Adware problem

[Joe King]

Hi,

In the last 24 hours I've suddenly started seeing these strange banner ads appearing at the top of many - but not all - of the sites I regularly visit, including MacRumors. For example:



I've checked with our second Mac and it's not happening on that, so I can only assume I've caught something somewhere.

I've run AVG and it's not picking up anything. Problem appears on both Safari and Chrome. I don't have Firefox. Running Mavericks (10.5.5) and Safari 7.1. Don't run any extensions.

Any ideas how I can fix?

Thanks.

Joe

 

[cjnielsen]

Trying using Avast instead of AVG. It does a much better job and finding things that the others miss

Anyways, if AVG doesn't pick up anything then completely remove all your browsers and their extensions/plugins.

Now go ahead and do a full shutdown and restart, once your booted up again reinstall your browser or browsers........Still happening???

If so, then it is time to hunt down the culprit by thinking really really hard about a program/software that you recently installed from the internet and remove it with AppCleaner(which is a safe app, no spyware, etc.)

Keep removing the programs you have downloaded from the web/torrents/emailed link until the problem goes away.

Then if you would kindly let us know which program it was I would love to add is to my malware list of softwares

 

[satcomer]

Just use the donationware AdwareMedic.

 

[Weaselboy]

Just use the donationware AdwareMedic.

+1

OP check to see if you have any odd Safari extensions running you don't recall installing, then run the adware scanner satcomer suggested.

 

[Joe King]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. To update on the position:

AdwareMedic scan picks up no issues.

Definitely no extensions installed.

Shutdown and reinstall of browsers succeeded in yielding a fresh problem - the infamous FBI ransomware browser lock. Dealt with by resetting Safari but the banners persist.

Banners are now appearing on my other Mac However, this means that it's highly probable that the source of this is one the five sites I visited to see if the issue was replicated on that machine. I have my suspicions about one in particular, which has been exhibiting strange behaviour on recent visits.

Downloading Avast at the moment to see if that might be an improvement over AVG. Will keep you posted.

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. To update on the position:

AdwareMedic scan picks up no issues.

Definitely no extensions installed.

Shutdown and reinstall of browsers succeeded in yielding a fresh problem - the infamous FBI ransomware browser lock. Dealt with by resetting Safari but the banners persist.

Banners are now appearing on my other Mac However, this means that it's highly probable that the source of this is one the five sites I visited to see if the issue was replicated on that machine. I have my suspicions about one in particular, which has been exhibiting strange behaviour on recent visits.

Downloading Avast at the moment to see if that might be an improvement over AVG. Will keep you posted.

That FBI ransom one is not an infection on your computer, but a Javascript hack on a web site you are visiting. If you run the adware scanner, and clear Safari and don't go back to that web site you should be good.

 

[chown33]

Also check your DNS servers. See here for the steps:
http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Virus/Malware_FAQ#Why_am_I_being_redirected_to_other_sites.3F

It gives the problem as "being redirected to other sites", but there's more than one way that a DNS hijack can appear.

MacRumors search terms: dns hijack
Google search terms: mac dns hijack