what is userinit.sh?

binkey3 wrote:

Avast has pointed out and stopped malicious emails and has logged a list of passwords that have been compromised with date website and told me the actual compromised password so I think it definitrly has some mac value.

Nope! Not needed and they have even been caught selling your personal information before.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjdkq7/avast-antivirus-sells-user-browsing-data-investigation?callback=in&code=YJVHNTG1MTITM2NINY0ZYJZJLWFKMDITZWY0MWYWMGVLZMZK&state=2a5c3415159f44289a2b9ef302a319b9

• Compromised passwords warning are provided on your Mac without any additional software installed. Just go to  > System Settings > Passwords > Security Recommendations
• Junk mail filtering is standard on your Mac. Simple safe web use techniques tell you to never trust a link provided in an email. If you receive an email that appears to come from your bank, go to your bank website directly instead of using the link. As long as you do not provide personal information from an email, you will have nothing to worry about. The same is true for any Messages you may receive.

It should be expected that any AntiVirus is going to give you false positives and in some cases fabricated warning that is claims to resolve. They may use the terms "malicious" or "trojan" to scare you. This is how they attempt to show you their relevance. If it never showed you any problems, you would not continue to subscribe to their product. Refer to the issues other users have experienced with Avast specifically:

Avast found threats on MacBook pro - Apple Community

Avast reports "MacOS:Iservice-A [Wrm]" - Apple Community

Avast detected ELF Mirai Downloader but i… - Apple Community

You can read other users issues with Avast on this forum here:

Search - Apple Community

Now that you have it installed, removing it will not be easy. That should not be the case for any legitimate software. Avast will do everything it can to remain on your computer to provide fake warning so you will install it again. You will not be able to simply move the app to the trash and will need to start with the Avast uninstaller and then still need to verify all files have been removed.

Google Translation:

Machacon wrote:

It does not answer the question as to what userinit.sh is and why it appears at startup without being requested.

The OP never provided any context of where they saw this file so no one can really say.

However, if you are seeing this item listed in the "Background" items section of the Login System Settings, then just ignore it. You installed something which uses that script. Unfortunately the "Background" Login Items is something new Apple added to macOS which exposes items to the user, but this "feature" is not properly implemented since it requires apps to follow certain rules which Apple may never have informed the developers creating apps for macOS. Many items listed there may even be official items from very low levels of macOS. Unfortunately because exposing these items has been poorly implemented by Apple, there is no way to identify which app is using those items. Just ignore the "Background" items section if you want your apps to work properly.

If you have Avast anti-virus installed, you can use the uninstaller to remove it. This file has been associated with the Avast Software, which provides no protection for your Mac and as has been previously noted, it will cause problems.

There is no AntiVirus software that is useful for the Mac. Apple provides the best security using its own protections in the OS as well as frequent Security Updates that should be set to be installed automatically. You will get far more updates to security using this method than from any 3rd party anti virus software. The OS on your Mac is kept in a secure Read Only partition that can only be modified by Apple during updates. The user as well as any other installed software is not able to make any changes to the OS.

effie277 wrote:

What is userinit.sh? Is it safe?

. sh —A shell script is a text file that contains one or more UNIX commands.

you give no other information here...

what, where, when, how, old, new, what changed?

what I can say—Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/Anti-Virus/VPN

all known to cause issues on the macOS

This was helpful, thank you. I uninstalled Avast, but now wonder is there a security application that is helpful and won't cause issues on macOS? (I am running Ventura 13.4.1 (c) on a Macbook Air with an M1 chip).

Thank you for the prompt and helpful explanation, Mac Jim ID.

I didn't know about the secure Read Only partition for the OS, so that's helpful too. I removed Avast and will run with just the macOS and I definitely install all updates promptly.

Avast has pointed out and stopped malicious emails and has logged a list of passwords that have been compromised with date website and told me the actual compromised password so I think it definitrly has some mac value.

NO! That's a Linux command not an Apple command!

No responde a la pregunta en cuanto a saber que es userinit.sh y por que aparece en inicios sin que se solicite.