Tell a real warning from a picture of one
Tell a message from your own computer apart from a picture of one on a web page — and know the single message that always deserves a yes.
A red page fills the screen. A countdown, a beeping noise, a telephone number for support. It is one of the most frightening things that happens online, and it is a picture.
There is one question, and it settles every case: is this coming from my device, or from a page in my browser? A web page can draw anything at all, including a perfect copy of a Windows warning. What it cannot do is know anything whatever about your computer.
Key points
- Ask where the message came from: your device, or a page you were looking at
- No genuine security warning has ever carried a telephone number
- Closing the browser, and restarting, are safe — they only lose what you had typed into a form and not sent
- Say yes to updates — they close the holes criminals are using this month
What to remember
- A page has an address. A message from your own computer does not.
- Updates come from the inside — from Settings, or from the program’s own menu. Never from somebody else’s page.
Try this
Check that automatic updates are switched on. Windows: Settings, then Windows Update. Mac: System Settings, General, Software Update. Phone: Settings, then Software Update.
Practice: Tell a real warning from a picture of one. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.