did windows defender just lock my computer?

not quite sure where to post this, but I was browsing album covers, I clicked on a pic to get a close up, and windows defender went crazy.... locked my computer up, audible alerts, flashing screen, and a warning message telling me not to switch off, or reboot, but to phone a certain phone number to get assistance in how to recover the computer. Something in the back of my mind told me not ring the number, so I rebooted.... everything seems fine, so my question is... is this legit, or the actions of a virus? looking into history I found the offending link, and security centre error... any advice really would be welcome... cheers.

 

I doubt it was Microsoft Defender, this is just scareware/tech support scam.

Are you using an adblocker? If not try AdGuard or uBlock Origin.


https://us.norton.com/internetsecur...o-recognize-and-avoid-tech-support-scams.html

 

I agree. Sounds like scareware to me. Here's a screenshot of a fake alert I came across some time ago.



Closed my browser, ran multiple scanners and nothing was found. Just a nasty ad.

 

thanks for the replies.... found nothing after scans with 360, WV and AdwCleaner...
and using AdBlock... very convincing though, eh? cheers.

 

If you're not already doing so a malware blocking DNS service might be a good addition. Cloudflare and Quad9 both offer these services as well as several others that also do. Most of them for free.

 

Try NextDNS, it should help, it is basically a Pi-hole as a service.

https://nextdns.io/

 

What OS are you using? I have some doubts that this kind of scareware would work in Windows 10

 

I have Cloudflare enabled...

 

Windows 10..

 

AdBlock Plus? Replace that with AdGuard or uBlock Origin (especially good in Firefox). These two remove tracking things and block urls for real.

Main Cloudflare servers just provide DoH (encryption, authentication). I remember that 1.1.1.2 and 1.0.0.2 provides malware protection, but probably still does not block phishing and other scam websites. I would recommend to try Quad9.

 

Agreed on all counts.

 

I recall Legacy Edge had this malicious "tech support" loop issue a lot.

I thought it was supposed to be completely replaced with the chromium Edge. I cleanly installed latest release10 on a new SSD and there was the old Edge.

 

When Windows Defender detects something and requires the user's decision the tray icon (Windows Security) should turn red.

This could help you determine if what happened is a real alert or just scareware.

 

Which Browser?
Anything is better, than Internet Explorer.
Make sure you have uBlock Origin installed, and such scam will not happen again.
You may also set your router to Adguard DNS, which helps any device in your local network.
https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html

 

CleanBrowsing DNS is another option.

https://cleanbrowsing.org/

 

ok, what are the recommended settings for uBlock Origin? or is it ready to run straight outta the box?

 

It's ready to run straight out of the box.
No need for complicating things.
Read the wiki:
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki
The default mode is called easy mode.
You can see in the wiki under "blocking mode" that there are other modes that block even more but need some manual finetuning/unblocking.
So, I would start with the default (easy) mode.

 

thanks for the info... it'll be either this or AdGuard AdBlocker..

 

Both are really great extensions, but the different modes of uBlock Origin makes it extra special for advanced users.