Suspicious AntiVirus Alert Popped Up on Web Page

Anonymous
2013-05-11T03:08:31+00:00

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

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2013-05-11T09:37:27+00:00

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
2013-05-13T15:28:33+00:00

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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  1. 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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  2. Anonymous
    2013-05-13T06:21:06+00:00

    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.

    Mine didn't go into quarantine. AND it wouldn't let me click to clean the "virus". It wanted me to install an exe file saying it was Microsoft Essentials. What gives?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-13T04:54:11+00:00

    So now you got it. You clicked on Ads and those directed you to evil '$69' software. If you still have that then immediately remove it. AdwCleaner is a stand-alone program and is not installed for it to run (just like flash games, they don't need to be installed). You may find AdwCleaner in Downloads directory of your browser. It is normal behaviour from AdwCleaner that you got to first press 'Search' button then 'Delete' button. As I suspected earlier, you got some evil toolbars and/or extensions which might have caused the fake alert of MSE. AdwCleaner would have removed those evils toolbars and/or extensions from your PC which is causing changes in your browser (these changes are good and you should not worry about it). View Point Media Player is what I would not want in my PC, you should also remove it (if you don't want it). I would once again recommend you to run AdwCleaner and SUPERAntiSpyware full scan.

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