I turned on my computer this morning and Firefox and Safari both close their main windows after I visit more than one website, and minimize to the bottom right corner of the screen with an error message/popup for something called 'advancesoftwaretool.com'; one of those websites that makes it look like it's scanning for a virus on your computer... and I don't know how to stop it... has anyone else had this?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac infected with virus? (advancesoftwaretool.com)
- Thread starter PaulMoore
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Force quit both safari and firefox. Usually these scams exist on certain websites which should be avoided. Have you set to block pop-up windows? There is no virus for OSx; they are trying to find windows viruses, but on windows machines they report you have tons of viruses (when you don't) and warn that you need to download their $29.95 tool to clean your system. Doing this often installs a trojan.
If you can find out what site leads to it then report it to the site owner.
If you can find out what site leads to it then report it to the site owner.
Have you installed anything lately? Sounds like it could be a result of some malware / adware from something you installed or downloaded from a P2P app. A trojan could have possibly been introduced with the malware, but this wouldn't be a virus since there aren't any for Mac.
You can open Activity Monitor to see if you see anything suspicious running that may lead to a clue of what may have been installed onto your machine. It's hard to say what may be happening. It could be nothing more than just regular bad sites trying to take over your browsing experience.
You can open Activity Monitor to see if you see anything suspicious running that may lead to a clue of what may have been installed onto your machine. It's hard to say what may be happening. It could be nothing more than just regular bad sites trying to take over your browsing experience.
I got this today too.
I was reading a site from the UK about people protesting Google Street View. The browser all of a sudden closed and I got what is described above.
I knew it was a scam because the screens look like Windows XP. I'm on a Mac.
I grabbed a few screenshots as evidence and exited.
I can only think how many XP machines are being pwned right now.
I was reading a site from the UK about people protesting Google Street View. The browser all of a sudden closed and I got what is described above.
I knew it was a scam because the screens look like Windows XP. I'm on a Mac.
I grabbed a few screenshots as evidence and exited.
I can only think how many XP machines are being pwned right now.