VinInCT

Q: Is it a virus or repair tool??

Has anyone ever received the pop up from Safari stating: The last website you visited has infected your Mac with a virus. Press OK to begin the repair process. The website shown is eezdownloads.com. I'm not sure if I should press OK or not and I'm locked out of every other function. Thanks

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jan 10, 2015 1:51 PM

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Q: Is it a virus or repair tool??

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  • by stedman1,Solvedanswer

    stedman1 stedman1 Jan 10, 2015 1:53 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 9 (73,345 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jan 10, 2015 1:53 PM in response to VinInCT

    It is a scam.

    Force quit Safari, then restart Safari while holding the Shift key.

  • by VinInCT,

    VinInCT VinInCT Jan 10, 2015 1:55 PM in response to stedman1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2015 1:55 PM in response to stedman1

    How do I force quit? it won't respond to anything? can you tell me? Thanks

  • by VinInCT,

    VinInCT VinInCT Jan 10, 2015 1:57 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2015 1:57 PM in response to VinInCT

    nevermind, I figured it out. Thanks!

  • by stedman1,Helpful

    stedman1 stedman1 Jan 10, 2015 1:58 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 9 (73,345 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jan 10, 2015 1:58 PM in response to VinInCT

    You are welcome.

  • by VinInCT,

    VinInCT VinInCT Jan 10, 2015 2:10 PM in response to stedman1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2015 2:10 PM in response to stedman1

    Another quick question - How does something like this get through Gatekeeper? I'm relatively new to Mac and visited my car dealership website to set up an appointment for service like I always do. That's when i got the pop up. Is there a software that I should add?

     

    thanks again!

  • by stedman1,

    stedman1 stedman1 Jan 10, 2015 2:13 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 9 (73,345 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jan 10, 2015 2:13 PM in response to VinInCT

    Other being alert to such pop-ups, there isn't much a person can do to avoid them. The key is to understand that any attempt by a web site to trick you into clicking on their link, should be looked at as a scam.

  • by VinInCT,

    VinInCT VinInCT Jan 10, 2015 4:15 PM in response to stedman1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2015 4:15 PM in response to stedman1

    that part I understand. What i don't understand is why it's coming from the site that I use regularly and am on all the time. And since this had the Safari icon on it it's easy to think it was an Apple alert. Thanks for your help.

  • by John Galt,Helpful

    John Galt John Galt Jan 10, 2015 6:49 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 8 (48,595 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 10, 2015 6:49 PM in response to VinInCT

    VinInCT wrote:

     

    Another quick question - How does something like this get through Gatekeeper?

     

    Gatekeeper is a defense designed to intervene upon attempting to install something potentially untrustworthy. The scam webpage you encountered doesn't install anything; it merely prevents you from navigating away from that page in the usual fashion. Its goal, pathetic as it may be, is to persuade you to click on some link that will in turn persuade you to install some junk. You didn't do that. If you did, only then would Gatekeeper intervene. It won't absolutely prevent you from installing something harmful, but the warning it provides should always be seriously considered.

     

    At present, although OS X provides adequate warning regarding the effects of installing software from potentially untrustworthy sources, Apple's philosophy is to allow Mac users to configure and modify their equipment to their heart's content. That presupposes a minimum level of intelligence on the part of its users. Given evident changes in market conditions Apple may not retain that same philosophy in the future.

  • by VinInCT,

    VinInCT VinInCT Jan 10, 2015 7:14 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2015 7:14 PM in response to John Galt

    Thanks John...It wasn't even a web page. It's the car dealership site that I go on every time I want to schedule an appointment and the pop-up came out of nowhere. That's what was so surprising.

     

    Your explanation regarding gatekeeper makes sense. Thanks again.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Jan 10, 2015 7:36 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 8 (48,595 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 10, 2015 7:36 PM in response to VinInCT

    If you are being inundated with nonstop page redirects and popup advertisements not limited to that particular website it may be another problem, so write back.

     

    Nearly all websites have advertisements, and the website administrator may claim to have no control over them. That's no excuse since they enjoy the revenue that those advertisements provide, but it could explain why you never encountered the scam webpage in the past.

     

    It's also possible the dealership's site was simply hacked. That happens too. It's more common among websites maintained by universities and similar institutions that are by necessity open to a large number of users, and targeted by people with too much time on their hands.

  • by VinInCT,

    VinInCT VinInCT Jan 10, 2015 7:56 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2015 7:56 PM in response to John Galt

    No, I never get inundated with pop-ups. I never get pop-ups for that matter. This is the first time. And their webpage is ad free aside from corporate or dealer specials. There are no 3rd party advertisers on their site so maybe they were hacked.

  • by HFonda,

    HFonda HFonda Jan 11, 2015 12:49 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 11, 2015 12:49 PM in response to VinInCT

    Thank you. That seems to fix it. My gut feeling told me that this was a scam.

     

    HF

  • by AmelineFL,

    AmelineFL AmelineFL Jan 13, 2015 12:54 PM in response to VinInCT
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2015 12:54 PM in response to VinInCT

    I have this problem right now.

     

    I can quit Safari no problem.

     

    However, holding shift when I restart does nothing...Safari still opens with the eezdownloads Virus pop-up.  It has all my options greyed out...delete history, Safari preferences, etc.

     

    I have tried quitting Safari, rebooting my computer and holding down the shift key to reopen Safari...pop up is still there // sigh.

     

    Any further ideas?

     

    I am emailing you from Firefox while freaking out about this.

     

    Thank you!

     

    Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 3.53.07 PM.png

  • by VinInCT,

    VinInCT VinInCT Jan 13, 2015 1:32 PM in response to AmelineFL
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2015 1:32 PM in response to AmelineFL

    Not sure what to tell you. Force quitting Safari did it for me. Once I force quit I reopened Safari and it was gone.

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