Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection - How to remove

Windows Defender Browser Protection is a legitimate web browser extension, but the name is used by scammers to spread scary pop-ups to take advantage of people. Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection is a warning that shows up in your web browser after clicking on infected ads. This warning urges you to call a phone number to avoid having your private information stolen. The phone number leads to tech support scammers who try to sell victims useless but expensive products – after convincing the victims that their computer is infected.

Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection

Classification	Tech support scam, phishing.
Dangers of Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection	If you contact the scammers, they could convince you to buy fake but expensive security plans and to give them administrator access to your computer.
Signs of a scam	URL and phone number unrelated to Microsoft, urgency and threats, broken English.
Stop Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection	Remove malware from your computer (Combo Cleaner for Mac, SpyHunter for PC, Malwarebytes, etc.), block malicious websites, ignore deceptive ads and tech support scams.

Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection

First of all, there really is a Windows Defender Browser Protection – it’s a browser extension by Microsoft themselves that blocks websites that are on lists of malicious URLs. It’s real, made by Microsoft, and has generally positive reviews.

Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection is a scam that presents itself as “Windows Defender Browser Protection” but has nothing in common with the real product. Scammers often steal the name and image of a trusted company or website to appear trustworthy. To differentiate from the real product, I’ll call the scam “Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection”.

Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection is a scam very similar to the fake Google Chrome Critical Error warning. Both these warnings claim that your private information was almost stolen but that the attempt was stopped. They say that you need to freeze your accounts and that your hard disk might have been “hurt” somehow by this incident. Then they tell you to call a phone number.

Here’s the text that Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection includes:

Security system has detected the threatening attempt to gain access to your bank logins and related data, but this dangerous connection was blocked with Firewall and further data leak was prevented.
We strongly recommend you to perform temporary block of all of your accounts, and take some necessary security measures.
Despite the timely blocking of the connection, there is still a serious threat of private data stealth.
Please, don’t wait to respond, every minute is important!
There is possibility that virus already hurt your disks or destroyed and stole its data.
It is reason for checking current system security and verifying its stability.
Do not spend your time and immediately call us or contact our service center support team.

This pop-up shows a white text box on a bright red background, very much like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox’s deceptive sie warnings. Modern browsers have built-in protection that blocks known malicious sites and those warnings are very trustworthy. So it’s not surprising that scammers borrow that image and use it for their own scam. This way, the scam will trick more people and will be more successful.

You can tell that these Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection warnings are scams by just looking at them:

• urgency and scare tactics are used,
• the strange use of the English vocabulary that is characteristic of scams,
• the URL has nothing to do with Microsoft or Windows,
• the given phone number doesn’t belong to Microsoft.

How do the Fake Protection pop-ups appear?

Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection is a webpage, so to reach it you need a link. The links are most likely to hide in advertisements. The advertisements might be accidentally spread by various websites, or an adware infection on your computer could be responsible. Most adware nowadays comes in the form of a browser extension.

Ad-networks review ads for malicious activity, but this review is not perfect, and the scammers are clever. If you consistently see Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection warnings on a particular website, you can email the operators of that website about this issue. Their website may have been infected without them knowing about it.

Some websites are so controversial, such as pirating sites, that they can’t get deals with legitimate products, so the only advertisers who’ll work with them are fraudsters, scammers, etc. If you see Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection on such sites, the people behind the website may not care. It’s up to you to be ultra-careful there.

You can suspect that Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection warnings are the fault of an adware infection if you regularly see it (and other unusual ads) on many unrelated websites. If it happens only on one browser, then a browser extension is responsible.

How to stop Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection

First, check your browser extensions and applications/programs on your computer. Any recently installed items that you may not remember installing should be investigated.

You can find malware by scanning your computer with an anti-malware program (Combo Cleaner for Mac OS, SpyHunter for Windows, Malwarebytes, etc.). Then you can remove it manually or automatically.

As for avoiding Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection, this isn’t very easy: the are too many different URLs to block and you can never know which ad or website is infected. It’s still a good idea to use some real-time protection, such as an anti-malware program with real-time protection or even an extension like Windows Defender Browser Protection.

At the end of the day, you can only try and be careful. Remember that scammers like to try and make you feel scared and desperate. They sometimes display your device, location, and other data to intimidate you. But really, as long as you ignore Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection and just close the page, you’re fine. Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection can’t hurt you if you just refuse to call the phone numbers.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manual adware removal

How to remove Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

TopRemoving Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection. Click on the trash bin icon next to Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection from Firefox

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.