Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups - How to remove

Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live is an address to be avoided. This address is one of many used to scare Mac users into buying fake antivirus protection by claiming that their Mac has a virus. The only consideration given to this fake virus alert should be to find out how it was shown and how to avoid it being shown in the future.

When I encountered Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live, it was claiming that I had e.tre456_worm_osx. This fake e.tre456_worm_osx trojan has been around for a few years, there are questions from 2016 about it. It’s not a real virus but the scammers hope that you won’t have any time to find that out. Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live can do a very convincing performance of a serious malware detection, complete with warning sounds, a bar that fills up as your computer is “scanned”, and all of it taking place in a facsimile of a real Apple support site.

Simply seeing the Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live virus pop-up is not dangerous on its own, it won’t infect your Mac. Even downloading the file that this site is pushing is not necessarily harmful. And if you only saw this pop-up a handful of times, then there might be no reason to be concerned, though it might be helpful to review what kinds of websites you visit (most legitimate websites don’t redirect visitors to malicious pages). However, if the pop-ups show up often, there might really be an infection in your computer – just not the one that Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live is claiming.

Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live is a malicious website:

Type of threat	Scareware Scam
Dangers of falling for the Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live scam	Money lost for paying for useless software Junkware downloaded and other infections Stress caused by the fake warning Time lost dealing with the problem
Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live pop-up causes	Bad ads Adware infections
Stop the pop-ups	Scan your computer and remove malware and adware (Combo Cleaner) Clear browser data Block malicious websites

The Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live pop-up displays this text:

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

We have detected a trojan virus (e.tre456_worm_osx) on your Mac.

Press OK to begin the repair process.

Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live is a fake warning

Ads that are actually fake virus alerts have been a problem for years and Apple themselves warn their users about it. There are a few red flags that reveal Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live as not being a real virus warning: the fact that it’s a website and not a warning from your security software, how fast and alarmist it is, and the deceptive site address.

For one, it shows up in the browser and only affects your browser. If your Mac security had detected some malware, why wouldn’t it just show the warning right in your operating system? Why would a website show this warning? And there’s no way that the detection software works through the Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live site as it doesn’t have access to your files, so it can’t scan them. If a website wants to access your files, it needs to ask and you need to grant it permission – the only way around that might be some sort of a virus or an illegitimate exploit (which can actually happen).

At one point, if you go along with Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live (you shouldn’t), this site will pretend to scan your computer. The red flag here is that the scan is impossibly fast. Even if the files are tiny and only a few were scanned, it’s unclear to me how this process is supposed to work. It’s just too fast – it has to be, to prevent potential victims from taking their eyes off Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live. Also, hilariously, the site pretends to scan things like your computer’s registry – something that is very important for Windows computers but does not exist on Macs!

Plus, the 5-minute timer is only there to scare people into acting quickly and without doing any research. The fake warning claims that the damage caused to your files and applications, if it’s not fixed within five minutes, will be permanent – but every time the Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live pop-up appears to you, the timer is reset. If you let it run out, nothing happens.

Another sign that this alert is fake is the URL. Just seeing “apple” in the address of this malicious website might make you trust it, however, this is not an official site, it’s not interactive, clicking on anything but the buttons that it provides will automatically download whatever junkware it’s pushing. The background is there just for show. “www.apple” is just the prefix for the site “com-mac-optimizer.live”. One of the ways that criminals use to take advantage of people is set up malicious websites on URLs that are misspelled addresses of popular websites and link users to addresses that look like they could be official, like when “Apple” is included in the URL, like it is in www.apple.com-mac-optimizer.live, despite it having nothing to do with the company. It can hardly ban all addresses that include the noun “apple” can it? Another example is using symbols that look like other symbols to create an address that looks similar to the real one at first glance, for example, аррӏе.com.

Why Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live pop-ups appear

There are a few explanations for why Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live might be loading in your browser. This site seems to be relatively new, appearing only around October of 2019. Of course, very similar sites have been appearing for much longer than that – Apple.com-scan-mac.live, Apple.com-shield-devices.live, and other 3 viruses scams have been tormenting people for many months now.

One way that you can see the pop-ups is by going to a website that is either showing infected advertisements or has been infected itself. This happens intermittently when visiting the same infected site. The pop-up can also appear randomly, courtesy by some extremely aggressive ad-networks, but this should be limited to specific sites. Nothing to do there but close the pop-up when it appears and try to stay away from those sites. Browser security options can help avoid some pop-ups. Using an ad-blocker or an anti-malware tool with web protection is also useful.

Sometimes, the pop-up is very persistent and happens regardless of what site you’re on. This shows that an infection is present in your system, but don’t worry, it might be very easy to remove.

First, try clearing browser data. For Safari, go to Safari, Preferences, Advanced, ad tick Show Develop menu in menu bar. Then go to the main menu again and go to Develop, then Empty Caches. You might also want to go to Safari, Preferences, Privacy, Manage Website Data, and then remove the saved data. More instructions are at the bottom.

Also, remove malware and adware, including suspicious Mac applications and browser extensions. Mac security programs can be used for this, for example, Combo Cleaner. Check your notification settings because those can be used to show malicious ads right in your browser, and see if your have any suspicious browser extensions installed.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to com-mac-optimizer Pop-ups, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

TopHow to remove Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups from Google Chrome on Mac:

• Open Chrome browser.
• Enter in the url field “chrome://extensions” address and hit Enter.
• Find Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups on the extensions list and click on the recycle bin icon next to it.
• Click on 'Chrome' button at the top left corner. Select 'Preferences' on a drop-down menu box.
• Find 'Search' options on Settings tab. If your search engine is changed, click 'Manage Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• On the same page find 'Show home button' checkbox and change your homepage.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to com-mac-optimizer Pop-ups, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• On the 'Preferences' menu window, scroll down to the bottom and find 'Reset settings' button. Click it.
• Confirm your selection and click 'Reset' on the following window.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.
Top

How To remove Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups from Firefox on Mac OS:

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press cmd+Shift+A on your keyboard).
• Go through Extensions list, remove everything Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
• Enter “about:preferences” in URL bar and hit enter.
• Open Search settings tab.
• If your search engine is changed, click 'Default Search Engines' and set your preferred search engine.
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Preferences-> General. Enter a preferable URL to the home page field.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Apple.com-mac-optimizer.live Pop-ups, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
• Click on the Refresh Firefox button.
• Click on the Refresh Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.