Unknown File Verified - Should I be concerned?

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Unknown File Verified - Should I be concerned?

I have an M1 Mac mini running Monterey. A few times a month I see a file flash across the screen but it gets verified before I can see what it is. It may be different files being verified but like I said I can't read them. Today a file paused a few seconds so I can read it. It had no real file name, just a few characters, mostly things like &*# etc. Being that Apple was verifying it and it was allowed to download to my computer, can I assume that this file is safe? It's just odd that there's no real filename.

After it downloaded, I ran Malwarebytes and the scan came up clean.

Posted on Apr 16, 2022 11:50 AM

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Answer 1

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leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

184,182 points

Apr 16, 2022 3:16 PM in response to PhotosPete

PhotosPete wrote:

Thanks for your help but I better leave this alone. I ran those scripts like you said and I see a number of lines with "Failed to get bridge device" in them. I'm afraid I'll really mess things up. Thanks again for your help.

See if there is anything here that looks applicable to your situation—

Bridge virtual network interfaces on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Apr 16, 2022 2:19 PM in response to PhotosPete

PhotosPete wrote:

I have an M1 Mac mini running Monterey.

A few times a month I see a file flash across the screen but it gets verified before I can see what it is. It may be different files being verified but like I said I can't read them. Today a file paused a few seconds so I can read it. It had no real file name, just a few characters, mostly things like &*# etc.

Being that Apple was verifying it and it was allowed to download to my computer, can I assume that this file is safe? It's just odd that there's no real filename.

After it downloaded, I ran Malwarebytes and the scan came up clean.

That is not very specific, vague at best— "mostly things like &*# etc.....(?)"

Downloaded? How do you know it was a download?

Under what circumstances is this happening, from what application?

Can you take screen shot of the dialogue

Shift Command 3 is a fast way to capture...

Try turning off Automatic updates and test over time... you should still get update notifications without issue.

ref: How to manually update apps on your Apple device - Apple Support

Do you have any third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus ?

—all known to cause issues on the macOS

You can see a download log from Finder.

Finder>Go>Go to Folder copy & paste:

/var/log/install.log

you can see from Terminal.app all macOS software updates (including date &time) — from the command line copy & paste:

softwareupdate --history | grep '^macOS'

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Answer 3

PhotosPete Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 16, 2022 2:52 PM in response to leroydouglas

I'm sorry, I thought if the "Verify File" window showed up and disappeared without asking me to approve a file, it was approved by Apple and downloaded. Up until I bought this M1 Mini, I never had to do any sort of troubleshooting on a MAC and I had PowerPC Macs. I'm still quite the novice when it comes to finding out what goes on inside them. I can't copy the event for you because it was a one time event. In the past these were just flashes on both my M1 and Intel Macs.

Thanks for trying to help me. Maybe I should just hope for the best.

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Answer 4

PhotosPete Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 16, 2022 3:10 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks for your help but I better leave this alone. I ran those scripts like you said and I see a number of lines with "Failed to get bridge device" in them. I'm afraid I'll really mess things up. Thanks again for your help.

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Answer 5

PhotosPete Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 16, 2022 3:28 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks, I looked at this but I'm too much of a novice to do anything. I see pages and pages of similar lines over many dates saying the same thing. There are things like SoftwareUpdateNotificationManager and removing the SoftwareUpdateNotificationManager.

Any this point I either have to leave this alone or wipe a year's worth of information off the SSD and do a clean install. I can't tell if I corrupted something or invited malware in.

Thanks for trying to help. I appreciate it and just wish I were a better student.

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Unknown File Verified - Should I be concerned?

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