Re: America Geeks - Hughesnet Community

Ricky · ‎10-20-2017

A friend of mine used this service to fix their computer. She did not know if she did the right thing and brought it to me to check out. I run Malewarbytes and Comodo Anit-virus. Both come back clean.

Is this "America Geeks" a legit service?

GabeU · ‎10-20-2017

I've never heard of them. They may very well be a legitimate company, and their lack of presence on search engines and such may be due to them being new (I don't know if they are), but there's not much about them, save for a few "satisfied customer" videos on YouTube that seem a little odd and somewhat scripted.

In addition to the scans already run, I'd recommend that she also download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner and the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, and run full scans with both. The full scans may take a few hours each, but it's better to be safe than sorry, and she can still use the computer while either is running.

The Malicious Software Removal Tool will also try to sneak in the option of changing the home page to MSN and the search engine to Bing, so make sure to uncheck that option before downloading.

Microsoft Safety Scanner

Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

Edit: Edited the text as the Safety Scanner DOES have the full scan option. It had been a while since I ran either one.

donsjgm · ‎10-21-2017

Hi Ricky,

All I could find on America Geeks:

Been in business since 2010

Hosted by GoDaddy and likely paying for SEO

(strangely) NO listing with better business - unless I did not look hard enough.

Based out of CA but uses independent contractors.

All in all idk.

Like Gabe suggested, and if you find no malware then I would suppose they're legit.

Don 🙂

C0RR0SIVE · ‎10-21-2017

Most likely a scam...

https://www.scammer.info/d/2803-america-geeks-fake-tech-support

MarkJFine · ‎10-21-2017

Need to be careful with stuff like this.

Computer might be clean of malware/viruses, but they could have stolen personal information.

* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

Ricky · ‎10-21-2017

Uh oh. I wanted to uninstall this to be safe. However it is apparantly hidden. It is not a visible program that can be un-installed. Gonna run the suggested 2 Microsoft programs above.

BirdDog · ‎10-21-2017

@Ricky wrote:
Uh oh. I wanted to uninstall this to be safe. However it is apparantly hidden. It is not a visible program that can be un-installed. Gonna run the suggested 2 Microsoft programs above.

Restore point?

Ricky · ‎10-21-2017

Nope. Only 1 showing and it says Geek. So I am assuming they deleted all the restore points and that one most likely will include any virus or keylogger that may be in the machine.

Ricky · ‎10-21-2017

The scan that is running now shows no infections so far. I will let it complete then I think I will do a recovery on the machine. She doesn't have anything important on it anyway. That seems like the safest way to insure it is gone.

GabeU · ‎10-21-2017

@Ricky

The fact that all restore points have been wiped out, except theirs, is a little unnerving. And the fact that they left a program or something on there that is hidden, that's even more unnerving.

I would probably recover the machine, like you are contemplating. If it came with Windows 10 and has an embedded product key, or it had been upgraded to Windows 10 during the free upgrade period and activated with a digital license tied to the computer, I would even contemplate performing a clean install from a user created Windows 10 ISO, but that, of course, would wipe out the recovery partition, and if no recovery disks were written from that partition, it would be gone, forever. I'm not a fan of recovery partitions, though they can be useful. I'm only thinking of the possibility of the recovery partition having been messed with by that company.

If it came with Windows 8 or 8.1 and an embedded product key, you can do a clean install from a user created Windows 8.1 ISO, as well. I did that with my Acer.

Ricky · ‎10-23-2017

Recovery completed. Upgrading to Windows 10 downloading now. Oh my data is going to take a hit this month. Guess I will eat into my tokens.

donsjgm · ‎10-28-2017

@Ricky

After following this thread, I share your concerns.

I would do a clean install just to be sure.

If you download the ISO and have issues with activation PM me or email me (I suppose you still have it).

I've gone to running my Win10 as a VM using OracleVM as the hypervisor on a Solaris11 base.

Running a VM allows the use of "snapshot" to restore the OS to a previous time.

Your hardware is also protected since the HDD is actually only a file rather than access to your physical drive.

Hoping the best 4 u

Don 🙂