Adobe warning causes freeze

Question

Level 1

83 points

Adobe warning causes freeze

Several times over the past year I have had to do a hard shut down of my Mac Pro after seeing one (only) or more warnings that Adobe has stopped a potentially harmful something or another. It happens so quickly and then the window with the warning is gone. However, my computer is frozen. I am unable to use ANY application. Only the cursor moves.

Secondary to this is that when I restart my computer, and I have selected Cancel (to prevent those previously open windows from opening), when I restart Safari, the same windows are opened which I had open when the freeze occurred.

Does anyone know what I can do to eliminate this?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 16GB

Posted on May 4, 2016 8:18 AM

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Answer 1

May 4, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Leon Smith

Hold down the Shift key when you re-launch Safari to NOT re-open the page with the malware loop on it.

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Answer 2

Leon Smith Author

Level 1

83 points

May 4, 2016 8:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

That's a secondary problem that does not cause another freeze.

What I want to know is how to remove all the Adobe crap that causes this. I have seen up to a dozen warning windows, piled on top of each other, and it is usually associated with an ABC News / Yahoo site that has many videos (which I don't open).

Also, I would appreciate knowing whether this will happen if I install El Capitan.

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 4, 2016 8:50 AM in response to Leon Smith

First make sure that Adobe Flash is fully updated. Only go to Adobe's site to download Flash.

If Flash is fully update then the warning would be due to infected site.

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Answer 4

May 4, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Leon Smith

Apple used to have an article that contained a list of directories in which you should search for files that were common adware. That article has been removed, or made hard-to-find.

Instead, the latest ElCapitan has been modified to remove Adware under certain conditions:

If you think that you might have adware on your Mac, update to the most recent version of OS X El Capitan. If your Mac already has the most recent version of El Capitan, restart it. El Capitan removes adware only at login. If you still see advertising on your Mac, contact Apple.

from:

Stop pop-up ads in Safari - Apple Support

.

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Answer 5

Leon Smith Author

Level 1

83 points

May 4, 2016 9:13 AM in response to lllaass

And how do I identify which site is infected?

According to Adobe, my version of Adobe Flash Player is the latest.

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Answer 6

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 4, 2016 9:25 AM in response to Leon Smith

You know when you get the popups

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Answer 7

May 4, 2016 9:30 AM in response to Leon Smith

Sometimes it is not the site itself, but a javascript that is found in an Ad served from a completely different site, appearing in advertising windows on a particular site.

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Answer 8

Leon Smith Author

Level 1

83 points

May 4, 2016 12:06 PM in response to lllaass

The only pop-ups are the Adobe warnings. They do not remain on-screen long enough to read what they refer to and they aren't there long enough to get a screen shot. Bam-bam-gone.

Previous to the freeze today, the last time it froze I left my computer alone to check back later. It was still frozen 4 hours later when I was able to check on it. Not even the screen saver / energy saver had started.

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Answer 9

May 4, 2016 12:47 PM in response to Leon Smith

The scams that freeze your computer are endless loops (from web pages or web ads) written in javascript. But since they were endless loops, you could not get in to close the window, disable javascript, or quit Safari.

Apple added a "circuit breaker" so that it pauses in long javascript loops and allows other things to intervene. It is in the latest Mac OS X.

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Answer 10

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 4, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

You can determine if they are JavaScript by going to Safari>Preferences>Security and uncheck Enable JavaScript.Then go to the problem sites.

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Answer 11

Leon Smith Author

Level 1

83 points

May 10, 2016 4:01 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Updated OS to El Capitan two days ago. OS X 10.11.4.

While reading the MacRumors article on the VOIP lawsuit, I got another warning -

Adobe Flash Player has stopped a potentially unsafe operation. ...

/about/blank

is trying to communicate with ...

pagead2.googlesyndication.com

I was unable to click on either the OK or the Settings... button but my iTunes tune continued playing while everything else was frozen.

This time the warning remained on the screen until I shut down my computer, and the screenshots were preserved.

Force quit / shutdown. Restarted. Staying away from MacRumors.

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