WARNING! Your Flash Player may be out of date. Please update to Continue

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Please help.

Recently almost every time I try to open google, facebook or youtube i am diverted to a page which displays this message "WARNING! Your Flash Player may be out of date. Please update to Continue" in a pop up. The website I am diverted to looks like a the flash player website. I stupidly clicked download and tried to install the download.

(I am using Mac OS X version 10.6.8, running on Safari) When I tried to open to download, it opened up in text edit with loads of nonsense. I have tried searching with ClamXav. I have tried restarting Safari.

So far I have not managed to get rid of the problem. How to I get rid of the potential phising/malware I have downloaded and correct my Safari?
 

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Spawn_Dooley

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What happens when you launch Safari? Can you go to websites as per normal? This definitely does not look like a legitimate Flash update.
 
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What happens when you launch Safari? Can you go to websites as per normal? This definitely does not look like a legitimate Flash update.
All other websites seem to work perfectly fine. And occasionally I am able to get through to google, facebook and youtube and when I do they work perfectly fine. It is just when I open new tabs (home page google) or type in the address bar for one of these website it pops up.
I am forced to press 'OK' on the pop up to get rid of it. I stupidly download and installed what was on the 'fake' flash page a couple days ago. It opened in Text edit which lad me to believe it was something of windows and not make.

I have no Idea how to get rid of it.
 

Cory Cooper

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That is definitely NOT a genuine Adobe Flash installer: "Optimum Installer is an install manager...will offer free popular software that you may be interested in."

-Are you on a home network, or a public network such as at school or work?
-Do you have any third-party extensions loaded in Safari > Preferences > Extensions?

I would make sure you have an up-to-date backup immediately. There were a few trojans around that caused this exact issue a few years ago.

Read up on, download, and run the following two utilities:

DNSChanger Removal Tool

Kapersky Flashfake Removal Tool

I have a lot of experience using them both, but I always tell people to use at their own risk after updating their current backup as a precaution.

C
 
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That is definitely NOT a genuine Adobe Flash installer: "Optimum Installer is an install manager...will offer free popular software that you may be interested in."

-Are you on a home network, or a public network such as at school or work?
-Do you have any third-party extensions loaded in Safari > Preferences > Extensions?

I would make sure you have an up-to-date backup immediately. There were a few trojans around that caused this exact issue a few years ago.

Read up on, download, and run the following two utilities:

DNSChanger Removal Tool

Kapersky Flashfake Removal Tool

I have a lot of experience using them both, but I always tell people to use at their own risk after updating their current backup as a precaution.

C

Thanks for the advice guys,

I am on a home network and all Safari Extensions are set to OFF at the moment. I have turned extensions off to see it it was something on there. I also have Fire Fox and Chrome installed, but I uninstalled both them incase they were infected ... I never use them anyway so I don't know why I kept them.

About 2 weeks ago I backed up my files on an external hard drive. I am worried if I plug it in again to try and back up any more information I might infect it with the same virus.

I have downloaded and ran both DNSchanger removal Tool and Kapersky Flashfake removal Tool. Both items said 'No threats Detected"

I am completely stumped at this one ... any one got any more suggestions or ideas, it's hugely appreciated?
 

Cory Cooper

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Have you tried:

-Resetting Safari with all boxes checked? Note: This will delete any stored passwords for websites.
-Running Safari from a test user?

C
 

Spawn_Dooley

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Make sure you have the most recent software updates installed from Apple

Go to Safari ~> Preferences ~> Extensions

Remove any extensions that claim to be Flash Player related
 
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- I tried resetting safari, with all boxes checked.
- I made a test user, logged in and was continuing to receive the same problem.
- I deleted all extensions and then clicked extensions 'off' to make sure.
- Apple update say I am up to date and that there are no new pieces to download

I made a quick video to show the problem:
It's not best quality but you can see as i start to type facebook it comes up in the address bar as "facebook ... redirecting" has this anything to do with it? I have run Clamxav, Kaspersky Security, Mac Scan, DNSchanger removal Tool ... none found anything.
I am so stuck with this.
 

Cory Cooper

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Hmmm...thanks for the video.

Maybe your DNS cache is corrupted. Try this:

1. Quit Safari
2. Download, install, and run DNS Flusher
3. Open Safari and reset
4. Close Safari and reopen
5. Check to see if issue persists

C
 
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This is seriously screwed up now.

I have completely re-installed Mac OS X on my laptop. I completely erased my whole hard drive (all previously backed up) and any partitions. I ran Software Update and downloaded the latest Flash player from the real website.

I then had to restart my mac because of the software up dates....

Once restarted I see this first message pop up on my desktop saying "Adobe flash player is out of date" (see Picture)

I then install the real flash player which had been downloaded from the official site....

I then opened up safari and within 30 seconds of use the same 'Flash player pro' message popped up when I tried to go to google.com

I am completely stumped?!?!

Could this be something to do with my internet router?
I have a desktop PC at home also and yesterday 'once' something similar appeared talking about ' flash player pro'. But only once.

Thank you so much for any help ...
 

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Cory Cooper

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After the reinstall, the Flash popup you got was normal...a security feature in Mac OS X.

However, the second one, which you got before, is strange. I think you are on the right track - it has to be something other than the Mac itself. It could be the router.

Have you tried connecting to those websites at another location - friend's house, coffee shop, etc.? That would rule out the Mac if successful.

C
 
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Ok. Problem solved ... here's what happened (I did very little in the end):

Last night I was trying to access the router to reset it regarding a conversasion
I was trying to see if there was a DNS hack on my router.

Anyway, it our hoe here, we have a joint phone/internet house/business system which is also linked with a joint business partners home 50 miles away.

Not to my knowledge, he was experiencing the same problems as me and he phoned up our internet provider Datakom at about 10am this morning.

At the same time I was on my laptop trying to figure out the login detail of the router. To my surprise at about 10:30am there was no longer a problem with the 'flash player pro' popping up. I continued searching as I thought it might still be there. I had a 'online chat' with someone from datakom to try and retrieve my passwords etc. He told me he had already been on the phone with our business partner and had solved the 'redirecting problem'.

So it must have been some sort os DNS hack on the router. The Datakom chap said this is becoming more regular and affecting different companies (not just Datakom).

If anyone else recieves similar issues - contact your internet provider.

Massive thanks for all the tips etc for helping me out on this one guys. People who respond on forums are life savers in my eyes.
 

Cory Cooper

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Excellent news! Glad it's sorted.

It really had me stumped...although I should have thought about the possibility of a DNS and/or router issue sooner. ;)

Be well,

C
 

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