Revenge of the Browser Notifications

Recently we’ve had a huge influx of clients calling in a panic because they’re receiving tons of bogus notifications claiming to be from Google/Microsoft/McAfee saying you have trojans, viruses, and other scary buzz words. So what happened? What is causing this? A website was granted permission to send desktop notifications through Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Scam websites use these notifications to display fake warnings.  Some clients have noticed you can’t X out of these notifications either. You click the X and another one takes its place. So how do you remove it? Thankfully there is an incredibly simple fix. There are two ways we know how to turn off these awful notifications. The first method is to open Windows Settings > System > Notifications > Turn Off Notifications. The second method is to disable notifications within the browser.  For Google Chrome, hit the 3 vertical dots in the top right under the X, then select Settings > Privacy & Security > Site Settings > Notifications, then click “Don’t allow sites to send notifications.” (Microsoft Edge will have similar steps.) Then reboot your computer to confirm you got rid of those awful notifications. If you need help with these steps or would like us to take care of it for you, feel free to give us a call!