Not sure if it was ransomware but it acted a lot like what I've heard ransomware does.
Did a Search for a website, clicked on a link that claimed to be the "official" site, but
didn't take a good hard look at the link.
As soon as I clicked on that apparently bogus link, a big red box opened up that said I
had 4 minutes to either email in my user ID and password, or call a posted number,
or my hard drive would "be deleted". I quickly tried to close that box but it wouldn't close.
I tried to close my browser (Firefox) and it wouldn't close. So I did a hasty force quit.
I restarted but did not connect to the net. No problem so far. I scanned with Malwarebytes
premium which found 7 threats (I very rarely find any bona fide threats with frequent scans with
MWB and 3 other security apps) which were deleted. I scanned with a couple other free
security apps which found nothing. I restarted, and tried connecting to the internet.
Same thing.
I opened IE which I really never use and did not get whatever it was. (Had figured on
downloading Chrome being the problem seemed to be in myt FF). So figured it was
just in my current FF browser. I deleted and reinstalled (actually "refreshed") it and have
had no problem since.
The red box claimed it was Microsoft Support but when I called the number I got a very
foreign sounding jerk who just answered as "Support." (Yeah, right!) I told him in no
uncertain terms what I thought of him and his attempt to steal from me and hung up.
That was 3 days ago and no further problems.
Just thought I'd post my experience and how I apparently beat whatever it was.
Did a Search for a website, clicked on a link that claimed to be the "official" site, but
didn't take a good hard look at the link.
As soon as I clicked on that apparently bogus link, a big red box opened up that said I
had 4 minutes to either email in my user ID and password, or call a posted number,
or my hard drive would "be deleted". I quickly tried to close that box but it wouldn't close.
I tried to close my browser (Firefox) and it wouldn't close. So I did a hasty force quit.
I restarted but did not connect to the net. No problem so far. I scanned with Malwarebytes
premium which found 7 threats (I very rarely find any bona fide threats with frequent scans with
MWB and 3 other security apps) which were deleted. I scanned with a couple other free
security apps which found nothing. I restarted, and tried connecting to the internet.
Same thing.
I opened IE which I really never use and did not get whatever it was. (Had figured on
downloading Chrome being the problem seemed to be in myt FF). So figured it was
just in my current FF browser. I deleted and reinstalled (actually "refreshed") it and have
had no problem since.
The red box claimed it was Microsoft Support but when I called the number I got a very
foreign sounding jerk who just answered as "Support." (Yeah, right!) I told him in no
uncertain terms what I thought of him and his attempt to steal from me and hung up.
That was 3 days ago and no further problems.
Just thought I'd post my experience and how I apparently beat whatever it was.
