In the event, you notice the message A website you visited today has infected your Mac with a virus while browsing the web we recommend that you refrain from following its instructions. This is yet another scam message that affects popular browsers installed on Mac devices with the goal to push questionable applications. The sudden appearance of this pop-up scam in the browser is often related to the presence of a potentially undesired program on the device. That’s why security experts encourage affected users to check their operating systems for any present harmful files.
Threat Summary
| Name | "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" |
| Type | Pop-up Scam |
| Short Description | Scam message that froces you to take an action that can expose your Mac at risk of malware infection. |
| Symptoms | Preferred web browser is redirected to bogus websites that display the “VIRUS FOUND” scam message. An assocaited undesired program may be injecting online ads that slow down browser performance. |
| Distribution Method | Freeware Installations, Bundled Packages |
| Detection Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" Combo Cleaner Malware Removal Tool | User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus". |
“A Website You Have Visited Today Has Infected Your Mac With a Virus” Scam – What is It All About?
The annoying pop-up message that forces you to begin a repair process by claiming: A website you visited today has infected your Mac with a virus is an emerging scam that is harassing Mac users. One the one hand, this message is displayed by bogus websites like Mon-thu4. Your browser can be redirected to such a website after a visit to another rogue site. On the other hand, it may be a potentially unwanted program that is running on your Mac that is causing the appearance of “A website you visited infected your Mac with a virus” pop-up scam message.
Beware that may PUPs infiltrate computer operating systems without users’ permission. This is due to the fact that their propagation is often realized with the help of shady techniques like corrupted software installers, fake software update notifications, hacked websites, deceptive landing pages, malicious advertisements, etc. The most prevalent distribution technique is considered to be software bundling.
This is so because of the convenient way of hiding extra apps in the installers of commonly used and supposedly useful free apps. Fraudsters tend to hide the details about added apps in an attempt to make users more prone to install them on their computers.
A prevention tip that may help you avoid installing undesired programs unnoticeably is to select the Advanced/Custom setup approach. There you may be able to reveal more details about any added extra apps and stop their installation on time.
As regards the scary A website you visited today has infected your Mac with a virus messages, we identified that they appear on screen to state the following:
VIRUS FOUND
A website you visited today has infected your Mac with a virus.
Press OK to begin the repair process.
Is your Mac infected with a virus for real? Don’t panic and don’t be scared. The appearance of this scam message alone does not mean that your operating system is infected by a virus or some kind of malware that aims to corrupt your data and Mac. However, this message may signify for a present undesired program that is causing it to appear.
As long as a software that hasn’t been authorized by a trustworthy developer is running on the device it is making it more vulnerable to undetected malware attacks. So it is best to consider the immediate removal of harmful files associated with A website you visited today has infected your Mac with a virus scam from the affected Mac.
And don’t get tricked into downloading any software that will allegedly identify the virus and remove it. The programs recommended by this scam are more likely to damage your macOS instead of fixing it.
Remove “A Website You Visited Today Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus” Pop-up Scam on Mac
Unfortunately, Website You Visited Today Infected Your Mac With A Virus scam and associated files cannot be uninstalled by simply closing the browser and dragging the undesired app to the Trash. If you want to get rid of VIRUS FOUND pop-up scam message and clean harmful files from your Mac OS we recommend that you use a specific anti-malware for Mac. The main goal of such a program is to scan your operating system and terminate the files with malicious behavior. It will also clean up any malicious code in your repositories. With a specific anti-malware program, youр Mac will be protected better in the future.
Gergana Ivanova
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for four years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
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Gergana Ivanova
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for four years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Follow Me:
Gergana Ivanova
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for four years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Follow Me:
Preparation before removing "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus".
Before starting the actual removal process, we recommend that you do the following preparation steps.
- Make sure you have these instructions always open and in front of your eyes.
- Do a backup of all of your files, even if they could be damaged. You should back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats.
- Be patient as this could take a while.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus"
Step 2: Clean any registries, created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click “Modify” to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.Step 3: Find files created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus"
For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.
For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.For Newer Windows Operating Systems
1: On your keyboard press + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.
2: Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.
3: Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:
N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.
For Older Windows Operating Systems
In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:
1: Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.
2: After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.
3: After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.
Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.
Before starting “Step 4”, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Step 5 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus".
Ransomware infections and "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
For more “how-to” file recovery methods and steps, you can visit our instructive article on “How to Restore Files Encrypted by Ransomware (Without Decrypter)“.
Gergana Ivanova
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for four years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
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Preparation before removing "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus".
Before starting the actual removal process, we recommend that you do the following preparation steps.
- Make sure you have these instructions always open and in front of your eyes.
- Do a backup of all of your files, even if they could be damaged. You should back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats.
- Be patient as this could take a while.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus"
Step 2: Clean any registries, created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click “Modify” to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.Step 3: Find files created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus"
For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.For Newer Windows Operating Systems
1: On your keyboard press + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.
2: Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.
3: Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:
N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.
For Older Windows Operating Systems
In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:
1: Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.
2: After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.
3: After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.
Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.
Before starting “Step 4”, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Gergana Ivanova
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for four years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Follow Me:
Preparation before removing "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus".
Before starting the actual removal process, we recommend that you do the following preparation steps.
- Make sure you have these instructions always open and in front of your eyes.
- Be patient as this could take a while.
Step 1: Uninstall "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.Step 2: Clean your Browsers from "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus".
Remove an extension from Mozilla Firefox
Remove an extension from Google Chrome
Remove an extension from Internet Explorer
Remove an extension from Microsoft Edge
2. Select the “Add-ons” icon from the menu.
3. Select the unwanted extension and click “Remove“
4. After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red “X” button at the top right corner and start it again.
2. Move the cursor over “Tools” and then from the extended menu choose “Extensions“
3. From the opened “Extensions” menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its “Remove” button.
4. After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red “X” button at the top right corner and start it again.
2. Click on the gear icon labeled ‘Tools’ to open the drop menu and select ‘Manage Add-ons’
3. In the ‘Manage Add-ons’ window.
4. Select the extension you want to remove and then click ‘Disable’. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click ‘Disable’.
5. After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red ‘X’ button located at the top right corner and start it again.
2. Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.
3. From the drop menu select “Extensions”.
4. Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.
5. Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.
Step 3: Clean any registries, created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click “Modify” to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.Before starting “Step 4”, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Gergana Ivanova
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for four years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
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Preparation Phase:
Before starting to follow the steps below, be advised that you should first do the following preparations:
- Backup your files in case the worst happens.
- Make sure to have a device with these instructions on standy.
- Arm yourself with patience.
Step 1: Uninstall "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
- Go to Finder.
- In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
- Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
- If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 2: Remove "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" – related extensions from Safari / Chrome / Firefox
Remove an extension from Safari and reset it.Remove a toolbar from Google Chrome Remove a toolbar from Mozilla Firefox
Step 3: Scan for and remove "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus" files from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as "Website You Visited Has Infected Your Mac With A Virus", the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. Combo Cleaner offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Gergana Ivanova
Gergana has completed a bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy. She has been with the STF team for four years, researching malware and reporting on the latest infections.
Follow Me:
