While online today (iMac Ventura 13.7.4) I received a popup saying that 4 viruses/malware were on my iMac; also a notice that a McAfee subscription was expiring today & I need to renew now. I don't have a McAfee subscription. I immediately shut down the iMac. How do I check to find if the iMac does in fact have malware & how do I get rid of it. I did not download anything as far as I know!
iMac 24″, macOS 13.7
There is no malware here, and absolutely nothing wrong with your Mac.
Somewhere along the path on some website or ad network or such, you were offered notifications, and accepted those, and now no longer wish to receive those notifications.
Kurt Lang has the info for disabling notifications, and preventing future prompts to send these.
Here’s a related user tip: Stop unwanted Notifications - Apple Community
Oh, and the pop-up lied. There is no malware here, and pop-ups cannot scan your Mac. Again, the pop-up lied about the scan, and lied about viruses. There was no scan.
Malware scans are deeply intrusive, blocked by every web browser, and a website hypothetically able to do that deeply-intrusive scan would just rip off everything on your device and not bother with the rest of the lying.
This was an advertisement, and a very effective one.
There is no malware here, and absolutely nothing wrong with your Mac.
Somewhere along the path on some website or ad network or such, you were offered notifications, and accepted those, and now no longer wish to receive those notifications.
Kurt Lang has the info for disabling notifications, and preventing future prompts to send these.
Here’s a related user tip: Stop unwanted Notifications - Apple Community
Oh, and the pop-up lied. There is no malware here, and pop-ups cannot scan your Mac. Again, the pop-up lied about the scan, and lied about viruses. There was no scan.
Malware scans are deeply intrusive, blocked by every web browser, and a website hypothetically able to do that deeply-intrusive scan would just rip off everything on your device and not bother with the rest of the lying.
This was an advertisement, and a very effective one.
Per Zurarczurx's suggestion:
If these are sliding in the from the top right of the screen, a site you visited has given itself permission to send push notifications. Everything you're seeing is nothing but a scam.
Open Safari's preferences (Settings). 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 to 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.
They are a scam.
If they weren't emails or messages then check your browser's notification settings cos it sounds like you've allowed notifications from some dodgy sites.
Many thanks for your prompt response! You have certainly relieved my mind.
Thank you for the information. I appreciate your prompt response and have followed your suggestions.
Thank you for the information. Will proceed as suggested.
Thank you for the info. However, I checked the Websites list in Safari and haven't given permission for notifications to any dodgy websites. I do appreciate your prompt response.
Security issue: malware on iMac?
