You’re on the Web and you’re browsing around when suddenly you encounter a popup that tells you your machine is infected with a gazillion viruses and Trojans – and a few hundred thousand spyware files. And if you just “click here” all your problems will be solved and your PC will be cleaner than a sterilized drill. Of course whether you click that button to “clean your PC” or if you click “Close” or try to close the popup by clicking the “x” in the top right-hand corner – your computer will be infected – and will stay infected until you ante up the $59.95 the criminals want or you hire someone to clean up your PC – or you spend hours and hours trying to clean it yourself.
There are two things to remember: :Web sites don’t know and don’t care if you’re infected. Windows does not pop dialog boxes telling you you’re infected and tell you to click here to clean your computer.
There are two more things to remember. NEVER click anywhere on a popup like that – don’t try to close it using the “X” or the close button. Press ALT + F4 to close it – and if that doesn’t work open task manager and click the process tab – then find your browser’s executable (they’re all named so you can tell what they are — iexplore.exe, firefox.exe, chrome.exe, etc.). And if all else fails shut your computer off at the switch and wait one or two minutes before you turn it back on. The popup will be gone and you’ll be safe.
This is pretty basic stuff – but it’s very important stuff. Try to remember it. When you’re faced with that situation you may not be thinking as clearly as you are right now.
I had the displeasure of “meeting” these folks once before but remembered your advice. Nothing worked but the ‘off’ button. I didn’t know about the ‘ALT+F4’ – now I do. Thanks sooooo much!
I have learned that lesson the hard way.