Windows 10 Edge fake virus message and fix

[LedHed]

Client calls me and says that he is getting a "Microsoft Tech Support" page in the Edge browser every time he opens it. He tells me that the only way he can make it go away is by shutting off Edge in the task manager. Other browsers are OK.

Go onsite and open the Edge browser. Sure enough, the homepage has been set to microloantechs.biz and there is a popup with warning messages about "Viruses and other scary things" and a "Microsoft Tech Support" phone number, obviously a scam.

I run my usual gamut of tools, (Adwcleaner, JRT, Malwarebytes, etc.) with no luck. I scoured the internets looking for a way to reset Edge without opening it, again with no luck. I searched for a way to edit the homepage in the registry, found 2 sites that say this is not possible. I even tried adding a line to the hosts file to redirect microlinetechs.biz to 127.0.0.1, still no luck.

In order to fix this, I brought up the Start menu, typed Settings System Apps, and then hit Enter. Edge opened up. It still had the offending webpage but it also opened up what appeared to be a Bing search of some kind on several different tabs. The offending tab was not selected. I was then able to get to the settings for Edge and reset the home page.

I had do this twice for some reason but it is definitely working now. If you see a similar problem, I hope this helps.

Andy

 

[freemancs]

Windows 10 still has the old "Internet options" interface available. You would be able to reset the browser/home pages from there. (Not saying that this would have worked 100%, just that the menu option is there.)

 

[LedHed]

I'm not sure that you are correct. I just opened the "Internet options" interface on my Win 10 machine. I was able to change the homepage but only for Internet Explorer, not for Edge. The original problem was that the homepage in Edge had been changed to a scam website and that I had to get into the systems apps settings to change it back.

I don't know why but I cannot seem to find a way to "reset" Edge back to it's default settings like you could in IE. If someone knows of a way to do this, please let me know.

Andy

 

[MDD1963]

There was a grand period of at least 7-8 days before I began reading several forum stories of Edge homepage hijacking/ redirects, etc.; it was good while it lasted!

 

[freemancs]

I'm not sure that you are correct. I just opened the "Internet options" interface on my Win 10 machine. I was able to change the homepage but only for Internet Explorer, not for Edge. The original problem was that the homepage in Edge had been changed to a scam website and that I had to get into the systems apps settings to change it back.

I don't know why but I cannot seem to find a way to "reset" Edge back to it's default settings like you could in IE. If someone knows of a way to do this, please let me know.

Andy

Hey LedHed, you are partially right and I certainly own up to the fact that I didn't do a ton of research before I responded. I made the assumption that MS would tie the internet options to Edge as well. I just did a quick search and I see that there is a ton of posts stating that MS hasn't include an Internet Options type cpl widget for Edge. To quote them "If you do not like this then raise a feedback to add more settings to Edge."

However, they did tie in SOME of the settings as some folks are reporting that changes to some security settings are taking effect in Edge when modified from Internet Options.

I am certain that this will change in the future, but sadly that doesn't help you now.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Found this from a quick search maybe i t will help

"Well to reset Edge I have found deleting

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe


Clears it, including favourites and all. That does break Edge for the user. To get it running again from an admin PowerShell prompt;

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}"

 

[Jay.JCS]

I had one shortly after launch with the homepage hijack and it was crashing Edge. I could not find a way to get to the Edge settings apart from within Edge, but it wouldn't stay open long enough. And the same as other users, nothing found with the usual malware scans. I stumbled upon when running Ccleaner it asks to close Edge, after it force closes it clears the saved session. After that I got the normal Edge new tab page. Hope that helps anyone with a similar issue.

 

[JoeTech]

If you use the UVK(Ultra Virus Killer) it has an option now to reset the edge browser. I have never tried it yet, but I have seen the option added to it.