oh no virus warning!!!

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i was looking to find correct site to login to my phone/internet provider. must have clicked wrong one as a bunch of pages popped up
saying my hard drive had a virus and do not close this page. I figured this is a scam. so i closed.
BUT is it?

I went into disk utility and did a check disk. nothing popped up unusual.
so I did a disk permission verify.
and bunch of things came up that had various info but am not sure if i need to worry or not.
should i do a disk permission fix or do i need help from a professional.

i do not run a anti virus but do use malware bytes every now and then.
how can i tell if i have a virus or not?
is there something else i need to be doing to keep safe and secure??

disk utility .png
 

Raz0rEdge

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You were correct to close those dumb pop-ups, they are just scareware and clicking through it will only open a world of hurt. You an have Disk Utility fix the permissions, that's a safe thing to do..

On your browser, you want to make sure that you are using either Ghostery or uBlock Origin and Adblock Plus to avoid those types of popups if you aren't already..
 
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thank you so much for prompt reply.
I thought I had adblock downloaded and installed a while ago but cannot find it.
It is not in Apps Folder, nor the Utilities folder within it. I did a search and nothing came up. I checked launchpad security but it is not there.

I found it in my Safari browser...just like you suggested!! duh!!
adblock 2.42 (Beta Fish Inc). is this version good enough or should i try to find AdBlock Plus?

are Ghostery or uBlock in App store and are they free?
this is the first time I got a warning like this. Is it harmful? could any file be sent to my HD?
 
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Go to Safari > Preferences > Extensions and it should appear there. If not, go again into Safari > Preferences > Extensions and a whole host of Extensions are available for your Mac.
 

Raz0rEdge

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Assuming you use Safari as your browser, these extensions are available in the Safari Extensions Gallery and here is uBlock specifically. You could also get to it the way Harry mentioned above.

All extensions to browsers are traditionally free and there are a handful that are globally recommended for all to use. The ones I mentioned fit both of those categories..

These pop-ups scare you into calling a phone number where you will get someone making up all kinds of crazy talk about bad things happening to your machine to get you to pay them to "remote" into your machine to fix it all. It is at that point that they could do bad things on your machine since you've be giving them remote control..obviously, never do that and NEVER pay for any of these things on the Internet..

If you or anyone you know ever has a problem with your Mac, you can seek help on Mac-Forums and other sites and if the situation is bad enough, take it to your closest Apple store and let the Genius there take a crack at it..

Never trust a pop-up..:)
 
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i was looking to find correct site to login to my phone/internet provider. must have clicked wrong one as a bunch of pages popped up
saying my hard drive had a virus and do not close this page. I figured this is a scam. so i closed.
BUT is it?

I went into disk utility and did a check disk. nothing popped up unusual.
so I did a disk permission verify.
and bunch of things came up that had various info but am not sure if i need to worry or not.
should i do a disk permission fix or do i need help from a professional.

i do not run a anti virus but do use malware bytes every now and then.
how can i tell if i have a virus or not?
is there something else i need to be doing to keep safe and secure??

That frightening looking list you got after verifying your HD permissions looks perfectly normal to me. It can look scary though!
 
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lori5060
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thank you razOredge and harryb2448
i shall look into getting one of those extensions
i did look into adblock plus but it seems it has been renamed adguard! is this really the same thing?
thanks nickyr...yes it did give me a fright...but i will do a fix and hope nothing goes wrong.
will this fix speed up some of my apps that sometimes take a bit to load?
 
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so i found uBlock in safari preferences extensions and have installed on my macbook air.
there is an icon near top of screen when I am on macforums...for uBlock it has red circle with number 11 in it
is this something i need to deal with or is it just notification to me.
and should i be concerned.

how can i do the same on iPad and iPhone.
no safari preference options come up.

uBlock.png
 
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That's just a notification of the number of "things" being blocked.

You can get Adblock for iOS as an app from the iTunes App Store.

To give your computer a bit of a boost, download Onyx (link below - make sure you get the correct version for your OS) and execute the Automate Tab. I run it about 4 times a year.

https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html
 
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...I figured this is a scam. so i closed.
BUT is it?

Yes, definitely. And the good news is that it is highly unlikely that anything was downloaded to your Mac. It was just a bit of JavaScript that ran on a Web site you visited.

See:

Scary Internet Scam Becoming Disturbingly Common
http://tidbits.com/article/15777

You don't need to get any add-ons to Safari to deal with scareware of this sort. All that you have to do is upgrade Safari to version 9.1 for OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks, 10.10.5 Yosemite, and all versions of 10.11 El Capitan via Software Update. Once you have updated, scareware JavaScript is precluded from trapping you on a particular Web page.
See:
http://tidbits.com/article/16360
 
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If you have some form of virus or adware, you will see clear signs of it. Ridiculous amount of popups, your Mac will use more resources for no reason. Be a nuisance. And I will second peoples opinions to be aware of the scams. The posts above explain the concept well. Oh, and uBlock indeed does wonders.
 
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Thankyou for your post Nickyr.
I looked into onyx and see the link for me to download to my MacBook Air running Yosemite with latest updates. The maintenance and deeper sectors seem little advanced for me at this time. Are they included in main download of onyx?

What if I should upgrade to sierra? Wuld I need to download onyx again using the correct link for sierra? What happens to Yosemite version files of onyx?

I only have 120gb on my MacBook Air and it quickly fills up and I need to copy files to external drive. I don't want to download programs unnecessarily as they may take up even more space. I am cautious and look into what it is I may download (per great suggestions from Mac-forum members) and if I really need it. I am just a novice and don't do anything super fancy on y Mac. But at same time I need to feel secure!
 
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Thanks randy
You say that if I have most up to date software that I should not need addons for scary warnings, I do have safari V10.1.1 and the most up to date version of macs operating system and still got the scary warning.
Am I misunderstanding your reply?
 
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Thanks randy
You say that if I have most up to date software that I should not need addons for scary warnings, I do have safari V10.1.1 and the most up to date version of macs operating system and still got the scary warning.
Am I misunderstanding your reply?

Yes.

If you have the latest version of Safari you might still get the bogus warnings, but none of the scary side-effects, such as not being able to navigate away from the page (i.e. having your Mac seem to be frozen.)

If you come upon such a page on the Web, all that you have to do is ignore it and navigate away from it normally. Nothing will be harmed on your Mac and nothing will be downloaded or changed.
 
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Thankyou for your post Nickyr.
I looked into onyx and see the link for me to download to my MacBook Air running Yosemite with latest updates. The maintenance and deeper sectors seem little advanced for me at this time. Are they included in main download of onyx?

What if I should upgrade to sierra? Wuld I need to download onyx again using the correct link for sierra? What happens to Yosemite version files of onyx?

I only have 120gb on my MacBook Air and it quickly fills up and I need to copy files to external drive. I don't want to download programs unnecessarily as they may take up even more space. I am cautious and look into what it is I may download (per great suggestions from Mac-forum members) and if I really need it. I am just a novice and don't do anything super fancy on y Mac. But at same time I need to feel secure!


Onyx comes complete with an Automated tab and others that you can run independently and customise to your needs. I, in common with many on here, run the Automate tab a few times a year. It cleans out certain areas of your HD.

Onyx is OS specific. So, yes, if you update your OS you need to delete the older version and then update t the newer one. (BTW way the latest version of Onyx for Sierra is just 36.2MB).
 
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thanks randy
good to have some piece of mind!
 
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thanks very much for the info nickyr
and good to know the size for sierra is just 36.2
tho i have not yet upgraded to sierra as I am not totally sure ALL my purchased Apps will work and I don't need any additional glitches.

what kinds of areas of HD does it clean up?
odd bits from apps deleted?
 
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thanks very much for the info nickyr
and good to know the size for sierra is just 36.2
tho i have not yet upgraded to sierra as I am not totally sure ALL my purchased Apps will work and I don't need any additional glitches.

what kinds of areas of HD does it clean up?
odd bits from apps deleted?

here is a screen shot - should give you an idea what the Automation tab does. When you start Onyx, it also checks the status of your hard drive.

onyx.jpg
 
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