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Need Help now... (endless pop up windows)

V

vmichelle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 10, 2009
15
0
When I started up my MBP this morning I got a series of pop up windows that made me a little uneasy. Since then they have been unceasing and disappear before I can click deny. I have since shut down my computer and am resorting to using my boyfriend's PC...
Any help would be appreciated. It looks like someone may have hacked my computer or something...

nessa-poo
 
Some more information is needed. If you could get a screenshot of these pop-ups, or maybe even tell us what these pop-ups are asking we might be able to help you.
 
Those are notifications from your firewall, asking if you want different apps to accept incoming connections, and blocking your date from being updated. Try rebooting. If it doesn't clear up, look at your firewall settings.
 
Look like you have the firewall enabled.
System Settings > Security > Firewall

When enabled, you will recieve mesages like this:
pic2010-12-12at2.53.02PM-53594.png



GGJstudios said:
Those look like notifications from your firewall, asking if you want different apps to accept incoming connections. Look at your firewall settings.
Click to expand...

They aren't website popups.

wtf.jpg
 
vmichelle said:
When I started up my MBP this morning I got a series of pop up windows that made me a little uneasy. Since then they have been unceasing and disappear before I can click deny. I have since shut down my computer and am resorting to using my boyfriend's PC...
Any help would be appreciated. It looks like someone may have hacked my computer or something…
Click to expand...

wtf.jpg


There's the image as it should have been. There's a link on PhotoBucket for IMG code, off to the right, which you can just copy-paste right into the forums for next time, btw.

Looks like at a bare minimum you may have trouble with your battery, causing the date popup. The others are from the built-in firewall, I don't recognize all of the processes, but they look fairly normal to me. Someone else here may have a better idea.

jW
 
The thing I notice first is the clock setting. That to me would make me think it is not remembering settings after being shut off. If I remember correctly Mac laptops remember settings thanks to the internal battery, instead of a small Ni-Cd battery like a PC.

Have you tried resetting PRAM? http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
 
Dalton63841 said:
The thing I notice first is the clock setting. That to me would make me think it is not remembering settings after being shut off. If I remember correctly Mac laptops remember settings thanks to the internal battery, instead of a small Ni-Cd battery like a PC.

Have you tried resetting PRAM? http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Click to expand...
PRAM has nothing to do with the battery or power. That's SMC. The date issue is from the firewall blocking the date from being updated.
 
GGJstudios said:
The date is from the firewall, as well. See my earlier post.
Click to expand...

It should still display the correct date as it was when the computer was last powered on, even if it can't reach the update server. I suspect there's still a potential problem with the battery. Depends on how old it is, I guess.

jW
 
Dalton63841 said:
The thing I notice first is the clock setting. That to me would make me think it is not remembering settings after being shut off. If I remember correctly Mac laptops remember settings thanks to the internal battery, instead of a small Ni-Cd battery like a PC.

Have you tried resetting PRAM? http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Click to expand...

I just tried that. I don't know when the pop-ups are supposed to stop but I still got all of the same initial ones so I don't know if it helped or not.

Another thing I haven't mentioned is that my internet connection has been inconsistent. I keep losing my connection when I'm trying to do stuff while the boy's PC is connected perfectly fine to the same internet. I get all of the pop-ups the moment I reconnect to the internet.
 
vmichelle said:
I just tried that. I don't know when the pop-ups are supposed to stop but I still got all of the same initial ones so I don't know if it helped or not.
Click to expand...
Resetting PRAM will have no effect. It's not related to your issue.
vmichelle said:
Another thing I haven't mentioned is that my internet connection has been inconsistent. I keep losing my connection when I'm trying to do stuff while the boy's PC is connected perfectly fine to the same internet. I get all of the pop-ups the moment I reconnect to the internet.
Click to expand...
Check your firewall settings in System Preferences > Security > Firewall.
 
GGJstudios said:
Resetting PRAM will have no effect. It's not related to your issue.

Check your firewall settings in System Preferences > Security > Firewall.
Click to expand...

It's on. This is going to sound stupid but do I really have to disable it? It's kind of like my security blanket...
 
vmichelle said:
I just tried that. I don't know when the pop-ups are supposed to stop but I still got all of the same initial ones so I don't know if it helped or not.

Another thing I haven't mentioned is that my internet connection has been inconsistent. I keep losing my connection when I'm trying to do stuff while the boy's PC is connected perfectly fine to the same internet. I get all of the pop-ups the moment I reconnect to the internet.
Click to expand...

Just to test a theory. Let's see if it may be corrupt settings. Go into System Preferences and create a new admin user account. Log into it and see if the same thing happens.

If that fixes it you can delete your current user account with the option to save your user folder. Then make a new user account with the same name you had. Log into the new account, and copy over your docs from the old user folder. Once you have everything you can delete the old user folder and delete the extra account you made earlier.

BTW: Since most everything you do on a computer happens within your user folder (and since User folder on Mac is modular), as long as system files are not corrupt, this is comparable to reinstalling, but without losing anything. This method has saved me from the trouble of a full reinstall a few times.
 
vmichelle said:
It's on. This is going to sound stupid but do I really have to disable it? It's kind of like my security blanket...
Click to expand...
I know it's on.... what exactly are the settings? No, you don't want to turn it off.
Dalton63841 said:
Go into System Preferences and create a new admin user account
Click to expand...
Creating a new user is a good troubleshooting step, but it's premature to suggest something that extreme before simpler steps, such as identifying firewall settings, have been completed.
 
GGJstudios said:
I know it's on.... what exactly are the settings? No, you don't want to turn it off.

Creating a new user is a good troubleshooting step, but it's premature to suggest something that extreme before simpler steps, such as identifying firewall settings, have been completed.
Click to expand...

I agree that there are simpler steps to be done, but on Mac the Home folder is modular, and is hardly an "extreme" step. It takes five seconds, and can be deleted as quickly.
 
Dalton63841 said:
Just to test a theory. Let's see if it may be corrupt settings. Go into System Preferences and create a new admin user account. Log into it and see if the same thing happens.

If that fixes it you can delete your current user account with the option to save your user folder. Then make a new user account with the same name you had. Log into the new account, and copy over your docs from the old user folder. Once you have everything you can delete the old user folder and delete the extra account you made earlier.

BTW: Since most everything you do on a computer happens within your user folder (and since User folder on Mac is modular), as long as system files are not corrupt, this is comparable to reinstalling, but without losing anything. This method has saved me from the trouble of a full reinstall a few times.
Click to expand...

So far no pop-ups ...
 
Dalton63841 said:
I agree that there are simpler steps to be done, but on Mac the Home folder is modular, and is hardly an "extreme" step. It takes five seconds, and can be deleted as quickly.
Click to expand...
It's not just a matter of documents. There are other customizations that may be lost by creating a new user, such as icons, dock customization, browser plug-in and extension settings, etc. These will not be carried over to a new user account.
 
vmichelle said:
So far no pop-ups ...
Click to expand...
Why are you choosing to ignore the questions about your firewall settings? Your pop-ups relate directly to your firewall. Not your battery. Not your user account. Not PRAM. You need to look at your firewall settings and tell us exactly what is selected. That is the source of your problem.
 
GGJstudios said:
It's not just a matter of documents. There are other customizations that may be lost by creating a new user, such as icons, dock customization, browser plug-in and extension settings, etc. These will not be carried over to a new user account.
Click to expand...

Actually I will give you that, but tbh even those are easily carried over if you know where the files are stored. A simple google search will tell you where they are. For most users though I do see your point.
 
GGJstudios said:
I know it's on.... what exactly are the settings? No, you don't want to turn it off.
Click to expand...

So going into advanced under firewall...
I have "automatically allow signed software to receive incoming connections" checked and everything else unchecked. And in the list of applications everything is set to "allow incoming connections" except the initial pop-ups that I got and immediately clicked deny for.

(Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I posted in hopes of getting this fixed right away so that I can go back to studying for my final.)
 
Dalton63841 said:
Actually I will give you that, but tbh even those are easily carried over if you know where the files are stored. A simple google search will tell you where they are. For most users though I do see your point.
Click to expand...
I also didn't mention any Terminal commands that may be in place, such as showing/hiding hidden files, location and file type choice for screen captures, custom keyboard shortcuts, etc., etc., etc. Creating a new user is great for testing to see if the same symptoms appear on a clean user profile, but actually transferring everything to a new account can be a very big deal, and should be undertaken only as a last resort.
 
GGJstudios said:
Why are you choosing to ignore the questions about your firewall settings? Your pop-ups relate directly to your firewall. Not your battery. Not your user account. Not PRAM. You need to look at your firewall settings and tell us exactly what is selected. That is the source of your problem.
Click to expand...

Because I misinterpreted "disable" as turning it off and I wanted to avoid having to turn off my firewall.
 
vmichelle said:
Because I misinterpreted "disable" as turning it off and I wanted to avoid having to turn off my firewall.
Click to expand...
Who said anything about disabling it? I just asked what your settings are. As it says on the firewall tab, Mac OS X normally determines which programs are allowed incoming connections." You can select specific apps to allow or block receiving incoming connections. For most apps, it's fine to allow. Don't block an app, just because you don't know what it is. All the processes listed on your screen shot are valid components of Mac OS X and should be allowed. Go back to the ones that are blocked and unblock them.
 
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