If you are seeing large, alarming squares in the bottom-right corner of your screen claiming that your PC is “infected” or that your “antivirus has expired,” don’t panic. In most cases, your computer hasn’t been breached by a virus. Instead, you are likely the victim of malicious browser notifications. These pop-ups are designed to mimic official Windows or McAfee/Norton alerts to trick you into clicking and downloading actual malware or paying for fake support services.
Why is this happening?
Many websites use a “Double-Click” or “Verify you are human” trick to get you to click “Allow” on a notification prompt. Once you grant permission, the website can send alerts directly to your Windows Action Center, even if your browser is minimized or you are visiting other sites.
The Solution: Revoking Notification Permissions
Since these alerts are coming from the browser and not a software installed on your PC, you won’t find them in the Control Panel. Here is the fastest way to stop them in Google Chrome:
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Open Chrome on your computer.
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In the address bar at the top, copy and paste the following internal command and press Enter:
chrome://settings/content/notifications -
Scroll down to the section labeled “Allowed to send notifications.”
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Look for any website names you don’t recognize or that look suspicious (e.g., https://www.google.com/search?q=global-protection-alert.com or strings of random numbers).
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Click the three vertical dots (More actions) next to the suspicious site.
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Select Remove or Block.
Pro Tip for the Future
To prevent this from happening again, you can toggle the switch at the top of that same settings page to “Don’t allow sites to send notifications.” This will stop those annoying “Allow/Block” pop-ups from appearing entirely while you browse.
