Fake Chrome update screen.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Same here. Forums are fine, but if I try to load an article, after a long pause (and the whirlygig spinning around and around), I get the fake Chrome update screen.

The poor English on the fake Chrome Update screen was a dead giveaway for me - and the fact that the “X” to close the window makes it full screen, instead of closing the pop-up screen. The update button tries to save a “Setup.exe” on your computer, which is always a bad sign- Chrome doesn’t update that way. But a good antivirus should remove the file before it is even downloaded.

But, a non-computer person like my mom thinks every single message that comes up on her computer is “real” and she’ll click on anything! :lol: Which is why I wanted to know what exactly happened, so if she were to call me with the same issue coming from another website, I could step her through what to do.

Also found an article about this specific malware threat here:

https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-chrome-update-center/

[Where_sMyWhite]

Another data point. In Safari, forums load fine and if I click an article link from the sidebar, article loads as well.

[Simkie]

I have no problems at all, on Firefox or Chrome. Cannot replicate this issue.

Those that are having problems: have you tried clearing cookies and cache? Does that make a difference?

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Seems CoTH has fixed the issue - well at least for me. Articles are loading fine for me now. No suspicious dialog box now.

[skydy]

I am not seeing the fake screens but still cannot load any articles.

[JanM]

I cleaned out my cookies, and now I can click on the magazine, headlines, and everything is fine, I can even read the articles. Probably coincidence, and I bet the web techs did something.

[skydy]

The articles will load for me now as well. :yes:

[RMJacobs]

I got the fake update screen around 5 pm tonight. Maybe clearing my cookies would help, but it seems unlikely since I don’t get the screen consistently. I only clear cookies when I absolutely must because of all the “remember me” settings it wipes out.

Rebecca

[Simkie]

@RMJacobs try clearing your cache first–that alone might do the trick, and shouldn’t screw with any of your “remember me” websites

[JanM]

I downloaded the free edition of Malwarebytes. Clicked on scan, and at the end it quarantined anything that looked dangerous. Then I clicked on the quarantined list, and deleted the files the malware found. I also cleared my cookies. Between the two procedures, the update screen stopped for me.

[RMJacobs]

@Simkie, that’s a good idea. I’ll try it tomorrow as it’s been a long, long day.

Rebecca

[RMJacobs]

@Simkie, I tried your suggestion yesterday and I think it did the trick! Thanks so much for suggesting it. I’m so used to clearing both cache and cookies at the same time that I forget that they can be done separately.

Rebecca

[Chall]

For PC users with a fake screen that won’t close, alt ctl delete then, find every instance of your browser listed under processes and right click to stop it,
then run malwarebytes etc.