Q: how do i stop unwanted webpages appearing when i am using safari

Use Adware Removal Tool.

Log in to an administrator account and download this by clicking "Download Now'  link.

     http://www.thesafemac.com/art/ .

Open the Downloads folder in the Dock and open the “.TSM Adware Removal Tool”.

Click the “TSM Adware Removal Tool” again.

And follow the prompts.

For more on this:

Identify and remove adware

http://www.thesafemac.com/arg/

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Start a reply to this message. Drag the image file into the editing window to upload it. You can also include text in the reply.

"I get a series of associated advert type webpages, sometimes not even associated.  Mackeeper comes up most often."'

It’s malware but easy to remove ..

Download and run the adware removal tool here >   The Safe Mac » Adware Removal Guide

Easy, safe, and only takes a minute or two.

You may have installed the "VSearch" trojan, perhaps under a different name. Remove it as follows.

Malware is constantly changing to get around the defenses against it. The instructions in this comment are valid as of now, as far as I know. They won't necessarily be valid in the future. Anyone finding this comment a few days or more after it was posted should look for more recent discussions or start a new one.

Back up all data before proceeding.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.vsearch.agent.plist

Right-click or control-click the line and select

          Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item named "com.vsearch.agent.plist" selected. Drag the selected item to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password.

Repeat with each of these lines:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vsearch.daemon.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vsearch.helper.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/Jack.plist

Restart the computer and empty the Trash. Then delete the following items in the same way:

/Library/Application Support/VSearch
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Jack
/System/Library/Frameworks/VSearch.framework
~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ConduitNPAPIPlugin.plugin

Some of these items may be absent, in which case you'll get a message that the file can't be found. Skip that item and go on to the next one.

From the Safari menu bar, select

          Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Extensions

Uninstall any extensions you don't know you need, including any that have the word "Spigot," "Trovi," or "Conduit" in the description. If in doubt, uninstall all extensions. Do the equivalent for the Firefox and Chrome browsers, if you use either of those.

Reset the home page and default search engine in all the browsers, if it was changed.

This trojan is distributed on illegal websites that traffic in pirated content. If you, or anyone else who uses the computer, visit such sites and follow prompts to install software, you can expect much worse to happen in the future.

You may be wondering why you didn't get a warning from Gatekeeper about installing software from an unknown developer, as you should have. The reason is that this Internet criminal has a codesigning certificate issued by Apple, which causes Gatekeeper to give the installer a pass. Apple could revoke the certificate, but as of this writing, has not done so, even though it's aware of the problem. This failure of oversight has compromised both Gatekeeper and the Developer ID program. You can't rely on Gatekeeper alone to protect you from harmful software.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination  command-C. In the Finder, select

          Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Hi.

I've been having a similar problem, with particular words in texts on webpages double-underlined and any links I click on taking me to irrelevant websites (as well as opening a relevant window). Linc Davis is absolutely right about the cause. The solution in Carolyn's post seems to have sorted it very quickly, though.

Thanks to all for post/solutions.

so