The latest fictitious alert that cybercriminals are displaying to deceive online users into calling a fraudulent Microsoft or Windows technical support service is titled “ISP: Frontier Communications of America.” The history of this type of online fraud dates back decades, and it appears that victims are still being targeted by cybercriminals seeking to extract money.
How did it begin?
When users visit websites that are unlawful or of low quality and are involved in the unauthorized distribution of commercial software or media, they may begin to encounter the message ISP: Frontier Communications of America.” Examples include torrent portals, websites with cracked software, and unreliable media streaming platforms.
These websites use a script that may either send the user to another page or show the bogus notice immediately. Actually, the “ISP: Frontier Communications of America” is a fictitious alert created by online con artists to seem like a real system warning. They may then simply trick online users into calling an online technical assistance service. Below is the message that is written in the fake technical support pop-up.
Windows Defender Security Center
ISP: Frontier Communications of America, Inc.
Access to this PC has been blocked for security reasons.
Call Windows Support: + (877) 824-8608
What should you do?
If you see a phony “ISP: Frontier Communications of America” technical support scam pop-up on your browser, don’t worry or call any of the phone numbers mentioned on the page. Avoid clicking on any pop-ups, since they are frequently used to initiate malware installations or other frauds. Instead, try shutting your browser with the task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows, Option+Command+Esc on Mac) or by right-clicking the browser icon on your taskbar or dock and selecting quit.
After successfully shutting your browser, restart it with caution, usually without restoring the previous session, which may reactivate the scam pop-up. To prevent the fraud from appearing again, erase your browser’s cache and cookies, and conduct a thorough system check using trusted antivirus software.
Getting rid of the pop-up
The majority of these fake Windows support alerts are ordinary pop-ups triggered by a script either on the local browser or the visited website. Thus, closing the browser window is the easiest way to deal with it. Hence, there are also cases where “ISP: Frontier Communications of America” is originating from a push notification window. The remedy to this is to eliminate the misconfiguration in the browser settings. Follow the steps below to accomplish this task.
ISP: Frontier Communications of America Removal Procedure
In this section, we will provide effective guidelines to get rid of the threat from an infected computer. To automatically remove fake pop-up alert, you may download the recommended scanner. For comprehensive instructions, please execute the manual step-by-step procedures.
Instant Removal : Scan the computer with antivirus program
Combo Cleaner is a trusted computer security and optimization tool equipped with a powerful virus and malware detection engine. This program can get rid of bogus pop-up and similar threats, whether it has infected PC, Mac, Android, or iOS.
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.
4. At the end of the setup process, click Finish to run Combo Cleaner.
5. The tool will update the database file; please wait for this process to complete.
6. To begin checking for threats like ISP: Frontier Communications of America, click on the Start Scan button. Wait for this scan to finish.
7. At the end of the scan process, click on Remove all threats to delete ISP: Frontier Communications of America, including all harmful objects from the computer.
To fully optimize the features of antivirus and privacy scanners, users may have to upgrade to the premium version.
Please continue with the succeeding removal procedures if you are comfortable manually getting rid of the pop-up and malicious items linked to it.
Manual Removal : Steps to get rid of fake pop-up warning
The steps below will guide you to manually remove the fake pop-up without having to purchase a recommended virus scanner. We have tested the procedures; hence, the attackers may make modifications overtime. As a result, terms, names, and images in the guide may differ from what users are seeing recently.
The procedure may require you to close the browser or restart the computer; therefore, we are suggesting to Bookmark or Print this page.Step 1 : Delete Suspicious Browser Extension and Notifications
Normally, ISP: Frontier Communications of America pop-ups will start to bombard internet browser screen with pop-ups if web user was deceived to click “Allow” button that triggers the said website to send push notification. To stop ISP: Frontier Communications of America from showing the pop-ups, please execute the procedures below.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome Notifications
1. On Google Chrome browser, type or copy and paste the following in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard:
chrome://settings/content/notifications
2. Scroll down to the list under "Allowed to send notifications" section and look for ISP: Frontier Communications of America.
3. Click ellipses icon (3-dot) beside ISP: Frontier Communications of America list to reveal the options.
4. Click on Block or Remove to stop ISP: Frontier Communications of America from displaying pop-up ads on Google Chrome browser.
5. Please restart your Google Chrome browser.
Remove Malicious Extension from Google Chrome
1. Open the Google Chrome browser.
2. Input the strings below in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard:
chrome://extensions/
3. Look for malicious browser extension and remove it from Google Chrome.
Alternative Method to Clean Up Google Chrome browser
Not all browser threats are the same. Some cannot be removed by deleting relevant extensions and codes. In this instance, resetting the browser to its default configuration is the best solution. If ISP: Frontier Communications of America is still bothering you after completing all the steps above, please execute the procedures below to proceed with the Google Chrome Safety Check.
1. Open the Google Chrome application.
2. Type or copy and paste the string below in the address bar. Then, press Enter on the keyboard:
chrome://settings/privacy
3. Next, please click the Go to Safety Check and review your current security status.
4. Remove any suspicious items and follow the safety recommendations of Google Chrome.
This feature of Google Chrome aims to find malicious websites and harmful software. If you are unable to delete ISP: Frontier Communications of America, the other option is to Reset Google Chrome settings to their original defaults. See more details on this page.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge Notifications
1. Open the Microsoft Edge browser. Type or copy and paste the following in the address bar and press Enter on your keyboard:
edge://settings/content/notifications
2. Scroll down to the Allow section and select ISP: Frontier Communications of America.
3. Click the More Actions or ellipses icon (3-dot) to reveal the options.
4. Select Remove from the options to stop the malicious website from using the push notification feature. Repeat the same procedure for other websites that keep displaying pop-up advertisements.
Remove malicious extension from Microsoft Windows and Edge Browser
1. On your keyboard, press Windows Key + R. Type the appwiz.cpl command and click OK.
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.
3. Look for a malicious item or a recently installed suspicious entry in the list.
4. Click on Uninstall to remove it from the Windows system.
If ISP: Frontier Communications of America is still present on the browser and the pop-ups persist, another option is to remove relevant adware from the browser settings.
5. Open the Microsoft Edge program.
6. Input the following string in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard:
edge://extensions/
7. Look for and Remove or Disable malicious items from the Installed Extensions area.
8. You may now close the window and restart the Microsoft Edge browser.
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox Notifications
1. On Mozilla Firefox browser, type the following in the address bar and press Enter key:
about:preferences#privacy
2. Scroll down to the Permissions area and look for Notifications.
3. Click the Settings button aligned with the Notifications.
4. Look for ISP: Frontier Communications of America entry and click the Remove WebsiteStatus button.
5. Click on Save Changes and restart Mozilla Firefox and check if ISP: Frontier Communications of America pop-up is gone.
Uninstall Malicious Extension from Mozilla Firefox
1. Open the Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Type or copy and paste the strings below in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard:
about:addons
3. Click on Extensions from the sidebar menu.
4. Look for an entry malicious extension and Disable or Remove it from the browser using the options button.
After deleting the malicious browser extension, it is expected that pop-ups and other troubles will be gone from the Mozilla Firefox browser.
Step 2 : 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 malware on the browser that were not deleted during the preceding steps. This tool will scan the computer and check for presence of malicious applications.
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 ISP: Frontier Communications of America.
3. Browse the location of the downloaded file and double-click on adwcleaner.exe to start running the tool.
4. If Windows displays a prompt saying, "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?" click Yes to proceed.
5. On the AdwCleaner dashboard, click on Settings.
6. While in the Settings window, please turn On the Reset Chrome Policies and Reset IE Policies.
7. Go back to the Dashboard and click the Scan Now button.
8. AdwCleaner searches the computer for malicious programs, extensions, plug-ins, adware, and any items that may be associated with ISP: Frontier Communications of America.
9. Clean or Remove all suspicious and harmful items identified after the thorough scan.
10. AdwCleaner will then prompt an option to run another repair, which will reset Winsock and other settings. Please click the Run Basic Repair button.
11. A message will appear stating that "All processes will be closed..." Please click Continue.
12. After the cleanup procedure, rebooting the computer is required to finalize the removal of ISP: Frontier Communications of America as well as other detected threats.
Check if your internet browser application is no longer being bothered by fake 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 fake pop-up alerts. 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 the fake alert. 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. Phony pop-up warning 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 related to fake pop-up alert and other unknown objects.
System Compatibility Notice
We ensured that our method to get rid of ISP: Frontier Communications of America is compatible with the majority of Microsoft operating systems (Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11). To prevent complicated steps, the commands used in the instructions are common, useful, and tested. If you encounter any compatibility problems when following this tutorial, please message us or leave your comment below, and we will reply and make the required modifications.
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