How to Remove Windows Defender Security Warning Scam from PC?

If you see a pop-up window saying Windows Defender Security Warning with a phone number when you are browsing webpages using your browser, don’t trust the information it supplies. It is a kind of Windows Defender scam or Windows Protector scam. MiniTool Software will tell you how to remove it completely.

What Is Windows Defender Security Warning?

When you use your web browser to visit webpages, you might suddenly receive a pop-up window with a message saying Windows Defender Security Warning, access to this pc has been blocked for security reasons. You might also see another window with an error code and a support phone number.

This situation always happens when you click a suspicious site or after you mistakenly install malware. The following image is a real case posted on answers.microsoft.com:

The message shows that your computer has alerted us that it has been infected with a Trojan_Spyware. The following data has been compromised.

Email Credentials
Banking Passwords
Facebook Login
Pictures & Documents

Windows Defender Security Warning Is Fake! It Is a Phishing Scam!

Do not rush to contact the phone number the window provides because it is not a real alert. Why?

At first glance, you might mistake this for a warning from Windows Defender. However, if you are familiar with Windows Defender, you will know it doesn’t work like this.

First of all, it is not a Windows Defender interface. Windows Defender, which is also known as Windows Security, is a Windows built-in app. Windows Defender will not show you an interface like that.
Second, the titles of each interface are not formal. There are always underscores or hyphens between each word. Do you think it is normal?
Third, Microsoft never leaves contact numbers for users. If users counter issues, they can contact Microsoft support using the Get Help app.

This Windows Defender Security Warning is flawed in both format and content. It is a phishing scam that aims to sell its named anti-virus service, which might in turn attack your computer. So, don’t be fooled.

But, it turns out you can’t ignore this Windows Defender order scam because you can’t close the warning and you can’t even switch to other apps. You need to immediately remove this warning to make your computer go back to normal.

In the next part, we will introduce some useful solutions to remove this warning from your device.

Note: You might also encounter other fake Windows Defender warning messages like Windows Defender Alert: Zeus Virus Detected in Your Computer and Windows Defender Browser Protection. All of them are phishing scams. You should be careful. You can also use the methods mentioned in this article to get rid of the fake Windows Defender warning or alert.

How to Remove the Windows Defender Security Warning from Your Computer?

Solution 1: Force Close the Warning and Restart Your Computer

If this error message pops up once or twice, you should pay attention to the website you are visiting. The website may not be safe, with some unsafe download links. In a situation like this, you should not open the website next time.

However, some users report that they can’t close the warning window by simply clicking the close icon. Here, we will tell you how to close this fake Windows Defender Security Warning: you can open the taskbar, and then force close these windows.

Step 1: Right-click Start and select Taskbar.

Step 2: Click Show more if you only see a few options.

Step 3: Find and select the progress you want to close, then click the End task button.

Step 4: Restart your computer.

After these steps, you can use your web browser again and see if the warning disappears forever. However, if you still receive this fake warning, you might need to reset your web browser settings to default.

Solution 2: Reset Your Browser Settings

In this part, we take some commonly used web browsers for example:

Reset Chrome Settings to Default

Step 1: Open Google Chrome.

Step 2: Click the 3-dot menu on the top-right corner and then select Settings to open the Chrome Settings app.

Step 3: Click Advanced from the left panel.

Step 4: Click Reset and clean up under Advanced.

Step 5: Click Restore settings to their original defaults from the right panel.

Step 6: Click the Reset settings button from the pop-up window to reset Chrome.

Reset Firefox Settings to Default

Step 1: Open Mozilla Firefox.

Step 2: Click the hamburger button at the top-right corner.

Step 3: Select Help to continue.

Step 4: On the next page, click More troubleshooting information to continue.

Step 5: Click Refresh Firefox on the Troubleshooting information page to continue.

Step 6: Click the Refresh Firefox button on the pop-up window to confirm the operation.

Reset Edge Settings to Default

Step 1: Open Microsoft Edge.

Step 2: Click the 3-dot menu on the top-right corner and select Settings.

Step 3: Click Reset settings from the right menu on the Settings page.

Step 4: Click Restore settings to their default values on the right panel.

Step 5: Click the Reset button on the pop-up interface to confirm the operation.

After resetting your web browser to the default settings, you can go to check if the warning goes away. If this method doesn’t work for you, you can reinstall your web browser to have a try.

Solution 3: Reinstall Your Browser

Another useful method is to reinstall your web browser. Many users have solved this issue by using this method. You can also do this to have a shot.

Step 1: Uninstall your web browser.

Step 2: Go to Microsoft Store to search for the web browser you want to install and click the Get button to download and install it on your computer.

Open your web browser and check if you still receive the fake Windows Defender Security Warning again.

Solution 4: Scan Your Computer for Viruses and Malware

If you always see this warning every time you use your web browser, this could be symptomatic of malware that has been installed on your computer. You can use professional anti-virus software like Bitdefender, Norton, Avast, etc. to scan your computer and remove the found viruses and malware.

If you haven’t installed any third-party anti-virus software, you can use the Windows built-in tool: Windows Security (which is also known as Windows Defender Antivirus) to find and remove viruses and malware.

Use Windows Security to Scan Your Computer for Viruses and Malware

Step 1: Click the search icon in the taskbar and search for Windows Security.

Step 2: Select Windows Security to open it.

Step 3: Click Virus & threat to continue.

Step 4: Click the Scan options link.

Step 5: Select Full scan (we recommend this scan method to perform a deep scan).

Step 6: Click the Scan now button to start scanning your device. A full scan will last for a while. But the process will not disturb your work. You can feel free to use your PC as normal.

If you have third-party anti-viruses software installed, you can use it to scan your computer and remove viruses and malware. Different software has different operation methods. If you don’t know how to use your software, you can search the tutorial on the official site of the software.

How to Protect Your Computer from Viruses and Malware?

If your computer is attacked by viruses or malware, your files, system, and personal information will be easily attacked and leaked. So, you’d better take useful measures to prevent your computer from viruses and malware.

Here are some workable solutions:

You should install antivirus software on your device. If you don’t want to use a third-party tool, the Windows built-in Windows Defender Antivirus is enough. You should enable it on your device to let it offer real-time protection for your device.
You might receive emails from someone you don’t know. If so, you’d better not open the emails especially when they contain some websites. For example, if there is an email that induces you to click on a link to claim a prize, you should not open that email. Otherwise, all you get could be viruses or malware.
You should know that viruses, spyware, and malware are from the internet. In addition to not clicking on some unsafe websites, you also need to strengthen your internet browser security settings. Some suspicious URLs can disguise their identities. To find them quickly, you can install a third-party blocker. You can also install Windows Defender Browser Protection to filter malware.
Microsoft keeps releasing updates for Windows 10 and Windows 11. These updates not only roll out new features, fixes, and improvements but also update the virus database with the new threats. So, you should keep your Windows 10/11 up-to-date to make Windows Defender always can find the new viruses, spyware, and malware.

>> Find more useful solutions to protect your Windows 10/11 computer here: How to Protect Your Computer from Viruses? (12 Methods)

How to Recover Files Deleted by Viruses?

Virus or malware attacks may cause data loss issues on your computer. Well then, do you know how to get your data back? You can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery, a free file recovery tool that can work on all versions of Windows like Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 7.

This data recovery software can retrieve 100+ types of files from different types of data storage devices including computer internal hard drives, external hard drives, SSDs, memory cards, USB flash drives, pen drives, and more.

This software has a trial edition. You can first use the trial edition to scan the drive you want to rescue files from and then see if it can find your needed files. If this software works, you can use a full edition to recover all files to a suitable path without limits.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

This tool is user-friendly. The software interface is easy to understand. With only a few simple clicks, you can get your data back.

Step 1: Open MiniTool Power Data Recovery that you have installed.

Step 2: Select the drive you want to recover from under the Logical Drives section, then click the Scan button to start scanning that drive. If you want to scan the whole disk drive, you need to switch to the Devices section and then select the drive to scan.

Step 3: When the scanning ends, you can see the scan results. Find your needed files. If you want to recover them, you need to upgrade to a full edition, then select files, click the Save button, and select a suitable path to save these files. The destination path should not be the original location. Otherwise, the lost files could be overwritten and become unrecoverable.

Backing up Your Data and System Is Necessary

The threats to your computer are everywhere. These threats can easily adversely affect your computer data and system. To safeguard your computer, you can use a professional Windows backup software to regularly back up your files and system. When some unexpected issues happen, you can restore your files and system using your backup file.

MiniTool ShadowMaker is such a program that even supports automatic backup. It can also work on all Windows versions. It has a trial edition. You can use it for free within 30 days.

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Bottom Line

This article shows you four ways to remove Windows Defender Security Warning that you receive when you browse a webpage. There should be one way suitable for you. Additionally, we also tell you how to protect your PC from viruses and malware to safeguard your files and system. If your files get lost due to viruses, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to get them back.

If you have another suggestion or method, you can let us know in the comments. You can also contact us via [email protected].

About The Author

Stella Follow Us

Position: Columnist

Stella has been working in MiniTool Software as an English Editor for more than 7 years. Her articles mainly cover the fields of data recovery including storage media data recovery and phone data recovery, YouTube videos download, partition management, and video conversions.