How to Remove Mac Browser Virus Warnings and Tech Scams

Created by Brian Hernandez, Modified on Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 5:20 PM by Brian Hernandez

Browser Virus and Tech Scam Removal Instructions

Step 1: Turning Off the Internet

We want to turn off the internet because sometimes we can't close or stop the Adware/Malware pop ups from appearing or make a frozen website page or tab close. Some fake virus warnings will play an annoying alarm sound or robotic computer voice telling you not to close your browser window but this is to be ignored as they are just trying to scam you into calling their number on screen and giving them your hard earned money. DONT DO IT!

Wireless Internet Users: AirPort menu > Turn OFF Wi-Fi (older macOS will say Turn Off Airport).

This is in the menubar at top of screen toward the right side, near the clock. The AirPort icon looks like radio waves or a slice of pizza. See screenshot below.

Apple Menu > Force Quit > select your Browser that's showing a virus warning, i.e. Safari, Firefox or Chrome > click Force Quit at button and confirm.

Open your Browser (yes internet is still off), we want to erase the browsing history, cookies, cache, etc. Each browser is similar but slightly different, so here's some additional instructions:

Safari menu > Clear History... choose All History and click Clear History button

Firefox History menu > Clear Recent History... Choose time range to clear: Everything. Just checkmark these 3 items: Browsing & Download History, Cookies and Cache.

Google Chrome menu > Clear Browsing Data... Then select the beginning of time from drop down menu. Check boxes for Browsing history, Download history, Cookies and other site and plugin data, Cached images and files. Then click the Clear browsing data button in lower right corner.

Step 2: Resetting Homepage or Starting Pages and Search Engine

Chrome Menu > Preferences… sWe are going to make sure the Homepage and Tabs that open by default when launching Chrome are set to the desired website and not the adware pages. See below instructions and screenshot for the 3 areas you need to modify.

On startup – You can select any of the 3 radio buttons options here, but make sure to click the blue link called "Set pages" to remove the adware website and put in your own desired URL such as http://google.com or http://news.google.com or any other URL you want.

Appearance – Whether or not you choose to "show home button" you need to click the "Change" blue link and remove the adware URL and replace with something else like http://google.com

Search – Choose your desired Search engine from the first drop down menu. Then click the "Manage search engines..." button and

Chrome Menu > Quit Google Chrome (bold name next to Apple logo)

Safari Menu > Preferences… > General tab. Make sure your “homepage” is set to what you usually want as a startup page… Ie. Google.com or News.google.com or Apple.com
Quit Browser (bold name next to Apple logo should be Safari, Chrome or Firefox. Click Quit at bottom of list)
Click Airport menu > Turn ON Wi-Fi
Open Browser. You should be able to surf the web normally again! Yipee! You did it! :-)

Read more about Malware, Adware and other security risks on the Mac from Thomas Reed at Malwarebytes.org and TheSafeMac.com.

How to Remove Mac Browser Virus Warnings and Tech Scams

Browser Virus and Tech Scam Removal Instructions

Step 1: Turning Off the Internet

Wireless Internet Users: AirPort menu > Turn OFF Wi-Fi (older macOS will say Turn Off Airport).

Apple Menu > Force Quit > select your Browser that's showing a virus warning, i.e. Safari, Firefox or Chrome > click Force Quit at button and confirm.

Step 2: Resetting Homepage or Starting Pages and Search Engine

Chrome Menu > Preferences… sWe are going to make sure the Homepage and Tabs that open by default when launching Chrome are set to the desired website and not the adware pages. See below instructions and screenshot for the 3 areas you need to modify.