'Phishihg' bug for Safari?

[dbigtex56]

OK, I should have known better, but this email came from a person I recognized (or so I thought), and the site the link took me to looked plausible.

Once there (it was one of those make-money-at-home schemes), I couldn't exit the page or turn off the browser. Eventually I clicked something, and now whenever I go to a new website, the address bar immediately highlights itself, then goes back to normal, just as it would do if being copied.

Has anyone else heard of a phishing or spyware program that acts in such a way? I've tried various websites that address malicious software, but haven't been able to locate anything which seems probable. Safari usually doesn't have these sort of problem, supposedly. I'm suspicious of those sites which offer to diagnose your software for free, as it may be letting me in for more of the same.

(And I repeat, I should have known better, the 'sender' looked legit... no need to reiterate.)

[sevfiv]

I've used MalwareBytes with some success (on Windows)

[samagon]

trend micro is awesome for scanning and removing unwanted stuff from your PC

http://free.antivirus.com/clean-up-tools/

[dbigtex56]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I probably should have mentioned that this is a MacBook.

[editor]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I probably should have mentioned that this is a MacBook.

There are some javascript nasties that can do the things you describe. Usually what happens is that the web site you visited is crafted to hijack a Windows box. It tries to perform its magic on a Mac and things don't work, so it gets confused and fails.

My recommendation:

1. Restart your computer.
   
2. Update your software (Apple > Software Update...)
   
3. Make sure you're running the most current version of Safari (Safari > About Safari) -- I'm on 5.0.2 6533.18.5
   
4. Check to make sure the web site you visited didn't change your home page (Command-, > General > Home Page) or insert any unwanted bookmarks (Book icon in your bookmarks bar). It shouldn't be able to, but it doesn't hurt to look.
   

Also, do you know what version of Mac OS X you're using (Apple > About This Mac)? Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), or Tiger (10.4)?

I'm not very good about following up on threads, so if any of this doesn't help, feel free to e-mail or PM me and I'll see what other help I can offer.