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Strange Pop-up

Hello,

I have a problem with my iMac(intel). Sometimes when I turn it on, when it goes to the dekstop after the boot, a strange pop-up appears and immediatly dissappears so I am not able to see what it is saying. The only thing I noticed is that in this pop-up there is a yellow triangle( like an error message). I know my question is silly but is my iMac infected by a virus or malware? I have Sophos Anti-Virus which says that everything is ok. Please can cou help me? My version of OS X is Lion 10.7.2. Thank you!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Nov 6, 2011 1:03 PM

Reply
21 replies

Nov 26, 2011 11:52 AM in response to konstantinos205

I don't know if this still works in 10.7, but you could try a Verbose Boot, CMD-V at the startup chime. This will show the entire boot sequence. But it will go by quickly -- not 1/100 second though -- so get ready with a camera.


However, this won't show what happens once the log in starts. The pop-up might be coming from a login item. Check your login items in Sys Prefs>Accounts (assuming that's the same in 10.7, which I don't use.)

Nov 27, 2011 12:06 PM in response to WZZZ

Well as I saw in an article of Apple about Verbose mode it says that it doesn't work in 10.7( actually it says that it supports versions 10, 10.1,10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6). And to tell you the truth, I am a little bit scared in doing such things on a Mac. I am a new user and I am used to Windows OS. Thank you once again for answering and please if you find anything that could help me just reply!

Nov 27, 2011 12:33 PM in response to konstantinos205

It might be an idea to run the Sophos Uninstaller app in your Applications folder, reboot and see if solves the problem. You can always re-download Sophos if you want as it's free but I'd suggest that a better option might be to install the (also free) clamXav, which is consistently recommended on here as being a pain-free AV option:

http://www.clamxav.com/

Nov 28, 2011 11:56 AM in response to WZZZ

Well I found something. I checked in prefernces of Sophos and I saw that there is an option which says: ''On-access scanning'' and there is also a :'' LOG''. When I pressed ''View Log'', Console appeared and it was saying : ''Info: On-access scanning started at 21:42(it is when I opened my iMac) on 28 November 2011.Do you think that this is the source of the message? Well I am going to try Verbose Mode but I want to ask you something first. This will be permanent?(I mean my iMac will always boot from Verbose Mode, silly question I know) and what will happen after it boots?(I mean, I will be in my dekstop after the computer boots? or something else? Do I need to restart?).

Nov 28, 2011 1:14 PM in response to konstantinos205

Booting in Verbose Mode is a one time thing, unless you do something special to make it permanent. (Some people actually keep their computers always booting in Verbose Mode.) What will happen is it will quickly scroll in text all the things it is busy doing as it is booting, and it may give you a clue about what is being loaded that might be responsible for that little pop-up. When it finishes doing that, it will continue normally. The thing is you would probably have to be kind of knowledgeable to be able to recognize such a clue, if one did appear. That's why I recommended taking a picture. But no guarantees I or anyone here will be able to recognize that clue either.


If you want to find out if it's coming from Sophos On-Access scanning, why don't you just turn that feature off and see what happens the next time you startup?

Dec 4, 2011 10:02 AM in response to WZZZ

I found the message! As a miracle this time it didn't dissapear. It was saying ''Do you want the application ''java'' to accept incoming calls( or connections) and a text which I don't remember right now and I pressed Allow.'' But is this normal for java, to send messages and immediatly dissapears them? I know it is a silly question but if this is not normal do you think that this was a trojan or a virus?

Strange Pop-up

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