Scammers have been playing the your computer is doomed card since the dawn of the Internet, and let's be honest - people are still falling for it. Microsoft has now decided to finally step in with a new feature in Edge to fight these ever-persistent fake virus warnings.

For years, cybercriminals have been perfecting their scareware tactics, throwing pop-ups and shock messages at unsuspecting users, convincing them their device is on the verge of spontaneous combustion. The grand solution? A scam hotline where Microsoft employees (read: fraudsters) are more than happy to help – for a price, of course.

Microsoft now takes action and is rolling out a new feature in its Edge browser that is intended to block such shock messages. For now this featrue must first be activated via the settings menu.

Protection against false virus reports

Scareware in the browser often appears in the form of annoying pop-up windows from malicious websites that indicate an alleged virus on the PC. There are also often nasty full-screen messages that seem impossible to click away. Warning tones or a computer-generated voice are played to increase the shock effect.

As Microsoft explains, one problem with identifying such scam sites has been that they change after just a few hours in order to avoid being recognized. A new feature in Microsoft Edge is therefore designed to use machine learning to detect and block such messages early on. The AI ​​model is designed to run locally on the computer and recognize typical characteristics of scareware.

Full-screen mode is then automatically ended and aggressive audio playback is prevented. Instead, users see an (authentic) warning from Edge with a preview image of the suspicious page. Microsoft states that not all scams can be identified and that there can also be false alarms. Users can provide feedback to gradually improve the feature.

How to activate the new protection feature

The new function is currently being rolled out as a preview version for Microsoft Edge on Windows and must first be activated:

You can find it in the settings under Privacy, search and services. There, under the sub-item Security, the switch for the new Scareware Blocker must be switched. If the option does not appear there, you should check whether you have the latest version installed and restart the browser if necessary.

Microsoft does not provide any information on whether and when the feature will also be available on the Edge versions for other operating systems. Users of other browsers can best protect themselves from scareware by not clicking on suspicious ads and paying attention to suspicious URLs. Full-screen messages can usually be closed by holding down the ESC key.