My dad installed something

[ad5d]

Hi Mac forums!
My dad installed something on the internet today (while using chrome) and I'm not quite sure what it was. According to him, he was trying to do something on mapmyrun.com when he saw something that looked like an adobe update. He clicked on it, and then weird stuff happened.

Even though he was using chrome, he said it "switched" him to safari, and then there was a tab open couldn't be closed, and it had a popup asking him to update something.

That's when he called me down. I did a force quit on safari and cleared all of the safari settings, cookies, history, etc. However, when I reopened safari, the homepage had been changed to http://www.only-search.com/?babsrc=HP_tedge&afflD=129552

I reset the homepage, but it keeps getting changed. I then looked at recently installed applications, and I moved everything he downloaded today into the trash. However, when I click empty trash everything deletes except for a file called "CommunicatorPluginForMac_420 (1).dmg"

I get a popup saying that the program is in use. Any suggestions?

 

[harryb2448]

Download AdwareMedic and run that.

Also Download and run as Extensions AdBlockPlus and Ghostery. Google will find them all.

Suggest (kindly) to Dad he not click on anything, download nothing from CNET or Softonic as they add adware to downloads. Also avoid AVAST antivirus software.

 

[ad5d]

Thank you so much! You rock!

 

[harryb2448]

Not really!

I'm too old to rock, maybe roll gets it closer!

 

[MYmacROX]

As a precaution, whenever I get an alert that an Adobe update is available, I go to their website manually and search for product page and download the newest version from there. I just don't trust windows that pop up with a message prompting me to install something. Go straight to the source for your downloads.

 

[ad5d]

I appreciate the tip; I'll be sure to pass it onto my dad!