Removing Persistent Alarming Safari Pop-Up Windows
If you find yourself stuck on a web page in Safari that is claiming that you are infected with a virus or that your computer needs to be scanned, it is a scam. But sometimes you can find that these pop-up warnings are hard to get rid of. Even if you quit and restart Safari, they reappear. It is easy to restart Safari without returning to the same page that starts the cycle all over again. You can also get help from Apple if you are infected with a more serious problem.
Related Subjects: Safari (136 videos), Security (126 videos)
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Comments: 23 Responses to “Removing Persistent Alarming Safari Pop-Up Windows”
Jimmy
8 years ago
Thanks for this very useful but if advice
Ken
8 years ago
Gary - Great advice. Wanted to jot down, SUPPORT.APPLE.COM.203987 for future reference. Video frame goes by to fast. Took several replays to get. Maybe u can come up with a solution? Keep up the good work!
SUPPORT.APPLE.COM.203987
203987
203987
203987
Enuff?
203987
Trevor
8 years ago
The above link did not work for me-I received an error so searched on the text in the heading and found the page at:
It could happen with any browser. The solution would be different. You basically need to find a way to restart the browser without reopening the previous windows.
Squafdonoboles
8 years ago
If the pop-up shows up in your history, can't it be deleted from there?
I do not recommend it. I don't recommend any of the anti-malware apps out there now. Some do more harm than good, others simply create a false sense of security. I've written about this a lot in the past, including an ebook that I pretty much give away ($3). http://macmost.com/the-practical-guide-to-mac-security
Davis Newman
8 years ago
Great video. I've added a bookmark to this page in my "Apple" bookmarks folder. I can reach the bookmark from my other mac, iPad or iPhone. I like to open support pages on a different machine so I can follow instructions step by step.
Thanks, Keep up the great work.
Jeff Widen
8 years ago
This happened to me and in my fearful state I ended up paying for and downloading a program called MacKeeper. I should have called Apple before I did it.
Anyhow, I'd like to know if this is a legitimate site. If not what must I do now to get rid of it. Any thoughts?
If what is a legitimate site? Or do you mean if MacKeeper is legitimate software? MacKeeper may be "legitimate" but you don't need it. Search for "uninstall mackeeper" to learn how to uninstall it.
Linda DesGroseilliers
8 years ago
Great advice, Gary! This one's a keeper.
Linda DesGroseilliers
8 years ago
Great advice, Gary; this one's a keeper.
jasper robinson
8 years ago
Any tips on removing ad injections from Safari on an iOS device please? I have only managed to remove it by going to Safari on a second device (which could be iOS or Mac OS) and using the Show All Tabs button to view the pages are open on all my Safari browsers. From there I can close the bad page. Is there a neater way to do this?
I was stuck once, couldn't do anything with Safari because it was hijacked by a "warning" popup that looked like it was from Apple - nothing worked. Only solution was to delete a couple of files that had been deposited, the last one being lastsession.plist in Library/Safari. I did call the number, but when they wanted $600 to "remove problem", I hung up. My son helped me, and I am older and wiser!
Markus
8 years ago
There seems to be a new one out that won't even go away when attempting to restart Safari and holding down Shift. This site even includes a synthesized voice announcement that sounds really ominous and it seems to be opening multiple tabs of itself in quick succession. Above you say to force-quit Safari and then "go to Settings." Settings...where? Thanks for any help. Right now I'm unable to use Safari because of this.
That is in reference to the question about Safari on iOS. For Mac, just holding down Shift will reopen Safari without the previous windows. If you are still getting pop-up windows then it is probably not the issue being discussed here (a maliciously coded web site). It is probably something you unknowingly installed that is doing it -- like a Safari extension or a actual real trojan. You may need to visit the Genius Bar for firsthand help.
Chris
8 years ago
I'm curious as to why the pop-up script is still permissible in Safari?
The ability for a web developer to utilize a simple script, completely overriding any functionality in Safari, and forcing the user to see and interact with a dialog is really poor practice. Obviously by the developer, but more-so by Apple for not prohibiting this type of behavior. Do you agree?
I can think of a lot of legitimate uses for such a thing. There are standards bodies that determine browser functionality and Apple is a part of those. They can decide to remove this and other functions that can possibly be used for evil, but if they do that in every case then there won't be much functionality left on the web.
Thanks for this very useful but if advice
Gary - Great advice. Wanted to jot down, SUPPORT.APPLE.COM.203987 for future reference. Video frame goes by to fast. Took several replays to get. Maybe u can come up with a solution? Keep up the good work!
SUPPORT.APPLE.COM.203987
203987
203987
203987
Enuff?
203987
The above link did not work for me-I received an error so searched on the text in the heading and found the page at:
https://support.apple.com/en-nz/HT203987
Great tip.
Thanks. Does this also happen with Chrome and other browsers or is it peculiar to Safari?
It could happen with any browser. The solution would be different. You basically need to find a way to restart the browser without reopening the previous windows.
If the pop-up shows up in your history, can't it be deleted from there?
Yes, but if this is happening to you, you can't get to your history because the alert is preventing you from interacting with Safari's menu.
What about using: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.app?
I do not recommend it. I don't recommend any of the anti-malware apps out there now. Some do more harm than good, others simply create a false sense of security. I've written about this a lot in the past, including an ebook that I pretty much give away ($3). http://macmost.com/the-practical-guide-to-mac-security
Great video. I've added a bookmark to this page in my "Apple" bookmarks folder. I can reach the bookmark from my other mac, iPad or iPhone. I like to open support pages on a different machine so I can follow instructions step by step.
Thanks, Keep up the great work.
This happened to me and in my fearful state I ended up paying for and downloading a program called MacKeeper. I should have called Apple before I did it.
Anyhow, I'd like to know if this is a legitimate site. If not what must I do now to get rid of it. Any thoughts?
If what is a legitimate site? Or do you mean if MacKeeper is legitimate software? MacKeeper may be "legitimate" but you don't need it. Search for "uninstall mackeeper" to learn how to uninstall it.
Great advice, Gary! This one's a keeper.
Great advice, Gary; this one's a keeper.
Any tips on removing ad injections from Safari on an iOS device please? I have only managed to remove it by going to Safari on a second device (which could be iOS or Mac OS) and using the Show All Tabs button to view the pages are open on all my Safari browsers. From there I can close the bad page. Is there a neater way to do this?
See my comment below (7/30/15 at 10:06 pm)
I was stuck once, couldn't do anything with Safari because it was hijacked by a "warning" popup that looked like it was from Apple - nothing worked. Only solution was to delete a couple of files that had been deposited, the last one being lastsession.plist in Library/Safari. I did call the number, but when they wanted $600 to "remove problem", I hung up. My son helped me, and I am older and wiser!
There seems to be a new one out that won't even go away when attempting to restart Safari and holding down Shift. This site even includes a synthesized voice announcement that sounds really ominous and it seems to be opening multiple tabs of itself in quick succession. Above you say to force-quit Safari and then "go to Settings." Settings...where? Thanks for any help. Right now I'm unable to use Safari because of this.
That is in reference to the question about Safari on iOS. For Mac, just holding down Shift will reopen Safari without the previous windows. If you are still getting pop-up windows then it is probably not the issue being discussed here (a maliciously coded web site). It is probably something you unknowingly installed that is doing it -- like a Safari extension or a actual real trojan. You may need to visit the Genius Bar for firsthand help.
I'm curious as to why the pop-up script is still permissible in Safari?
The ability for a web developer to utilize a simple script, completely overriding any functionality in Safari, and forcing the user to see and interact with a dialog is really poor practice. Obviously by the developer, but more-so by Apple for not prohibiting this type of behavior. Do you agree?
I can think of a lot of legitimate uses for such a thing. There are standards bodies that determine browser functionality and Apple is a part of those. They can decide to remove this and other functions that can possibly be used for evil, but if they do that in every case then there won't be much functionality left on the web.