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Old 24-10-2016, 15:32
hansue
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Last night I had a pop up from Pathwind.com telling me that I needed to contact Microsoft on a particular number as my computer was at risk. I did not do anything but tried to get rid of it. However, it would not go. In the end I contacted McAfee and £50 and two hours later they removed it for me.

It hadn't infected my laptop but it wasn't going anywhere. I just wondered if there was anything I could have done rather than contact McAfee and save me some money. McAfee did say that Microsoft would not do anything like that so it was good to ignore it.

Has anyone else had this problem?
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Old 24-10-2016, 15:36
noise747
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i just had one of these a moment ago, never had one before, in fact never had anything like it for years. I went onto a site to look for some info about Windows 10 for a friend.

how I got rid of it was close the browser and rebooted the computer, it have not come back, but then browser is set to clean all history and I also use C cleaner to make sure.
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Old 24-10-2016, 15:39
hansue
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i just had one of these a moment ago, never had one before, in fact never had anything like it for years. I went onto a site to look for some info about Windows 10 for a friend.

how I got rid of it was close the browser and rebooted the computer, it have not come back, but then browser is set to clean all history and I also use C cleaner to make sure.
McAfee did something with the browser so that looks like the answer. I am not very computer literate so I didn't know what to do but it would be useful for the future if it happened again. I hate to say it but I was browsing Digital Spy at the time when mine came up - not that I'm blaming them!!
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Old 24-10-2016, 23:54
planets
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Hi my mum (82) has just rung me in a panic as she got this exact same thing. The browser wouldn't close and when i told her to do a forced shut off (holding the on off button down for 7 seconds) it wouldn't close the laptop. i talked her through taking the battery out to shut it down. It booted up ok and she is currently doing a virus scan is there anything else i need to do to clear it for her?
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Old 25-10-2016, 00:03
barbeler
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I just wondered if there was anything I could have done rather than contact McAfee and save me some money.
You could have run CCleaner and/or Malwarebytes and removed it free of charge within a couple of minutes. Alternatively, you could have installed the free Pop-up Stopper and simply hidden it.
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Old 25-10-2016, 00:04
LION8TIGER
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As noise747 said close the browser but do it in task manager, highlight the browser and 'end task' ...... make sure you are highlighting the correct entry !!.
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Old 25-10-2016, 00:07
planets
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As noise747 said close the browser but do it in task manager, highlight the browser and 'end task' ...... make sure you are highlighting the correct entry !!.
thanks LION8 i'm talking her through it over the phone trying to get her to clear her browsing history and cookies and cache etc but she keeps telling me it's not clearing!!

if i go round ther tomorrow and download malwarebytes and do a scan do you think that would clear it? appreciate your help by the way
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Old 25-10-2016, 00:11
planets
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ps when i went looking online to see how to sort it out i starting getting threat pop ups on my avg "Exploit Rogue Scanner(type 831)" when i clicked on the microsoft help page which has come up two or three times now
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Old 25-10-2016, 05:53
Stig
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Last night I had a pop up from Pathwind.com telling me that I needed to contact Microsoft on a particular number as my computer was at risk. I did not do anything but tried to get rid of it. However, it would not go. In the end I contacted McAfee and £50 and two hours later they removed it for me.

It hadn't infected my laptop but it wasn't going anywhere. I just wondered if there was anything I could have done rather than contact McAfee and save me some money. McAfee did say that Microsoft would not do anything like that so it was good to ignore it.

Has anyone else had this problem?
Next time, just ask the question on here are save yourself £50, it might have been cheaper to get ripped off by the scammer than McAfee!
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Old 25-10-2016, 12:31
tealady
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I use the paid for malwarebytes. I think £20 is fine for avoiding a lot of these issues especially with third party infected ads that appear in what you would consider to be a safe site
eg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37573815
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:05
zx50
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I haven't come across this pop-up yet. My browsers do have the default block pop-ups setting enabled though.
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:14
Fried Kickin
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Are you folks running any form of ad blocking like Adblock,AdblockPlus or uBlock Origin?
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:23
koantemplation
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I've been getting the Microsoft popup for a while. It has a login screen asking for a username and password. You can't close the window without using Task Manager.

Does anyone know how to run Firefox again without it reopening the same window?

I'm also trying to figure out how to add the popup to UBlock Origin.
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:30
Mr Dos
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Maybe we should start a thread - screenshots of scam messages/threats. I had this one recently, claiming I had a virus and my HDD was about to be deleted.

https://s18.postimg.org/nc6drf4g9/Capture.jpg
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:33
koantemplation
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Maybe we should start a thread - screenshots of scam messages/threats. I had this one recently, claiming I had a virus and my HDD was about to be deleted.

https://s18.postimg.org/nc6drf4g9/Capture.jpg
Good Idea, I'll try to get one of the Microsoft one next time it happens. Does Print Scrn work?
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:40
tealady
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Are you folks running any form of ad blocking like Adblock,AdblockPlus or uBlock Origin?
I use a mixture depending on platform and browser.
Currently have uBlock origin, adblock plus and adguard.
Plus on a couple of pcs I use a script blocker which also helps.
Does Print Scrn work?
Easier to use the snipping tool in Accessories or search for snipping tool.
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Old 25-10-2016, 13:48
koantemplation
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Easier to use the snipping tool in Accessories or search for snipping tool.
Thanks for the tip, I never knew that was there.
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Old 25-10-2016, 14:16
FrankBT
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I've been getting the Microsoft popup for a while. It has a login screen asking for a username and password. You can't close the window without using Task Manager.

Does anyone know how to run Firefox again without it reopening the same window?

I'm also trying to figure out how to add the popup to UBlock Origin.
The problem lies in your Mozilla\Application Date\Firefox folder settings. There will be a rogue file in there which goes not have the file extension 'sqlite', 'rdf', 'db', 'js', or relates to any Firefox extension you downloaded. You need to examine this folder once the browser has been shut down and look for any odd files that aren't normally there and don't have any of those file extensions. Once you find the culprit and delete it Firefox opens normally.
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Old 25-10-2016, 16:30
koantemplation
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This isn't the pop up with the login, but it is another one claiming to be a virus detector.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/q...pslw90alhx.jpg
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Old 25-10-2016, 16:37
planets
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Are you folks running any form of ad blocking like Adblock,AdblockPlus or uBlock Origin?
Yes. I put AdblockPlus on my mum's chrome browser.
I have AdblockPlus too!! i think it was you that recommended it to me years ago!!! so thanks for that
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Old 25-10-2016, 16:54
chrisjr
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This isn't the pop up with the login, but it is another one claiming to be a virus detector.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/q...pslw90alhx.jpg
0118 is the STD code for Reading. Reading numbers beginning with a 3 are usually allocated to Virgin Media customers.

Though I very much doubt that the number is in any way shape or form genuine even though Microsoft do have a major office in Reading. But could be convincing enough for the unwary.
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Old 25-10-2016, 16:59
koantemplation
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0118 is the STD code for Reading. Reading numbers beginning with a 3 are usually allocated to Virgin Media customers.

Though I very much doubt that the number is in any way shape or form genuine even though Microsoft do have a major office in Reading. But could be convincing enough for the unwary.
I wonder how many people would fall for it?

The trouble is that just like most phishing scams, they only have to get 1% or less of the many millions to fall for it, to make money.

BTW It isn't even a TOLL FREE number
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Old 25-10-2016, 17:09
planets
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The number on the purported Microsoft warning that came up on my mum's laptop had an american number.
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Old 25-10-2016, 17:11
FrankBT
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This isn't the pop up with the login, but it is another one claiming to be a virus detector.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/q...pslw90alhx.jpg
It's NOT a virus or virus detector. It's just a scam. It doesn't matter what it says.

I had a similar one recently with a BSOD background like your one does, which froze Firefox and told me that if I tried to close my browser, my drive would be destroyed. They wanted me to dial some strange number and pay $100 for release. Who are these barstewards trying to fool? I went straight to Task Manager to close FF. When I re-started it back came the offending pop-up each time. I finally tracked it down to this rogue entry in my FF settings folder, and once deleted FF worked normally.
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Old 25-10-2016, 17:17
chrisjr
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I wonder how many people would fall for it?

The trouble is that just like most phishing scams, they only have to get 1% or less of the many millions to fall for it, to make money.

BTW It isn't even a TOLL FREE number
I suppose if you did some googling (or in this context should that be bing'ing ? ) and discovered that Microsoft's UK HQ is in Reading and that phone number resembles a Reading one it might just fool some one into thinking it could be legit.

Though whether it would actually connect if you did try dialling it is another matter. Not that I intend trying it
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