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
    2014-02-09T08:34:47+00:00

    There is nothing better than buying a new PC. Also, please tell us what 'scannow' is which you performed before contacting live support? SFC scan?

    Based on whatever live support said it seems like you contacted fake support. Or maybe it was genuine MS support but I would not give anything to live supports. If Malwarebytes and other scanners are showing clean results then I would worry that my PC is infected. To remove remnants of other viruses, if present, I will scan my PC with HitmanPro, you should scan with it also. HitmanPro scan will remove remnants also then I would consider my PC clean. Regarding system corruptions caused by viruses, most of them are fixed by scanners. If something is there then SFC scan can do the trick and there is nothing better than a reinstall of Windows to fix system corruptions.

    At this point, I would recommend you to scan with HitmanPro. Then run a SFC scan:

    [Steps for Windows Vista, 7, 8]

    Go to Start and search for 'Command Prompt', right click on it and click on 'Run as Administrator'. Then type this code and hit enter:

    sfc /scannow

    [Steps for XP]

    Press Win key + R. Type 'cmd' and hit enter. Type "sfc /scannow" and hit enter.

    After running SFC scan, if it find any corruption and was not able to fix it then consider reinstalling Windows (if you don't know how to do it then contact computer repair shop for that).

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-08T21:03:53+00:00

    Thanks for your response.

    I ran the AdwCleaner which found some files which needed to be cleaned, which I did.

    I also performed a scannow on my pc which said that there were some corrupted files that could not be removed and I contact Microsoft Live Chat.

    They have said that there are corrupted registry keys due to the presence of polymorphic infections and harmful viruses in the computer which require a manual repair.

    They said that if this is not fixed immediately it will crash the OS system, affect personal data, software, MS Office, emails, personal files and financial data. 

    They said they would charge me to fix this, to which I declined.

    It this worth getting fixed or would I be better off buying a new pc?

    I cannot understand how there can be so many errors and viruses.

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