Faded Square on 2020 Macbook Pro Screen

Question

Level 1

9 points

Faded Square on 2020 Macbook Pro Screen

Attaching a picture of my screen. Does anyone know what may be causing this? It only appears in this setting, but not when I have a program or app open. It continues to appear regardless of my brightness setting. I have the current version (10.15.5) of Catalina.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 26, 2020 3:06 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Axel Foley

Level 10

150,972 points

Jun 27, 2020 8:50 AM in response to Rainman58

Hello Rainman,

The translucent square on your desktop has nothing to do with the quality of the screen. There is an app or a process running in the background which is causing this. Let's start with some basic troubleshooting:

Completely Shut Down your computer and start it again. You can do this by clicking on the Apple Logo located at the TOP LEFT corner of your screen and choosing SHUT DOWN. After that power your MacBook Pro again. If the square appears again on the desktop then-
Reset SMC by following the directions applicable to your MacBook here ➔ How to Reset SMC. If that does not solve things then-
Reset NVRAM/PRAM by following the directions applicable to your MacBook here ➔ How to Reset NVRAM/PRAM. If that does not solve things then-
Enter ➔ Safe Mode and see if the square on the desktop issue still exists in Safe mode. Log out of Safe Mode and then reboot computer. If that does not solve things then-
If the Square does not appear in SAFE MODE then let us know and we will got through some of your startup apps and processes to nail down which app is causing this.

Axel F.

Reply

Answer 2

Rainman58 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 30, 2020 4:18 PM in response to Axel Foley

Had a great weekend. I think I corrected the problem. I use the Mac version (app) for MS Office. Yesterday, the first app is quit was Word, and, boom, the box went away. Did a computer reboot to restart the app again; no box. Still nothing today after significant use. Thanks.

Reply

Answer 3

Axel Foley

Level 10

150,972 points

Jun 26, 2020 11:03 PM in response to Rainman58

Are you sure that the SQUARE is not part of the wallpaper/background? I ask because you stated then when an app is open with its own window then it is not visible. Change the Desktop Wallpaper and see if that takes care of things.

Axel F.

Reply

Answer 4

Axel Foley

Level 10

150,972 points

Jun 30, 2020 4:47 PM in response to Rainman58

Great! Glad this has been resolved. Note that the first thing you should do with issues like this one is to completely shut down your MacBook and reboot again. I am glad your weekend was great as well.

Axel F.

Reply

Answer 5

Rainman58 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 27, 2020 5:54 AM in response to Axel Foley

Changed the wallpaper several times as you suggested, still appears. Even tried other apps in both light and dark mode, does not appear. Just seems to be with the wallpaper screen. Weird. Does not bother me, just noticed it. Replace my 2015 Macbook Air with this computer and did not see the square. Could be part of the higher quality Retina screen? Did not have that on the Air.

Reply