

** This gives them access to your personal logins /passwords and enables them to withdraw large sums from your accounts **

Often the caller will have a ‘foreign’ accent but we have also had people with Australian accents make such calls.  We always ask “what is your phone number so I can call you back?”, “What is the address of your Microsoft office?”,  “Who is the CEO of Microsoft Australia..

As mentioned above, the safest approach is to just hang up.

This UK website  summarises this scam.
 http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/microsoft-reveals-extent-of-phone-scam-june11

 or you can just Google  “Microsoft telephone scam”.