Your browser has been locked

Should you encounter a webpage that restricts other website access and does not allow you close your browser window, you most probably have opened a page that contains a malicious javascript. You see a notification that says “Your browser has been locked”, and this infection tries to convince you that the only way to leave the page or close your browser is to pay the $300 release fee for copyright infringement. Naturally, you have not committed anything of the sort, and you should not pay no heed to the message on your screen, which reads:

Your browser has been blocked due to at least one of the reasons specified below.
You have been subjected to violation of Copyright and Related Rights Law (Video, Music, Software) and illegally using or distributing copyrighted contents.
You have been viewing or distributing prohibited Pornographic content
Illegal access has been initiated from your PC without your knowledge or consent, your PC may be infected with malware

Considering that you see this message on your browser it is very likely that you indeed have been infected with malware. In order to find out whether it is true or not, you should close the browser window and then run a full system scan with SpyHunter free scanner. Should there be any malicious programs installed on your computer, the scanner will detect them immediately and you will be able to invest in a licensed antimalware tool to protect your PC from dangerous infections.

You may say that it is impossible to close your browser, especially if you are using the Internet Explorer, as each time you try to do so, you are presented with the following pop-up:

YOUR BROWSER HAS BEEN LOCKED.
ALL PC DATA WILL BE DETAINED AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURES WILL BE INITIATED AGAINST YOU IF THE FINE WILL NOT BE PAID.

Needless to say, that these threats are meaningless and Your browser has been locked virus has nothing to do with the FBI and other law enforcement authorities. It is more similar to other ransomware infections, such as FBI MoneyPak Virus or NSA Virus. Take note that this malicious javascript might also go by the name of All activities of this computer have been recorded Virus. Either way, you should never transfer any payment via MoneyPak, as it is hard to track money transfers through alternative payment systems. Once you pay the fine – your money is gone.

To close the Internet Explorer window, you simply need to kill the process via Task Manager. Follow instructions below and get rid of this message.

How to terminate Internet Explorer process

1. Right-click the taskbar.
2. Select Start Task Manager and open Processes tab.
3. Click Show processes from all users button and highlight iexplore.exe.
4. Press End Process button.

This should make Internet Explorer close itself, but you should be cautious as not to open the same page twice. Also, do run regular system scans with powerful antimalware tools, because you can never know what malicious infections might be hiding in your system.