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I was having problems with my PC running slow. So I picked out a PC tools program on the internet called PC Helper 360, paid $39.95 and had it do a scan. PC Helper 360 came up with over 1000 issues, when I selected fix, I assumed for $39.95 it would fix as well, not just diagnose. PC Helper 360 only fixed 10 of the issues and then it said โ€œpress this button for all to be fixed with the PCโ€. I expected to be directed to a page to buy a full version of PC Helper 360, however, it redirected me to Advanced Tech Support, who said they could fix all the issues for $150.00. In my book that is a deceptive practice. I was looking for a simple fix, I was frustrated and just wanted by PC fixed. So I paid the $150.00 for Advanced Tech Support to remote into my PC and do the work.

On the first alleged cleanup/tune-up the tech at Advanced Tech Support did something you never do since the internet started and viruses began, he disabled my firewall for 4 hours while fixing the PC using shareware internet programs. Of course the worse thing happened sometime during the 4 hours they let a strong Trojan virus into my PC and it corrupted almost all of my systems and applications. They also stripped a lot of my .exe files and I was not able to properly use the PC. I called in over a dozen times over what they removed and they did 3 additional PC tune-ups in the 7 days since that initial alleged cleanup/tune-up, that let the Trojan in.

I told them that the process they are using is BAD and that they were striping Windows files, and when I questioned the supervisor over the help desk whether the techs were Microsoft Certified (up to date) doing the work ...The supervisor would not answer me. Very unprofessional work was done by Advanced Tech Support, and because of their incompetence I lost programs, Windows databases, and lots of personal data, because their only fix was to restore my PC back to a several weeks ago backup.

Advanced Tech Support is destroying Microsoft files in there clean-up process. Something has to be done! People are being funneled to this company from PC Helper 360 and they charge you for messing up your PC.

Monetary Loss: $150.

Location: Aurora, Colorado

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Guest

I used Advanced Technologies and they allowed a Alureon Malware Virus into my PC. It opened up all my internet Account information for credit cards, bank, credit union information to the hackers.

They subsequently started using my accounts for personal gain and money laundering. Advance Technologies did a cleaning just days before this Malware Virus started their activities. I just had to pay a Certified Microsoft Tech $310 to get the Malware Virus off of my PC.

Do not use this company. I also paid $500 for Malware Anti-virus Software who recommended this company to me.

Guest

I have also had a similar experience with this company and have now had to remove the software. FYI these are not the only cowboys out there.

Guest

Yep. They charged me $250 for a year's tech support, and $150 for a lifetime PCMRI installation, and then they deleted my Windows32 folder's contents, let a Trojan in, and I had to spend ten days with Microsoft and reformat my hard drive to fix the problem. Those dirty ATS bastards!

Guest

This is common concern with most people. To answer this concern, certain software can only do so much.

The software you purchased will repair all the problems IT detected. Its possible that there were some underlying issues going on with your computer outside of what the software you purchased will fix. Some people get confused when it says "fix all".

It will fix all the problems that the software detected, but that doesn't exclude the fact that other things could be going on with your computer thats outside of what the software you purchased will do..

Hope you found this helpful! :)

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-886647

No, your comment is not helpful.

What is being discussed is a con! The only thing it is set up to remove is money from your pocket!

My advice would be NEVER pay for software to fix your PC unless you have experience and understanding of the issues (so you'd not do it anyway!) You would be better taking your PC to someone local who comes with recommendations.

Note also that many of these people also reported additional issues some time after the 'techs' had been on their machines.

Please, no mater how desperate you are, especially if your understanding is poor, take it to someone local and pay with a credit card.

aDub

Guest

This company did the same thing to me. It started with the you need Registry security.

when I got the email with the confirmation codes they didn't work. So I called the help line and they convinced me to take over my computer, they used different codes than what I was sent. The woman said "this is a faster way to get your system cleaned. Then it was you should get your pc tuned up every 6 months.

That will cost you about $200. each time. Why don't you get our LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION yada, yada, yada. And if you have another computer you can get that service to as an add on for $150.

I don't care if they did fix and refund money to people. Not me. I took care of them another way.

Get rid of them if you can. They now have access to your computer for a LIFETIME.

Guest

in the first chance I never used PC helper too many bugs in the program they use a bogus algo that causes plenty of problems I built my own but I don't release em because they get *** reviews by dorks who don't know what they are talking about or who don't hold a degree in IT I do how ever I have noticed that a lot of people switch between programs this is confusing to the machine this is to all company's out there make it short and practical and you'll have no problems what so all the simpler the better less to go wrong

Guest

In all,fairness to PC Helper 360 I have been using the program for over a year now and have never been asked - or pushed on to Advanced technical Support(ATS) Are you all sure ATS never got in to your systems without PC Helper 360 having anything to do with it ???

Guest

I also had PC Helper 360 on my computer, but was having problems, so I purchsed PC MRI, which also uses Advanced Tech Support, but somehow they deleted PC Helper 360 from my computer. I do not trust a company that does not allow you to sit and watch what they are doing on your computer, ADVANCE TECH SUPPORT, has not fixed my problems with one visit, as a matter of fact they have made it worse.

What can I do to get my money back from these criminals? Any suggestions?

Sandra of Michigan

Guest

I was also taken by Advanced Tech Support, also funneled to them by PC Helper 360. I think this is a case of Company โ€œAโ€ working in tandem with company โ€œBโ€.

DEFINITE SCAM! I did threateningly get a refund on my $199.00 for their worthless Advanced Tech Support. PC Helper 360 is indeed in cahoots with ATS!

My experience started when I tried out the PC Helper 360 which found countless errors and warned me that a cleaning was necessary. Like a fool, I bought into it.

(keep in mind I only did this because I was getting BSODs on my windows 8.1). Well this went on fine for a while, I would run it and it would SEEM to catch and resolve things on my PC. I became comfortable running it once every day or so, like a fool note I did pay the $39.95 for a 6 month subscription on it.

Well, one day when I went to run my PC Helper and it would not initialize. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and still, it would not launch.

I only had it for 2 months and when I would run a FIX ALL on it it took me to a page that said I need to renew my subscription. JUST to see what would come up, I clicked the renew button and it would then tell me I did NOT need to renew. At this point the program was worthless as it would NEVER allow me to FIX ALL but would send me between this Renew Now with No Need to Renew pages. THIS is where I was suckered into Advanced Tech Support.

When I reached PC Helper they told me to call ATS.

I called ATS and, to make a long story short, I should have picked up on the over-zealous salesman I was talking to. But, nevertheless, I was sold on the fact that they might be able to find and fix the problem I am having with my BSODs and resolve my PC Helper launch problems. So I paid the $199.00 and had a tech go into my system and fix things, GUARANTEEIONG they will fix EVERYTHING and make my PC run like a top! The salesman told me this should take 4 to 6 hours to fix.

Well, after the tech got in, remotely, and done his thing it was all of 45 minutes and he left a message on the screen when done. The message on the screen told me to call a number regarding issues with my PC. So, I called the number and they told me that I had some serious issues with my machine that only another purchase of additional software could officially resolve. The salesman told me it is NORMALLY $500.00 for a lifetime one-time pay for the software but he can give it to me for ONLY $250.00.

THIS IS WHEN I SAID STOP. I told him I feel I am being drawn in deeper and deeper and requested a refund on my original Advanced Tech Support service as I was still getting slow shutdowns and BSODs on occasion. He, again, tried to say the additional service @ $250.00 would fix this problem. We went back and forth.

At this point it is worth noting that the original advanced tech support techie left loads of trial ware apps on my desktop, did not clean up after himself (another tech had to go in and do that while I was on the phone with her) and he actually made COPIES (not shortcuts) of items in my control panel and put them on the desktop for his convenience and left them!

As well, I had my windows set to automatically log me in without having to enter my user name and password every time. I had to reset that as well as he seems to have removed my auto log-in and probably could not get back in to clean up after himself.

NOW! Let's get back to the deceitful salesman. This is when the lies became quite apparent.

The salesman told me he had a computer that was 12 years old and that it runs windows 7 like a dream since he has been using all of this software he was trying to sell me. THAT RIGHT THERE IS A LIE! You can NOT run windows 7 on a single core processor that is 12 years old โ€“ NO WAY, I tried it LONG ago. The salesman also looked at my report from the techie and told me I had a serious malware in my computer called โ€œask.comโ€.

We all know ask,com is merely a cookie. I told him I had Norton and he told me that should be embarrassing to Norton not to catch that โ€œthreatโ€ and that if I buy the additional one-time lifetime purchase at $250.00 and delete Norton I would be fine. I got a hold of Norton and discussed this with them. They came right out and told me I was being scammed and they are aware of Advanced Tech Support (and some others doing this as well).

I got my money back from them PRONTO by boldly threatening them with my Buyer's right with 3 days to cancel. I also told them if they do not want to deal with me they can deal with Visa (a major headache software sellers do NOT want to get involved with). At the end of the day I got my money back and put my computer back as best I could. But wait, it does not end here.

I downloaded and TRIED malwarebytes ( a truly excellent program) and it found 69 threats in my computer I let it fix. (LET ME SAY AT THIS POINT THAT MALWAREBYTES IS EXCELLENT, YOU CAN RUN IT FREE FOR A MONTH AND IT WILL FIND AND FIX. It is also VERY reasonable ($24.95 for a year on THREE PCs.) Well things ran fine from that point. For the price and the reliability I even bought the Malwarebytes and was happy.

But, like a fool, I had to try the PC Helper just out of curiosity to see what it would do. Well, after running Norton registry cleaner and scan as well as malwarebytes the computer SHOULD have been clean, right? Well, not according to PC Helper 360. PCH claimed to find 48 serious system problems so I, like a fool and out of curiosity, let it DO ITS THING.

By the time it was done my malwarebytes would not launch. I tried to uninstall PCH and it would NOT uninstall so I had to do another registry clean with Norton which found the problems, had to uninstall malwarebytes, reboot the machine, and PRAY I could get malwarebytes back in. Thankfully I did. When I re-ran malwarebytes if found 6 threats (no doubt from PCH) and cleaned them up.

So there you have it, I am only running Norton and malwarebytes and I am fine. I do still get occasional BSOD and slow shutdown/restart, but that seems to be windows issues as if you look on the web MANY people are having that problem. I guess some future patch for windows 8.1.1 will eventually address that. I hope this lengthy note has given some advice on how to undo all of what PCH and ATS did to my machine.

My advice to you is as follows. #1 โ€“ DELETE PC Helper 360 (it will likely only partly delete) #2 โ€“ Run Norton scan AND registry cleaner (located under tasks) #3 โ€“ Reboot machine and install FREE version of malwarebytes #4 โ€“ run malwarebytes to remove stubborn files of PC Helper that would not uninstall, then reboot again and run malwarebytes again. Final Thought: PC Helper 360 and Advanced Tech Support are IN CAHOOTS and their TRICK is to make the PC Helper 360 fail so they can deceitfully send yo to their ATS salesman with deceitful lies and false claims who will try to scare you into NEEDING their software. That TOO should be another hint that they are selling you a piece of garbage โ€“ that you are SO vulnerable and unsafe.

They really have some skilled liars you will be initially confronted with.

Good luck to all and ANYONE who was taken by ATS you need to call them with THREATS that you WILL contract VISA (or MasterCard) regarding your purchase. Good luck to you all!

Guest

I had basically the same experience and in the process ended up with over $500 worth of charges to my credit card. I still don't know what all damage has been done, but my computer now reports that my Windows 7 is not genuine, and so far I have been unable to resolve this issue.

Their tech reps have hung up on me twice, and in another attempt to repair my computer, their tech left me the note that I would need to purchase from Microsoft, a new and genuine copy of Windows... I have had all the charges removed from my credit card, Stay away from this scam...

They come off sounding very legit, but you end up with a trashed pc and lots of unnecessary charges to your card... Total scam and ripoff...

Guest

What a *** program. It wiped all of my bookmarks and other information and I had to go back to scratch on many to reinstate.

Beware of this program as it is not worth the time and effort to rebuild your system. The use of Norton logo give you confidence is a lie and a cheat.

Guest

I have just agreed to pay $250 over the phone for this supposed service. They put $300 through my account before I realised this was a scam.

I have cancelled the payment.

I tried calling Advanced Tech Support but they didn't know the person I asked for, so I think it might be people passing themselves off as this company. They are very convincing.

Guest

I had already downloaded and Installed PC helper360 and opened it, but became suspicious when I saw how it was supposed to be repairing Windows. I found these reviews with a google search, and it confirmed that this PC helper 360 and Windows repair 360 is a ripoff.

Luckily I had never clicked on "repair", so I quickly removed the program and ran a full scan with Malwarebytes Pro. The online come-on used a Norton logo. That, with the name including 360, made me think the program was furnished by Norton 360, which is a good anti-virus program.

Norton should take action to stop the misleading sales pitch.

Guest

These SOB's got 35.95 out of me. You have to phone them to start the program and a fast talking scam artist tells you your computer is in terrible shape and Best Buy or Staples would charge 350 dollars but he would do it that day for $150.00.

When I asked him when he was born he wanted to know why I was requesting that and I told him I wasn't born yesterday and he would not be fixing my computer. He immediately brought the conversation to a close.

I then did a resolution with Pay Pay and they decided in the SCAM ARTISTS favour. I am not done with this yet and going for a charge back on my credit card.

Guest

I use a program called Comodo. for 49.95 a year they give you a great antivirus program and if you have a problem with your computer.

I mean like a trojan or virus, for that price of the$49.95 , you get the GEEK Squad.

and they will come online and fix your computer at no extra charge. and let me tell you these guys know their stuff.

Guest

same here. i had to reload files, and more, but unfortunately I am stuck w/them and the malware sold to me.

And they deceived me into believing the product comes w/registry cleaner and overall protection. now i have to buy front end coverage for my pcs.

Guest

I just had to uninstall this program, and I never installed it to begin with - it was just malware that got on my laptop somehow.

Guest

I used this program and it solved loads of problems on my laptop. My flash player wouldn't work and it was running really slow.

The scan found over 3000 problems, once I fixed them with PC helper my laptop went back to it's old self. Well worth the money.

Guest

I got PC Helper 360 in April 2013 and have had problems ever since. Advance Tech Support does not know what they are doing.

For example - initially told me to uninstall Norton Anti-virus on one call, the next call told to re-install.

Today I received an alert from Norton stating Malware anti-virus needed to be uninstalled (this came with PC Helper 360). I call Tech Support and again I was told to uninstall Norton.

I did not. Thinking of calling tomorrow to get all my wasted money back.

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