iMac OS X 10.9.5. 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Suddenly getting pop-ups. Every time I tried to close hotmail received more junk. Received message: apple firewall warning: severe virus and spyware infection. Credit card info, passwords and photos at risk. Message itself seemed fraudulent. Has anyone experienced this? Suggestions?
iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)
Choose Force Quit from the Apple menu, close Safari, and then launch it with the Shift key held down. If the message reappears, disconnect the computer from the Internet for long enough to erase that site from the browser history, or if desired, run MalwareBytes for Mac; downloading the tool may require a different web browser.
(130792)
Choose Force Quit from the Apple menu, close Safari, and then launch it with the Shift key held down. If the message reappears, disconnect the computer from the Internet for long enough to erase that site from the browser history, or if desired, run MalwareBytes for Mac; downloading the tool may require a different web browser.
(130792)
Sounds like a scam but it would help if you could post a screen shot of the message.
Don't use any kind of "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" product on a Mac. There is never a need for it, and relying on it for protection makes you more vulnerable to attack, not less.
Your problem is most likely not caused by malware. It's a Web scam that only affects your browser, and only temporarily. There are several ways to recover.
1. If you're running Safari 8.0.7 or later and you see a dialog with the message “Don’t show more alerts from this webpage,” check the box and click OK.
2. If no other tabs or windows are open, or if you don't mind losing those tabs or windows, force quit Safari. Relaunch it by holding down the shift key and clicking its icon in the Dock.
The following steps may enable you to keep the state of other open tabs and windows.
3. Press the key combination command-W to close the tab or window. A huge box will pop up. Press the return key and both the box and the page will close. If that doesn't happen, continue.
4. Press and hold command-W. You may hear repeating alert sounds. While holding the keys, click the OK button in the popup. A different popup may appear, which you can cancel out of as usual.
5. From the Safari menu bar, select
Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Security
and uncheck the box marked Enable JavaScript. If the Preferences menu item is grayed out, go to Step 2.
After closing the malicious page, select from the menu bar
Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Privacy ▹ Remove All Website Data
to get rid of any cookies or other data left by the server. Open your Downloads folder and delete anything you don't recognize.
Received message: apple firewall warning severe virus and spyware infection, also many pop-ups. Suggestions?
