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Warnings

I have used this device at work and recently purchased the Mac Book Air for home use, so it is my own device. I recently have received pop up messages- warning- that my device has viruses and is compromised. The message encourages me to renew my subscription and I don't have a subscription (McAfee) for the program it mentions. Is the solution to change my Apple ID? Will that correct the problem?

Posted on Jan 12, 2024 5:58 AM

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4 replies

Jan 12, 2024 8:07 AM in response to LWilson63

First things first - No matter what anyone tells you there are no viruses for Macs, so ignore it. It's a scam trying to get you to buy something you don't need. Same advice for anything else that claims to clean-up or speed-up your Mac. Again all scams trying to get you to buy something you don't need.


At some time in the (possibly recent) past you've visited a (seemingly harmless looking) website that probably prompted you to click something before it allowed you to get you where you wanted to be. At that point you (unwittingly) allowed it to give you a "notification" warning. Seemingly harmless at first that later becomes annoying.


Click on the Safari Menu and select Preferences:

Click on the Websites icon and scroll down to the Pop-up Windows section and select the icon:

Inspect everything in the right hand section that mentions MacAfee and remove it. Anything else in there you don't like the look can also be safely removed. In fact everything that's in there can be safely removed.

Jan 12, 2024 8:13 AM in response to LWilson63

Antonio is close (and is also a possible source). These aren't popups, but notifications.

Click on the Websites tab and then scroll down to Notifications. Clear any entries in the right hand window. You might find something similar in the Pop-up Windows heading below that. Block any you don't recognize.


Then if you want, uncheck the box on the right, as shown below here.


I personally can't think of any reason why I would ever want any website to push notices to me.

Jan 12, 2024 8:15 AM in response to LWilson63

Also be aware that even if you do not have anything in the Pop-Up Windows settings that some websites will bring up these fake McAfee messages and they are just ads provided by the website you are visiting. You can safely ignore these ads by either navigating to a different website or possibly clicking the back button to return you to the previous page. If using the back button, you can expect that the same website will again bring up that ad as they are paid everytime it comes up on your computer. Do not click anything in this ad such as a button claiming to do a free scan.

Warnings

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