Phony Critical Firefox update message

Phony Critical Firefox update message that presents itself automatically as a webpage

 

PC Security malware problem: A few days ago, whenever I started the Firefox web browser on my laptop, the webpage shown below came up by itself. It says: Critical Firefox update – Download Now.

Phony Critical Firefox update message
Phony Critical Firefox update message. Click on the image to view its full size

A box appears in the middle of the page asking: “Would you like to save this file?” – Yes/Cancel. The message also says that the file was from choocvidicim . org, a website that does not exist, so I am not linking to it. Anyhow, the site name changes every time the message presents itself.

After a while, I noticed that the message always came up while I was visiting the dailymail.co.uk website, which is the most popular online newspaper in the UK. Therefore, I have to assume that the site has been compromised by hackers.

Needless to say, I did not save the file and install it. Just clicking on the Yes or Cancel option would no doubt have installed it. So, I have no idea what would have happened had it been installed. It could have been malware that installs a toolbar, or even something as serious as ransomware, or a Trojan virus that makes the system accessible to cyber criminals.

Even clicking on the Cancel button will probably install malware, so, just close the tab that the message appears in. This does not happen in this case, but if a message comes up asking you if you want to leave this page, Yes or No, don’t click on either of those buttons, just close the browser and run the easy fix provided below immediately.

Only software developers always install updates, but never from a webpage

Only Mozilla.org, the developer of Firefox, installs updates, either automatically or when the user wants to install them. A browser tab that opens by itself never delivers them. Therefore, you must never agree to install anything of that kind. – Don’t click on any button, no matter what it says!

The Critical Firefox update message kept coming up every time I started Firefox. I ran my main malware scanner, Panda, and my secondary malware scanner, Malwarebytes, but they found nothing.

The best way to get rid of a phony update message

I didn’t bother searching for a tool to get rid of this infection. I got rid of the message by using System Restore to restore a restore point with a date prior to date when the problem occurred.

Note that you must enable System Restore in Windows 10, because it is disabled by default. Microsoft clearly wants users to make use of the latest recovery options in Windows 10. Nevertheless, I prefer using System Restore to fix problems of this sort. It just involves restoring a particular restore point.

Other PC security articles on this website

1. – Face recognition – Facebook and Google want to identify you in images
2. – Cyber criminals and hackers use Facebook to obtain personal information
3. – How to avoid and deal with the ever-growing threat of ransomware
4. – Samsung updates – Does Samsung update its Android devices?
5. – Cyber criminals and hackers use Facebook to obtain personal information
6. – Protect yourself when using public unsecured wireless networks
7. – Protect computers from crooked PC repair companies
8. – Malware PUP that can replace a web browser
9. – Many Google Android devices are easily hacked

About Eric 275 Articles
I am an experienced PC technician who has been the owner and sole writer of the PC Buyer Beware! website since 2004. I am learning all the time in this very dynamic, ever-changing field.