Does Firefox have a security alert popup or is this a disguised ad for a vendor's security software?
My McAfee software full scan shows no viruses, yet I got a popup in Firefox with the title "Firefox security alert." The popup said my computer has 97 infected objects. The list includes 5 viruses, including one Trojan. There is a Start Protection button. Is this popup from Firefox or is it a disguised ad for some security sw vendor? I did another full scan with McAfee which showed no viruses. Does Firefox scan the users files for viruses???? The popup indicates it was a "quick scan," not a full scan. Is McAfee (which updates on my computer daily) the problem? Or is my laptop affected by "numerous virus attacks" as the popup states. I did not want to press the Start Protection button, since no SW company other than Firefox is mentioned in the popup.
All Replies (5)
That is not from Mozilla, Firefox does not scan for viruses or malware. This will be a scam that is trying to get you to install some form of malware/virus.
Thanks! Glad I didn't take the bait!
When this pops up, don't click on anything on the popup including the red x to close it. Shut down the browser. Clicking on anything, close button or red x in upper right corner will only open the program to download a virus, trojan, malware. Trust me on this one. Experience is a rough teacher.
Thanks, but too late. I did, I think, click on the X. A McAfee scan afterward did not pick up any malware, but no antivirus SW is 100% effective. My computer is running slow, so I may have to run some utilities on it.
This is what's known as 'Scareware' i.e. a program which purports to show your system is infected with malware and offers to help you remove it for a fee.
It's probably the one you can see on this site which goes under various names depending on the operating system its aimed at: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-win-7-antispyware-2011
Follow instructions on that site to remove it.