Red Screen Virus, Adware or Malware Help

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Level 1

29 points

Red Screen Virus, Adware or Malware Help

Good evening everyone,

My Safari has recently been hit with some sort of virus that causes it to lock up and show the attached warning boxes. While locked-up it does not allow the windows to be closed, a new address to be input in the URL bar or any of the pull down menus to be accessed. Below are images of the windows while locked up. The first image is a pop-up that requires a clicking of the 'OK' button to get to the following red screen and subsequent pop-up window. I currently have no anti-virus software installed (I know, I know...) and could use some suggestions on which software may be best to help remove whatever virus/adware/malware this may be. Any suggestions on the specific kind of virus this may be would also be appreciated.

I'm obviously not going to call the phone number or click the buttons on the red screen (which don't seem to be actual links).

For reference, my OS is 10.9.5 and my Safari version is 7.1.7. I'm writing this post from Firefox, which seems to work without any issues.

Thanks in advance,

Eric

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Aug 10, 2015 3:02 PM

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Answer 1

⚠️

Top-ranking reply

Niel

Community+ 2025

Level 10

736,535 points

Aug 10, 2015 3:04 PM in response to Ejand22

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.

It's possible but unlikely that this issue is caused by adware; if so, download and runMalwareBytes for Mac. It isn't caused by a virus in any case.

Not having any antivirus software on your computer isn't a problem unless you're running Windows on it or frequently exchange files with people using Windows.

(131571)

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Answer 2

Kurt Lang

Level 9

64,688 points

Aug 10, 2015 3:23 PM in response to Ejand22

To add to Niel's notes. You aren't infected with anything, and the site doing the "blocking" are the scammers who want you to call the phone number. Do not call them.

It's nothing more than a JavaScript loop that keeps the browser stuck to that site.