When I'm on a website that has ads on it, especially ones that use flash player, no matter where they are on the page, safari keeps scrolling back to the ad no matter how many times I try to scroll up or down to get away from it. Are there any settings I can change or something I can do to make this stop?
MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)
Force Quit Safari ( command + option + esc keys). Then, Relaunch Safari holding the shift key. Then, turn off Safari extensions (Safari menu > Preferences > Extensions)
Then Download and run MalwareBytes. Malwarebytes was developed by one of our own colleagues here in ASC. It gets rave reviews and is about the most proven anti-malware software for Mac. Very recently Apple has been begun recommending it for removal of adware. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7542720.
I don't see anywhere in the extensions preferences to turn them off? I only have two extensions but I'm pretty sure they have nothing to do with this. I downloaded and ran the MalwareBytes and it didn't find anything.
Did the force quitting and then relaunching Safari have any effect?
No it didn't do anything. Could it have something to do with my plug ins rather than my extensions?
It could. Let us have a look at an EtreCheck report to see if we can pinpoint the cause of this. EtreCheck was created by one of own helpers here in ASC. It is a diagnostic tool that's very useful to us in finding problems. Also it will give us further specs on your Mac. After it runs post the log file here. It will contain no personal information
EtreCheck version: 2.9.11 (264)
Report generated 2016-04-28 13:47:58
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 3:16
Performance: Good
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Problem: Other problem
Description:
Safari continually scrolls to ads while trying to view a webpage.
Hardware Information:ⓘ
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2
1 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core
16 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 757
Video Information:ⓘ
Intel HD Graphics 3000
Color LCD 1440 x 900
AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1024 MB
System Software:ⓘ
OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 (15B42) - Time since boot: about 8 days
Disk Information:ⓘ
TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF disk0 : (750.16 GB) (Rotational)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 748.93 GB (637.62 GB free)
Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked
Core Storage: disk0s2 749.30 GB Online
MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8 ()
USB Information:ⓘ
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper:ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions:ⓘ
/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/unsigned
[loaded] com.avast.AvastFileShield (3.0.0 - SDK 10.10 - 2016-04-12) [Support]
/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/unsigned
[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (2.1 - SDK 10.10 - 2016-04-12) [Support]
System Launch Agents:ⓘ
[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks
[loaded] 149 Apple tasks
[running] 80 Apple tasks
System Launch Daemons:ⓘ
[not loaded] 46 Apple tasks
[loaded] 146 Apple tasks
[running] 94 Apple tasks
Launch Agents:ⓘ
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-04-12) [Support]
[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2016-02-15) [Support]
[running] com.avast.update-agent.plist (2016-04-13) [Support]
[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist (2016-04-13) [Support]
[loaded] com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist (2009-07-28) [Support]
[running] com.rosettastone.rosettastonedaemon.plist (2012-04-26) [Support]
Launch Daemons:ⓘ
[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2016-04-12) [Support]
[loaded] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2016-04-12) [Support]
[failed] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-04-15) [Support]
[loaded] com.avast.init.plist (2016-04-13) [Support]
[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist (2016-04-13) [Support]
[loaded] com.avast.update.plist (2016-04-13) [Support]
[loaded] com.malwarebytes.MBAMHelperTool.plist (2016-04-28) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2011-03-10) [Support]
User Launch Agents:ⓘ
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-05-07) [Support]
[loaded] com.avast.home.userinit.plist (2016-04-13) [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-03-02) [Support]
User Login Items:ⓘ
Android File Transfer Agent Application (~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)
MacLWSLauncher Application (/Applications/Logitech/LWS/Logitech Webcam Software.app/Contents/MacOS/MacLWSLauncher.app)
MediaFire Desktop Application (/Applications/MediaFire Desktop.app)
HP Product Research Application (/Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard/Customer Participation/HP Product Research.app)
Other Apps:ⓘ
[running] com.adobe.CCLibrary.128672
[running] com.adobe.CCXProcess.131232
[running] com.adobe.acc.AdobeDesktopService.64992.3F7C3A80-1F2C-488B-8550-B2CB7ABD2B78
[running] com.adobe.accmac.98912
[loaded] com.avast.account
[loaded] com.avast.crashreport
[running] com.avast.daemon
[running] com.avast.fileshield
[running] com.avast.helper
[running] com.avast.proxy
[running] com.avast.service
[running] com.google.android.mtpagent.85792
[running] com.hp.productresearch.84832
[running] com.mediafire.desktop.18912
[running] com.microsoft.Excel.52512
[running] com.microsoft.autoupdate.fba.13792
[loaded] 394 Apple tasks
[running] 211 Apple tasks
Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ
JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 - SDK 10.11 (2013-03-05) Check version
Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2015-10-17)
AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin101750: AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin 1.0.17 - SDK 10.4 (2013-07-13) [Support]
NP_2020Player_WEB: 5.0.94.0 - SDK 10.6 (2011-10-26) [Support]
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2016-04-12) [Support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-21) [Support]
Silverlight: 5.1.41212.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-16) [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2015-10-17)
Flash Player: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-21) [Support]
SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.1.4 - SDK 10.6 (2012-03-02) [Support]
CouponPrinter-FireFox_v2: Version 1.1.9 - SDK 10.5 (2013-04-11) [Support]
DirectorShockwave: 12.0.0r112 - SDK 10.6 (2013-02-19) [Support]
User internet Plug-ins:ⓘ
EMusic: EMusic 1.0.0 (2012-09-17) [Support]
Safari Extensions:ⓘ
Qmee - Qmee - https://www.qmee.com (2016-03-14)
Pin It Button - Pinterest, Inc. - http://www.pinterest.com/ (2015-09-22)
3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ
Flash Player (2016-04-15) [Support]
Time Machine:ⓘ
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ
8% mdworker(9)
6% WindowServer
4% kernel_task
4% coreaudiod
3% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(5)
Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ
1.18 GB kernel_task
754 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(5)
492 MB softwareupdated
311 MB mds_stores
311 MB Finder
Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ
4.98 GB Free RAM
11.00 GB Used RAM (4.83 GB Cached)
0 B Swap Used
It probably has nothing to do with what you're describing, but you should uninstall Avast. There are no viruses for OS X currently floating around the Internet, so anti-virus programs are at this time, unnecessary. Fortunately, Macs are not plagued with some of the problems that PCs are, and if this were a Windows forum, you'd be absolutely correct to have some kind of anti-virus program on your system. However, anti-virus programs aren't made for specifically for Macs, they're adapted for them, and that means they don't really play well with them. We see people here complaining many times of slowness, lagging, dragging, and other issues, and more often than not, it's traced back to anti-virus or "maintenance" programs.
What Mac users need to be smart about is malware and adware, which unlike viruses that install themselves, are installed by you. When you download something via torrent or aggregate download site, many times those installers are bundled with adware or malware, and when you install what you were looking for, you also install whatever was attached to it, which you definitely weren't looking for.
It didn't have anything to do with the problem but it has been pretty slow lately. I don't even remember putting that on here so I removed it. Thanks!
Thank you for the info but it's not redirecting me anywhere nor are there any pop ups. I'm still on the page I wanted to be on, it just won't let me scroll away from the ad.
Try a SMC reset. The article covers when this is required, but doing this will not affect anything.
Reset SMC
How to stop Safari from scrolling back to ads?
