“Unknown” pops up wanting to find devices every time computer starts

Mike Naylor wrote:

I've never used pirated software, music, videos or images

Then you don't have any malware. Stop wasting your time.

Furthermore, I've always used the official browsers and email clients, so when you say "You are not" and "Clearly not true", you are completely wrong.

Oh really???

Oh, and my "somebody" comment came from a Google search using the "EtreCheck" and "malware" keywords - try it for yourself.

Yes. I'm well aware of that site. Don't believe what you read on the internet. The internet's not true.

The author of that site was once a user of this site. About ten years ago, he was starting a long list of unhinged threads. Here's just one example. The Apple moderators have cleaned up most of the mess, as they typically do. I tried to engage with this person to explain how things work and ease his anxiety. It didn't work. When I complained that he was resurrecting old threads that had been dead for years, he began his campaign to claim that EtreCheck was malware. But this guy isn't even the stalker I mentioned. That's someone else. At least this guy finally gave up his crusade after a couple of years. Sadly, Google is happy to host his lies for all eternity.

(But curiously, even though I remember this incident well, I had a lot of trouble finding those threads on Google. I had to make the same, repeated search on both Google and DuckDuckGo and then the results magically appeared. Sometimes I can see why people become unhinged after spending too much time on the internet. Perhaps it's by design.)

I'm security conscious

You. Are. Not.

suspicious of anything recommended by someone I don't know

I've already told you that EtreCheck isn't going to help you in any way. I developed the app and I'm recommending that you don't use it. Please don't download it!

So how do you feel about recommendations from people you don't trust? Are you going to download EtreCheck now? Please don't!

think your attitude is agressive and arrogant.

You are the one who came onto this site and took over someone else's legitimate question about local network access so you could insult people, spread malware paranoia, and repeat malicious lies you found on the internet.

That said, and getting back to the topic, I'm currently running a Bitdefender Deep System Scan.

That is not the topic. That's just nonsense you started spouting when you came here to take over the thread.

It's taking a very long time, because its also scanning the Time Machine.

Can't be too safe...better scan it all...

This isn't because I'm blaming Apple, but because the hackers are always one step ahead.

Aren't they always?

My only ground for suspecting malware is for what happened when I clicked on one of links Google came up with

Right...because you're so "security conscious"?

Then followed panic and prayer. Shutdown, reboot, search for reported incidents, etc. and blah, blah blah.

You obviously didn't come here. Those fake pop-up scams are very common. You could have asked a question about that and gotten a quick answer that would have saved yourself a lot of time, panic, and prayer.

One other thing I haven't mentioned is the occasional display flickering, which may or may not be relevant.

It is not.

the 2 Visual Studio switches (why 2?)

Because it's poorly made software that causing mysterious pop-ups on your computer.

Regarding the recommendation to post screenshots. There is no point

I'll give you that one...

I'll report back here when Bitdefender is done - if I haven't been banned by then.

You're wasting your time.

I don't have Xcode installed, but I do have the compiler, etc, installed (I forget what these "extras" are called). However, the "Unknown" msg box issue after logging out has ceased since upgrading to macOS 27.2 update.

Mike Naylor wrote:

Some people say EtreCheck is malware, so I'm not prepared to download it.

Are you, Mac Jim ID, an Apple employee?

No one here is an Apple employee, no one! We’re all just fellow users trying to help each other with issues and problems.

As for EtreCheck it is developed by a longtime and trusted member of these user forums. He has responded to your post below. Again, @etresoft is a longtime and respected contributor to these forums. EtreCheck is definitely not malware by any means and has saved many users bacon by sorting out the cruft that they install without thinking. Many times it’s something that was installed years ago and forgotten about. Then when an update or upgraded is released it rears its ugly head to cause trouble.

Mike Naylor wrote:

I'll report back here when Bitdefender is done - if I haven't been banned by then.

Oh you won’t be banned, you’ll just be ignored by your fellow users here. With your attitude no one will be willing to help you in any way in the future. And as has been pointed out no Apple employees see this forum except for moderation and terms of use violations. Apple Support neither participates in nor monitors these user forums. Good luck.

Some people say EtreCheck is malware, so I'm not prepared to download it.

Who says that? Be specific.

Are you a bot?

I would recommend posting a screenshot of each of those locations from the Finder with the instructions that have been provided.