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A gray message with a setting wheel (trying to look like an Apple settings gear) pops up in the top right corner of my Mac screen. It varies from Norton ads, antivirus ads, msgs my computer is corrupt or has 5 viruses, etc. How do I stop it?

A gray message with a setting wheel (trying to look like an Apple settings gear) pops up in the top right corner of my Mac screen. It varies from Norton ads, antivirus ads, msgs my computer is corrupt or has 5 viruses, etc. How do I stop it? It is obviously some sort of virus, but my malware/virus detector doesn't catch it. Messages that look like they are from Apple, but obviously not, pop up every 5 seconds


iMac 27″, macOS 12.6

Posted on May 16, 2023 10:38 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 16, 2023 10:44 AM

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. 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 below as shown here.


I personally can't think of any reason why I would ever want any website to push notices to me.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 16, 2023 10:44 AM in response to UnitedKitchen

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. 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 below as shown here.


I personally can't think of any reason why I would ever want any website to push notices to me.


A gray message with a setting wheel (trying to look like an Apple settings gear) pops up in the top right corner of my Mac screen. It varies from Norton ads, antivirus ads, msgs my computer is corrupt or has 5 viruses, etc. How do I stop it?

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