Notifications about virus

These notifications are caused by website notifications in Safari.

To fix it, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications and remove whatever site seems most likely to be generating those. If you can't figure it out, feel free to remove all of them. This will trigger web sites to ask again. Now that you know where to look, you will be better able to find out which site is causing it.

carolagate wrote:

Thanks. I was surprised that you called it an "old" version, since I got the update notice only yesterday.

I don't know anything about that. 13.1 has been out for a month now. 13.2 will be released very soon.

I've updated it now, but am still getting those virus warnings.

You will continue to get those notifications until you deny access to those web sites using Safai's Notification Settings.

I probably do have a lot of junk on my computer.

You have very little extraneous 3rd party system modifications installed.

Should running EtreCheck again show me how to get rid of the low-level tasks, and would that have any relation to the notifications problem?

You really don't have any low-level tasks to get rid of. You have Malwarebytes, Zoom, and some Logitech and Epson software. None of that is known to cause any problems.

The notifications are entirely separate. You have given one or more web sites the ability to display messages on your screen. Your EtreCheck report show they have done this 100 time so far. They will continue forever until you deny them access. I strongly recommend that you deny every website that asks to post notifications.

As I said above, there is something strange going on with your computer. I don't know what it is and I've never seen it before. I don't see any indication that any 3rd party system modifications are causing it. Maybe review any calendars you have subscribed to. One of those mystery Apple tasks is related to calendars. Some enterprising scammers have used calendar subscriptions to push ads onto people's desktops. Your notifications seem to be coming directly from Safari, so don't delay in disabling those in Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. But you could have other strange calendar subscriptions that are causing other problems.

That is for sure a phishing attempt. Whatever you do, DON'T click on any links provided there, or provide any information to them.

Go to System Settings->Notifications, and check for anything there out of place. Make a note of it, and disable its permissions to show notifications.

Then let us know what you found, so we can try and help you find what else you need to do to get rid it completely.

To stop all notifications from all web sites, open Safari's preferences and click on the Websites tab. Click Notifications in the left column. Then on the right, remove all web sites listed. As you can see, mine is empty. Lastly, uncheck the box the bottom. You'll never see a notification from any website in Safari again.

Please download and run Etrecheck and let run and do its report. When finished, post the report here so we can know more and advise on how to remove this stuff.

2 things.

3 viruses message you got is “Advertising”.

Advertising can and does lie.

This Advertising is a total lie, as no web browser can scan your system.

Second, EtreCheck used to be in the App Store, but the author found he had to disable too many useful diagnostic features in order to pass the App Store review process.

Search these forums and you will find thousands and thousands of EtreCheck output examples going back many many years. In that time, there has been zero evidence that EtreCheck sends anything off your system, nor makes any unrequested modifications (and you would have pay to get EtreCheck to make modifications 😁 ).

The EtreCheck author, EtreSoft is a current contributor to these forms, and helps users on a regular basis. He has earned a great deal of respect from other forum contributors.

Yes, Etrecheck is safe. It is a diagnostic program by etresoft, a respected member of this community, developed precisely so users like me can help users like you. It will not make any changes to your system, and the report it makes does not convey any private information, as you can check for yourself before posting anything.

You can also peruse this forum and you will see many many threads where users have posted Etrecheck reports. In many of those the information from the report led to a solution.

Some users ( not all ) are willing to install AntiVirus Software which is useless on macOS for a variety of reasons but have a difficult time using an Application like Etrecheck Report directly for 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 

Go figure

Also, you are running an old version of Ventura. You need to update that to version 13.1. Or at least restart. Your computer is displaying some strange results. I thought it was a bug in EtreCheck, but I can't reproduce what I see in your report. EtreCheck was unable to get the developer names from most of your apps. And you have some low-level Apple tasks that are taking way too much CPU time. Something is wrong there, but I'm not sure what. I'm hoping that an update and restart will fix it.

From: https://www.citymac.com/blog/2015/09/11/popup-scams-in-safari-and-how-to-avoid-them

In order to make this pesky pop-up disappear without giving these crafty scammers a dime, try opening Safari while holding down the SHIFT key on your keyboard. This will force Safari to open in a no-restore state. Safari will open to your home page.

carolagate wrote:

Do you have any idea why the Apple store doesn't carry it?

Apple wanted me to classify it as an antivirus app, which it isn't. Apple imposes certain technical limitations on all apps in the Mac App Store. These limitations make a true antivirus app impossible in the Mac App Store. EtreCheck is a tricky app. Sometimes people think it is some kind of magic "fix it" or "clean up" app, in spite of all information I can provide to the contrary. So I'm very careful about making any claims about what it can or can't do. So rather than fight with Apple about what EtreCheck couldn't do, I pulled it from the store.

And the modern world being what it is, trying to be honest and help people is going to earn one some enemies, such as the one you found on Google. Luckily, my enemies are pretty pathetic.

This message is FALSE. Do NEVER click on "proceed".

Yes

one the developer may have chosen to NOT pay Apple a percentage of every sale to Apple

the rules Apple requires for the application to appear on the Apple Store would cripple the usefulness of the application