Hacked

Judy in Texas · Feb 16, 2026

Getting popups that sometimes refer me to Norton or Macafee. Small alarmingly worded box pops up, when I close it I get a page pop up which I can also close. Task Manager reports activity by BRhosthelper and antimalware service executor. I have cleared Firefox cache and shut down and rebooted. Ran scans with Windows Defender and HP Wolf security. It is still there. One of the screens referred to Zeus.2000.

Just 2 days ago I downloaded and ran a Malwarebytes scan (from its own web site) because I thought the computer was running too slow. It found nothing.

What now?

Thank you.

neemobeer · Feb 16, 2026

Reset your browser, it's most likely a browser hijacker pushing what's called scareware (aka fake alerts that can look convincingly like you are infected)

Judy in Texas · Feb 16, 2026

Had a bit of throuble gettng snipping too to see it, since it is a popup. Sorry my edges are so ragged:

neemobeer · Feb 16, 2026

Yeah those are just fake scareware alerts

OAT · Feb 16, 2026

Judy in Texas said:
Had a bit of throuble gettng snipping too to see it, since it is a popup. Sorry my edges are so ragged:

You have not been hacked. This is a web pop-up.
Clean up cookies and cache from your browser.

Ghot · Feb 16, 2026

Judy in Texas said:
I downloaded and ran a Malwarebytes scan (from its own web site) because I thought the computer was running too slow. It found nothing.

Try this instead...

AdwCleaner 2026 - Free Adware Cleaner & Removal Tool | Malwarebytes

Download Malwarebytes AdwCleaner 2026 for free to remove adware, bloatware, unwanted toolbars, and other potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) from your Windows PC. AdwCleaner destroys adware and restores your PC's performance.

www.malwarebytes.com

Judy in Texas · Feb 16, 2026

Interesting. It wants to quarantine 4 apps that are installed courtesy of my HP Wolf security.

Judy in Texas · Feb 16, 2026

I asked it to not do that, but if the ADWcleaner scan doesn't fix the problem, tomorrow I will call HP. I do appreciate the personal service from HP, thanks to buying my workstation at a big discount.

Ghot · Feb 16, 2026

I've never had an HP computer, so I know diddly about Wolf Security.

KevTech · Feb 16, 2026

Ghot said:
I've never had an HP computer, so I know diddly about Wolf Security.

HP Wolf Security - Endpoint Security Solutions

HP Wolf Security delivers unique endpoint security and protection to your organization and devices from cyberattacks no matter where, when or how you work.

www.hp.com

PerpetualCycle · Feb 16, 2026

Check to see if there is a browser extension that is causing it. Disable them one by one to check.

Jacee · Feb 16, 2026

@Judy in Texas
Let AdwCleaner quarantine the "fake malware" pop-ups. What does it want to quarantine from HP?

Judy in Texas · Feb 17, 2026

Judy in Texas · Feb 17, 2026

Jacee, this computer is an HP workstation and has had HP Wolf Security since I bought it.

Judy in Texas · Feb 17, 2026

HP support to the rescue! To eliminate this popup, look at the ragged image of the scare message in one of my earlier posts. Note the three dots at the right end of a line in the middle. Click it. This opens a menu of three choices. The middle one is "quit sending me messages." Click it. Done.

Jacee, Ryan at HP told me that ADW cleaner will recommend quarantining anything it doesn't recognize.

Thank you to all of you, and I hope my experience and its resolution helps others.

Will close this thread. Probably should have called it "Persistently popuped," but at the time I didn't know that's what it was.

Jacee · Feb 17, 2026

@Judy in Texas
If you want to keep all the HP software that came bundled with your computer, just cancel the quarantine for them. I have to do the same thing.

andrew129260 · Feb 18, 2026

I'll just post the same post I always make about these.............

TairikuOkami said:
That is the reason it is called scareware, it does literally nothing, but it scares people into doing something bad and stupid!

Exactly we see so many posts from the windows notification center coming from browsers, the computer is almost never infected, its always just needs to be turned off in the notification center which is so easy to do. Despite what the notification looks like, it will always have the application name as seen here. Notice the "via microsoft edge." Click the three dots next to the x and turn them off. If you want notifications from your browser, go the web browsers settings and remove any websites you do not recognize listed there.

Anytime you see something similar to the first posts image, it is almost always browser notifications. These are not actual infections, but scareware. This is why scans never reveal anything, same as adwcleaner.

Malwarebytes has a good write up here:

Browser push notifications: a feature asking to be abused | Malwarebytes Labs

“I’m seeing a lot of ads popping up in the corner of my screen, and the Malwarebytes scan does not show...

www.malwarebytes.com

Always easy to solve.

Turn off notifications from within your browser and windows itself.

Turn On or Off Notifications in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off getting notifications from all or specific apps and other senders for your account in Windows 11. Notifications are alerts from apps, system, and other senders. Windows 11 shows notifications on the lock screen (Win+L), Notification Center...

www.elevenforum.com

You can turn off the notifications for just edge, chrome, whatever browser you use.

As well as within chrome and edge:

Chrome:

Use notifications to get alerts - Computer - Google Chrome Help

You can set up Chrome to get notifications, like meeting reminders, from websites, apps, and extensions. If you get pop-ups or ads, learn how to block or allow pop-ups.

support.google.com

Edge:

Manage website notifications in Microsoft Edge | Microsoft Support

You can manage website notifications under Settings in Microsoft Edge.

support.microsoft.com

https://imgur.com/a/MzZfbws

Microsoft Edge fighting notification spam

Web site notifications are great for staying up to date on your favorite webapps, but they can also be used to spam you with messages that can be unwanted or even misleading. We’ve made changes to help customers avoid these spammy messages and increase their peace of mind. Edge now blocks...

www.elevenforum.com

Try3 · Feb 18, 2026

Judy in Texas said:
HP support to the rescue! To eliminate this popup, look at the ragged image of the scare message in one of my earlier posts. Note the three dots at the right end of a line in the middle. Click it. This ...

This ... initiates action that is unknown to you.
I'm astounded that HP support told you to do that.

You might have given these scammers access to your computer as well as your shoe size & your online banking passwords.
Your computer was probably not infected before. It might well be infected now.

Denis

cheaterslick · Feb 18, 2026

Try3 said:
This ... initiates action that is unknown to you.
I'm astounded that HP support told you to do that.

You might have given these scammers access to your computer as well as your shoe size & your online banking passwords.
Your computer was probably not infected before. It might well be infected now.

Denis

Depends... If she called any number from that notification, then yes.

If she called her own old HP support number that she's been using for years, then probably no.

Try3 · Feb 18, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Depends... If she called any number from that notification, then yes.

If she called her own old HP support number that she's been using for years, then probably no.

I would never expect any tech sp to tell somebody to interact with a scammer's onscreen dialog.
The common advice has always been not to do so.
How To Remove "WARNING! Virus Detected" Pop-up Scam - Malwarebytes
How to stop and remove a fake virus alert on your device -Norton
How to Identify and Stop Fake Virus Warnings - Avast
How to Spot a Fake Virus Warning and Avoid It - AVG

All the best,
Denis

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