Potential Virus Alert Mac

Potential Virus Alert 

Potential Virus Alert is a rogue software application classified as a browser hijacker for its intrusive and aggressive behavior. Potential Virus Alert is specifically aimed at Mac computers and their respective browsers, such as Safari, Chrome, etc.

If your normal online activity has been getting disturbed by a constant flow of ads, banners, and page redirects, then you most likely have a browser hijacker such as Potential Virus Alert in your system. These types of programs are known worldwide for their intrusive advertising messages, and the unwanted homepage or search engine changes they may apply to popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge and others. If you are bothered by the aggressive ad-generating activity on your screen and want to uninstall the unwelcome browser modifications, this is the page to be. In this article, we will explain the typical operation of the browser hijackers, and the most effective methods to remove them from your system completely. So, take a close look at the information that follows, and carefully read the instructions below. We’ve prepared a detailed removal guide, which you can follow to easily detect Potential Virus Alert, and uninstall it from any of your browsers.

Potential Virus Alert for Mac

Potential Virus Alert for Mac is practically no different from most other browser hijacker applications. Same as the rest, the developers of Potential Virus Alert for Mac have designed the software with the intention of profiting from the myriads of displayed ads.

When we browse the web, we usually encounter a lot of advertisements, and this is perfectly normal. Being bombarded with an unstoppable flow of ads, banners, popping boxes, new tabs, and automatic page redirects, however, is not how it’s supposed to be, and can sometimes be the result of the presence of specific software on your computer. This type of software is known as browser hijackers, and Potential Virus Alert is a typical representative of the browser hijacker category. Developed with the purpose of displaying as many ads as possible, and redirecting you to as many sponsored pages as possible, this program may frequently annoy you and interrupt your normal browsing activity. That’s probably why you’ve landed on this page while seeking salvation from the disturbance.

What is Potential Virus Alert?

Potential Virus Alert is generally seen as what some may call a potentially unwanted program or PUP. This is because although Potential Virus Alert is not in and of itself harmful, it can often be involved in different unsavory practices and may have unwanted negative side effects in the long term. 

There are many (mostly free) programs that can come with a functionality that generates ads. Most of them typically provide users with some useful service or a feature for free. In the case with browser hijackers, however, the aggressive generation of ads is the dominant activity, which typically outshines any free service or feature that may come with the program. The reason is that there’s a different purpose of these programs – they are developed to generate income for their developers through sponsored ad-positioning.

Each click on any of the displayed ads turns into income through remuneration methods such as Pay-Per-Click, and the more clicks the ads can get, the higher the income. This explains why the moment a program like Potential Virus Alert gets installed in the system, dozens of pop-ups, links, ads, banners, and redirects to sponsored pages start bombarding the users through their screen. The good news is there’s a way to remove them permanently, and we’ll show you how to do that in the next lines.

The Potential Virus Alert app

The Potential Virus Alert app is often bundled in the setup of various free applications. And the developers of software like Potential Virus Alert app usually rely on users not paying close attention to the setup of these applications, which is how they end up installing the bundled components as well. 

If Potential Virus Alert or a23-trk.xyz is acting aggressively, don’t panic! While it’s on your computer, the ads’ intrusiveness may actually look like an infection with some strange virus. To your relief, however, browser hijackers do not contain harmful code, and are not intended to carry out malicious actions. That’s why, even though they can sometimes be really irritating, programs like Potential Virus Alert have nothing in common with malicious threats like Trojans, Ransomware or other harmful viruses. At their worst, hijackers can only expose you to unwanted commercials, and various websites, by taking over your homepage, or the main search engine.

This, however, may also hide certain risks, so, in general, it is not advisable to click on all the random banners, and pop-up messages that Potential Virus Alert may display. After all, you never know where the program may redirect you to and nowadays it often takes nothing more than a single wrong click to land some real malware.

SUMMARY:

Potential Virus Alert Mac Removal

The first thing you need to do is to Quit Safari (if it is opened). If you have trouble closing it normally, you may need to Force Quit Safari:

You can choose the Apple menu and click on Force Quit.

Alternatively you can simultaneously press ⌘ (the Command key situated next to the space bar), Option (the key right next to it) and Escape (the key located at the upper left corner of your keyboard).

If you have done it right a dialog box titled Force Quit Applications will open up.

In this new dialog window select Safari, then press the Force Quit button, then confirm with Force Quit again.

Close the dialog box/window.

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Start Activity Monitor by opening up Finder, then proceed to

Once there, look at all the processes: if you believe any of them are hijacking your results, or are part of the problem, highlight the process with your mouse, then click the “i” button at the top. This will open up the following box:

Now click on Sample at the bottom:

Do this for all processes you believe are part of the threat, and run any suspicious files in our online virus scanner, then delete the malicious files:

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The next step is to safely launch Safari again. Press and hold the Shift key while relaunching Safari. This will prevent Safari’s previously opened pages from loading again. Once Safari is opened up, you can release the Shift key.

On the off chance that you are still having trouble with scripts interrupting the closing of unwanted pages in Safari, you may need to take some additional measures.

First, Force Quit Safari again.

Now if you are using a Wi-Fi connection turn it off by selecting Wi-Fi off in you Mac’s Menu. If you are using a cable internet (Ethernet connection), disconnect the Ethernet cable.

Re-Launch Safari but don’t forget to press and hold the Shift button while doing it, so no previous pages can be opened up. Now, Click on Preferences in the Safari menu,

and then again on the Extensions tab,

Select and Uninstall any extensions that you don’t recognize by clicking on the Uninstall button. If you are not sure and don’t want to take any risks you can safely uninstall all extensions, none are required for normal system operation.

The threat has likely infected all of your browsers. The instructions below need to be applied for all browsers you are using.

Again select Preferences in the Safari Menu, but this time click on the Privacy tab,

Now click on Remove All Website Data, confirm with Remove Now. Keep in mind that after you do this all stored website data will be deleted. You will need to sign-in again for all websites that require any form of authentication.

Still in the Preferences menu, hit the General tab

Check if your Homepage is the one you have selected, if not change it to whatever you prefer.

Select the History menu this time, and click on Clear History. This way you will prevent accidentally opening a problematic web page again.

 How to Remove Potential Virus Alert Virus From Firefox in OSX:

Open Firefox, click on  (top right) ——-> Add-ons. Hit Extensions next.

The problem should be lurking somewhere around here –  Remove it. Then Refresh Your Firefox Settings.

How to Remove Potential Virus Alert Virus From Chrome in OSX:

 Start Chrome, click  —–>More Tools —–> Extensions. There,  find the malware and  select  .

 Click  again, and proceed to Settings —> Search, the fourth tab, select Manage Search Engines.  Delete everything but the search engines you normally use. After that Reset Your Chrome Settings.

If the guide doesn’t help, download the anti-virus program we recommended or try our free online virus scanner. Also, you can always ask us in the comments for help!