When using Firefox to sign into facebook I get a message about downloading anti-malware programs. How do I stop this?
A few days ago I tried to sign into Facebook to play games, chat and so forth. After filling out the user name and password I get a message telling me it looks like I have malware on my computer and that I need to download some kind of anti malware program to clean my computer. This only happens when using Firefox. How do I get rid of this? I tried deleting and reinstalling Firefox. I have run the two main anti malware programs that work on my laptop. If this is a legitimate program from Fb, I would like the option to decline. I am not given the option. I can sign into Fb on Google Chrome without problems, so I have to conclude it is a problem associated with Firefox. Any ideas? I have tried to contact Fb but so far there has been no reply.
Chosen solution
If you get a pop-up message asking to update Firefox or plugins or scanning for malware then such a message is likely a scam and you should never respond to such an alert to avoid getting infected with malware.
- Only update Firefox via "Help > About" or by downloading and installing Firefox from the Mozilla server and never via a pop-up or link on a web page.
- Plugins should only be updated via the plugin itself or by visiting the home page of the plugin.
Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer. Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
All Replies (2)
It sounds more like an attempt to get you to install malware. There used to be (and may still be) lots of popup attempts to do that. Blocking popups and instant and Microsoft messaging would prevent it. I do not see that much with Mac OS.
Chosen Solution
If you get a pop-up message asking to update Firefox or plugins or scanning for malware then such a message is likely a scam and you should never respond to such an alert to avoid getting infected with malware.
- Only update Firefox via "Help > About" or by downloading and installing Firefox from the Mozilla server and never via a pop-up or link on a web page.
- Plugins should only be updated via the plugin itself or by visiting the home page of the plugin.
Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer. Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked