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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: doddsie4 on Thursday 16 March 23 20:23 GMT (UK)
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I am getting a message (not an email) -- a page that says Windows Defender - System Warning. Critical Threat Detected: Ardware App.
Then, on a white background, another message that says: Confirm the action on the page https:// Access to this PC has been disabled. Please contact support.
And ... Get Help Dismiss
I think it must be a scam. For a start, it says that the PC has been disabled - BUT MY LAPTOP IS GOING PERFECTLY WELL! Also, I have had several problems on the laptop, going back 15 years but Defender has never contacted me once. I have McAffee as well for security but there has been no warning from them about anything being wrong.
Am I right in thinking it is a scam? I don't want to click anything on the page in case this is just what they need to get into my computer.
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A couple of years ago, but this looks like it:
https://www.pcrisk.com/removal-guides/18999-windows-defender-security-warning-pop-up-scam
Gadget
Add - Andrew or others might know more about it.
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I have Googled it and it is a scam.
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The link that I gave (Reply #1) about it being a scam seems to suggest it is related to a program/app that you have.
Can you remember what you were doing when it popped up?
Gadget
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Gadget,
It gives me a telephone number to contact. I pop into lots of things, like I might google Video of 1920's Jazz, or the Ancestry site where I have traced my folks back a couple of hundred years, or a Chess site where I can get a game to pass the time. There are lots of other sites that I might visit but only once in a blue moon, so to speak.
Any idea how I can get rid of it? It usually appears just after I leave a site, rather than before. I was wondering if it will disappear the next time Windows does an update(?). I am wary of clicking delete on the scam page, or the X, seemingly to delete the page for good. Anyway, glad to know it is a scam. Very helpful!
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Before you do anything I would start by setting McAffee to do a full scan.
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Gadget,
I have Wise Disk Cleaner! I think it may be similar to the PC Cleaner site which you attached to your message. I had forgotten about the Wise Disk Cleaner, as it's so long since I used it.
I am going to try it in the morning. Jebber, - thanks. Should have known these two sites might sort it but it is quite a while since I have had laptop problems.
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I think that I would PM Andrew Alston if I were you.
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=14862
I think that he would give you the best advice.
Gadget
PS - also, as Jebber says, run a full scan. I run them regularly and quick ones every day.
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Wise Disk Cleaner is not an antivirus product.
I would suggest downloading Malwarebytes (free edition) and running a scan with that.