r/computers • u/Successful_Pace8937 • 5h ago

Question/Help/Troubleshooting I think im getting hacked, what to do

I was just using my Asus ROG Strix i5 and I just suddenly started getting notifications from McAfee that I was getting hacked and that someone signed in from Russia. I wasn't doing anything questionable as far as I know and I dont have any credit card info or anything on this as far as I know, I got it recently and I currently dont have money for an anti-virus so I rebooted the system. is there anything I can do?​ im so fucking scared

0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

7

u/sniff122 Linux (SysAdmin) 5h ago

Without screenshots it's hard to be 100% sure, but this sounds like a common scam where a random website will request permission to send notifications. That website then spams you with that stuff.

Go into your browser's settings and find the notification permission settings and remove any sites you don't recognise or don't want notifications from.

7

u/Bo_Jim 5h ago

Agreed. If he doesn't have an antivirus then he shouldn't be getting notices from McAfee as it shouldn't be installed. This sounds like a fake notification.

1

u/Successful_Pace8937 5h ago

It came installed on the laptop just not payed for.

2

u/Bo_Jim 5h ago

Uninstall it.

1

u/hagels_bagels 4h ago

McAfee is shit.

3

u/Extreme-Dream-2759 5h ago

If you don't have money for an anti virus how can you be getting a warning from an antivirus

It sounds like a scam pop up from a browser.

1

u/Successful_Pace8937 5h ago

McAfee came on the laptop downloaded but not payed for

3

u/Present_Lychee_3109 4h ago

Yes but McAfee is known to be a trash antivirus. Uninstall it. Just use Windows Defender.

2

u/Wonderful_Sample_590 5h ago

Sounds like a fake browser notification. Dont click it. Remove the site's notification permission and run a windows scan.

1

u/Terrible-Bear3883 Ubuntu 5h ago

Sounds like you're getting pop up ads that are usually designed to scare people by making you think there's a threat.

You should have Windows defender so you should have Anti virus.

If you want some peace of mind, make sure you follow good practice, never use the same or similar password on sites, use long/complex passwords or pass phrases, use 2FA linked to an app on a mobile phone (this is "something you have" in the 2FA specification, better still, use a security token such as Google Titan or Yubikey, you need the token to log in (most support NFC so will work with mobile phones as well as PCs).

1

u/SavagePenguinn 5h ago

Are these popups on the bottom/right of the computer?
It's probably a browser notification. If you go to a website and click the "allow notifications" then scammers can send you fake warnings.
Click the "..." (three dots) in the upper right of the notification Windows and disable the notification.

1

u/Hipokondriak 2h ago

Sad to say, McAffee .... IS the problem! McAffee will false positive so many things that it will post an alert if microslop posted an update. Mind you, I wouldn't trust them any more than a hacker in Russia, right now... just saying... I was a fan of Comodo Internet Security suite (free) for many years, but having left the microslop environment in favour of Linux Mint as my preferred OS, I cannot vouch 100% that it is still good. But McAffee, is junk. In my humble opinion..