'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' Tech Support Scam

The 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam is a hoax using a fake Windows authentication process to compromise information, collect money, or damage your PC's security. These attacks may implement themselves in a screen-locking format that blocks your use of the Windows UI or other applications. Malware experts recommend using standard anti-malware tools and strategies to remove this threat by deleting the threatening software or temporary files that may let it load automatically.

The Kind of Validation that No Copy of Windows Needs

Although they're less prolific than in previous years moderately, applications that block the victim's screen or use exploits for locking you out of your interface do still exist. Some individual tactics associated with such hazards, such as the 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam, use infection vectors that may not require any unsafe downloading behavior on the user's behalf. Some attacks may be unnoticeable until the PC boots effectively, and Windows loads a 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam, or similar message, instead of the desktop or login screen.

The methods of exposure to the 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam that malware experts rate as being most likely include:

• A 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam may launch through a pop-up window, which can load through a corrupted website, a hacked website, or a compromised advertising network.
• Some PC users also may experience pop-ups for this threat occurring without browsing the Web, which may be symptomatic of a threat infection. Different Trojans, some forms of ransomware, and even particularly invasive adware may launch a 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam that covers the screen with a borderless window.

Normally, either form of attack includes exploits preventing you from switching windows, minimizing the 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam, resizing windows or accessing any other applications.

The 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam also displays Windows authentication information associated with the installation of a real Microsoft product, the Security Essentials program. Threat actors may use these attacks for coercing readers into calling a phone number where they pose as support technicians, supposedly to help register your version of Windows, but, in reality, to collect data or money.

All the Legitimacy of the Real Windows OS, Minus the Hoaxes

The most threatening aspect of screen-locking parasites like the 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam is their capacity for preventing you from using your PC. Paying a threat actor for fake authentication assistance doesn't remove the pop-up or its side effects, and the presence of this hoax never should be assumed to be a legitimate sign of your Windows installation being unregistered. Malware experts recommend that victims withhold all sensitive information from any entities associated with the 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam's phone numbers and, if necessary, contact the relevant authorities for alerting them to any confirmed compromises (such as your bank or credit card company).

Windows startup exploits and desktop-locking attacks are common aspects of modern threat campaigns, as well as occasional components in some forms of malvertising (corrupted advertising). Reboot into Safe Mode with Networking or use an emergency recovery drive for restarting Windows without launching a 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam. Then inspect your PC with anti-malware products capable of removing any threats associated with the attack, including Trojans, threatening scheduled tasks and Registry entries.

Like most kinds of Web tactics, the 'Validate Copy Of Your Microsoft Windows' tech support scam requires the victim's ignorance of Microsoft's SOP regarding OS registration notifications. As a rule, malware experts recommend treating any strange pop-up asking you to call a phone number as a likely threat to the safety of your PC and your person.