Suspicious AntiVirus Alert Popped Up on Web Page

Anonymous

I am suspicious about messages that popped up when I went to a web page I'd never been to before. First a message popped up stating "Microsoft Antivirus has found critical process activity on your PC. You need to clean your computer to prevent system breakage." And then right afterwards another message appeared -- I might have pressed okay -- in a rectangular box with a thick red stripe across the top that read "Potential Threat Details," and then below "Microsoft Security Essentials detected potential threats that might compromise your privacy or damage your computer. You need to clean your computer immediately to prevent the system crash." But I noticed that "might" was spelled "mihgt." Then below that it listed the threats as:

Trojan PSW.Win32Launch

HackTool:Win32/Welevate.A

Adward.Win32Fraud

It said each of the three was "critical" and "active" and recommended I "remove" them.

Then below all this was a box I could check that said "clean computer."

Now aside from the misspelling of "might," I do not have Microsoft Security Essentials; I have Windows Defender, so I'm pretty sure this is a fake alert.

And I didn't press "clean computer." But I'm wondering what would have happened if I had; would I have gotten a virus, or a sales pitch to buy more antivirus software? But mostly I want to know what really will happen when my antivirus program -- which, again, is Windows Defender for Windows 8 -- does detect a real virus. It hasn't happened yet so I don't know, and I also would like to be able to distinguish the real alerts from the fake ones, especially if the fake ones do not have misspelled words as a telling sign.

Thanks

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Anonymous

It is a fake alert and creater of that alert can enter as many virus names as he/she can, don't worry about that alert. Just practice safe browsing, do not click on Ads (specially of unknown source), always use original software and download them from their genuine sites only. Run scans from the tools you downloaded, and use free version only (neither Pro nor Trial).

About Trojan in quarantine-

Items in quarantine are neutral and cannot harm your PC, just like criminals in jail. There is no need to delete items in quarantine. You can also run a full scan of your PC to ensure no virus is lurking in your PC.

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Anonymous

As per your description above, except for the part... "it said it couldn't do much with that"... (Don't know what you mean by this?)

When someone tries to close AdwCleaner after clicking on 'Search' button then AdwCleaner alerts that it has only scanned for Adwares, not removed them and asks to click on 'Delete' button to complete removal. This is what he is trying to say.

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71 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-05-13T07:05:50+00:00

Perhaps I should try to run AdwCleaner from CNET, because I trust them.

That's your choice but you should be aware of the following:

PUP.CNET.Adware.Bundle AND ADWARE (PUP.CNET) From DOWNLOAD.com
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Anonymous

2013-05-13T06:44:36+00:00

I didn't really care about installing ViewPoint Media Player -- I don't really know what it is -- but its message popped up repeatedly, so I just gave up. But first, I read it was part of AOL, and that it automatically comes with an AOL download, so, apparently, I've had it for a long time without knowing it. Is it necessary for my AOL?

Why should I remove it? Does it cause problems?

And I'm fine with running AdwCleaner again, but I still don't understand why my computer said it couldn't verify the publisher. Usually I would not run something without a verifiable publisher. Again, I pressed on the link and it took me to bleepingcomputer.com

Perhaps I should try to run AdwCleaner from CNET, because I trust them. Are you suggesting I run it again because I reinstalled ViewPoint Media Player? Is there some connection?

Thanks again for all your patience and help.
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Anonymous

2013-05-13T06:42:56+00:00

Aha, now this was interesting -- at least to me -- and I now realize what I did.

Just to let you know, I contacted bleepingcomputer.com, the source of AdwCleaner, and they said there are advertisements in the banner above the Adwcleaner download, and I pressed one, which was for Reimage. They said they're going to try to make it clearer that those are advertisements.

Good to know you now know better :-)

Please note that although there are other download sites (also ads supported) you may also use to download AdwCleaner (as CNet or Softpedia, for instance) it seems (for a good reason) we all here prefer to use the bleepingcomputer's download. Even the author's mirror link takes you there. You just need to be careful/put attention to click the correct download button. It's the blue Download Now @BleepingComputer button you want.

Personally, I don't recommend the 'Visit Author's Site' (their main download) as it's a french language file (at least when I last checked), and you'll notice that their 'Mirror' button, as commented above, takes you back to the bleepingcomputer page.

... First I pressed "Search," and it said it couldn't do much with that, so then I pressed "delete" and something ran and then it asked me to restart my computer, and then a list came up with what it deleted...

As per your description above, except for the part... "it said it couldn't do much with that"... (Don't know what you mean by this?), it seems the tool successfully ran (all as also described at BC's Usage Instructions for the tool) to remove 'something' (?) as per your request.

Will only know 'what' was deleted when you find the logs stored at your *C:* directory => C:\AdwCleaner[S1].txt 'or' C:\AdwCleaner[R1].txt.

But I do remember the .txt file was on this page.

Yes, it was shown at the UI, and then stored automatically at your main directory when you closed that window/program. Note that the referenced letter/number in [Xx] may vary.

Should I be concerned that I can't find AdwCleaner in the program list...?

No, you won't find it at your Control Panel as it's not an installed program. Open the program again and click the 'Uninstall' button. It will instantly delete the application from the drive it is stored on.

But please tell us first 'what' was detected/removed by this tool?

Trust this clarifies.
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