Safari Frozen with "FLASH" Popup

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Level 4

2,928 points

Safari Frozen with "FLASH" Popup

I foolishly turned off my ad blocker. Almost immediately, Safari (9.0.1 on Mavericks) was hit by a scam claiming my copy of Flash might be out of date and I should press Continue. I can Quit Safari normally (Force Quitting isn't required), but nothing else. Restarting Safari with the Space bar depressed doesn't work. Disconnecting Ethernet and restarting Safari didn't work. Removing Last Session.plist and History.plist didn't work. How can I get control of Safari back?

Steve Blunk

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Nov 28, 2015 8:59 AM

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Answer 1

pinkstones

Level 5

4,228 points

Nov 28, 2015 9:03 AM in response to Steven Blunk

Go up to  --> Force Quit and select Safari. Click "Force Quit." Reopen Safari in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key.

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Answer 2

Steven Blunk Author

Level 4

2,928 points

Nov 28, 2015 10:01 AM in response to pinkstones

(Forum problems, my last reply was dumped ...) Except, as I noted, restarting Safari with the Space bar depressed didn't clear the issue. I've regained control of Safari - Clicking that Continue button with the Ethernet cable disconnected allowed me to close the offending window. I've re-enabled the ad blocker.

Thanks

srb

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Answer 3

pinkstones

Level 5

4,228 points

Nov 28, 2015 2:45 PM in response to Steven Blunk

Shift and Space are not the same keys. You open a program in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key, not the space bar. You obviously got things worked out, which is great, but in the future, hold down the Shift key.

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Answer 4

Steven Blunk Author

Level 4

2,928 points

Nov 28, 2015 2:59 PM in response to pinkstones

I absolutely don't know what I was thinking, sorry. Hopefully I'll get it right next time. It's annoying I made this mistake so many times in a row - clearly I'd gotten fixated on "Space".

Thnaks again.

srb

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