Edge browser’s ‘scareware blocker’ tool is now enabled by default

Hey you! Yes, you, on iPhone! You have a virus on your Windows PC! Better download this totally legit free app and let it scan all your files for threats and more. So goes the talk of about a trillion pop-ups that try to alarm you into reckless downloading. Microsoft’s Edge browser now protects against these “scareware” by default.

The real-time scanner is enabled in Edge version 142 for any Windows or Mac device with at least 2 GB of RAM and four CPU cores, which should be just about everything sold in the last five years. Microsoft says the browser’s Scareware Blocker can start blocking scams “hours or even days before they appear on global blocklists,” according to data from a preliminary program launched earlier this year.

Microsoft claims that Scareware Blocker detected all the usual “you have a virus” BS, fake blue screens of death (they’re black now), fake ransomware demands (that would be one type of criminal pretending to be another type of criminal, har har), and pages pretending to be law enforcement accusing the user of crimes.

Edge can use the real-time scareware sensor to notify Windows Defender SmartScreen, which will improve protection for all Windows users. The setting is off by default, although the Edge blog says it works “without sharing screenshots or additional data beyond what SmartScreen already receives.” (Someone in Redmond got shy after all this recall business, huh?) This setting could help a detected scam reduce its spread from 30% of users before an active block is put in place, down to just 5%.

If you encounter a scam that didn’t trigger the detector, or you get many false positives, you can always share reports and screenshots manually. And I think – or at least hope – that these manual user reports would carry a lot more weight than regular analytics.