Why are there so many ads on my laptop?

Question

Why are there so many ads on my laptop?

For the past few months I've had a serious problem with ads and pop ups on my computer. Anytime i click on anything regardless of what it is, even just blank space on my screen, an ad will pop up. The ad might take me to a new tab or window, and the ads often advertise some sort of computer software that is supposed to protect my laptop from viruses or clear out existing ones, such as Mac Cleaner. I also get notifications that my computer has been compromised by a virus or other malware that freeze my screen and don't let me close the tab unless i quit safari. I am hesitant to believe these pop ups or call the numbers on the screens in order to avoid attracting even more problems to my computer. I have tried using other browsers and clearing my computer from cookies, but the problem is persistent and nothing seems to work...

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 5, 2015 6:28 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Niel

Level 10

726,629 points

Mar 5, 2015 6:30 PM in response to ladyunicornbuns

1. Click here and follow the instructions, or if there’s a type of adware not covered by them on the computer, these ones. If you're willing to use a tool to remove it(you don't need to, but may find it easier), you can instead run Adware Medic; this link is a direct download.

2. Choose Force Quit from the Apple menu, close Safari, and then launch it with the Shift key held down. If that doesn't work, temporarily disconnect the computer from the Internet.

(123514)

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Answer 2

Bravo4

Level 1

4 points

Mar 5, 2015 7:06 PM in response to ladyunicornbuns

Try running the free version of MalwareBytes or download and install free Avast. I run them on users machines that respond the same way and the cleaning results are thourough. Good luck!

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Answer 3

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Mar 6, 2015 4:15 AM in response to Bravo4

Bravo4 wrote:

Try running the free version of MalwareBytes or download and install free Avast.

MalwareBytes is a Windows solution.

As for Avast, that's the worst Mac anti-virus software you could possibly have. It has a serious problem with false positives, it has included adware in the recent past and has deals with known adware distributor download.com, and it has a serious problem with hijacking the SSL certificates of HTTPS sites in a very inappropriate way. NEVER use Avast!

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