macosxcleaner - malware, scam? How to get rid of?

cap


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Just stupidly clicked on a FB link and now am getting a pop-up in Safari that says "From "http://macosxcleaner.com": VIRUS FOUND The last website you visited has infected your Mac with a virus. Press OK to begin the repair process." (screenshot attached) It won't let me do anything in Safari, other than Quit it, and when I quit and restart, all the same windows show up, as well as the pop-up message. I can't close any of the windows or tabs and can not clear the history. :Angry: It does not seem to have affected/infected Firefox or Chrome.

I have no intention of clicking "OK", but how do I get rid of this malware? I've never had anything like this happen before on any of my Macs! Any ideas on what to do?

Screen Shot 2015-08-30 at 4.05.15 PM.png
 
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Quit Safari, disconnect your router, leave it for a few minutes, power up, reboot your computer and see if Safari is still affected. Having clicked OK perhaps some program has been downloaded already.. Check downloads for CMM or Mackeeper.

Download Malwarebytes for Mac and a little app clam Scam Zapper to help handle this nonsense. Keep us posted?


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


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Thank you, harryb2448!!! I had already quit Safari and rebooted the computer, to no avail (not sure what effect disconnecting the router might have had, but didn't try it. I had an installation file named "macosxcleaner" in the downloads folder, but trashed it and emptied the trash. No "CMM" or "Mackeeper". I installed and ran Malwarebytes, but it did not find anything. However, "Scam Zapper" seems to have fixed the problem as soon as it was installed. Very nice - thank you! :)
 

Slydude

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The reason for temporarily disconnecting form the Internet is to keep the browser from attempting to reload that page when you relaunch. Once you clear the cache etc. it would have been safe to reconnect. Sounds like you got it fixed though.
 
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cap


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Ah! Thank you, Slydude!
 

Slydude

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You're welcome. I bet you were not the only one wondering about that.
 

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