Q: Safari is frozen by malware. A pop up window from pctechief.com says "Security at Risk" "Your PC has detected a virus attack on your browser" "Contact Customer Support at 1-855-704-1387 (Toll Free)"

Choose Force Quit from the Apple menu, close Safari, and then launch it with the Shift key held down. If that doesn't work, temporarily disconnect the computer from the Internet.

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That is a phishing scam. Please don't click on any links or call any phone numbers.

Helpful Links Regarding Malware Problems

If you are having an immediate problem with ads popping up:

Remove Browser Pop-up Problems

     AdwareMedic

     Adblock Plus 1.8.9

     remove adware that displays pop-up ads and graphics on your Mac

Open Safari, select Preferences from the Safari menu. Click on Extensions icon in the toolbar. Disable all Extensions. If this stops your problem, then re-enable them one by one until the problem returns. Now remove that extension as it is causing the problem.

The following comes from user stevejobsfan0123. I have made minor changes to adapt to this presentation.

Fix Some Browser Pop-ups That Take Over Safari.

 

Common pop-ups include a message saying the government has seized your computer and you must pay to have it released (often called "Moneypak"), or a phony message saying that your computer has been infected, and you need to call a tech support number (sometimes claiming to be Apple) to get it resolved. First, understand that these pop-ups are not caused by a virus and your computer has not been affected. This "hijack" is limited to your web browser. Also understand that these messages are scams, so do not pay any money, call the listed number, or provide any personal information. This article will outline the solution to dismiss the pop-up.

 

Quit Safari

 

Usually, these pop-ups will not go away by either clicking "OK" or "Cancel." Furthermore, several menus in the menu bar may become disabled and show in gray, including the option to quit Safari. You will likely have to force quit Safari. To do this, press Command + option + esc, select Safari, and press Force Quit.

 

Relaunch Safari

 

If you relaunch Safari, the page will reopen. To prevent this from happening, hold down the 'Shift' key while opening Safari. This will prevent windows from the last time Safari was running from reopening.

 

This will not work in all cases. The shift key must be held at the right time, and in some cases, even if done correctly, the window reappears. In these circumstances, after force quitting Safari, turn off Wi-Fi or disconnect Ethernet, depending on how you connect to the Internet. Then relaunch Safari normally. It will try to reload the malicious webpage, but without a connection, it won't be able to. Navigate away from that page by entering a different URL, i.e. www.apple.com, and trying to load it. Now you can reconnect to the Internet, and the page you entered will appear rather than the malicious one.

I followed all of your instructions from above and still does not work. Turned off my Wi-Fi for the last hour and a half and turned off my computer at the same time. When I turned it back on the problem still persists. Any other suggestions?

My 1st attempt at using the Shift key did not work - I tried to relaunch the application from the short cut icon; I tried that multiple times with no success.   After closing out Safari once again, I went to Applications, found Safari, then depressed the shift key and continued holding it down while trying to start Safari from there - that worked without having to close out the internet connection.

Good luck.

I tried opening Safari from Application folder  with holding Shift Key down, however it didn't work.

I clicked an Web URL link from one of my emails and it did the trick... I was able to clear history and other cookies.

MY safari on my Mac book doesn't respond ,it keeps buffering since I upgraded to El Capitan ,and a pop up window saying can't recognise website