How to Remove Windows Help Desk Pop Up Adware?

In order to stay safe on your computer, it’s important to keep track of your online activities as your computer is quite vulnerable online because of the simple fact that everything that is connected to the Internet can be hacked. This is a fact confirmed by many sources which means everyone should step up their security.

Use common sense all the time when you are browsing the Internet and never visit sketchy sites you don’t know anything about before researching about it using Google. Make sure you don’t download suspicious files, especially if their extension is “.exe” because these files can infect your computer immediately. Let’s check out this malicious message.

How to Remove the “Call Windows Help Desk Immediately” Pop-Up

This particular message saying “Call Windows Help Desk Immediately” usually appears in your browser as a pop-up and you shouldn’t click on it all costs. It usually displays either a link or a number you should call.

Either way, hackers will want to gain access to your computer either by you downloading their software or by gaining your trust over a phone call where they would ask you to allow them remote access to your computer where they would steal all of your information without your permission. Find out how to deal with this issue below.

Solution 1: Using the Malwarebytes AdwCleaner

This tool is quite useful when you need to deal with these scams and it can remove them from your browser and your computer quite easily. This is the first step you should undertake while solving this issue so make sure you follow the instructions below carefully.

First of all, let’s close you browser’s processes because usually the pop-up won’t let you close the browser.

1. Open Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar and then clicking Start Task Manager. Alternatively to start the Windows Task Manager, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click on Task Manager or simply press on Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
2. Scroll through the list till you see your web browser’s process and left-click on it once so it becomes highlighted. Once you have selected the browser’s process, click on the End Task button as show in the picture below.
3. Your browser window should now be closed. The next time you open your browser, do not allow the browser to open the last opened page.

Once we were able to close the browser displaying the issue, let’s proceed with the solution.

1. You can download download Malwarebytes from the link.
2. When Malwarebytes has finished downloading, double-click on the “mb3-setup-consumer” file to install Malwarebytes on your computer.
3. You may be presented with an User Account Control pop-up asking if you want to allow Malwarebytes to make changes to your device. If this happens, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.
4. When the Malwarebytes installation begins, you will see the Malwarebytes Setup Wizard which will guide you through the installation process.
5. To install Malwarebytes on your machine, keep following the prompts by clicking the “Next” button.
6. Once installed, Malwarebytes will automatically start and update the antivirus database. To start a system scan you can click on the “Scan Now” button.
7. Malwarebytes will now start scanning your computer for malicious programs.
8. This process can take a few minutes, so we suggest you do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan to see when it is finished.
9. When the scan has completed, you will be presented with a screen showing the malware infections that Malwarebytes has detected.
10. To remove the malicious programs that Malwarebytes has found, click on the “Quarantine Selected” button.
11. Malwarebytes will now quarantine all the malicious files and registry keys that it has found.
12. To complete the malware removal process, Malwarebytes may ask you to restart your computer.

Solution 2: Getting the Scam Out of Your Browser

Usually, these scams are not related to any malicious applications and they won’t appear in any of the antivirus scanners you may have installed. The issue is usually with the browser and the temporary files your browser is using.

Since the pop-up appears each time you open the browser, let’s use the following trick to remove it completely.

1. Open your browser indirectly by clicking on a link in an email or similar.
2. The tab which is giving you the error message should appear but don’t open it.
3. Click on the small X button in the right corner of the tab and remain on the tab you open via your email (or similar).
4. Click on the three dots in the top right corner of the screen and open Settings.
5. Locate the Clear Browsing Data options and open Choose What to Clear.
6. Clear everything.
7. Open the extensions page of your browser and look for anything unusual.
8. Delete these extensions or disable them.
9. You should be able to use your browser without any problems now.

Note: These settings differ from browser to browser so make sure that these options may not be located directly as described in these steps nor they are named the same for all browsers.

Solution 3: Get Rid of Suspicious Programs Installed on Your Computer

The Solution 2 is usually enough to get rid of these tech support scams. However, if it didn’t and if you think your computer may be infected, it’s time get to rid of the malicious application.

1. Launch the Run dialog box by simultaneously tapping keys Win+R.
2. Type Control Panel into the dialog box and then click OK.
3. Navigate to the Programs or Programs and Features menu.
4. Click Uninstall a program to find all available uninstallers.
5. Right-click the application you think is suspicious and if you know that you didn’t install it
6. Click on the Uninstall button.

The next step is to get rid of malware by using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware which is a great scanner with a free trial version. Fortunately, you won’t need the program after you solve this issue so make sure you download the free version from here.

1. Locate the file you just downloaded and double-click on it.
2. Select where you want to install MBAM and follow the instructions on screen in order to complete the process.
3. Open MBAM and select the Scan option available at the home screen.
4. The tool will launch its update service in order to update its virus database and then it will proceed with the scan. Please be patient until it finishes.
5. Restart your computer after the process is over.