Troubleshooting: Scams and Viruses

Marmot does what it can to block viruses and ransomware from infecting your machines. There are times when a scam or browswer hijack gets through. Below are actions you can take to resolve the issue yourself. If you are not comfortable attempting the solutions or if the issue is not resolved, please give us a call.

Scams

Scams can take many forms, from alerts to phishing emails to browser hijacks. Two common ones, with fixes, are listed below.

McAfee

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If McAfee keeps popping up a virus warning, check the extensions on the browser being used. Turn off any that seem suspicious (Grammerly, for example).

• Click on the ellipsis

• Select Exetensions

• Select Manage Extensions

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If it still pops up, clear the browser data:

Chrome

• Click on the ellipsis

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• Click Clear Browsing Data

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• In Clear browsing data window, select a time range. To delete everything, select All time.

• Make sure Cached images and files is checked.

• Click Clear data.

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Windows Defender

If there is an alert that appears to be from Windows Defender (see image below), do not call the number! Do not click on either the Deny or Allow button!

Press Alt+F4 (or FN+Alt+F4) to close out of the browser. Contact Marmot if the trouble persists.

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Browser Hijack

When this happens, the search bar of the browser will act odd or display odd links. The normal bookmarked sites may not show.

When this happens, use the following steps:

• Open Control Panel

• Go to Programs and Features

• Uninstall any suspicious software

  • If you have any questions about what is suspicious and what is normal, call the Marmot office.

• It is also recommended to install Malwarebytes (https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download) and run it to make sure everything was removed.

  • Select the Home version of Malwarebytes

  • Uninstall when done

• Installing and running CCleaner (https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download ) is also recommended, but not necessary.

• Optional: Installing and running Spybot (https://www.spybot-free-download.com/ )

Ransomware

• On public machines, reboot the machine. Since the machines are frozen, the virus should disappear upon reboot.

• For Staff machines, disconnect from the network and call the Marmot office.

Viruses

Viruses can show up in many different ways.

• On public machines, reboot the machine. Since the machines are frozen, the virus should disappear upon reboot.

• For Staff machines, disconnect from the network and call the Marmot office. Malwarebytes (install Home version) or Spybot Search & Destroy might be able to cleanup the virus without causing any issues, however, depending on which profile is used, the virus could spread to other machines which are using the same profile.