Q: macibr-flavor.com. Update Video Player???

Is this site legit?

No.

It is an attempt to get you to install adware. Don't do that.

How do I get Safari to stop going to this site?

1. Quit Safari. If necessary, force Safari to quit by following these instructions: OS X: How to quit an unresponsive application using Force Quit.
2. Hold a Shift key while launching Safari again.

If that does not immediately fix the problem:

1. Force Safari to quit again.
2. Disconnect from the Internet by selecting Wi-Fi "off" in the Mac's menu bar, or disconnecting its Ethernet cable if you're not using wireless.
3. Launch Safari again by holding a Shift key.
   • No pages will be able to load since you're not connected to the Internet.
4. Select the Safari menu > Preferences > General, and review your home page selection.
5. Select the Privacy pane > Remove All Website Data... > Remove Now.
   • After you reconnect to the Internet, you will need to sign in again with all websites that require authentication (such as this one).
6. Turn Wi-Fi back on again or reconnect your Ethernet cable.

You'll be back in business.

In an abundance of caution, consider the following additional actions. They are not required to eliminate the scam webpage but you should review them to determine certain Safari settings have not been unexpectedly altered.

1. Open Safari's Preferences... and select Extensions. Uninstall any Extensions that you are not certain you require by clicking the Uninstall button.
   • If you are not sure what to uninstall, uninstall all of them. None are required for normal operation.
2. Select the Privacy pane. Verify "Cookies and website data" is configured the way you expect. If you are not certain what choice is appropriate, choose "Allow from websites I visit".

You installed the "VSearch" trojan. Remove it as follows.

Malware is always changing to get around the defenses against it. These instructions 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.

Step 1

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.

Step 2

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

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

/Library/Application Support/VSearch
/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.

The problem may have started when you downloaded and ran an application called "MPlayerX." That's the name of a legitimate free movie player, but the name is also used fraudulently to distribute VSearch. If there is an item with that name in the Applications folder, delete it, and if you wish, replace it with the genuine article from mplayerx.org.

This trojan is often found on illegal websites that traffic in pirated content such as movies. If you, or anyone else who uses the computer, visit such sites and follow prompts to install software, you can expect more of the same, and worse, to follow.

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 the Internet criminal behind VSearch 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.

Thank you so much John. Following your clear instructions did exactly what you said it would and we have fixed the problem.