Mom scammed, do I need to use recovery CD

boyshanks
boyshanks Member Posts: 2 New User
in 2014 Archives

My mom has an Aspire laptop.  She called a help desk looking for assitance doing something on her computer.  Unfortunately she got a scam company who said they needed her to give them access to her computer to help her.  She gave them access and they locked her out of her email, then tried to charge her to get it back.   She didn't pay and simply got a new email.   

 

My question is since she allowed them to have access to her computer, should I use the recovery process to wipe down the hard drive?  My intent is to erase anything they may have installed on her computer that might give them permanent access to her laptop.  Will wiping the hard drive achieve that goal?   

 

If you have any other Ideas, I appreciate your input. 

 

Thanks 

Answers

  • Cory-Acer
    Cory-Acer Administrator Posts: 1,449 Community Administrator

    Well that unfortunate to hear...but yes to answer your question. Running the recovery off of the recovery partition will fix reload her OS and unless they EXTREMELY skilled (they wouldn't have to run scams if they could manipulate the hidden partition), she won't notice any affects of what they've done.

     

    Heres our article that explains all of our recovery methods for XP, 7 and 8.

     

    http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/29934/related/1

     

    Hope this helps,
    Cory

  • boyshanks
    boyshanks Member Posts: 2 New User

    Thanks, Cory!! 

     

    Restating- wiping the hard drive will remove anything the scammers may have installed that gives them permanent access to her laptop.

     

    Is this correct?  

     

     

  • Cory-Acer
    Cory-Acer Administrator Posts: 1,449 Community Administrator

    Yes, using our recovery media or the recovery partition will completely wipe the data off of the C drive and then install our default image.

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