Message from Norton indicating it has detected several virus in my MacBook Air

A message does not have the ability to bypass the security system of macOS to warn you, or rather; scare you in an attempt to fool you into making poor judgment.

I can assure you, there is no virus whatsoever on your computer.

dulcelina67 wrote:

Norton and McAfee keep on posting in my Mac computer "Protect your PC from viruses (has found 5)" Do I need to purchase Norton or McAfee antivirus?

Those are scam messages. Do not reply to them. Try these instructions to turn off notifications: Turn off notifications for an app or website on Mac - Apple Support

You’re welcome! 👋🏼😁

Doesn't turning off the notifications just mask the problem? How do I get rid of whatever is on my computer that is causing the popups?

Absolutely not. It's a scam scare tactic to get you to buy a product you don't need.

Those things pop up immediately. No scanner will ever produce results that fast and considering the scan would be over the internet, it would necessarily be even slower than a local scan.

BellaTheFab wrote:

Doesn't turning off the notifications just mask the problem? How do I get rid of whatever is on my computer that is causing the popups?

What is causing the problem, in many cases, is that you got tricked (no judgement, they're clever) into allowing a website to send you notifications. So, the notifications ARE the problem.

BellaTheFab wrote:

Doesn't turning off the notifications just mask the problem? How do I get rid of whatever is on my computer that is causing the popups?

There is nothing on your computer that is causing a problem because the Notification that you allowed from a website is a fake ad trying to get money from you. Some websites will ask you if they have permission to send you Notifications and if you allow them, the Notification can be anything. With sites that are less than legitimate, the notifications you will receive are fake ads that attempt to scare you. They make you think you have a problem and to solve it, you will need to download their software. This is a scam.

The solution is to go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notification,s and remove all of the sites you have allowed to send you Notifications. You will no longer get those fake messages. In the future, do not allow websites to send you Notifications.