I have, since yesterday, been receiving MANY popups that tell me I have been infected by virus/ malware / flash player needs to updated (which is how I think I got into this mess as I updated the flash player yesterday). There are popups from Apple Care Protection Plan and "official apple support". I just don't want to further damage the computer. Are these legit or is there something better I can do to confirm that these popups are legit?
Apple will never pop up dialogs in Safari, or any other browser, which isolates what you are experiencing to very real looking SCAMS. Click no buttons on these dialogs, not even a cancel button. As there are no viruses on the Mac, and no one can sweep your Mac remotely anyway, this is just another SCAM along with the bogus Flash Player nonsense.
Force quit Safari (option+command+esc keys) or option-right-click on the Safari Dock icon and select Force Quit. Now, do the following:
As you can have a adware/malware infection, download and install the free Malwarebytes for Mac to scan and offer to remove anything that it finds. This is a 14-day "realtime" trial, and afterward it disables the realtime features but allows you to continue using it interactively. Once you have performed the Malwarebytes sweep, you can start Safari again normally, and see if your intrusion pop-ups have gone. Many of us recommend and use Malwarebytes, but frankly, if one watches which sites they visit, and only download software from the original vendor, the adware/malware issue is almost eliminated. On websites that are just a quagmire of download buttons and rollover links, just avoid the site as nothing good can come from anything there.
I have removed all traces of the legitimate Adobe Flash player from my Mac.
Effective defenses against malware and other threats
Virus, Trojans, Malware - and other aspects of Internet security
Apple will never pop up dialogs in Safari, or any other browser, which isolates what you are experiencing to very real looking SCAMS. Click no buttons on these dialogs, not even a cancel button. As there are no viruses on the Mac, and no one can sweep your Mac remotely anyway, this is just another SCAM along with the bogus Flash Player nonsense.
Force quit Safari (option+command+esc keys) or option-right-click on the Safari Dock icon and select Force Quit. Now, do the following:
As you can have a adware/malware infection, download and install the free Malwarebytes for Mac to scan and offer to remove anything that it finds. This is a 14-day "realtime" trial, and afterward it disables the realtime features but allows you to continue using it interactively. Once you have performed the Malwarebytes sweep, you can start Safari again normally, and see if your intrusion pop-ups have gone. Many of us recommend and use Malwarebytes, but frankly, if one watches which sites they visit, and only download software from the original vendor, the adware/malware issue is almost eliminated. On websites that are just a quagmire of download buttons and rollover links, just avoid the site as nothing good can come from anything there.
I have removed all traces of the legitimate Adobe Flash player from my Mac.
Effective defenses against malware and other threats
Virus, Trojans, Malware - and other aspects of Internet security
They are all scams.
Popups and 'official' messages
