Within the last week or so, I started getting scam ads that appear to be from Norton and McAfee but they are not.
I suspected this was one of my my ads but my ad service provider insists no after several go arounds and reviews.
Research shows this is widespread, not just my site, see video below.
Whatever the cause or source, if it is anything related to my site, sincere apologies offered.
I have run two virus scans and they turn up empty. I do not think it is malware directly running on my computer.
Other readers have noticed it, and recently. So it is not unique to me or my computer. But not every reader is complaining. It is somehow local or limited.
Rogue Notifications
Just Say No!
I captured the above in one of my popups.
Notifications, the Likely Source
Cybernews discusses How to Get Rid of Fake McAfee Virus Pop-Ups
This scam often uses the well-known McAfee logo, trying to trick people into thinking it’s a legitimate notification from an antivirus provider. It will tell you it has found viruses on your computer and that your subscription plan has expired, forcing you to click on the “Get protection” button to remove these threats.
Once the ad is clicked on, it can trigger a download of a malicious app or file on your device. It can also redirect you to a bogus website to enter personal credit card information under the guise of providing antivirus services. [Do NOT do the following!!] In this case, click the “Accept risk” option to close the pop-up and continue with further virus removal steps, like getting reliable antivirus software.
It is shocking to see such horrid advice. Never click on anything in any rogue popup. Close the page without clicking on anything in the ad.
Cybernews did display this useful notice.
Allowed notifications. Pesky pop-ups and push notifications will often ask you if you want to allow notifications from a certain site you visit. If you accidentally opt-in, this can cause your browser to start showing fake McAfee notifications.
For all those plagued, I suspect rogue notifications on Chrome, origin unknown. Here’s a fix to try.
Video Explanation
Kill Popup Notifications on Chrome
I created the image above following the method outlined in the video.
Five Steps for Chrome Users
- Click on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner or your screen.
- Click settings
- in the search settings oval window, type “notifications” without the quotes. Press enter
- Look for a “Site Settings” button and click on that.
- I deleted every notification, then turned the default to no notifications
I had numerous notifications, most of which I am sure I did not click on. I killed them all.
I ask a favor here. If you have this problem, please do a screen capture and send it to me. Capturing what I turned off is an afterthought. I failed to do that. Perhaps we can figure out the source.
Notifications are a bleeping disaster. I killed them all.
A friend just emailed me “Thanks this has been happening for years”.
For me and some of you, it is recent.
.
The video I posted was from 2021.But numerous articles are from April 2024 or so.
So something recent is kicking this up. I suspect accidentally clicking on something or accidentally turning on notifications. Sheeesh, I had ~20 notifications mostly from places I recognized like Forbes, but there is no reason I would turn on a Forbes notification. Some notifications I did not recognize. I suspect one of them.
I have no idea how all of these notifications got set. I am going to periodically check notifications to see if any get turned on.
If something happened here, apologies. But this is rampant from what I can tell, and Chrome-related.
Addendum:
WordPress has gone trough all of my plug-ins and it does nor seem to be there.
Increasingly it points to Chrome Notifications, but not sure how they get turned on.
I got repeatedly redirected when I was editing a post, if that helps. Never at any other time but I have not rigorously studied it.
The fault is the publisher’s who runs ads in his site.
People’s experiences are going to vary a lot. This is not specific to Mish’s site or a specific browser. I tried entering the displayed http address into the blocked sites list. Didn’t work. Apparently the displayed address is faked. I suspect the variations in time, place and frequency of appearance originate from the perpetrators. They’re just changing things around to try to keep people off their guard.
Unfortunately, you’ve got to pay somehow for a “free browser”.
That means, you give the browser access into the computer internals which are wholly unnecessary for rendering a page, but essential for cross-browser tracking.
To see what the backend knows about your system, try privacy sites, e.g.
https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/
Whether the pluggins inherit these access rights is anybody’s guess. Some pluggins start completely harmless, then turn rogue.
If you have these problems, disable Javascript and Java. Tor browser installs some security pluggins by default, the second best choice is Brave, or heavily security configured Firefox.
After turning off notifications in edge, I got the McAfee screen you show at the top of the page, but the screen snip feature seemed to be disabled.
problem occurred twice within about a minute this AM. I am thinking it might be with wordpress as your site is the only one I visit using them.
Whats a popup?
???
It’s like popcorn, but made with ups.
And I hate them.
Before the advent of meToo and the age of Consent,
girls were advised to:
That applies to almost everything you encounter on your computer/cell
Except the vendors have conditioned everybody to say yes to everything in order to continue.
Only because if you don’t click OK on the 23 page single-spaced EULA you can’t use the services.
Why are you using Google Chrome?
Google is the most evil company on earth
Use Firefox, now part of a slightly less evil company, or Brave, uses the chrome codebase, but I think not just giving your profile data to Google to profit from and forward on to the NSA
I posted about this a few days ago.
I’m on Firefox. I had to switch ad blockers to fix it. I think somehow they found a new way around basic security settings. Fortunately it won’t be long till the blockers fix this.
It happened to me this week on your site. I ran a full scan on my antivirus and it stopped, not sure if coincidental. Regardless, I turned off allowing notifications. fwiw, I’m on Chrome.
Chrome browser.
Brought to you by the world’s most comprehensive manufacturer of spyware.
Mish, 12 years ago it was the ads with women jiggling their bare beer bellies.
Happens to me on Firefox, and it’s just your site. The problem is, it completely hijacks the page. I can be typing a post and it eats my post. I’m sure you don’t want your readers resorting to adblocks or javascript blocks.
I have had this pop-up 3 or 4 times over the past two weeks, always clicked out, or did a CAD. Don’t know how it got on my computer, I had everything upgraded a year ago and cancelled my subscriptions to McAfee and Norton. My computer guy said I didn’t need them anymore, since MSFT already has security built into their software. I also notice that this crap usually happens when MSFT gives me a message asking me to update my computer. After doing so, nothing seems to work as it should.
My father-in-law fell for the “WE CAN CLEAN UP YOUR PC TO MAKE IT FASTER” scam and allowed them to take control of his PC. It was frozen up. HE HAD NOT listened to my advice to back up key files DAILY, not WEEKLY!
A friend said, “HEY, Microsoft called me to help me clean up my PC.” HACKED!
My brother got a scam email with an AMAZON logo advising him that his payment method had FAILED and he in fact saw the notice from Amazon that it had shipped. HE CALLED ME.
I advised him to DELETE THE EMAIL, from both his in box and trash, and to log into AMAZON DIRECTLY. NO SUCH ISSUE EXISTED.
I use Edge for this site and I have never had pop-ups. The ads I get are on the right side and are discreet.
The MacAfee screen is not a popup, it’s a redirect. I just tried Edge and I get ads on the left side and right side, same as Firefox.
I am in Europe so maybe that’s why.
The food there is much better.
I’ve been getting them from home depot, lowes, costco, etc.
you WON xxxx is 1st clue
I read recent news that Russian-based KASPERSKY anti-virus is being banned in the US for all users effective 9/29/2024. Do you think you are getting these recent ads due to Kaspersky being banned?
Only fools ever used Kaspersky.
Only fools use Google and Chrome.
Definitely not.