Help - a couple of pop-ups appeared when I typed in Facebook address wrong, now I can't get rid of them, Safari won't let me close it down, and Shutdown doesn't work, saying Safari hasn't allowed it to, until I quit Safari, which I can't. What to do?!
MacBook Air (11-INCH, MID 2011)
Option-Click on the Safari icon in the dock, and select force-quit from the menu.
What is your OS X version (are you current), and do you have Java installed and enabled?
Thanks - no force-quit seems to come up from Safari icon, just a Quit, which doesn't do anything.
Version is
Mac OS X 10.7.2 (11C74) - presume this is current as machine not very old, I don't think I have Java runtime installed as it wouldn't let me open Java VisualVM and asked if I wanted to install Java run time. Does that make sense?
New to Macs and finding it tricky finding everything! Also apparently no anti-virus required for Macs but some strange things certainly seem to be happening to our computer so surely some anti-malware or something required?
Appreciate the response
It sounds like you simply stumbled onto a dodgy site that is using pop-ups to prevent you from leaving their site and Safari from quitting. Press command-option-esc, select Safari and click the Force Quit button. Then, when re-opening Safari, hold down the shift key to prevent it from trying to re-load the site(s) that were open when it quit.
You do need to update your machine as soon as possible, as 10.7.2 is vulnerable to some malware, if you have Java installed. Just choose Software Update from the Apple menu and let it install everything that comes up.
For more information about the malware that can affect Macs and how to protect yourself, see my Mac Malware Guide.
It has worked and you have made me very happy. Thanks so much - think we need to go away and do some more learning about Mac basics! Will read your guide.
Thanks - no force-quit seems to come up from Safari icon, just a Quit, which doesn't do anything.
If all you saw was QUIT in the menu, you probably did not have the OPTION key held when you clicked on the option. That is, press the OPT (option) key when you click.
If you're at 10.7.2, your system is down-revision. Please run software update. Click on the Apple menu in the upper left, and select Software Update.
Beyond Java (which is not installed on Lion and later, by default), another common target for security attacks is Adobe Flash. I've removed that from most of the that systems that I deal with. Visit the Adobe web site and use their deinstaller to get rid of the Flash Player tool. (If you don't remove it, you'll find you're updating that tool fairly regularly, and OS X will automatically disable a down-revision Flash Player in recent versions, pending the update or the removal.)
Thank you so much. I have El Capitain 10.11.4 and the Shift Key still works to fix the 300 pop up Malware problem, thank GOD. I also cleared my history and did the update. Can you suggest a protection software or do I need it?
Malware pop-ups won't go away!
