Safari blocked with malware warning

[Johnny Calvara]

Cradom, when I go to Users, then 'my user name', I don't find Library (I have Desktop, documents, downloads, dropbox, movies, music, pictures, public, and temp_dvd).

 

[cradom]

Press Option and click on the Go menu. Library will show up in the menu.

Edit: Also, open a Finder window, View/Show view options. Click box.

 

[Johnny Calvara]

Same thing. Safari becomes unresponsive before loading a full webpage.

 

[cradom]

Running out of ideas, I don't use Safari.
What extensions do you have installed?

 

[Johnny Calvara]

The Extensions folder contains only Ecosia.safariextz, Ultimate.safariextz and the Exensions.plist.

 

[cradom]

Do you know what these are and are they trusted?
Also, while you're in Library, look in Preferences and move anything that says com.apple.safari.xxxx.plist to the desktop and start Safari.

 

[Johnny Calvara]

I trust Ecosia. I'm not sure right off what Ultimate is, but I moved it to the desktop and Safari still became unresponsive soon after launch. I moved the three plists from Preferences to the desktop, and still have the problem.

 

[cradom]

Well I'm officially out of ideas. I would download Safari from Apple and reinstall it before trying to zero the drive and reinstalling EVERYTHING. That's a job and a half.

 

[Johnny Calvara]

I'll try the download and reinstall. I hope Mavericks will let me (it wouldn't let me uninstall before downloading).

 

[Johnny Calvara]

Safari isn't on the App Store. Mavericks is. Is it possible to reinstall the operating system without having to migrate everything back onto the computer from a backup drive?

 

[cradom]

Well, according to Apple the only way to get it is installing Mavericks.
So, restart and hold down Option. When the boot menu shows, select Recovery.
Reinstall Mavericks. It shouldn't do anything to your third party apps or data but have a recent backup anyway.
Do all the updates (AppStore). Hopefully that will solve the problem.
While running from Recovery wouldn't hurt to repair permissions and check drive from Disk Utility from there just in case.
Restart.

I'm at home now and that ioactiv.kext isn't on my iMac either. Something installed it and if not that whiteboard stuff I would think it's suspect. Do some research on it.

 

[harryb2448]

The fact that Ecosia is in partnership with Bing would be enough for me to give it a wide berth. Suggest formating the hard drive and doing that clean install.


Does Ecosia really have “impeccable ecological credentials”?


https://forums.divx.com/divx/topics...hen_opening_a_new_tab_window_on_firefox_macos

 

[ron4mac]

Apologies if this was already suggested - I'm in a situation where I can't search thru the thread too well. Have you tried creating another user to see if Safari behaves the same way in another user account?

 

[Rod]

Not all the time!!!

if it's a piece of nasty malware it will be there no matter what and lock you completely out of safari unless you pay or know how to remove it it's called a browser trap i have seen 26 of these this year alone the only way to fix this is backup your data and reinstall mac os x due to the severe nature of these browser traps you can end up with malware that you can't remove without zeroing the hard drive and reinstalling the o.s

I find this really interesting because about 9 months ago I had a similar experience with a popup which disabled FireFox. I was following a link from a CNN news site when a popup claiming that I had attempted to access a "banned" site. That my activity had been monitored, my browser locked and I needed to contact a legal agency to avoid action by the FBI which would result in a heavy fine and or a jail sentence. This was obviously bogus despite the FBI logo on the popup but quite convincing non the less. I force quit FireFox, disconnected my WiFi, deleted Firefox and all associated files using Clean My Mac 2 then reinstalled it from Mozilla. No further problems. I tend to use Safari for trusted sites only, internet banking etc and a third party browser for surfing.
Is it possible to delete Safari and reinstall without a complete OS reinstall or is this not possible with a native app?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

if it's a piece of nasty malware it will be there no matter what and lock you completely out of safari unless you pay or know how to remove it

While that sort of malware exists for Windows (e.g. Cryptolocker), it doesn't exist for the Macintosh. There is no malware currently in existence for the Macintosh that can lock you out of Safari permanently, or which will encrypt your data and hold it for ransom unless you pay a fee.

However, there is an annoying bit of Javascript code going around that mimics Cryptolocker, and it will even run on the Macintosh, but it can't actually encrypt any of your data, permanently lock you out of Safari, or cause any permanent damage. It exists to do nothing more than scare the willies out of you (and that's *all* that it can do). See:

magmatic.com - Magmatic Awareness Alert System - Condition Remains*Green

If you encounter the above Javascript (i.e. you find that you can't get out of your browser and a scary message telling you that your data is damaged or that you have to pay a ransom), here is how to recover:

* Disable Javascript in your browser. DO NOT RESET SAFARI OR FORCE QUIT.
* Hit the Back button in Safari.
* Enable Javascript.
* Reset History and Top Sites as a precaution.

If you want to avoid encountering this problem completely:

* Make sure to disable (de-select) "Open Safe Files" in Safari Preferences.
* Set Gatekeeper in System Preferences to "Mac App Store" to prevent installation of rouge Applications

 

[nbnb]

Good to know, Randy. I don't have this problem now. But who knows when. I'll keep a note.

Whoever has the problem could test safari in a test account to see what happens, then plan on next.

 

[Johnny Calvara]

Apologies if this was already suggested - I'm in a situation where I can't search thru the thread too well. Have you tried creating another user to see if Safari behaves the same way in another user account?

I just checked another user account that already existed on the macbook before the problem started. No problem with Safari on that account.

 

[ron4mac]

Well ... if Safari is performing properly in a different user account, then it is almost certain that there is no problem with the Safari App itself.

From the account where there is the Safari trouble, visit the Onyx App again and insure that you execute the Cleanup -> Internet(tab) function. I would think that if the caches and Webpage Previews were cleared, it would clear up the issue. If not, it will take a systematic journey through ~/Library trying to find the pref/app_support item causing the problem.

Is the user account one that you could just re-create with reasonable ease?

 

[Johnny Calvara]

I executed the Cleanup -> Internet. No change in the situation. The user account is my main account, with my apps, photos, documents, etc. on it. About 400 GB total.

 

[Johnny Calvara]

By the way, I also reinstalled Mavericks, and that didn't change anything either.