Pop-ups can be annoying pretend viruses

Brian Bondy
​Recently, a friend got a pop-up that took over his screen and pretended to be from Apple, saying he had a virus and to call this number….
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He did so and was instructed to buy some gift cards and post the numbers for use to the pop-up site as payment for help.
 
This was fake. A pop-up happens in a browser. Normally, it can be a useful tool by a site to open another window to show something, or offer a form to fill out. Sometimes, a malicious entity will create a pop-up that takes up your whole screen and doesn’t offer a way to close it. It may look ominous, say awful, dreadful things are about to happen, even make a lot of noise to sound scary.
 
These are designed to make you think your computer is in danger but it is not.
 
Pop-ups themselves are harmless browser windows which need to be closed manually. It’s not difficult. They usually appear because a person has clicked on something that looks harmless but it’s a link to the pop-up which will try to scare you into giving them money or control of your computer. DO NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS.
 
On Windows you can do CTRL+ALT+DEL and select Task Manager. When that opens, Right click on the offending browser and select to End Task. That will make the pop-up go away and you can continue on.
 
On a Mac, click the Spotlight icon and enter Activity Monitor. Under applications, click on the browser and end it.
 
The point is, the browser is causing the issue, so cancelling it will resolve the problem. Obviously, don’t go back to the thing that caused the pop-up in the first place. Pop-ups do not harm your computer unless you follow along with them. They don’t install anything by themselves, not are they stealing anything. They are meant to cause YOU to do the work by misleading you. Don’t fall for it.
 
The following link has some good info but it also has some mistakes, so don’t take is as gospel. I found it to have a good explanation though, for pop-ups.
 
Read some more about pop-ups and how to prevent them HERE.  How to Avoid Pop-Up Viruses (And How To Remove Them) (comparitech.com)
 
Pop-ups are usually controlled within the browser’s settings. You can Google your particular browser and how to prevent pop-ups. They aren’t all bad though, only the bad ones are. Obvious, I know, but there are reasons why you don’t want to block all pop-ups.