Anyone else get a suspicious call? Saying (in a very, very heavy

[JerseygirlCT]

Indian accent) that he was calling from Microsoft (yeah, right) about problems that many users have been having with their computers, and offering "absolutely free" help.

I told him to give me his number - which googles to a company called "Help PC Online".

All very suspicious, as I've been all over the net, looking for clues to why my pc is freezing constantly...

[hobbit709]

1. Sounds like a major scam to me.

Microshaft doesn't call people. As far as the other, bet on coincidence.

[JerseygirlCT]

2. Yeah, when trying to get a support person at MS

takes several years off your life, I was pretty sure they wouldn't have taken to making outgoing cold calls...

Hoping it was a coincidence - it had me a bit spooked - you, know, is the freezing connected to some malware I haven't been able to find, planted by the same folks who were then going to help me with the problem?

Tin foil hat stuff, I suppose!

[hobbit709]

3. I doubt it's malware

I suspect what you have is either a hardware or a Windoze problem. Try downloading and burning a Linux disk from either Ubuntu or Mint linux and running it live on your system. If the Linux runs in Live mode-which just runs in your RAM without changing anything on your hard drive, then you most likely have a Windows problem. If the Linux stutters and freezes, then it's a hardware problem.