Beware of Fake Warnings

Have you ever been browsing the web and suddenly found yourself in a really bad part of town, on a website that is dangerous even in passing? Maybe you followed a link looking for some good information, but unexpectedly you are bombarded with pop-up after pop-up. The worst is when something suddenly begins to download automatically and you can’t back your way off the website fast enough or stop the download because your not superman and moving as fast as a speeding locomotive with the mouse in hand is just not a reality for you.

This happened to me today; I made a wrong turn at Albuquerque and found myself in a terrible neighborhood so to speak. This doesn’t happen to me very often but when it does I freak out. It’s such a strange feeling, my heart starts pounding, I curse under my breath and furiously try getting my hand and brain in sync to either close the browser completely or click the back button. Sometimes, I swear it’s like I’m moving in slow motion. I just can’t seem to move fast enough, similar to those terrible nightmares we all get from time to time, where you’re trying to run, maybe somebody or something is chasing you, and your legs won’t move.

After I regained my coordination and got the hell off the site, it took me a few minutes to get my heart rate back to normal, the feeling back into my fingers that went slightly numb and my brain to register exactly what the heck just happened. Of course I always feel guilty afterward; I look around to see if anyone noticed the events that just took place. I look around to see if anyone noticed how rattled I was. That’s when I realized I’m way overreacting and begin to feel like a complete jackass… but am I overreacting?

This is just one way that Trojans spread, you just follow a link and suddenly something begins to download or you try to close a pop-up and instead of getting rid of them they begin installing something on your PC.

Pop-ups that deceive so many people are fake security warnings, they look so real.

This is the type of pop-up I found myself faced with today, along with this pop-up something immediately started to download itself. How many people see these types of warnings and actually click on them? How many people go onto a website where something automatically starts to download, and the user doesn’t even realize it? Quite a few I would imagine, that’s the reason for this post.

The worst thing about this type of deceptive pop-up is the little X in the upper right does not close the pop-up, it actually initiates a download, clicking anywhere on the above warning will start a download, even the NO button. If you see a warning like this while on the internet, don’t click anywhere on it, back your way off the site or close the browser all together.

After an event like this takes place, the first thing I do is a deep scan with my
antivirus /antispyware software and pray like hell nothing has actually infected my machine. An infection that goes unnoticed can wreak havoc on a computer system. Keep your PC running fast and infection free by installing and using legit antispyware or antivirus software as well as a good firewall to prevent unwanted files from downloading.

If you find yourself in a bad neighborhood on the internet, there is good reason to overreact… I think so anyway.