Virus Protection?

[gale force]

I booted up my laptop this morning and got a "virus alert" message from microsoft. Regardless that I clicked on cancel, the program proceeded to check my computer and informed me that I had to run this or face the consequences of a computer crash and loss of all information. Now, the last time I clicked on this type of protection I wound up with a non functioning computer. Naturally, I'm reluctant to do the same thing again. LOL.
I have a McAfee protection program, and had just run it yesterday. Should I be alarmed and run this program or just ignore the threat?

[kishgo]

We get those kinds of messages too and just ignore them. I suspect it's just another way of advertising to entice owners to purchase/try their products.

[Rustee]

The only message of this type should only be from the antivirus you use on your computer! If the message comes from any other so called source, you probably already have a virus and it's giving you that message to entice you to click on it and eventually ask you for money to repair the problem. Don't get taken in by this as when you pay, that's the end of things. No fix ... just money in someone's pocket. I see this often and most times it's difficult to get rid of.

Sometime, a virus will imitate your antivirus and convince you that your own antivirus is issuing the warning. The guys that write these things are very smart and convincing. Unfortunately, a lot of these end up in my shop for repairs! ..

[gale force]

Thanks for that advice Rustee. It come up again today and i was about to second guess myself. I was pretty sure I was right to ignore that "warning" but when it said I had problems in my photos I knew (thought....was pretty sure!!) it was a scam. I feel a lot better now that you have confirmed my thoughts.

[Rustee]

The only problem is, you may actually have a virus! The message is probably coming from the virus.
Do you have Malwarebytes on your computer? If so, shut down, press F8 when rebooting and a menu will come up showing various options to boot. Choose "safe mode with networking" and it will take a few minutes to load. Update Malwarebytes just before using and then run a full scan. If something shows up, get rid of it at the end and then reboot as usual.
We actually take the hard drive out to do that and scan connected to our shop computer. That way it can scan ALL files. It may be difficult to get rid of.

Hope this helps

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