Microsoft-one.com

Cybercriminals and online con artists impersonate reputable individuals or companies to trick their targets into performing certain actions frequently. This is the strategy adopted by the administrators of Microsoft-one.com, a website that is made to look as if it is affiliated with the Microsoft Corporation. Trying to visit the main page results in an immediate redirect to Microsoft's official website, which is likely to cause users to think that the URL is legitimate. However, the shady part of Microsoft-one.com is not its main page – it is the various sub-directories that have been designed to spawn fake alerts, which urge the user to apply updates to their Microsoft Office installation or the Windows Antivirus software.

Users might be exposed to these bogus update notifications when they browse low-quality pages that have been paid to promote Microsoft-one.com's content. It is fundamental to remember that you should never download updates proposed by random pages that showed up in your Web browser out of nowhere – Microsoft Windows is capable of updating itself automatically, and there is no need to download updates from external sources.

It is not clear what files that bogus pop-ups on Microsoft-one.com are trying to serve, but you can be sure it will not be helpful. Often, fake update alerts like these are used to promote Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) that are not harmful, but it is also possible that the administrator of the Microsoft-one.com may be trying to get their visitors to download threatening files such as Trojans or even ransomware.

If you ever see the Microsoft-one.com URL in your Web browser, you should leave the website and disregard any alerts it spawned immediately.