What is “Security Center error 0x268d3” tech-support scam
The “Security Center error 0x268d3” pop-up alert is a tech-support scam that falsely claims your computer has been blocked because it’s infected with malware. The alert displays a phone number for fake Microsoft tech support, which is why it’s classified as a tech-support scam. The main goal of this scam is to scare users into calling the displayed number so they can be scammed out of hundreds of dollars. Tech-support scams are fairly widespread, and they’re usually promoted on dubious websites. It goes without saying that this pop-up is nothing more than a scam, and there’s nothing wrong with your computer.
“Access to this PC has been disabled for security reasons,” is what this scam claims. Because your computer has supposedly been infected with malware, Microsoft has allegedly disabled it in order to prevent further damage. The tech-support scam claims that “Your computer has alerted us that it has been infected with a Trojan Spyware”, and supposedly your information (personal files, banking information, social media login credentials) is being stolen. But no matter how legitimate this alert may seem, it’s complete nonsense. First of all, your browser will never display legitimate virus alerts because it’s not capable of detecting malware. You should only trust your anti-virus program to correctly inform you about malware on your computer. Second, Microsoft does not block computers when they become infected. And lastly, legitimate alerts do not display phone numbers.
The main purpose of this scam is to scare users into calling the displayed number. If you were to call, you would be connected to professional scammers. Scammers would try to persuade you to let them have remote access to your computer by making the situation appear quite serious. If you agree, they will pretend to fix your computer while stealing your files, installing suspicious programs, and even setting a password for your computer. They would demand hundreds of dollars by the end of this useless repair session. If you refuse to pay, scammers might become rather pushy. Furthermore, if they were able to set a password for your computer, they would demand payment before giving it to you.
Because these types of scams are so frequent, you should learn to identify them. If you’re curious about how the scams work, there are numerous videos on YouTube of professionals purposefully engaging with tech-support scammers in order to waste their time. Jim Browning, a software engineer, maintains a YouTube channel dedicated to uncovering these types of scams.
Why are you redirected to tech-support scams?
It’s important to figure out what causes you to be redirected to tech-support scams. The redirects are usually triggered by certain websites users visit. Because of the ads that they expose users to, some websites are considered to be high-risk. When browsing sites with pornographic or illegal content, for example, clicking on anything can trigger a redirect. This is easily solvable with an adblocker program.
Your computer may be infected with adware if you’re redirected on a regular basis. It’s a minor infection that mostly serves to expose users to advertisement content. Free software bundling is how infections like adware and browser hijackers get installed. The way it works is these infections are added as extra offers to free software. Unless users manually block the offers from being installed alongside the freeware, they are authorized to install automatically. Although the offers are technically optional, users need to deselect them to prevent their installations. But many users often have difficulty preventing the installations because the offers are usually hidden.
You will be able to avoid unwanted installations if you install free programs correctly. To do that, you need select Advanced (Custom) settings instead of Default during installation. The installation window will suggest that you use Default settings, but if you do so, all added offers will be installed automatically. Advanced settings, on the other hand, will display all added offers. You’ll also have the option to uncheck all of them. We usually recommend deselecting all offers because none of them will be useful to you. Allowing an offer to install, even if it appears to be useful at first glance, is not a good idea. Software bundling is a very controversial installation method, with anti-virus programs frequently identifying programs that use it as potential threats. It’s a lot easier to uncheck a few boxes than it is to remove adware that has already been installed.
“Security Center error 0x268d3” tech-support scam removal
If you get the “Security Center error 0x268d3” tech-support scam pop-up on your screen, you can simply close it. We recommend installing an adblocker program to block these pop-ups when browsing high-risk websites. We also recommend scanning your computer with anti-virus software in case an adware infection is present. While adware isn’t a serious infection, it’s much easier to get rid of it using anti-virus software. Once the adware is gone, the redirects will stop.