For two days, only after a restart, a flag notifications occurs on the right upper screen when locked. It's not linked, and CleanMyMac and Malwarebytes find nothing wrong.
The flag reads:
Detected virus: Trojan_BO8FD813059
45 Notifications
Where is this originating and what to do about it?
MacBook Pro (2021)
Those are Safari Notifications. Stop them by following these instructions.
For reference: Change Websites settings in Safari on Mac - Apple Support
Where is this originating and what to do about it?
You permitted it by allowing one or more websites to send Notifications. If you don't want to do that, then don't do that. Refer to Customize website notifications in Safari on Mac - Apple Support. Deselecting "Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications" will ensure you will never be asked.
... and CleanMyMac and Malwarebytes find nothing wrong.
The reason is that there is nothing wrong. The very worst thing anyone can do is to install something to fix a problem that does not exist. Uninstall them. Follow their respective uninstallation instructions.
Those are Safari Notifications. Stop them by following these instructions.
For reference: Change Websites settings in Safari on Mac - Apple Support
Where is this originating and what to do about it?
You permitted it by allowing one or more websites to send Notifications. If you don't want to do that, then don't do that. Refer to Customize website notifications in Safari on Mac - Apple Support. Deselecting "Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications" will ensure you will never be asked.
... and CleanMyMac and Malwarebytes find nothing wrong.
The reason is that there is nothing wrong. The very worst thing anyone can do is to install something to fix a problem that does not exist. Uninstall them. Follow their respective uninstallation instructions.
Regarding CleanMyMac: there is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac. This documents describe what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community and Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support.
There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs. There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.
Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear. They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware. Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.
There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is designed solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it. The free version is more than adequate for most users.
That being said uninstall CMM according to the developer's instructions.
The familiar System Preferences icon is just a picture to lend the scam an air of legitimacy. I don't know whether it is copyrighted by Apple or is otherwise legally considered trade dress, but it doesn't really matter. It's just a picture devoid of any real meaning.
Advertisements for garbage products like "CleanMyMac" have used similar if not identical appearance to Apple's own advertisements — same fonts, same colors, same background images, etc — that have successfully deceived people into believing they are actually Apple products when they're not. Whether that crosses a legal threshold is a question I can't answer, but it's definitely a sleazy tactic. Honorable companies don't use sleazy tactics.
Thanks. Turned them all off. There are two notifications with a System Pref icon: one is blank/empty and the other is NOTIFICATIONS. Should one of the them be on?
No, neither should be on. A common tactic is the scammers use the System Pref's icon to make it appear as if it belongs to the OS. It doesn't.
Trojan virus notification on locked screen with cogwheel preferences icon
