Environment
Mozilla Firefox, Windows 11
Issue
Notifications from Firefox regularly appear in the corner of your screen. They will typically say that you have a virus and/or that you need to run a scan for viruses. Many times, these notifications will mention or have a picture of a well known anti-virus software (e.g. McAfee) regardless of whether or not the software is actually installed on the computer.
Resolution
This is a SCAM!
What is actually happening is that a site was able to gain Notification permission access in the Firefox settings, so that it is allowed to send notifications through Firefox in your Windows Desktop. This is typically caused by completing a seemingly innocent CAPTCHA or request to Allow a site access to Microsoft Edge.
- Confirm that the notifications are coming from Firefox by locating the Firefox name and icon in the notification.
- Locate the name of the site in the notification.
- Open the Firefox Settings.
- Select Privacy & Security on the left-side of the page.
- Scroll down to the Permissions section of the page.
- Click the Settings... button for Notifications.
- Locate the name of the site from the notification in the list of websites.
- You can use the Search Website field to search for the site.
- Change the Status of the site to Block.
- Alternatively, you can select the site and click the Remove Website button to remove it completely.
- Enabling the Block new requests asking to allow notifications check box will help prevent this issue from reoccurring in the future.
- Note: Enabling this check box will also affect any legitimate websites from requesting notification permissions.
- Click the Save Changes button.
Additional Information
Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.