Background Items Added

There's probably a kext file still in your system that's loading at boot. If you just deleted the CleanMyMac app you didn't do enough to rid yourself of the app and its support files.

Do the following: Boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and download and run the shareware app Find Any File to search for any files with the application's or the developer's name in the file name.  For CMM software you'd do the following search(es): 

1 - Name contains cleanmymac

2 - Names contains macpaw

Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop or Trash bin in the Dock for deletion.

FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.  

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.

Also, CMM is considered to be akin to malware by many of the contributors here in the ASC.

Had the same issue as you & others here. Called Apple Support, was transferred to Senior Advisor. He did state that this was in issue with some computers. What he had me do worked for me. No more Background Item icons appearing on the desktop. This is what he had me do:

Go into to your Users Folder on your MacHD. Bring up the Library Folder (Option-Go-Library). Find the Launch Agent Folder. Delete contents. Not the folder, just the contents.

Go to your main MacintoshHD and open the Library Folder. Delete contents of Launch Agent Folder. Also delete contents of Launch Daemons Folder. Not the folders, just contents.

After a reboot those annoying Background Items Added icons no longer appeared. Launch one of the Background Items Apps that showed up before, the icon will reappear on the desktop. After the next reboots/startups they no longer appeared.

If you go to "System-General-Login Items" you will see as apps relaunch, they will be listed here & will reload in the background with out the bothersome icons on the desktop reappearing.

jeffsyrop wrote:

Yes, the horribly bothersome popups are gone, but now I'm having minor problems with 3rd party apps!

If you know which items you've modified, you should be able to re-install the software.

The problem here is that there are no general solutions or approaches. Apps that include launch daemons and agents are also likely to include kernel extensions and Apple's new system extensions. And lots of people use and recommend various "app zappers" or "clean up" apps. Combine those with system extensions and you've got a date with Disk Utility to erase your hard drive and reinstall the operating system.

But hopefully in your specific case it won't go that far and you can simply reinstall.

And you are so right: There is a scary forcing of tone on these forums. I LOVE Apple products and Macs, but for some reason horrible user-interface communication within some Apple apps and settings remains a problem, like with the problem at hand in this thread. I have a master's degree in English and yet no matter how carefully I read the menu choices and info, I had NO idea what I was really doing in the "Allow in Background" window, and the hassle that would ensue. But because of the way the user interface was designed, I thought I was doing a good thing by turning off a couple of items! Just for saying something slightly critical I was nearly banned recently! I happen to be American, and protest is part of our culture. As an ardent Mac user for 25 years, I know that if we remain super polite, Apple will allow bugs to remain unfixed for years. Sometimes, I'd like to be allowed to show a bit of disapproval so that the needed (and usually super easy) software fixes will be made.

I sincerely doubt you were at any risk of getting banned. If you just got a post edited or removed, that's no big deal. The Apple Support Community Terms of Use specifically allow constructive criticism.

It's just that this is a user-to-user tech support forum. Complaining might make people feel a little better, but it isn't going to fix any problems. All we can do is solve problems, if possible, or suggest workarounds.

A better target for complaints would be the Apple Produce Feedback page: Product Feedback - Apple

If you have more specific problems, you can file an official bug report: https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/

But sometimes, you've just got to read between the lines. iOS has been wildly successful. That's why Apple is porting apps, low-level APIs, and layouts like the new System Settings from iOS to the Mac. When some iOS-style interface that was ported to the Mac flakes out, people are totally lost. In those cases, when I try to suggest some Mac-native method that is actually much better than the new iOS style, my suggestions are not appreciated. This new user interface in Ventura is part of that. There is a whole class of Mac apps that aren't going to exist in the near future. Apple is rapidly changing both low-level APIs and high-level app organization and expectations. Those developers that can't adapt will go out of business. Those users that rely on those apps will have more and more problems. Users will find more and more that iOS-style apps, without launch agents, launch daemons, or system extensions, are the path of least resistance going forward.

Thank you so much for this great answer! This is such an easy fix. I hope Apple solves this bug in the next update. I've already submitted a bug report, which follows:

ALL of these "Background Items Added" pop ups (see 1st screenshot below) display every time I restart my Mac and several other times during a session. For example, they pop up when I open my laptop after it's been closed for a while. Each item is related to software that I rarely or never use. This problem started when I tried to turn off some items visible at System Settings > Login Items > Allow in Background. I think Apple should have made clear that some of the cryptic items on this list are Apple system files that SHOULDN'T be turned off. I wish I had never touched this screen!

See 2nd screenshot below:

Turning these items on or off makes no difference in solving the problem!

jeffsyrop wrote:

Thank you so much for this great answer! This is such an easy fix.

Alas, it is not only not a fix. It only breaks whatever 3rd party software happened to be using those launch agents and daemons. Furthermore, it breaks not just the flaky 3rd software that was triggering the repeated notifications, it also breaks all of the 3rd party software that was operating correctly and had nothing to do with the problem.

This problem started when I tried to turn off some items visible at System Settings > Login Items > Allow in Background. I think Apple should have made clear that some of the cryptic items on this list are Apple system files that SHOULDN'T be turned off. I wish I had never touched this screen!

You are welcome to follow me around in the forums and give me a little support when people insult me for giving this same advice.

To clarify, don't mention me directly. That will just enrage them even further. What you wrote above is perfect on its own.

Alas, it is not only not a fix. It only breaks whatever 3rd party software happened to be using those launch agents and daemons.

Yes, the horribly bothersome popups are gone, but now I'm having minor problems with 3rd party apps!

And you are so right: There is a scary forcing of tone on these forums. I LOVE Apple products and Macs, but for some reason horrible user-interface communication within some Apple apps and settings remains a problem, like with the problem at hand in this thread. I have a master's degree in English and yet no matter how carefully I read the menu choices and info, I had NO idea what I was really doing in the "Allow in Background" window, and the hassle that would ensue. But because of the way the user interface was designed, I thought I was doing a good thing by turning off a couple of items! Just for saying something slightly critical I was nearly banned recently! I happen to be American, and protest is part of our culture. As an ardent Mac user for 25 years, I know that if we remain super polite, Apple will allow bugs to remain unfixed for years. Sometimes, I'd like to be allowed to show a bit of disapproval so that the needed (and usually super easy) software fixes will be made.

Ozzie, I spoke too soon in my Jan 17 reply to you. You DID lead me to a way to solve the problem, but it turns out that your advice was too extreme.

Find the Launch Agent Folder. Delete contents. [etc.]

This will cause people all kinds of problems with 3rd party software. The annoying pop-ups went away, but now I had serious trouble with Word, Google Chrome, Backblaze on-line backup, and more. It took me a couple of hours to repair the damage.

Luckily, because I'm kinda careful, I saved copies of the files in the 2 folders whose contents you advised deleting, and was able to replace them as needed. If I hadn't done that, I would have had a huge amount of work to do. Luck was involved, too. If Word had had a good help page, I wouldn't have known how to fix the built-in update utility.

So I advise you to revise your answer, and to ask people to GO to those folders you named, look around, and to delete the one or two files related to the bothersome popup, and to delete ONLY those one or two files (after saving copies of them), AND ONLY if they are SURE that they can easily re-install and reconfigure the app in question.

But again, I thank you, because my problem is completely solved now, and now I know where to look if it happens again. I CAUSED my own problem, but only because of a serious flaw in new Ventura that practically ASKS users to CREATE the problem. I have posted feedback to Apple and hopefully they will fix this in the next update!

Etresoft, please look at my updated reply to Ozzie. I spoke too soon about his solution solving the problem, so in my new reply, I mention the problems I had getting my broken apps up and running again. I think you will find it interesting. I still thank him, though, because he was key in helping me solve the problem!

I posted feedback to Apple, and I hope their next update will address this problem waiting to happen to anyone who finds these settings.

Re being banned for saying negative things about a product, the language in the notice I got sounded pretty serious, like one more strike and I was out. But I won't have any more problems of that sort because I will definitely heed your good advice and stay positive here, and save any negative (but IMPORTANT) comments for the OS feedback form.

After I realized my error for installing CleanMyMac, I used its own Removal tool, to remove CleanMyMac. It worked completely fine. So here is the exception to the rule of not using CleanMyMac. Install it just long enough to use it to remove itself. I had no more Background warning after the removal. I do think my computer alerted me one last time with a background warning when I removed it but it was the last one.

CAUTION about the advice I posted above. This was a solution that an Apple Senior Advisor gave and it worked for me. Jeffsyrop below used the procedure I had described and at first thought it worked for him also but soon found that it had really messed up some of his 3rd party applications. Luckily he had backed up so was able to revert the process. I have tested out all my apps and so far have not encountered any problems. If you still want to try what worked for me, make sure you have a BACKUP and follow Jeffsyrop recommended revisions below. Thank you Jeffsyrop……

Advice from Jeffsyrop: “So I advise you to revise your answer, and to ask people to GO to those folders you named, look around, and to delete the one or two files related to the bothersome popup, and to delete ONLY those one or two files (after saving copies of them), AND ONLY if they are SURE that they can easily re-install and reconfigure the app in question.”

Thanks for writing this update, Ozzie. I had a lot of weird little 3rd party apps, so for me deleting all files in those 3 folders created problems. For some people it would just work. The cool thing about what you shared is that it's a super easy way to fix the problem for individual apps for which one of those bothersome popups are occurring. If you're sure you can re-install it from scratch, and you only delete the file(s) pertinent to it, then your fix works perfectly and instantly. The important thing is just the wording in your instructions, which says to delete all files in each of this folders. It sounded pretty scary, which is why I backed them up. But even doing that, I didn't know if restoring those files to their original folders would work or not. It MOSTLY did work, but a couple of apps needed more attention than that.

Guess I just lucked out with my apps. The only real important 3rd party apps to me were 1Password, SuperDuper and CleanMyMacX. Most all of my pop ups were from Epson printer apps. They all seem to be working OK so far. Like you, I did have more than enough backups in case something had gone wrong and I should have put that down in my initial instructions. Serious error on my part. Usually Apple upper level support for me over the years has been right on. Can only hope Apple will fix this issue in the next update.

CleanMyMacX is considered by most of the experienced contributors to these communities to be akin to malware. It's recommended you uninstall it according to the developer's instructions. Randall–2023 described how he removed it successfully.

I have been using CleanMyMac for at least a decade or longer with no issues. It has improved greatly over the years, with the currant version being CleanMyMacX. Apple sells it on their app store. I have read comments over the years about people having an issue with it. Has not been the case with me. I think where people have run into trouble is not carefully designating exactly what they want the program to clean up, especially on its first run thru. It cleans out 5GB of useless data once a week on my iMac without any negative effects. It actually has a malware detection routine that one can run after designated cleanups or any other time and a number of other routines from detecting available upgrades to uninstalling software. Currently running on 2 iMacs in our house without any issues.