Unable to Stop "Login Items Notification" from appearing on my Desktop

First of all, I want to sincerely thank you for posting an EtreCheck report. There have been many people complaining about this new feature in Ventura. But I think you are the very first person to provide an EtreCheck report to help us try to figure out what is causing this problem.

Unfortunately, that's a lot of bad news there. I will address issues one by one.

1) I think you must have changed the default notification display style. Normally, these notifications should look like this:

So go to System Settings > Notifications and see if you have turned off the "Preview" setting. I'm just guessing that this might be what is causing your notifications to be so content-free.

2) Those notifications listed in your EtreCheck report are unrelated to the notifications you are asking about. EtreCheck lists notifications from 3rd party apps in an attempt to identify notifications from scam ware apps. These notifications are from the operating system.

3) I went through your EtreCheck report and cross-referenced all of Apple's "background items" with EtreCheck's list. I think that it is that VirtualBox file that is responsible for the mysterious "osascripts". This file is also missing an install date in the EtreCheck report. Did you delete that file perhaps?

4) By far, the most interesting thing about your EtreCheck report is that this new "background items" interface in Ventura appears to be completely non-functional, at least on your computer. You have turned off everything except Hazel, but Hazel is not loaded. Many of the items that you have disabled are still loaded and/or running.

5) This complete failure of the the Ventura "background items" interface is probably what is causing all these notifications. It's totally lost it's mind.

And now for the bad part, which may have a silver lining.

Your Avira antivirus is still partially installed. You have a System Extension from Avira antivirus installed and running. I know you mentioned that you tried to remove it, but I think the damage was done before. Did you try to manually uninstall this app? Did you use one of those vile "app zapper" tools? Or did you try to use the official uninstaller or uninstallation instructions from the developer. Unfortunately, for System Extensions, all options may be wrong. These things are just a total disaster.

I'm not sure, but this could be causing this entire problem with your "background items". It is definitely something that needs to be fixed. There is no way to tell what this antivirus is doing while it is running out of control like this.

The only way to correct this problem is to erase your hard drive and reinstall the operating system. Then, when you restore, you have to make sure to restore only your user files and user accounts. Do NOT restore any apps, software, or "other files". That will only restore the problem and put you back at square one. You will have to manually reinstall any 3rd party software, like Hazel, you want to use. I recommend you take this opportunity to avoid installing anything that isn't absolutely necessary.

A side effect is that this should completely correct the problem with the notifications. This new "background items" user interface in Ventura is still poorly understood and apparently pretty buggy. I strongly urge you to avoid making any change of any kind in this interface. Do not attempt to turn anything on or off. In my opinion, this is one of the worst ideas Apple has had in a long time.

twodogron wrote:

using Find Any File am still not allowed to remove the offending Avira files.

Correct. You won't be able to remove this file using any conventional method. For this specific type of file, Apple literally bakes it into the operating system.

There are a couple of different ways to properly remove it. The developer can remove it using a correctly-designed uninstaller, but these days, few developers bother to do that. You can also delete it by dragging the containing app to the trash. You'll see a dialog confirming that you want to uninstall the system extension. But in most cases, dragging such an app to the trash will leave other parts of the app still installed and running. And if there was a functional uninstaller, this action would likely break it. It's a real catch-22. And then there are people who try to delete from the command-line or with "app zappers". These methods are a guaranteed fail. People like to recommend those "app zappers" and "clean up" tools, but they always go silent when it comes to cleaning up the mess they leave behind.

1. Yes I did turn off the Preview, these are now turned back on.. (I am a novice trying to remedy an Apple problem, forgive me)

LOL! No need to apologize. As I said before, you are literally the very first person to actually follow up with this problem. No joke - usually all I get are insults when trying to help with this.

With Apple products, be very careful about changing any default. Only do it if you are absolutely sure you need to change it and that you know what the longer-term impacts will be. This is even more true when it comes to installing 3rd party software.

2. To be honest I don't understand this one...

Most people don't. There is an awful lot of confusion with respect to these notifications that you are seeing. Sometimes people think that the new interface in System Settings is there to control the notifications, but that's not true. Other people think that there are some other notification settings related to 3rd party apps that are triggering this problem. Also not true. I only point it out because others suggest it as a fix and that only leads to more confusion and frustration.

3. Again I used Find Any File and removed all remaining fragments of VirtualBox which were left behind.

Here again, things are more complicated than that. I don't use Find Any File and can't comment on how effective it might be. I know for a fact that it can't go into Apple's undocumented system databases and remove items. This is why you might see discrepancies between what EtreCheck reports and what you see on disk or in any other 3rd party tool. EtreCheck looks at the running operating system state. It doesn't matter if you've deleted the file or not, it may still be resident in memory. But I think this explains the discrepancy between your screenshot from the Ventura UI posted on Dec. 27th and your EtreCheck report from yesterday.

4. Hazel is an Automatic Filing system which I use to maintain filing consistency.

That's fine. Any 3rd party software you want to run is fine. People don't seem to realize that this new Ventura user interface actually disables 3rd party software. It simply shouldn't be used at all - ever. If you don't want to run Hazel or anything else, then you should uninstall it. If you do want to run 3rd party apps, then you shouldn't disable them like this. In your case, everything is totally scrambled.

Before I scrub my Hard Drives is there any further suggestions you may have as I will not be functioning for quite awhile, I foresee much confusion on my part....

You have a backup. It should be relatively quick and straightforward. Follow instructions from Apple in this support document: Erase and reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You have an Apple Silicon Mac, so you should be able to use the more efficient "Erase" operation: Erase your Mac - Apple Support (there is a link to this in the previous document).

The only trick is when you go to restore. Here, you don't want to use the default settings in this document: Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support

Instead, when you get to step #7, make sure that only your account is checked. Make sure that Applications, "Other Files & Folder", and "System & Network" are not checked. You will have to do some easy system setup and you will have to reinstall any 3rd party software. The less 3rd party software you install, the better. You want to experience how your Mac should behave without any 3rd party software. So later on, if it loses its mind again, you'll be better able to identify which software is the culprit.

Expert No, fellow user like yourself, Yes.

" My wife has a small MacBook Air with exactly the same Ventura OS 13.1 installed but she doesn't suffer these problems...."

Exact same version of macOS Ventura 13.1 but the exact same Third Party Software installed on both machines ?

Download the Application Etrecheck directly from the Developer.

This is a Diagnostic Tool that makes no changes to the computer.

It makes a coherent and readable inventory of both the Hardware and Software used on the computer 

The application is free or paid from added features. 

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - >>>> using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last ) <<<<

We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.

Please follow up with P. Phillips with the Etrecheck report.

Meanwhile, have you tried to do a Safe Boot?

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

If the notifications do not occur with Safe Boot, then those notifications are coming from something (non-Apple) that was installed. In that case especially, the Etrecheck report will likely reveal the item(s) and we can help you fix it. Another benefit of Safe Boot is that it cleans out some older items and caches which MIGHT be connected to what you are seeing -- not likely to "cure" it but it possibly might (long shot).

Several things to note from the Etresoft Report:

(1) scores of notifications ...

Notifications: 

EagleFiler.app 3 notifications 

Mail Archiver X.app one notification 

Speedtest.app one notification 

Finances.app 14 notifications (14 scheduled) 

Canary Mail.app 85 notifications

(2) Antivirus software: Apple and Avira

Avira antivirus software is know to conflict with the MacOS

System Extensions: [Running] Avira Scan Service - version 3.2.1 (Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG)

(3) Not sure what HazelHelper is but it's also a login item ...

HazelHelper (Noodlesoft, LLC - installed 2022-11-01) Modern Login Item

(4) You have multiple password managers - they could be conflicting

(5) You seem to have multiple mail utilities, Canary mail (with 85 notifications) and others (Mail Archiver X ...), could these be conflicting?

I'm not sure where to start here here but completely uninstalling any anti-virus would be a good place to start. I am also leery of anything Kapersky-related ...

Another couple of points to note from your EtreCheck report:

If you turn off all application notifications, these are the notifications that you will no longer get:

Notifications:

EagleFiler.app

3 notifications

Mail Archiver X.app

one notification

Speedtest.app

one notification

Finances.app

14 notifications (14 scheduled)

Canary Mail.app

85 notifications

Receipts.app

one notification

Safari.app

2 notifications

EtreCheckPro.app

one notification

This will have no effect on those "Login Items" notifications. Because they are system notifications, they will continue until the problem is resolved.

Some of those application notifications, in particular the "finances" ones, kind of look important to me. You might want to review those and re-enable them.

Secondly, this item:

System Extensions:

[Running] Avira Scan Service - version 3.2.1 (Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG)

Application: /Applications/Avira Security.app - version 3.2.1 (Not found!)

Description: Provides the Antivirus Scans and Protections

Is a System Extension. Once it is installed and running like this, it will stay until it is correctly uninstalled. It cannot be "unlocked" and it cannot be removed in Safe Mode. There is one "alternate" method to remove it, but we are not allowed to mention that here in the forums.

That "Not found!" part next to the containing Application is the bad part. This means that the one remaining, easy-to-use uninstallation method will no longer work. The easiest way to remove this System Extension is by erasing the hard drive, reinstalling the operating system, and NOT restoring the software.

Even if the "forbidden" method were allowed, I would not be comfortable trying to talk someone through using it.

twodogron wrote:

Thank you to Etresoft, AlWeir, P Phillips, Old Toad and ALL who have so kindly offered help.

Without the diagnostics of the Application Etrecheck I don't think this problem would have ever been rectified in the correct manner... Thank you ALL....

I did as I was advised and completely deleted everything on my hard drive and re-installed ONLY the Mac Ventura OS along with ONLY my User information, I did NOT import any Applications or System Files.

I am busy now carefully re-installing ONLY Apple Software from my AppStore Account for the time being.

Having had this experience I was surprised after being a proud Apple user for so many years that this Ventura OS is almost as bad as the original Microsoft Windows 7, probably not that bad but this sort of reaction from an operating system does dull your confidence in the premium Apple Operating Systems.

Again, Thank you to all of you who helped me, it was very much appreciated...

Ron..

The most important element at this time, is it appears the major Issues and been fixed.

Though it took some time to uncover the sources of the issue and a Drantic Actions of Tipping the Drive to barebones was required, it was achieved.

Good work here 👍

As for the balance of the above.

Have been using Apple Computers since about 2004.

The Only Real issues I have experienced with macOS occurred was in the early Learning Phase of macOS.

Most, if not all Issues, in my case, were Self Inflicted Issues through not knowing or listening to Others on the Internet.

Many of whom thought they knew macOS but were generally porting MS Windows thinking and applying it to OS X / macOS

I used Mac Paw " Clean my Mac went to optimization , to manage the launch agents of your apps. and eliminated all the launch agents except the ones I wanted and it stopped all the notification pop ups at startup

2/23/23

Problem: Other problem

Description: Login Items Notifications

Minor Issues:

Q - Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. These files could be old, incompatible, and cause problems. They should be reviewed.

A - This will dovetail into later comments specific to VirtualBox and Parallels 

Hardware Information:

    Mac mini (M1, 2020)

Notifications:

  1  - EagleFiler.app

  2 - Mail Archiver X.app

  3 - Speedtest.app

 4 - Finances.app >> 14 notifications >> (14 scheduled)

 5 - Canary Mail.app >>  85 notifications

 6 - Receipts.app >>   one notification

 7 -   Safari.app >>     2 notifications

 8 - EtreCheckPro.app >>   one notification

Antivirus software: Apple and Avira

A - Possible solution to removing the pesky Kernel Extension associated with Avira is to user from link provided https://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/index.php.

It is suggested to in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Safe Mode will also eliminate Third Party Software, extensions and drivers from loading 

3 - Then, use the Application to Search for and using the words associated with the Application and remove the extension

Q -  /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app

  Not Loaded] prl_hypervisor.ke - com.parallels.kext.hypervisor (Parallels International GmbH, 17.1.6 51584 - SDK 10.11)

A - Unless the computer is running the most current version reported to be able to run on Apple Silicon M1 / M2 computer. It is time to explore updating 

Refer to link below

https://kb.parallels.com/en/129060

Q -  [Not Loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist (Not signed - installed

A - Unless the computer is running the most current version reported to be able to run on Apple Silicon M1 / M2 computer. It is time to explore updating 

Refer to link below

https://osxdaily.com/2022/10/22/you-can-now-run-virtualbox-on-apple-silicon-m1-m2/ )

 Q - Software Installs (past 60 days):

 Install Date Name (Version)

 2022-11-03 Enpass (6.8.4)

 2022-11-11 Kaspersky Password Manager (9.7.1)

 2022-11-16 1Password for Safari (2.4.1)

 2022-12-02 Bitwarden (2022.11.0)

 The user may have Special Needs to be running 4 Third Party Password Managers in addition to the Native Apple Password Functionality but I personally see no benefits.  

Would really like to see the report but uploading a RTF files does not work

While in Etrecheck Application and after it has finished the Share Button and copy the test of the report to Clipboard of macOS.

Then paste the text - >>>> using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last ) <<<<

( which it is Not ) is this state, I would use the " Erase all Content and Setting " adored this computer M-Class Computer and Start from scratch.

Then follow the previous Contributors' advice

Link below

How to erase all content and settings - Apple Support (CA)

As for removing the stubbed Kernel Extension under the present and exiting Setup.

There is a way.

Unless the users if very proficient exactly would what they are doing, it could lead to the necessity to use the above Erase all content and setting.

So best left alone on that one IMHO

Go to Notifications and under Application Notifications start turning them off.

Boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and try deleting from there.

Note:  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 assure a successful boot into Safe Mode.