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If I start talking rubbish.......

Oldvatr

Oldvatr

Expert
Messages
8,453
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I mean - more than my usual- it is because my computer that was. was infected by ransomware and my data has been hacked. I apologise in advance for any misdeeds that may appear.

I am locked out of my Microsoft account as they have changed the password. They did te same for my google and email accounts, but I have recovered those now. My backup computer is also sick and not very reliable. I changed my virus software amd the new one showed 53 viruses on the PC, but it turns out this was because it was scanning the quarantine area left by the previous AV software.
i am busy scrabbling around closing bank accounts and changing passwords. I may be a while
 
Noted, and thanks for informing us. We won't ban you if you suddenly start promoting keto gummmies or cheap pills to get rid of diabetes in a week!

You might want to change your password on here as well though: C4. If you have forgotten your password, please use the password reset feature https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/lost-password/. Do not create another account.
And if all goes wrong and you find yourself locked out, please send an email to [email protected] .

I wish you good luck with the aftermath of this!
 
An update. My No#1 computer has had its bath and is back in my hands, nice and clean (I hope) BUT MS still wont let me in their front door. I got close, and I accessed my account details but did not have rights to alter anything. So my No #1 computer is still a doorstop.

I have resurrected my 2 pass verify portal. MS sends me the first code on my phone OK, but I do not receive the second of the pair even though I can receive and read emails from both myself and others to prove it is an active account, but the MS Mail app will not even though it verified connection OK to the IP. Par for the course it seems.

This stress is not doing me any good, especially with CHF. I should have taken readings to establish that adrenaline and stress raises bgl, but I forgot, and comfort ate instead.
 
Got my new computer talking to microsoft on a different channel, so still unable to get to my backup data held on Onedrive. I have a new email, but the old one is still working on the new computer, so I do not need to change settings here. If the hackers try to use my old gmail then they will need the new password, which was never on the hacked computer. So any abuse is probably from me now.
 
Well I now have a fully primed PC and I have managed to recover most of my bookmarks, and fairly recent versions of my foodlog and financial spreadsheets. I had a hiccup today though. I was informed by MS that my Onedrive was full and I could not store or work anymore (because Office 365 only works in ths Cloud, and only uses PC files if they are uploaded or downloaded specifically. So I had to either rent more space or remove files. And this is where the problem started. Onedrve had uploaded all my photographs to the cloud (5 GB) so I deleted them in Onedrive. What was not clear is that any file deleted in Onedrive is automatically deleted on ALL devices including from the PC's. So I lost all my photographs.

I have now permanently deleted OneDrive from my PC and restored my photographs from backup drive. So ok but anyone tempted to use Onedrive or MS Office - beware. It takes over your life.

The other thing I have discovered is that the ransomware virus was imported via Bing, which is now bundled with Windows 10 and 11. It cannot be disabled or removed or windows stops working, so clicking on a Bing news feed is potentially a game stopper. Beware of Bing or Bin-Gone.
 
I need another rant. It will reduce my blood pressure and reduce my stress.

Last night I had a working PC with updated working files, but some apps were not working because Onedrive was not running. I would agree with that since the only way I could stop it destroyng my files was to uninstall it, which I had done.

This morning I was still unable to do some important MS based app work, so I reinstalled Onedrive as an app (i.e. not as bundled in Win 10). I was not aware that the installation automatically installed the app with its feet on the ground (i.e. running) so while I was watching the product setup videos to find out where the Control Panel .settings menu was, the beggar was quietly removing all my private data into the cloud and replacing the files with shortcuts to Onedrive. So my PC fairly quickly emptied its contents and filched my data again. I could not activate the Control Panel as instructed in the videos (or as shown by a websearch either) so it seems that when bundled into the latest Win 10 then the user has NO control over how it treats your data.

I checked the Onedrive directory because I had over filled my allocated storage capacity, and it seems that a lot of the personal files were stuck in a queue waiting for space and so were totally unrecoverable unless I paid for more storage (a marketing ploy, it would seem).

So I deleted Onedrve again, and spent the rest of today recreating my PC back to yesterday's standard from my backup HDD. I got there, but then when I went to check my files, I found that File Manager had double entries and some of the doubles were incomplete. So I deleted the fake doubles. Unfortunately for me deleting a top level folder like "Documents" or "Pictures" is seen by Win 10 as rape, and it promptly deletes all references to said folder, and replaces it with an empty folder of the same name.

Imagine my happiness at being faced with having to replace all my files back from HDD and wait for quick access process to finish registering the new files. This took all afternoon and was boring as cornflour. I have now created a new backup on the backup HDD to make this process easier and containing the updated files in case I need to do this again.

I used to think Microsoft provided sensible software like Office, Word, Out look etc, but they have strayed away from sensibility to stupidity and blunt force trauma, Software today is nothing like it used to be (i,e, intuitive) And so much is hidden and inaccessible and IMO gimickery and sparkle laden candy that I am no longer able to think of using anything labelled MS as a serious tool.
 
Just discovered another Microsoft Stealth Bomber. One side effect of onedrive is that it synchs your data with any other devices using your account such as smartphones or tablets. This means apparently that anyone on the linked device has access to your data, and can also activate and use your PC apps in the background. There is a single switch in the account settings that allows sharing, which needs to be turned off specifically to block this intrusion. Onedrive apparently sets this switch to Share when it runs.

So if someone gains control of a connected device of yours, you are open to being hacked.
 
Onedrive has just delivered a final kick in the gonads. I got a popup notification that all my personal files are now securely backed up in Onedrive Yes, of course they are secure, even I cannot access them since uninstalling Onedrive. Not sure what has triggered that popup, which is worrying.

Had my first phishing phone caller who seems to know quite a lot about me, so must have purchased hacked data. It begins.
 
Been there, been hacked, had to change provider, everything!
So I empathise, Onedrive is known to be known for this.

That is why my username had to be changed, had to practically start anew!

You would think that you could laugh about it later, but it isn't funny!
 
Yesterday broke a new record even for me. 17 scam phone calls seven of which were from a caller pretending to be a debt collection agency, threatening legal action and then the bailiffs if I do not pay over the phone. Wants £500 up front. Is using an old password, that was associated with a previous scam caller many years ago, so I know where that came from. Originally it was an outfit operating from a post restante facility in Bournemouth. They got closed down, but presumably someone has obtained their debris. The password was never on a computer, so is not from the recent hack. Beware of a caller using an 0204 or 0208 number, since these blocks are used by BT for call redirtecting and by call centres. They pretend to be London numbers by this but are owned by foreign businesses who have purchased whole blocks at a time so they can number hop to get round being blocked.
 
Have you registered with telephone preference service? Some scam calls still get through, but it does reduce the number you get usually. You could also simply not answer the phone to numbers you don't recognise if you wanted to.
 
Hopeful34 said:
Have you registered with telephone preference service? Some scam calls still get through, but it does reduce the number you get usually. You could also simply not answer the phone to numbers you don't recognise if you wanted to.
Click to expand...
Yes I am registered with TPS. I also ignore unknown numbers and now especially any starting 0204 or 0208. It is the ones that spoof my area code or a local call that get through on occasions.. Trouble is my local hospital uses a call centre to make appointments and my GP surgery has also started using a call handling service. I have twice been black listed by the cardio team because I am 'unresponsive I say leave a message, but they refuse to and will not message me or email me either since I am not on their encrypted line or the same VPN. The problem with call centres is that although my phone has the number that called me, it is an outgoing only line that will not accept incoming calls.

Sometimes this technology is too clever, but the people using it are not.
 
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