Flashing Screen

Question

Flashing Screen

I was working on my computer when all of a sudden the screen flashed in 1 second intervals for about 20 seconds (like a warning). What does this mean?

iMac 24″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Feb 10, 2023 7:35 PM

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Answer 1

Trish313

Community Specialist

Feb 13, 2023 10:15 AM in response to Community User

Hi IlliniBird,

While we cannot speculate on the meaning of the screen, we can help isolate and troubleshoot this behavior. Did this happen while using a specific app? What macOS did this occur on? Since noticing this, has your Mac been restarted? Restarting can help when experiencing unexpected behaviors such as this one.

To restart your Mac:

Go to the Apple menu ( )
Select Restart

Shut down or restart your Mac - Apple Support

You can find different screens you may see on your Mac here: If your Mac doesn't start up all the way - Apple Support.

Hope that helps!

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Answer 2

Feb 26, 2023 11:16 AM in response to Trish313

I cannot speculate definitively as to what it meant either but I'm pretty sure it was some sort of warning. My computer (Apple iMac 27" 2017) was infected with the "Cobalt Strike Beacon" virus through my e-mail which took over the computer and stole all my passwords, pictures, etc. unbeknownst by me so it may have been related to that. I received an extortion threat as this was a ransomeware virus. I changed all my passwords (and deleted the hacked e-mail account) which was a real pain but I should have been changing the passwords routinely all along. I was always told Apple computers do not get viruses but I'm living proof this is not true.

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Answer 3

Gena_D

Community Specialist

Feb 26, 2023 11:29 AM in response to Community User

Hello IlliniBird,

While it's important to be protected against malicious software, third party security software may have a negative effect on the performance of your Mac. Your macOS comes with many powerful built-in tools to protect you and your data. Learn more about those here: macOS - Security - Apple. With these features enabled, you should not need any additional antivirus software.

We're glad to hear that the original issue has not reoccured. If it does, please let us know and we can certainly look into this further with you.

We hope this helps. Let us know if we can assist with anything else at all. Take care.

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Flashing Screen

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