Peter Hoss Peter Hoss  We seniors did not grow up in the age of
computers and the Internet. Generally, our grandchildren
understand them better than we do.  However, we are becoming so
dependent on communicating through email and the Internet that
it has become difficult, if not impossible, to function without
some basic understanding of how computers work and sometimes
fail to work.  It is not surprising that this situation leads to
computer scams aimed at those who lack knowledge about why a
computer fails to function. Here is an example of a recent scam
reported to me by a friend.  The steps:  1. The victim receives
an unsolicited call from a purported representative of
"Microsoft tech support" or some equally official sounding name.
2. The caller says their "monitoring" has detected serious
system problems, viruses or malfunctions that will render the
victim's computer inoperable unless corrective measures are
taken. The caller may even propose bogus "tests" to verify this
claim.  3. The caller then offe