PART 2-Getting Rid of an Unwanted Pop-UP Window

By Tom Krauser

If you get a pop-up window warning you of a serious problem or a virus on your computer similar to those show below DO NOT CLICK ANYWHERE ON THE POP-UP WINDOW AND NEVER CALL THE NUMBER LISTED !!!!!

In the event you get a pop-up window that you believe is a virus or unwanted program you should NEVER CLICK AYWHERE in the window that pops up NOT EVEN THE “X” in the upper right corner to close the window. The “X” can be programmed to actually install the unwanted software or browser add-ons when it is clicked. If the pop-up window has a phone number to call NEVER CALL THAT NUMBER. If you do call, they will want to take control of your computer and install some very bad viruses and trojans on your computer. They will also want you to buy some software to “fix” your computer so they get your checking account or credit card information.

The following link to the FTC describes the scam: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams

Users are not usually sure what they clicked on to open these pop-up windows. These pop-up windows are usually opened if you click on something in an email that contains a link to a malicious site or if you click on a link in a search window or web-page that has malicious software on it.

Start the Task Manager to Close Pop-Up Window and Browsers

In the event you get a pop-up you should not click ANYWHERE (NOT EVEN THE “X” TO CLOSE THE POP-UP) on the pop-up window and should immediately bring up the Task Manager by pressing the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys at the same time on your keyboard (see picture) to bring up the option to start the Task Manager. (On a Apple Mac the “Force Quit” option is activated by the Cmd + Opt + Esc keys which can be used to kill a process.)

After you press the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys a screen will pop up and you should choose “Start Task Manager”. Depending on the version of Windows the Task Manager will look a little different. The picture below is for Windows 7. Windows 10 will look differently (see Windows 10 Task Manager picture).

On the Windows 7 Task Manager select the “Applications” tab to see what applications are running.

On the Windows 10 Task Manager select the “Processes” tab and under “Apps” you will see the running applications.

You should see one of the applications should show the same heading or description caption as the pop-up window.

Click on this application on the Task Manager and it should be highlighted.

Then click the “End Task” button on the bottom of the window. This should stop that application and close the pop-up window. In the Task Manager, you should also click on any open browsers (Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) and end those tasks also. If you have not done anything else then this should clear the problem. You should Shutdown and Restart your computer. After the computer has been restarted, if you start the internet browser (Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Google Chrome) hopefully the unwanted window will not pop-up again. If the message does pop-up again then something has already been installed to cause the window to reopen and additional action is required. You will need to check the programs starting on start-up and/or see if a browser add-on has been installed which is causing the window to still pop-up. Restoring your computer to an earlier date (see section later) may be able to remove whatever program may have been added. You can use a program such as CCleaner to disable browser add-ons to see if the message disappears. Windows 7 Task Manager

Windows 10 Task Manager

Restore Your Computer to an Earlier Date

If the window is still popping up after you do this then you can try to Restore your computer to an earlier time before the pop-up window came up. It is probably a good idea to do Restore your computer to a time before the pop-up even if it does not reappear. This is assuming that you have Restore points turned on and the restore points were not deleted by the person taking control of your computer.

Click on the Windows icon in the lower left corner and click on the Control Panel in Windows 7 or click on Settings in Windows 10.

In the search window in the upper right corner of the Control Panel or Settings window type the word “restore” (without quotes). Look for an option to Create or Use a Restore Point. Follow the options until you get to a screen that has various restore points on it. Select a Restore Point that is before the date/time the pop-up message occurred. You can go back several days or more to ensure you are before the pop-up window date. Restoring to an earlier date will not affect any pictures or documents you have added but only make sure than any programs installed since the Restore Date are effectively uninstalled. This should hopefully clear out anything that may have been installed by the pop-up window.

Try Other Browsers

You can try a different browser to see if the message pops up in that browser. If the message does not pop up them maybe a browser add-on was added to the browser giving you the pop-up message and that add-on will keep loading every time that browser is started.

You can try disabling suspicious browser add-ons using a program like CCleaner by Piriform. Install the program (using a different browser) and open the program. Select Tools then Browser Plugins. Click on the browser giving the pop-up and disable any plugins that look suspicious or you do not recognize the source. You can always re-enable them later if they were not the issue. If you find a plugin that was causing the window then delete that plugin.

Run a FULL Virus and Malware Scan

You should then run a FULL virus scan using your Anti-Virus Software and run MalwareBytes (if not installed you should install the free version of MalwareBytes from www.malwarebytes.org. Make sure you choose the Free download. The trial version may install but after the trial period is over you will have the option to deactivate the license and continue to use the free version. If All This Fails

If all this fails then you will need additional assistance from a friend or IT person who has experience getting rid of viruses and malware or in the worse case scenario, they may have to reset your computer to the factory defaults. Hopefully they will save your important pictures and documents before they have to reset the computer.