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Question

what is this Trend Micro housecall and why is it hijacking

Feb 21, 2016 1:10PM PST

wife cant log in to her facebook because of this page saying she has to download it but there is no malware. i can log into mine on her laptop no problem, she can log in to her's with other devices. its weird. any way to sidestep this?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
This sounds like a browser issue.
Feb 21, 2016 1:28PM PST

Did you try it with Chrome?
Did you try it after resetting Chrome?

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Answer
try another browser
Feb 21, 2016 1:29PM PST

Trend Micro Housecall is a valid online antivirus. I use it for a second opinion since it can be run from online. Looks like facebook and trend micro has some sort of partnership.

http://blog.trendmicro.com/acebook-users-protected-housecall/

You are getting the popup because facebook found something. I could not find a way to disable it so maybe someone else here can. It will not replace your current antivirus so it will not hurt anything to run it.

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Answer
doubt its browser
Feb 21, 2016 2:36PM PST

"i can log into mine on her laptop no problem".... she can also log into her alt fb accts as well with no issue as well... yes, its chrome..

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Chrome addons and settings are per user.
Feb 21, 2016 2:42PM PST

So you can find a laptop where one account works and the other does not. Try it after you reset Chrome.

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it could be the browser
Feb 21, 2016 2:53PM PST

the popup only opens when something was clicked on that facebook says could be malware. If you try another browser and it does not appear, then we may be able to get rid of the problem without scanning. If you have the exact same problem on another desktop browser, then it could be something major that normal malware scans will not find. As far as logging on with other devices. There is a big difference between moble devices browsers and computer devices as far as the way pages appear.

One thing you can try to do is to delete your browsers cache and cookies and restart the browser.

Remember you are asking for help because you don't have the answer. We are not sitting in front of the computer so sometimes suggestions are made in order to give clues as to what is causing the problem. It is up to you to try the suggestions. however it is also up us whether or not to help any further if we cannot get valid and valuable information in order to help.

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it was facebook itself...
Feb 23, 2016 1:45PM PST

the requirement to download this anti malware program was attached to my wife's main acct, it showed up when i logged into it from my pc as well.. finally as a last resort i dl'd the damn thing and followed their instructions and meeting facebook's ransom demand...viola she got her acct back. complete bs imo...