I woke up to MSN randomly popping up on my browser multiple times throughout the night. I haven't used MSN in over five years and I definitely didn't leave it open. My browser history from Brave shows several instances of MSN.com opening at 10-minute intervals from 3:29 AM to 4:19 AM, right before a random YouTube video played. Can anyone help me figure out why this happened? Is there a chance this could be malware or something else?
5 Answers
It sounds like something suspicious might be going on here. Windows has a tendency to ping MSN for connectivity checks, especially on a schedule like you described. Check if you have any new extensions installed in Brave, and try running a malware scan with Malwarebytes. Also, you might want to look in your Windows Task Scheduler for any tasks that might be running automatically during that time. It’s better to be cautious and thoroughly investigate.
Thanks for the tips! I checked Task Scheduler but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I'll run that malware scan and keep an eye out for any strange behavior.
Definitely run a security scan, just to rule out any malware first. Also, check your Brave settings to ensure MSN isn’t set to open on startup. It could also be an issue with an extension—try disabling any that you don't recognize. Just a heads up, the YouTube video might have played a role, but your browser history shows MSN opened before it, so that seems less likely to be the trigger.
Good call! I don't have any suspicious extensions, but I'll double-check everything and see if my settings are causing any issues.
Yeah, make sure to look into your settings! Better to be safe than sorry.
I understand your concern! Sounds super creepy. Just remember that gaming servers can sometimes introduce vulnerabilities if they've been compromised. I mainly game too, and I always check for updates and security issues. Stay safe!
Are you a somnambulist, maybe? It's a joke, but seriously, this is weird. If you haven’t downloaded anything sketchy recently and this hasn't happened before, you might want to clear cache/cookies as an added precaution.
Haha, no, I'm not a sleepwalker! I just want to figure this out before it gets worse.
That would be a plot twist for sure! But keep an eye on your system just in case.
Wow, that's interesting about the pinging! Makes you think twice about what's happening behind the scenes.