Laptop locked

My daughter was using her laptop earlier looking for the Pictionary website when a message came up purporting to be from the police saying she had been downloading illegally and imposing a £50 fine. Her laptop is now locked. Has anyone come across or any suggestions how to unlock it?

 

It does sound like that it might be malware causing the lock-up.

Would you mind explaining what do you mean by 'locked'?, does the computer lock up as soon as it is turned on?, or can you see the login screen?

It is important that you answer the above questions, as it could be a piece of malware that affects the Master Boot Record.

 

Almost smells like a stolen laptop...

I hope you didn't pay that fine, it's probably from malware if anything. I don't feel comfortable assisting someone trying to "unlock" a laptop. If you have recovery disc you can try that.

 

It must be malware UNLESS she has a government owned laptop that has software (From Cyrix probably) that can take control of the computer.

First thing you should do, turn off the internet to the laptop. Then run your antivirus software of choice.

--MBR corruption, I thought the BIOS usually blocks tampering

 

I would not jump the gun quite so easily, scam malware like this is not unheard of:

[LINK]

The case in the link above was reported 3 days ago, it could be a new piece of malware in distribution.

The BIOS itself cannot be tampered with, but it does not prevent Malware from allocating itself in the MBR:

[LINK]

 

I agree with Aeris. It smells like malware. Similar to the old "you have a virus" pay us now to rid your computer of it scams.

 

If the machine fails to boot into Safe Mode (or show the 'Startup Options' screen, even), try and obtain a Windows Installation Disc (usually, laptop computers ship with one) that matches your installed Windows version.

Then, follow the instructions in the link below:

[LINK]

Once done and after rebooting the machine, log into 'Safe Mode with Networking' (as previously pointed out by 'Home PC Repair') then download Malwarebytes and ComboFix.

Run ComboFix (please post the results here before removal, then post the report log in this thread, that would be very helpful) and then Malwarebytes (Full System Scan option, posts the results here also, before removal).

 

hi mary and welcome to nbr
firstly can you post a picture of the message on screen.
then you need to ask your daughter if she has downloaded any music/film/game etc as a lot of parents have no idea what kids get upto on computers. dont panic though as it most probably is a virus or malware.
i would agree with the above posters as you would not get a message direct from the police but from firstly your internet service provider.

right:
what computer operating system does it have. xp/vista/windows 7
what antivirus does it have loaded and is it the free version or the pro paid version.

could you turn it on and continually press F8 key until you get a black screen open. once this loads click on safe mode.
then can you run the antivirus software you have loaded and report back.

 

Quite possibly/likely that the message was malware.

I agree with MrDJ suggestion of using the AV in safe mode to scan the computer.

It also depends on what kind of AV is it, and just HOW did the laptop became 'locked'.

We need this information so we can ascertain the situation and provide the best possible advice.

 

cant be that important as no reply back.

on to the next