Virus Alert Popup While Reading Yahoo Articles

Question

Level 1

6 points

Virus Alert Popup While Reading Yahoo Articles

I bought a new MacBook Pro last month after my late 2011 one crashed and I couldn't get it back up no matter what I did. On my new MacBook as well as my old one I would get a virus alert popping up while reading an article on Yahoo. It would leave Yahoo and go to this alert. Normally I would just close it and open a new page to go back to Yahoo and read the article because I know it is just some scam and I didn't have any virus. Tonight was different as once it went to this alert page it started downloading crap to my computer and the only way I could stop it was to pull the internet connection, open up the download page and trash all the crap it downloaded. Is this a new version of the old alert scam to where it just starts downloading to my MacBook? Is there any way to avoid this other than "staying off Yahoo" as I don't believe I get this on any other website? I haven't downloaded Malwarebytes to see if something in my new computer is triggering this but I don't think so. Thank you if someone can assist.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on May 16, 2018 8:00 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

dominic23

Level 10

83,952 points

May 17, 2018 4:29 AM in response to alanday

Popups

1. Click  menu in the menu bar, press the shift key on the keyboard

and choose “Force Quit Safari” from the dropdown.

Launch Safari holding the shift key down.

2. If you might have installed adware or other unwanted software on your Mac

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203987

Yahoo

1. Disable all extensions and test.

Turnoff or uninstall extensions.

Section: Manage extensions: https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/use-safari-extensions-sfri32508/mac

2. Choose a search engine.

Delete all text in the Smart Search field, click the magnifying glass , then choose a search engine from the list.

https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/customize-your-search-ibrwe75c2a3c/mac

3. Set your Home Page. https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/set-your-homepage-ibrw1020/mac

4. Restart your Mac.

5. Launch Safari holding the Shift key down.

6.If the steps posted above don’t help,

use Malwarebytes for Mac to remove adware/malware.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

Install guide: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1817

Uninstall Guide: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1190

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,573 points

May 17, 2018 7:57 AM in response to alanday

If the above doesn't work, Safari/Preferences/Advanced - enable the Develop menu, then go there and Empty Caches. Quit/reopen Safari and test. Then try Safari/History/Show History and delete all history items. Quit/reopen Safari and test. You can also try try Safari/Clear History…. This also clears all cookies. Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db and move it to the trash.

If you are still having problems, try running this program in your normal user account, then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy Report” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown. You can run the report for free at least once, but if you run it several times, at some point it will ask you to pay a license fee.

Etrecheck – System Information

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Answer 3

alanday Author

Level 1

6 points

May 17, 2018 11:04 AM in response to Eric Root

Thank you for the reply. I haven't tried all of Dominic's recommendations yet. I never know when or what activates this to link to the virus alert page except for it seems like I'm on Yahoo when it occurs. I always open Safari in a new private window. Going to Library/Caches/, there is no com.apple.Safari/Cache.db. There is com.apple.Safari, com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing, and com.apple.safaridavclient. Is it not there because I always open in a new private window? I did open Safari in just a new window to see if com.apple.Safari/Cache.db would appear but it didn't.

I'll get deeper into it during the weekend when I have more time but as I stated, other than Yahoo, I don't know what triggers it so it is difficult to do something and then test, do something and then test. Thank you.

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Answer 4

alanday Author

Level 1

6 points

May 18, 2018 10:23 AM in response to Eric Root

Finder/Home with my name next to it in the side bar under Air drop, recents, icloud drive, applications, desktop,documents, downloads, and then a house symbol with my name next to it./library after I checked the box per your instructions/cache/and still the same 3 com.apple.safari folders. There is a com.apple.cache_delete folder. Could you be referring to that folder?

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Answer 5

alanday Author

Level 1

6 points

May 22, 2018 5:32 PM in response to Eric Root

I wasn't opening com.apple.Safari far enough. Upon opening that, I found cache.db, cache.db-shm, cache.db-wal. Does that sound right? I sent cache.db to the trash. Been dealing with flooding issues here in Florida and didn't have time to work on this problem this weekend. Is cache.db something that will regenerate or if it doesn't are there downsides to not regenerating? Thank you for your assistance.

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