This URL has been blocked Popup - How to remove

“This URL has been blocked” warning is a fake warning threating you with fines and jail time for infringing on copyrighted content. It is a scam and should not be taken seriously, except as a security risk. Similar scams are common. The “This URL has been blocked” creators try to scare you into contacting them so that they can collect more of your personal information, and perhaps scam you out of your money.

They threaten with jail time or huge fines. “This URL has been blocked” is trying to get you to either call the scammers or send them your user name and password, both of which would put your privacy and PC security at risk.

The “This URL has been blocked” popup shows this text:

Windows Security

That server also reports: “This URL has been blocked under instructions of a competent US Government Authority or in compliance with the orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. Infringing or abetting infringement of copyright-protected content including under this URL is an offense in law. Ss. 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act, 1957, read with Section 51, prescribe penalties of a prison term of upto 3 years and a fine of upto 3000 USD. Error: 291081#katie-6c6e6574 CALL (866) 330-5152 (Toll Free)”.

Warning: Your user name and password will be sent using basic authentication on a connection that isn’t secure.

Are “This URL has been blocked” threats legitimate?

Copyright protection, which the warning talks about, is a serious issue that we read about online all the time. The recent EU copyright directive, for example, seeks to protect copyrighted content more rigorously. Most obvious content that is copyrighted is pop songs and their official music videos, films and TV shows, books.

And, to be honest, few people can say for sure that they haven’t ever pirated a song or a movie. Nowadays streaming has made pirating all but obsolete, but before, pirating used to be ubiquitous. Even now, YouTube-to-MP3 converters are still alive, still used by many people (by the way, be careful, these sites are often full of malicious and intrusive ads). So it’s possible that, if we’re faced with a warning like “This URL has been blocked”, we might for a moment think that it might be legitimate.

In reality, infringing on copyrighted content for personal use, while not legal, is seriously unlikely to result in jail time, or even fines. And the warning would certainly not be delivered by an online popup, like “This URL has been blocked” is. For one, an online popup has no way of knowing what is on your computer: it’s just not possible for a website to see the files on your drives, government or cybercriminal.

What causes fake security alerts?

• Malicious ads and infected websites (yes, websites can get infected)
• Browser hijackers (malicious browser extensions)
• Installed adware or more serious malware

If the “This URL has been blocked” warnings originate only in your browser, you can ignore them, unless it happens more than once. Then you should probably see if you have any browser extensions that might be causing this.

Browser hijackers are not only annoying (because they mess with search results, redirect links into sites that they want you to visit, and fill the pages you go to with ads, some of which are malicious), but also dangerous in the long run (because they might be collecting personal information about you, which can be sold and could possibly be used to attack you more directly, like compromise your banking security, or install ransomware on your computer). This is just the worst case scenario, but there are people who fall victim to cybercriminals. We should not underestimate the danger that compromised privacy poses.

If the warnings show up on your desktop, you might have malware installed. It can be tricky to remove manually, especially because often malware programs travel together, so there’s likely more than one on your machine. But it should be removed as soon as possible.

Remove “This URL has been blocked” Popups

If the “This URL has been blocked” popups happen more than once, you can check what extensions you have on your browsers to see if they might be causing a problem. Check which extensions are unfamiliar to you, research their names if you aren’t sure. Remember that occasionally some malicious apps, programs, and extensions try to trick people into installing them by naming themselves something serious and official sounding, like “System Update”, despite being third-party apps.

Another possibility is that the “This URL has been blocked” alert is being caused by some malicious program installed on your computer. You can find out if it’s infected by malware, or PUPs by scanning it with a reputable antivirus program, for example Spyhunter, or Combo-Cleaner. If there are suspicious files or programs on your computer, you can remove them manually, or have the antivirus do that for you. But if you uninstall them manually, be sure to scan your machine again afterward, just to be sure.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove This URL has been blocked Popup using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like This URL has been blocked Popup install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to This URL has been blocked Popup . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make This URL has been blocked Popup easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.

How to remove This URL has been blocked Popup from macOS

Delete This URL has been blocked Popup from your applications.

1. Open Finder.
2. In the menu bar, click Go.
3. Select Applications from the dropdown.
4. Find the This URL has been blocked Popup app.
5. Select it and right-click it (or hold the Ctrl and click the left mouse button).
6. In the dropdown, click Move to Bin/Trash. You might be asked to provide your login password.

TopHow To remove This URL has been blocked Popup from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to This URL has been blocked Popup, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove This URL has been blocked Popup from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything This URL has been blocked Popup related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to This URL has been blocked Popup, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.

How to remove This URL has been blocked Popup from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to This URL has been blocked Popup, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove This URL has been blocked Popup from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall This URL has been blocked Popup and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to This URL has been blocked Popup, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.