Edge Frozen with Virus Warning Popup

Anonymous

After navigating to a web page, a popup hijacked the Edge browser.

The popup is a false virus warning, with audio, that repeats endlessly.

I used Task Manager to close Edge browser, but after re-opening, it returns to the hijacked page. There is no time to open another tab, or reach settings. How can this be cleared.

First I tried searching for /user/appdata for Edge entries, and only found a couple, deleted them, but no effect.

I launched msconfig, and set to boot to Safe Mode, minimal. I tried launching Edge in Safe, but you get a warning saying Edge will not launch using the built in administrator account. IE still ran, but no network (as you might expect). I cleared history in IE. But then was unable to relaunch msconfig! Pressing Start flashed a start menu but it disappeared. Selecting the search box wound not search. I ended up launching Control Panel using win+x, and finding System Configuration that way.

When I returned to normal Windows, Edge was set back to its home page.

Clearly this is not a good work around. I can't imagine explaining it to my little niece or grandmother.

Please suggest something more rational.

[Moved from Windows]

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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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

When this happened to me, I closed Microsoft Edge using the Task Manager.

Then in the search bar next to the Windows 10 logo on the bottom off the screen (I call it the "Cortana Search"), I typed in google.com and hit enter.

Microsoft Edge opened up with a new tab for Google. You can see the offending site still opens in a tab that doesn't have focus. Click the "X" to close Edge. Do not click on the offending site tab or it will get focus again.

When Edge closes nicely, I won't "Restore" the sessions and the offending site tab will be gone.

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Anonymous

This did not work. It closed the offending page, but when I re-opened Edge it popped back up again.

It's a common scam. Click the OK button at the bottom of the popup. You should then see a box Do not allow this site to create new messages. Check it and then close the window.

If that doesn't work, for Edge, follow the instructions by Scott_Ki here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_other-protect_scanning/edge-frozen-with-virus-warning-popup/7212a393-90ad-48d0-ab55-4ffe1f21a554?page=2&msgId=7618ae67-bf16-4155-bf90-d8a7405ee199

For all other browsers, use the Task Manager to exit the browser. Reboot and see if the pop-up goes away.

How to Use the New Task Manager.

http://www.wikihow.com/Open-Windows-Task-Manager

If the problem persists, for any browser:

Remove Tech Support Scam pop-up (Call For Support Scam)

http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-tech-support-scam-popups/

Please read:

PSA: Tech Support Scams Pop-Ups on the Rise

https://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam/2014/11/psa-tech-support-scams-pop-ups-on-the-rise/

Breaking down a notably sophisticated tech support scam M.O.

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mmpc/2017/03/02/breaking-down-a-notably-sophisticated-tech-support-scam-m-o/

For more information, see this post by GreginMich

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_other-protect_scanning/1-888-2361-scam/0990122e-61a9-431b-947e-a904c202fa7c?msgId=8d26f1a8-041a-4351-9c24-a222fb305cbd

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195 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-11-19T16:18:13+00:00

Worked for me. I don't think it has to be Google, just any independent website.

Thanks
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Anonymous

2015-11-17T07:17:22+00:00

Alternatively

1.       Close the Edge Browser (Maybe with Task Manager)

2.       Navigate to the following directory C:\Users<users>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_xxxxxx\AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default\Recovery\Active

3.       Delete everything in that directory.

You should then be able to open Microsoft Edge without the problem. Please Microsoft why not have an option to turn off EDGE's tab recovery option in settings?
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Monkey57 3,535 Reputation points

2015-11-07T16:11:03+00:00

not sure what removal tools you may have tried, if the browser is acting weird, it may be something running in background, reinserting the evil stuff in the browser, resetting the browsers is a good start, but you may want to look deeper, you may want to try malwarebytes. If you are really infected, i suggest some of the tools on bleepingcomputer, like rkill, jrt, and adwcleaner (run all of them, in that sequence)(i put them on the desktop, and run them from there). Uninstall adwcleaner, after running it and the system has rebooted, by opening the program, and choosing the uninstall button, or its quarantined files may set off your antivirus. The other tools from bleepingcomputer can be safely deleted, after running them; they are updated often, so the old versions are not necessary. After running the tools, if they found anything, you need to reset your browsers to default, then check for any unfamiliar plugin/addins within the browser. then run malwarebytes again.
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