Remove “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” fake warning

“Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” is a pop-up that purported to be a valid warning of legitimate program. In reality, this is a fake web site that tries to deceive computer users. It issues fake warnings and alerts prompting visitors to call a number and seek for technical support. Be aware that programs and services offered are not free. “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” was created to scam computer users and steal money through fraudulent online transactions.

When your browser is redirected to “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked”, or pop-up appears as you browse the Internet, it may mean that your computer is infected with malicious code. In contrary, your PC may be clean and the appearance of “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” pop-ups was just caused by an infected web site you are viewing. Remember that site “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” is malicious. Thus, you must avoid it to keep your computer safe and away from adware or malware threats.

If “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” files are executed, you may instantly acquire unwanted codes that may cause changes on the computer. Moreover, add-ons and extensions brought by this site can do modifications on the browser that causes pop-up ads, redirects, home page hijacking, and other unsolicited actions. On the other hand, if you call the provided number, your phone account will be billed with unexpected amount. The message you will see from this malicious pop-up reads:

Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked
Windows System Alert!.
System has been infected due to unexpected error! Please contact Microsoft Support 0-800-011-9634 immediately to unblock your computer.

In order to prevent “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” attack, you must take extra caution when visiting web sites particularly unknown ones. As much as possible, avoid downloading unfamiliar freeware or shareware that are commonly the carrier or adware and other malicious programs.

Screenshot of Windows Computer Blocked

To completely remove “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” adware and stop the pop-up ads, you may have to scan the PC with legitimate security tools and virus removers. Removing any relevant software also helps eliminate unwanted items on the computer.

"Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" Removal Procedure

Below is a systematic instruction that is very useful in getting rid of the potentially unwanted program (PUP) from compromised Windows computer. Aside from removing the malicious browser extension, this guide is also helpful in deleting browser hijacker and pop-ups.

In order to totally eliminate the threat, it is vital to follow the process in exact manner.

Step 1 : Delete Suspicious Browser Extension

Most adware and unwanted programs use an application called a "browser extension" to be able to take over the settings of internet applications. Therefore, we highly recommend checking and removing the extension that is closely related to "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked". If it is not present, look for and delete any suspicious browser extension.

Remove Suspicious Extension from Google Chrome

1. Open your Google Chrome browser.

2. Type chrome://extensions/ in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard.

Chrome URL

3. Find suspicious or any relevant entry and remove it from the Google Chrome browser.

Uninstall the Unwanted Extension from Mozilla Firefox

1. Open the Mozilla Firefox browser.

2. Type about:addons in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard.

Firefox URL

3. Choose Extensions from the sidebar menu.

4. Look for an object that pertains to "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" and remove it from the browser.

After deleting the malicious browser extension, it is expected that pop-ups and other troubles will be gone from the internet browser.

Remove Malicious Items from Microsoft Windows and Edge Browser

1. On your keyboard, press Windows Key + R and then, type the appwiz.cpl command.

2. The Program and Features window will open. Arrange the list in a chronological manner, with recently installed applications on top. To do this, click on the 'Installed On' column.

Add-Remove Malware

3. Select Unwanted Programs or a recently installed unwanted entry. Then, click on Uninstall to remove it from the Windows system.

If "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" is still present on the browser and there are still pop-ups, another option is to remove the adware from the browser settings.

4. Open the Microsoft Edge program.

5. Input edge://extensions/ in the URL bar and press Enter on the keyboard.

6. Look for and Remove or Disable suspicious entries from the Installed Extensions area. Additionally, delete the same object from the Search Providers section by executing the Hijacker Removal Procedure for Edge.

7. Close the window and restart Microsoft Edge.

Step 2 : Scan the PC with Combo Cleaner for Windows

Combo Cleaner is a trusted PC security and optimization tool equipped with powerful virus and malware detection engine. This program can get rid of pop-up and redirect adware like "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" through this procedure.

1. Download the application from the following page:

2. Save the file to your preferred location.

3. Double-click the downloaded file CCSetup.exe and install with the default settings.

CC for Windows Installation

4. At the end of the setup process, click Finish to run Combo Cleaner.

5. The tool will update the signature file, please wait for this process to complete.

6. To begin checking for threats like "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked", click on the Start Scan button. Wait for this scan to finish.

CC for Windows Start Scan

7. At the end of the scan process, click on Remove all threats to delete "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" pop-up and redirect including all malicious objects from the computer.

Free features of Combo Cleaner for Windows include Disk Cleaner, Big Files finder, Duplicate files finder, and Uninstaller. To use antivirus, privacy scanner, and to delete identified threats, users have to upgrade to a premium version.

Please continue with the succeeding removal procedures if your are comfortable to manually get rid of the threat and malicious items linked with it.

Step 3 : Scan and Delete Adware with AdwCleaner

In addition to the procedure, we suggest scanning the computer with AdwCleaner tool. Possibly, there are some traces of "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" on the browser that was not deleted during the preceding steps. This tool will scan the computer and check for presence of malicious applications as well as invalid browser entries that produces hijacking, redirects, and pop-ups.

1. Follow the link below to download the tool called AdwCleaner.

2. When the download has completed, please close all running programs on the computer especially browsers affected by "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" pop-up.

3. Browse the location of the downloaded file and double-click on adwcleaner_Ver.exe to start running the tool. Then, click on Scan button.

AdwCleaner

4. AdwCleaner searches the computer for malicious programs, extensions, plug-ins, adware, and any items that may be associated to "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked". It will also check for suspicious entries on browser settings that is associated with the hijacker.

5. Clean or Remove all suspicious and harmful items identified after the thorough scan.

6. After the cleanup procedure, rebooting the computer is required to finalize the removal of detected threats.

Check if your internet browser application is no longer being bothered by "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" pop-up. If the browser hijacker still persists, please continue with the steps below to reset internet programs to default settings.

Optional : Reset Internet Browser Program

Cleaning your internet browser from clutter and unwanted add-on/extension is a must when dealing with "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked". The procedure below discusses on resetting various browsers to their default state.

Restore Google Chrome to Default Settings

Resetting Google Chrome to its default settings is helpful in deleting hard-to-remove extensions. This method is highly advisable to perform if you have difficulty removing unwanted extensions.

1. Open the Google Chrome internet browser.
2. On the address bar, type chrome://settings/reset and press the Enter key.
3. Click on Reset Settings on the sidebar and choose Restore settings to their original defaults.
4. On the confirmation window, click the Reset settings button to clear all malicious entries.
5. Close the existing tab and restart Google Chrome. That should have removed the malicious extension and associated objects.

Reset Mozilla Firefox to Default

This section describes how to remove unwanted extensions from Firefox that may be related to "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked". This process can fix many browser issues by restoring Firefox to factory settings without affecting your essential information (bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, and Internet cookies) on the browser. If you desire to remove only a specific extension, please see the manual removal of add-ons from Firefox.

1. Input the string about:support on the Firefox web address and press Enter on the keyboard.
2. You will now see the Troubleshooting Information page of Mozilla Firefox.
3. You will notice a section in the upper-right corner of the screen stating, Give Firefox a tune-up. Click the Refresh Firefox button.
4. If a confirmation window appears, click Refresh Firefox to continue.
5. Firefox browser will close and start the resetting process. When done, it will display a list of restored data. "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" should be gone by now. Click Finish to open a fresh version of Firefox.

Restore Microsoft Edge to Default Settings

1. Open the Microsoft Edge browser.
2. On the address bar, please input edge://settings/reset and press Enter on the keyboard.
3. Once you are on the Reset Settings page, click on Restore settings to their default values.
4. A confirmation window will appear; click on the Reset button to continue.

Your data, like favorites, bookmarks, and history, will remain in the browser. However, this process will delete add-ons by "Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked" and other unknown objects.

Originally published on December 23, 2015 at 00:08

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27 thoughts on “Remove “Your windows (Microsoft) computer has been blocked” fake warning”

  1. I ran all three of these in the exact order when this malware infected my Microsoft edge browser with no luck. I have ran multiple virus removal programs and they all come back clean, I have also searched my C drive and windows directory and found no weird files associated with this malware. When I open Microsoft edge it still starts up this malware every time with audio. Chrome works fine but I want to clear everything from my computer, any more suggestions, is there a way to reset Microsoft Edge, I thought it was built into Windows 10 so there is no way to remove and reinstall?

  2. I got this last night but my Chromebook doesn’t have Microsoft products installed on it. I will try running these tonight, if that doesn’t work, not sure what’s next. Advice?

  3. I got this yesterday on my HP laptop. Being naïve and not thinking it through, I called the number because I literally could not do anything on the computer, even turn it off. Everything seemed legit until they wanted to charge me $350 to repair the computer and remove the malware. I hung up and will try this.

  4. ”Be aware that programs and services offered are not free. ”

    But of course, as always the phone number to call is!!!

    Because they want to capture your phone number even if blocked!!!!!

  5. @Wil, to close the warning, you have to end the application or browser. To do this, press CTRL+ALT+DEL on keyboard. Click on Start Task Manager. Select the application (IE, Chrome, Firefox). Then, click on End Task.

  6. I got this today and it’s not letting me do anything. I don’t have any money so I can’t exactly purchase a virus scanner

  7. I just got this and it shut my computer down and is requiring a weird password that I don’t have. Can literally anyone help me with this? Any tiny bit of help would be appreciated

  8. The best thing to do is try bringing up the task manager (Control-Alt-Delete) whilst the pop up is still being displayed on your browser. Then find the processes Tab in the task manager and then the APPS sub heading (this is using windows 8.1 fyi)

    Select your browser eg: Firefox etc. and click the end task at the bottom right hand corner of the task manager. Once exited out of the browser it will take you back to your desktop. Now start a full anti virus search using malware bytes or your own preferred software. Once completed – be careful when clicking back onto your browser as it will remember the previous closed down pages and may open the Microsoft pop up locked account again. Try right clicking your browsers icon and select start a new session or open new tab, new page. Hope this helps out. Remember there’s a truck load of tutorials on Youtube in regards to problems like this.

    Cheers, Aleco :)

  9. I get this about 3x a month. Simply turn off computer, wait a few minutes it gone with no damage.

  10. James Williams

    I’ve tried every method to get rid of this piece of crap. Why can’t someone do anything to stop these creeps? It’s irritating as hell when this damn notice pops up. I lose all my files when I’m working on my animation programs because I have to restart my computer without any chance of saving the files. These cyber criminals should be locked up and never allowed to use a computer again.

  11. James Williams

    If you are infected with this crap, I would advise you to download and install Malwarebytes. It’s free and when I ran it, it detected 332 threats on my computer. Malwarebytes removed all the threats for free. I think a program called Adware File finder is the program that I used once that caused the problem. So, never use that program!

  12. Guys all u need to do is delete all your history and cookies from the infected browser and exit the browser then it should be back to normal. You don’t need to anything else.

  13. Okay so I received a phone call that I needed to fix my account today to prevent it from becoming blocked tomorrow from an unknown number from Microsoft. I don’t know if it’s a scam or if there is anything I can do.

  14. Malwarebytes ( the free version ) found nothing while the “alert” was still active. ( Win10) I closed Edge
    via Task Manager and then opened Google window which had several windows I had already opened.
    Then when I opened Edge, the “alert” was gone. I need to find a more powerful app or software that can power thru this alert thing. I had visited a technical websites post archives when the “alert” came up.

  15. I just had this happen to me and like a fool I phoned the number. I hung up before I downloaded anything, but the “free” phone call cost me over 10 pounds. It was to India, though…….. What I ended up doing was turn off my computer and remove the battery. I left it for about 10 minutes, turned it back on and everything seems fine. Am doing a scan now.

  16. I got this message and tried to close it but no result. I just pressed and held the shut down button until the computer turned off. Restart showed computer did not shut down correctly and just click start normally. Browser showed a restore previous page from shut down clicked that. I think the clear your browser cookies and or reset is probably a good idea.

  17. I have 268d3 on my Dell and it wont let me do anything but a hard shutdown. Anyone know how I can fix this mess? I’m a beginner, second stage, which means, I can follow directions and do things if I know where to go to do these.
    Thank you. I have Windows Professional 7.

  18. I got this error and downloaded Baidu antivirus by the way Terminator is not my real name.

  19. Go with the mouse right-down on the screen and “switch to Desktop” (that little part right in the corner, no to see with your eyes but it works if you try with the mouse) if you want to finish your work on the site you intended to go. The site with the blocking warning is also minimized and you can choose that one that you need.

    BUT MORE IMPORTANT:
    Ctrl +Alt+Del

    Choose THE BROWSER that you have opened ( and where that crap appeared), close the “red-ADOBE” FlashPlayer (will be reloaded if you need it), than choose your BROWSER on the list, “open” the list of opened-sites, mark the site with deceptive message and click “shut-down” (right-site, down corner of the Manager.

    The site with the “Alert” gets “killed”, has no power to resist to this command.

    The computer works further and the sites opened in your browser are full-operating. They were so all the time but you couldn’t access them because of that crap. An ABP with the possibility to introduce your own list of such crap-sites, is that AdBlock Plus. cannot stop all of them but you may put the sites on a blacklist “for the next time”. HOW IT COULD BE MADE, is explained very clear on the AdBlock Plus site.

  20. A recorded warning took over my PC and showed a message , supposedly from Microsoft warning my PC had been virally infected allowing others to seize financial information, passwords. And if I didn’t call 888-976-6204 within 5 minutes they would shut me down and notify the Microsoft authorities. When I called them they said they were with Microsoft Corp. The gal & guy were from India using Anglo names. This happened 9/18/2018

  21. I have Malwarebytes and downloaded Microsoft Malicious Software removal tool full scan. Neither of them found this and therefore neither quarantined or in anyway I did it.

  22. It happened to me today, I got a message from Microsoft, so I called the number displayed, as always it was a person from another county, an then it hit me when they asked for remote control of my computer, they asked for a zip code where a Microsoft store was, there are in which they said there was a store is in my small town and I know for sure that no stores there, so I Googled it online on how to restore my computer ( CTRL ALT DELETE) THEN RESTART. So being the person that I am, I called back an told them that they were common thieves that was out to take people’s money. I hate dishonest people! But they got my point in details.

  23. This crap has obviously been going on a long time. My McAfee does not stop it. Call to Microsoft went nowhere when I was unwilling to pay. Seems like they should be interested in stopping thieves impersonating them. Very, very frustrating.

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