Perpetual "Background Items Added"

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

r bryan wrote:

Since upgrading to macOS 13.x, I've received a sequence of Background Items Added notifications with every restart. Permission for all these is enabled under General > Login items: Allow in the Background:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/9d12aefc-c250-47d8-bfec-54831f6f3317

Nonetheless, every time I restart, I get another round of notifications. Obviously this is nothing like fatal, but nonetheless, I'd like to suppress the superfluous warnings about things that aren't problems.

I would turn off as many as these as you can bear to live without and compare your results—in an effort to isolate the issue.

no insight or resolve:

Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

or on line Apple Support

or call AppleCare Support at 1-800-APLCARE (800-275-2273)

Outside the USA—Contact Apple for support and service by phone

See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world.

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

slps01 wrote:

I am still receiving notifications from several of the items that I didn't trash (Adobe, Microsoft, etc).

It would be helpful if you could start your own thread and describe the problem in detail.

And I don't say that in an offhanded, get-away-from-here-you-threadjacker kind of way. I mean it would be really, really helpful to have a detailed description of your specific problem. Describe exactly what changes, if any, that you've made in this new interface. Describe exactly what those notifications say. Screenshots are immensely helpful. Please be thorough. If you get 5 notifications, 5 screenshots would be really nice.

I realize that many problems look the same. Maybe the are the same. But something is clearly wrong. Most people don't see this at all. So why are you seeing it and most other people are not. It may, indeed, be a Ventura bug. But since most people don't see it, maybe we can figure out why you are seeing it.

I can't emphasize this enough. For these kinds of problems, these "me too" replies are totally useless. They are often worse than useless because people get angry and then refuse to provide any kind of debugging or diagnostic information. When that happens, nobody gets any closer to the answer. People then wait eagerly, applying every single software update, waiting for a fix that is never, ever going to arrive.

I wonder where the Apple support staff is hiding; they certainly were unable to deal with this.

Apple support can only deal with common problems that are already addressed with Apple support documents. These kinds of issues require "engineering" support, which is extremely difficult to get. And even when they tell you the problem has been escalated to engineering, that probably isn't true.

You can send product feedback to Apple, where you issue will be aggregated and maybe addressed in 2-3 years. Or you can write an official bug report, where, if you are really lucky, your bug may be fixed in 6-12 months. And even then, you have to supply copious amounts of information. Let's be honest here. You have to find the cause of the bug and tell them how to reproduce it. Anything else, they are just say they can't reproduce it, look at your 3rd party system modifications, and move on to the next one.

I have a good example. iOS 16 included a severe bug in HealthKit, documented in this forum. iOS is a major platform for Apple, not like macOS. While this bug didn't affect most people, it was really embarrassing. It wasn't just some strange edge case. Somebody really dropped the ball. Not counting 3 months of beta release. It took 3 months of general release to get this bug fixed. I found the problem and fixed it in about 30 minutes. I'm only saying that to show you how drop-dead easy it was to fix this bug. They literally don't get any easier that this one and it took 6 months to fix it. The bug being described in this thread is many times more difficult to diagnose and solve.

Jed Fish Gould wrote:

Could you share why you are reluctant to give ways to obtain app signatures (those are the developers’ bona fixes, right) and how they can be important?

I have been publishing information from app signatures for several years. But in my case, I also include the associated plist configuration files and any associated data files to help users identify exactly which apps are responsible.

I've seen many people confused by the limited information that Apple provides.

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I've been reluctant to provide an interface to disable background launch agents and launch daemons like Apple has done.

It has taken me 25 years to learn to wait 6-8 months before upgrading the new MacOS, formerly OSX (until Tim 15 months ago told us to call it MacOS, like it was in the early 2000s). The reason is because of a half-dozen or so video and audio apps that do not upgrade their own software fast enough to be compatible with the latest version of Apple operating system.

I do the same thing. I'm still running Monterey on my primary computer and will continue to do so until May or June next year. I regularly use my older computer running Ventura too, just so I know what my users are dealing with. After June, I'll be running macOS 14 on that so I know what people will be dealing with in the future. I strongly recommend that anyone who uses a Mac for their livelihood to do likewise.

Barney-15E wrote:

I think it is because he can’t suggest you use his software on this forum.

That's only part of it. I've got some other conspiracy theory angles too.

I do fault Apple for not providing a better interface. And I will take the opportunity to explain how I would, and have, done it better. But to be clear, I do agree with Apple's ultimate goal. The world is changing. Things have been going great for several years and lots of people want to put an end to that. They will be successful. In response, Apple has been acting much more aggressively in certain areas. My recommendation is to trust people like Apple. Don't trust then based on what they say, but based on what they've done. Notably, Apple says very little and does an awful lot to support and empower its users. As someone once said, "by their works you shall know them."

BBP6 wrote:

13.1 does not help the situation even though it was supposed to.

It was? Who said that?

Come on Apple. Get it fixed.

You are not speaking to Apple here. This is a user-to-user technical support forum for Apple products.

You can send general product feedback to Apple here, or file an official bug report using the other "feedback" site.

[Edited by Moderator]

etresoft wrote:

elisatems wrote:

Interesting. I've never heard of Mothers Ruin Software. How do I know I can trust that their product doesn't contain malware?

That's what this part is for:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/189988e2-5b20-48f8-ba7d-35b06136bade

When you see that, you know you can trust the recommendation.

Also, you can simply go to the Mother's Ruin web site and read the About page:

Mothers Ruin Software is the nom de guerre of one Randy Saldinger, a Seattle-based independent — and completely unpaid — developer of macOS software.

I've been using macOS since 1988 — when it was called System 6. I've been developing for macOS since 2003 — when it was called Mac OS X. I worked on the macOS Engineering team at Apple from Snow Leopard through Mavericks — when it was called OS X.

Since leaving Apple, I've been “temporarily” retired — anything is possible, but don't hold your breath — and continuing to develop for macOS to the extent it entertains me. I don't make money from this endeavor in any way, so have the luxury to do what interests me and ignore the rest.

Indeed, I did exactly that and read it and was (somewhat) reassured. But as you say,

Of course, anyone can say anything on the internet.

So true!

But this is a well-known product for several years. What is fascinating is how many people will accept any number of scam products without any history, about page, or community support. As the very name suggests, it is good to be suspicious. But it seems like people are only suspicious of the people they shouldn't be and never those that merit it.

I think you're painting with an awfully broad brush there. I normally don't trust software that isn't either by a well-known developer (and not only well-known in the developer community, but generally) or is recommended to me by a trusted person in real space. For example, the last app that I downloaded on someone's recommendation was Al Dente, on the advice of a technician at an Apple Partner store that I've had a good relationship with for several years. I'm not going to take the word of someone I just met online a couple of days ago without knowing more about their background than I do about anyone here.

Now, @Barney-15E's comment that an app that doesn't ask for an admin password can't do anything too malicious (assuming it isn't SUID, which is easily checked for) is certainly true, and this is one reason I'm partial to Unix-based systems like MacOS over something like Windows. But it could still damage *my* files or render them unreadable.

As to the "Levels" on this site, well I'm not terribly familiar with this community. Who sets those levels? Who awards the points? What are they based on?

Mind you, I'm not specifically distrusting anyone here, I'm just fairly new to this site and trying to learn how it works.

I normally don't trust software that isn't either by a well-known developer (and not only well-known in the developer community, but generally)

Goolag and Microsoft are quite well-known, but I don't trust them.

Logitech is well-known, but their software always crashed, so I don't "trust" them to produce anything robust.

I don't trust Adobe.

For the big players, I don't imagine they will send malware out in their apps, but I don't have any faith they won't produce bloated, crash-prone software that is free from vulnerable exploits. Their stuff is so bloated they can't possibly keep it free from those types of things.

As to the "Levels" on this site, well I'm not terribly familiar with this community. Who sets those levels? Who awards the points? What are they based on?

Share what you know and get recognized - Apple Support

elisatems wrote:

I think you're painting with an awfully broad brush there.

LOL! You have no idea! 😄

First of all, I'm not singling you out in particular. This is just becoming a popular thread. When anyone posts a reply, it will be read by many thousands of people. If I know that most of those people are misinformed, and they most certainly are in this case, then I may reply to "the masses" using you as a proxy.

Being able to effectively evaluate, install, and maintain 3rd party apps is quite rare. I even write a User Tip on the subject. If a company can afford to literally paint the internet in ads, then their product will sell, well into the millions. It doesn't matter if it works, if it's a scam, or if it's straight up malware. If you can afford the ads, you will soon be able to afford the yacht. This has been proven time and time again. But honest, small developers, people just trying to pay the rent and maybe get a little bit ahead? Those people get software piracy, cyber-stalkers, online harassment, malicious and libellous web sites dedicated to them, you name it. I'm not making this up. All of this to get maybe 5% of customers to buy something.

Now, @Barney-15E's comment that an app that doesn't ask for an admin password can't do anything too malicious (assuming it isn't SUID, which is easily checked for) is certainly true, and this is one reason I'm partial to Unix-based systems like MacOS over something like Windows. But it could still damage *my* files or render them unreadable.

It goes beyond that. Apple has setup an entire infrastructure of developer signatures. Any developer can pay $99 to get access, but if they release anything malicious, then Apple can shut them down right away. This happens all the time. But any app that is able to not get shut down for years is probably not going to be malicious. It may be junk. It may be a scam. It might also damage your files and render them unreadable. Such apps are very popular. But signed apps won't be malicious.

As to the "Levels" on this site, well I'm not terribly familiar with this community. Who sets those levels? Who awards the points? What are they based on?

Apple setup the levels. Users like you award the points. Here is a description of how it works: How to use Apple Support Communities

Mind you, I'm not specifically distrusting anyone here, I'm just fairly new to this site and trying to learn how it works.

This site is very heavily moderated by Apple. No one is going to get 100,000 points, or reach level 10 out of 10, unless their advice has helped an awful lot of people. Sometimes people are wrong. Sometimes they miss something. There aren't any bots here, just humans. But if there is a consensus on something, then you can trust it.

First of all, I'm not singling you out in particular. This is just becoming a popular thread. When anyone posts a reply, it will be read by many thousands of people. If I know that most of those people are misinformed, and they most certainly are in this case, then I may reply to "the masses" using you as a proxy.

Ok, that helps clarify where you're coming from. It sure seemed at first as if you were singling me out as someone who trusts junk software and mistrusts quality developers. I don't think I do - I'm just trying to exercise due diligence and caution.

Apple setup the levels. Users like you award the points. Here is a description of how it works: How to use Apple Support Communities

Thank you. It does sound like a fairly decent meritocratic system.

This site is very heavily moderated by Apple. No one is going to get 100,000 points, or reach level 10 out of 10, unless their advice has helped an awful lot of people. Sometimes people are wrong. Sometimes they miss something. There aren't any bots here, just humans. But if there is a consensus on something, then you can trust it.

Indeed, consensus is generally (not always, but in most cases) what I look for on a new-to-me tech-oriented site. Thanks for the information.

When you see that it means that the author often has many mindless response pointing to the shallow excuse for support that apple provides.

Thank you for demonstrating that you know nothing about how this site works.

Share what you know and get recognized - Apple Support

SimoByst wrote:

I had this problem and a person on Apple Senior support helped me with it!

Write this into spotlight search:

~/Library/LaunchAgents

Then you simply delete the files that cause the notification issue.

You can alternatively install a cleaning program such as CleanMyMacX or Avast cleanup.

There are a number of cleaning programs out there that are straight-up adware/malware. I'm looking at you MacKeeper <Mac Keeper Popup Adware - Apple Community>.

CleanMyMacX is absolutely not one of the problem cleaners. In fact, CleanMyMacX is GREAT. I've used it on 2 of my computers and 8 user computers for at least 5 years. It had never caused any problems and has fixed many problems like the one this thread is about, and their customer support is fantastic.

In macOS Ventura 13.4.1, I ultimately disabled the service that manages these "background items" from starting during login (or startup). I don't recommend this for everyone, because System Integrity Protection (SIP) must be disabled and re-enabled.

Disable

$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backgroundtaskmanagementd.plist
$ sudo reboot

Enable

$ sudo launchctl load   -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backgroundtaskmanagementd.plist
$ sudo reboot

For more information, read Manage login items and background tasks on Mac and inspect the output of these commands:

$ man backgroundtaskmanagementd  # service description
$ sudo sfltool dumpbtm           # lists configured background tasks

Is there any workaround for disabling this unhelpful notification feature entirely? I've effectively lost 25% of my screen real-estate by upgrading to Ventura. I'm glad I have other monitors and feel for those who don't.

• Notifications persist on any desktop (despite "stage manager" being the star of this OS, I can't use that feature at all because it's blocked by this waterfall of notifications)
• My workflow for taking screenshots is impacted because the screenshots notification is blocked. And the stack that contains new screenshots of course is also underneath them as well.
• I can't access any desktop icons on the right side of my screen including stage manager
• I can't access my *regular* notifications because they are under the "Background Items Added", and at this point notifications on my machine have lost all meaning
• Attempting to dismiss the massive list of notifications by swiping incurs an embarassing loss of FPS, and clicking the x also takes at least two seconds to register.
• I can't work from anywhere but my desk with my external monitors and am dreading having to travel

I'm able to get the notifications to stop by removing the launchagent that's causing it, but I need it for work -- the notifications loop infinitely for processes I've intentionally symlinked into the library folder so that they boot with my Mac (in this case, local postgres).

Deleting the LaunchAgent plist files is not an option (As others have mentioned, *if I didn't need to run them in the background, they wouldn't be there*)

Ventura is the worst OS upgrade experience I've had os far on a Mac in the past ten years (for a plethora of reasons, but this one takes the cake)

What Product Manager at Apple weaseled this obnoxious notification system through QA?

I've tried to clear folders:

1. Macintosh HD/Library/LaunchAgents
2. Macintosh HD/Library/LaunchDaemons
3. Empty Bin
4. Restart

but it doesn't help.

So after several reboots I just opened notification centre and delete all notifications. So, when I turn on - there were 0 notifications "Background Items Added"

Not if you have deleted parts of it. You just haven't exercised any of the functionality that is now broken.

You are suggesting that the plist files contain not just startup commands and prefs, but code required by applications to work, and that deleting the plist files could cause not just (at worst) an immediate failure requiring a restart or possibly a re-install of one non-compliant application, but a slow or delayed degradation of the application with access to that code, and that deleting plist files will cause ongoing problems and may affect not only that one application, but other applications or the OS. Is that what you're saying? Because that's certainly what it sounds like. I would really like to know if things have changed because In addition to being a designer, I have been doing freelance IT support for the last 10 years. Deleting plist files is one of the troubleshooting steps I use when applications (particularly Adobe apps) are having odd freakouts. I learned to do this from Adobe Teams Support. While it hasn't always fixed the issue that prompted me to delete the prefs, it has never caused a drawn out series of problems to pop up, and has yet to cause things to get worse than whatever problem I was trying to fix in the first place. At the worst, I've gotten a request to reinstall an auto-updater (as I did with the Microsoft auto-updater in this case--a prompted, one click process) or had to re-customize user preferences that had been reset to their defaults.

The problem of a dozen or more notifications that cannot be batch dismissed popping up on every restart and some app launches is probably worth fixing for most people. Many of the arguments against the approach of deleting the autolaunch plist files seem to suggest that it will cause more problems than just the theoretical possibility of needing to reinstall an application. That's not how it works.

For me, deleting the plist files didn't damage any applications. I'm using:

• Adobe Creative Cloud (all prefs were preserved)
• Chrome
• One Password - I didn't even have to reconnect to my account which can be slightly annoying (although I did have to re-pin the browser extension so its icon showed up)
• MS (Teams, Word, Outlook, Excel and Edge)
• Stream Deck (the login item for this seems to be labeled "Corsair Memory" - I had to quit and restart this one and got a prompt to reinstall the login item.
• Jamf Connect
• Chrome (Google Updater)

Not listed in Login items, but I thought might have a chance of being affected:

• Network settings
• VPN settings
• Default Folder

I can just imagine one of my users searching for a solution to this problem and after reading this thread thinking they had to live with or have me fix it because this simple solution was going to cause data loss or burn everything down.