Windows Defender alert - but is it a scam?

[doddsie4]

         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.

[Gadget]

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.

[GR2]

I have Googled it and it is a scam.

[Gadget]

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

[doddsie4]

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!

[Jebber]

Before you do anything I would start by setting McAffee to do a full scan.

[doddsie4]

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.

[Gadget]

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.

[AngusMcCoatup]

Wise Disk Cleaner is not an antivirus product.

I would suggest downloading Malwarebytes (free edition) and running a scan with that.