How Can I Stop Malware Pop-Ups on My Mom's New Laptop?
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PixelatedPanda42
My mom's new laptop keeps showing these annoying pop-ups claiming her computer is infected. She just had a McAfee free trial, but now those messages appear every couple of minutes. They say things like 'your PC is infected', 'scan alert! Remove viruses!', and 'Update computer to turn on Microsoft Defender!' The alerts say they're coming from Microsoft Edge. I've checked Microsoft Defender, and it's running fine with no issues after a quick scan. The laptop is up to date, and my mom is not very tech-savvy—she mainly uses it for paying bills and knows not to click on suspicious emails or links. What steps should I take to resolve this issue?
Answers
Good call on checking those pop-ups. It's likely that those alerts are actually fake malware notifications generated by a website. If your mom accidentally allowed notifications from a site, those can keep popping up. Go into the Edge settings and turn off notifications for all websites. Just search 'notifications' in the settings to find that option. That should help clear those up.
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First, you should completely uninstall McAfee. It's known for being overly aggressive with pop-ups and not very effective. Then, run a scan with Malwarebytes for a solid check. It's a good free tool for cleaning up any remaining threats.
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Make sure to clear the browser cookies and cache as well. It helps remove lingering issues from visited websites. Also, having a conversation with your mom about not clicking 'Yes' on any site notifications will help prevent future problems.
GadgetGal101: Absolutely! It's super important to keep that in mind. A little education can go a long way in keeping her safe from those pesky pop-ups.
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CleverCactus88: Yeah, definitely check the notifications. I found that many of those scare tactics come from sites that trick you into accepting notifications. Once you disable them, you'll notice a big difference!