every few days, safari pops up and disappears repeatedly. It adds extensions that don't easily delete- they all have an icon that is a magnifying glass on teal background. It jumps in front of anything I'm doing, and interrupts what I'm working on. I keep digging up the apps in finder and deleting-- I wanted to completely delete Safari, but understand it's necessary for other functions
this has to stop!!
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14
Very likely, you have downloaded something from other than the original developer's website, and granted administrator privileges to install it. It probably contained a malware component that executes a Safari extension installer, as that is the only means to install an extension into current versions of Safari.
Starting with Safari quit, press and hold the shift key as you launch Safari. That will prevent it from reloading its previous application state. Do the following:
Download and install the free Malwarebytes for Mac, and run it. It is purposely designed to find adware/malware, and whether it flags anything or not, it may remove the source of your invading extensions. Quit Malwarebytes when it is done.
Launch Safari normally, and see if any extensions have returned. Remember, extensions get installed in Safari after an application is run that is designed to install them. What application did you download and install prior to your current Safari extensions mischief?
Very likely, you have downloaded something from other than the original developer's website, and granted administrator privileges to install it. It probably contained a malware component that executes a Safari extension installer, as that is the only means to install an extension into current versions of Safari.
Starting with Safari quit, press and hold the shift key as you launch Safari. That will prevent it from reloading its previous application state. Do the following:
Download and install the free Malwarebytes for Mac, and run it. It is purposely designed to find adware/malware, and whether it flags anything or not, it may remove the source of your invading extensions. Quit Malwarebytes when it is done.
Launch Safari normally, and see if any extensions have returned. Remember, extensions get installed in Safari after an application is run that is designed to install them. What application did you download and install prior to your current Safari extensions mischief?
safari keeps opening itself up and adding unknown extensions
