[Happy Snowbird]

I was using my nook and suddenly a very official looking FBI warning appeared. It was a full page and claimed that I had been using porn sites (I had been on pinterest). My fine for this supposedly violation was $500. If I was found innocent I would be refunded $400. I had 48 hours to pay. There was a pay pal portion for me to pay my fine. The site looked very legit. There was an FBI case number and an ip address. I could not close out this warning. I did a search using the case number and found it was a virus . There were several suggestions as to how to move past the virus. In my case I had to do a factory reset. I must admit I was a little nervous when I saw the warning. My first thought was that someone had hacked my device and was on porn sites. So....if the FBI is looking for YOU, don't pay the fine. Google the case number for suggested resolutions.

[tippyclubb]

This happened to my husband a few years back. His laptop took a picture of him and it was on the FBI warrant on the screen. It's called the green dot virus and it scared the heck out of us. The virus froze the computer up. We got the virus off the computer by using AVG.

[snowbird22154]

I too got this "exact" letter last year and, as you, could not "close out" the warning page and took it to a local computer shop near Belks at Spansih Springs. They wanted $100 to fix it and so I decided to take it home and "try" to fix it myself thru "restoring to prior date".
This fixed the problem and I saved myself $100 bucks !

Originally Posted by Happy Snowbird

I was using my nook and suddenly a very official looking FBI warning appeared. It was a full page and claimed that I had been using porn sites (I had been on pinterest). My fine for this supposedly violation was $500. If I was found innocent I would be refunded $400. I had 48 hours to pay. There was a pay pal portion for me to pay my fine. The site looked very legit. There was an FBI case number and an ip address. I could not close out this warning. I did a search using the case number and found it was a virus . There were several suggestions as to how to move past the virus. In my case I had to do a factory reset. I must admit I was a little nervous when I saw the warning. My first thought was that someone had hacked my device and was on porn sites. So....if the FBI is looking for YOU, don't pay the fine. Google the case number for suggested resolutions.

[Nucky]

So many wasted days trying to fix my computers or one of my kids computers. It took a while to learn and it was a process which emails are safe to open and which ones are not. I don't know anyone out of the USA who has left me millions of dollars. I used to open up these emails because I was being greedy. The whole key I believe is if you see a email in your junk mailbox (The bad guy is at your door) and if you open it. (You have invited him in). Resist temptation don't open it. Also on our Dell computer's I installed Norton Security which is included for free with our Comcast Internet Subscription. Our one and only Mac is a little over 4 years old and we have never spent one minute going thru a virus repair. I have family who work for Dell & Hewlett Packard and they constantly tease me about the Mac. When any computer except for the tablets poop out........even at double the price its Apple for me from now till I take a Dirt Nap. If you need further assistance PM me. I guess it wasn't a waste of time as my confidence level is much better with these computers as investigating for solutions taught me a whole lot.

[Happy Snowbird]

I never open an email of which I don't recognize the sender. I also have Norton security on my computer but not on my Nook where I got the FBI virus. How do you get Norton free through Comcast?

[LI SNOWBIRD]

Originally Posted by Happy Snowbird

I never open an email of which I don't recognize the sender. I also have Norton security on my computer but not on my Nook where I got the FBI virus. How do you get Norton free through Comcast?

Go to comcast.com and go through the process of setting up a user account then type norton in the search box and follow directions--Easy-peasy

[JoelJohnson]

I use a Chromebook. I never get a virus, every time you log in (which takes about 20 seconds) you get a new operating system. I did get that message once, but all I had to do was to shut the Chromebook off and start over.
A Chromebook is an online computer (for the most part, but you can do some things off line). But most people use their computer for web browsing, banking, email, Facebook, etc. all online activities.
It uses Googles Chrome operating system, which comes with "sheets" Excel like spreadsheet, "docs" like Word, and "slides" a presentation program.

And best of all ... it's cheap, around $150 on up. If you should lose or break your Chromebook, no problem ... just buy a new and sign in, ALL you stuff comes back!

[KayakerNC]

Originally Posted by JoelJohnson

I use a Chromebook. I never get a virus, every time you log in (which takes about 20 seconds) you get a new operating system. I did get that message once, but all I had to do was to shut the Chromebook off and start over.
A Chromebook is an online computer (for the most part, but you can do some things off line). But most people use their computer for web browsing, banking, email, Facebook, etc. all online activities.
It uses Googles Chrome operating system, which comes with "sheets" Excel like spreadsheet, "docs" like Word, and "slides" a presentation program.

And best of all ... it's cheap, around $150 on up. If you should lose or break your Chromebook, no problem ... just buy a new and sign in, ALL you stuff comes back!

Also, if you log into your Chrome on another puter, all your stuff is there for you. Great OS!

[villagetinker]

With regards to Chrome book, if all of your stuff comes back to you, or on another computer, then, it is stored somewhere, no longer under your control. I have a touch of paranoia, and I DO NOT TRUST GOOGLE. Have you ever noticed the advertising changes as you read your mail? The advertising on THIS SITE changes depending on what you do. This means Google is READING YOUR MAIL, and WATCHING THE SITES YOU VISIT. I have Norton set to clear catches, and IE set to clear catches, and the ads still TRACK what I do, especially if I reply on TOTV.
Google has figured how to make money by tracking and providing targeted ads, something I wish I could effectively block....... Oh well just venting.....

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by Happy Snowbird

I was using my nook and suddenly a very official looking FBI warning appeared. It was a full page and claimed that I had been using porn sites (I had been on pinterest). My fine for this supposedly violation was $500. If I was found innocent I would be refunded $400. I had 48 hours to pay. There was a pay pal portion for me to pay my fine. The site looked very legit. There was an FBI case number and an ip address. I could not close out this warning. I did a search using the case number and found it was a virus . There were several suggestions as to how to move past the virus. In my case I had to do a factory reset. I must admit I was a little nervous when I saw the warning. My first thought was that someone had hacked my device and was on porn sites. So....if the FBI is looking for YOU, don't pay the fine. Google the case number for suggested resolutions.

I can't believe that anyone actually falls for this kind of thing? Do people really think that this is how the FBI would operate? Do people actually send in $500 to scammer like this?

[KayakerNC]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

With regards to Chrome book, if all of your stuff comes back to you, or on another computer, then, it is stored somewhere, no longer under your control. I have a touch of paranoia, and I DO NOT TRUST GOOGLE. Have you ever noticed the advertising changes as you read your mail? The advertising on THIS SITE changes depending on what you do. This means Google is READING YOUR MAIL, and WATCHING THE SITES YOU VISIT. I have Norton set to clear catches, and IE set to clear catches, and the ads still TRACK what I do, especially if I reply on TOTV.
Google has figured how to make money by tracking and providing targeted ads, something I wish I could effectively block....... Oh well just venting.....

Well, yeah, it's in the "cloud".
Google and MS both offer cloud storage, and there are a ton of cloud storage sites on the web. All are password protected, for whatever that's worth.
Welcome to the 21st century.

[Uberschaf]

Welcome to the information age,your info and mine.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

With regards to Chrome book, if all of your stuff comes back to you, or on another computer, then, it is stored somewhere, no longer under your control. I have a touch of paranoia, and I DO NOT TRUST GOOGLE. Have you ever noticed the advertising changes as you read your mail? The advertising on THIS SITE changes depending on what you do. This means Google is READING YOUR MAIL, and WATCHING THE SITES YOU VISIT. I have Norton set to clear catches, and IE set to clear catches, and the ads still TRACK what I do, especially if I reply on TOTV.
Google has figured how to make money by tracking and providing targeted ads, something I wish I could effectively block....... Oh well just venting.....

Nothing is private on the internet. If you shop online, you'll get ads.
I am especially leery of Facebook.

[villagetinker]

Amen to Facebook, as well as Twitter, etc.

[JoelJohnson]

"I'm not paranoid, I just think everyone is out to get me."

The government watch the paranoid, after all, they MUST have something to hide.

All kidding aside, unless you only use cash and never use a bank, cell phone, go online or any of the other things normal people do, you are being tracked. Not because they want to know all about you, but to improve the online experience and, yes, sell you more stuff (after all, a company is in business to make money).

Remember, we pay (in taxes) the government to keep us safe, and I think they've done a pretty good job. In my 65 years, I've never had a gun pointed at me, had to leave someplace because of a bomb threat, or any other "terrorist" event. Have I been lucky? Maybe. Or maybe I can enjoy my life because the government does it's job.

I'm not a right wing radical by any means, just someone that looks at the facts and lives my life.

Do they do things wrong? Of course, people run the government and people make mistakes. Things could be better and I think things will get better over time, but then other mistakes will be made.