Red Locked Screen

TidBITS Talk
1

Hi all,

Recently I found myself with that red locked screen telling you to call
Apple Support to remedy the problem. I had heard about this, so I
definitely didn’t follow the instructions provided. With no access to my
computer, I was using my iPhone to see if I could locate this subject
quickly in the email I had access to. The longer I looked, the more
anxious I got. So, I found the Apple Care access number I had and called
it.

The instructions I was given worked perfectly and got me right back to
work. So I’m posting them here in case that will be of use to anyone else
who falls into this trap. It was one I didn’t think I would fall prey to,
but a very simple mistake proved that thought wrong. I was looking for an
Apple accessory and so typed Apple into the search bar. I clicked on the
TOP link (realized too late it was a paid link that said Apple, but it
wasn’t Apple at all. That click instantly locked down my computer and put
up that huge red screen. So that’s warning #1 … I was in a hurry and
just never suspected a first link would not belong to Apple.

Here are the instructions I was given by the support person I spoke with:

1- Power down the computer
2- Power up again in safe mode (i.e. holding the shift key down when
booting up)
3- Open each browser in turn (in safe mode - shift key down)
When finished with that, restart the computer.

Worked perfectly and turned what I feared would be a disaster into just
another little blip in the day.

Hope this helps someone else.

Louise

1 Like
2

Are you holding shift when you open each browser as well, or just when you start up?

3

Louise,

Great data!

Thank you.

:slight_smile:

Doug Hogg

4

You are still in safe mode for the computer (booting up), open each browser holding the shift key down as you open each browser. Hold the shift key and you will see the browser window do the same kind of accordion thing you just watch the main window do after the safe boot.

5

Thank you.

6

Thank you so much for excellent posts! I’m sending this data to some family members who have Apple. This was very, very helpful!

7

Thanks so much for this helpful information. I’m sending it to friends and family.

8

Tidbits ran an entire article about this and how to easily deal with it:

Scary Internet Scam Becoming Disturbingly Common

If you update to Safari 9.1 or later, malicious JavaScript is precluded from seemingly trapping you on a particular Web page and this all becomes a non-issue other than the scary message that is displayed, which you can (and definitely should), just ignore.