How to Remove Windows Defender Security Warning from Chrome and Safari
Don't be fooled by the legitimate Windows Defender security alert. Let us help you get out of it.
Frauding someone for money is never easy. And some scammers seem to have known this truth for ages.
They find interesting ways to fool (not tech-savvy) people into doing things they wouldn't otherwise do.
In this particular mechanism, they create a sense of urgency by telling users that their device is locked and contacting (fake) tech support immediately.
A pop-up window displays a dial-up that will take you through rounds of social engineering until you reveal important personal information or pay upfront support fees.
Let's test this in more detail to see how it works and how to avoid such false warnings in the future.
Windows Defender Security Warning
Windows Defender is a built-in antivirus solution for the Windows operating system. Using this as an excuse means a better chance of success for bad actors.
Source: Microsoft community.
However, like most other scams, this is not ideal. You can look for jagged fonts, poor quality graphics, etc. to distinguish them from a genuine system warning popup.
What's funny, even Mac/iOS users get this:
Source: Apple Support.
As such, it is a browser-based scam targeting users randomly regardless of their operating systems.
Why am I getting a Windows Defender warning?
You interacted where you shouldn't. Clicked on a suspicious link, downloaded malware, visited a suspicious web page, etc.
These actions may infect your device. Subsequently, you may receive such pop-ups threatening to block the machine.
However, it can be much worse if spyware tracks your every move and ransomware encrypts your system and asks for huge sums of money to regain access.
So, consider yourself lucky if it's just a Windows Defender security alert and follow these steps to get rid of it.
Remove Windows Defender Security Warning from Chrome
If you're using Chrome (or any other Chrome-based browser), the standard step for all Windows users is to log into Task Manager by pressing alt+ctrl+delete.
Here, find the name of the browser, right-click on it and choose End Task.
This will close the browser.
Chrome users can also use the task manager to save anything important before closing it.
You can access it with Shift + Esc. In the list of internal Chrome processes, select the suspicious tab and use the End process to close it.
After that, the first thing to do is to reset Chrome settings. To do this, click on the vertical ellipsis (⋮) at the top right, then enter Settings.
In the sidebar, open Reset and clean up.
Here you can directly restore the original defaults, or use PC Cleanup first as a precaution.
I wouldn't call it a complete antivirus for your PC, but it deals with malware that affects your browsing experience, which is exactly what we're dealing with here. Hence, there is nothing wrong with using it before restoring the default settings.
The last step is to use a premium antivirus to scan the system. You can use the free version of Malwarebytes Malware Removal Tool if you don't have a subscription to any antivirus. In addition, McAfee offers a 30-day trial without a credit card to clean your system of any unwanted applications.
It's good to have a paid antivirus, but you can also check out this list of free antivirus software for PC.
And while we're talking about Chrome, the general steps will work for all Windows browsers. Open the task manager to close the unresponsive application, restart your browser and run an antivirus scan.
Remove Windows Defender Security Warning from Safari
Apple has made resetting Safari a multi-step process since 2015. Now you need to clear your web history, cache, clear your library folder and remove extensions to make it "new" again.
However, I advise you to back up your bookmarks if they are of value to you. You can do this from the File > Export Bookmarks menu.
Clear web history
Gradually, Safari continues to store web data, consuming virtual memory, which slows down the overall experience.
So, the first step to reset Safari on Mac is to clear your browsing history.
Click "History" then "Clear History" in the dropdown and navigate to all history in the next popup.
Empty cache
The cache stores temporary website data and helps speed up the delivery of a web page. However, it is recommended to clear the cache from time to time to optimize your browsing speed.
And since we're resetting Safari, it's very important to get rid of the cache.
This is hidden in the Develop menu, which is not available by default. To enable this, select Safari from the top menu and click Preferences.
Then go to the "Advanced" section and check the "Show development" menu in the menu bar.
Finally, click "Develop" from the menu and "Clear Caches" from the dropdown.
Remove extensions
This is another important step in Safari reset. To remove extensions, go to Safari > Preferences > Extensions.
Now select and delete each.
Remove safari plugins
It is not possible to remove Safari plugins from the browser. Instead, you need to remove them from the ~/Library and Library folders.
In both locations, you need to find the Internet Plug-Ins folder and delete its contents.
These four steps reset Safari on Mac and also remove the Windows Defender Security Warning.
However, it's best to run the scan with macOS security software. As a quick fix, I suggest using the free Malwarebytes Antivirus for Mac to check if your device is infected.
Final words: this is a tech support scam!
A Windows Defender Security Alert is an attempt by a scammer to trick you into revealing sensitive information or not paying anything.
This is a browser-based infection, which means you need to reset it. Also, this should fix a full system scan with a premium antivirus.