This is not unusual, given the state of customer service in this day and age of rapacious capitalism, but then I heard her say that she wanted to know whether she should or should not turn off her computer.

So I came inside.

She'd been caught by a browser phishing attack, the one where they make the browse full screen, suppress the mouse cursor, and say that Microsoft has shut down their computer.

I could see it instantly, and told her to hang up, which she did.

My wife is not a computer geek, but she does know we don't share our info with strangers, and she hadn't.

But she still thought it was possibly legit, even tho it's the second time it happened. And she didn't want to wake me up and ask me. And she did call the phisher's number and talk to them.

If you're a proper geek, which I am, you know what to do: 3-finger salute, task manager, kill the browser, restart the browser but don't reload.

I can readily imagine the people who use computers on a regular basis who *don't* have slightly hungover crabby spouse who is a serious geek. I can readily imagine them succumbing.

And I want so much to *hate* that guy on the other end of the line.

But you know what, that guy isn't the guy makin' all the money. He's making below minimum wage but with commissions for every "sucker" he snares.