Strange Window - Help Please

Cougurr

Well-Known Member
My daughter has a 27" iMac with a new unknown window which appears and will not go away. Had her run malware bites and disk utility for repairs and full restarts with no change. Always re-appears after a couple of minutes of a shutdown or restart. Has option to say OK but does nothing. Clicking on window to close does nothing. Can move window to edge of screen only. Anytime mouse goes over this window the color wheel is spinning. Had her open Activity Monitor and nothing is red marked or looks unusual from what she has remotely shown me. I am attaching two screen shots. One of her iMac info with OS version. Second of "Strange Window". Has anyone had this happen or know how to remove it completely if you know what it even is. I am personally at a loss as to what next to have her try . Thanks group.
 

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DaveWT

Well-Known Member
My guess (in spite of her running Malwarebytes) is that this is some sort of malware. Look at the grammar used in that dialog box. "an error is occurred". After a restart, what apps get opened before this reappears, or does it come back if she restarts and opens nothing?
 

Cougurr

Well-Known Member
Dave
Thanks for your prompt response. As I recall today with helping her remotely we were waiting for a "slow startup" (recent development) to complete and just following its completion, we discussed waiting to start up her external drive. So nothing automatically started up nor did she start any anything up before telling me it was back in place again. To me this eliminated anything from her external drive being the cause as we did not have it on. I will confirm tomorrow that she has nothing else set to activate during startup by having her open the "force quit" window to see if anythng but the finder is present on the list. Best I clarify she is not "running" Malwarebytes but ran the free scan version she has had on the computer for some years. I believe she is maxed out on the OS level for this older computer so it might not be able to support any newer version of Malwarebytes? Are you suggesting she should buy a full version to run despite this older OS? Can one still purchase full versions that are supported on this older OS? Really appreciate your help. Regards.....Colin
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
Ah, the problem with running older versions of the OS (even if by necessity). If it can't keep up with the security improvements in the newest OS and (if) it can't run the newest version of Malwarebytes, then some nasty could have gotten in and the older Malwarebytes may not be able to detect it. By any chance does she have a clone backup on an external drive that hasn't been connected since this problem arose? If so she could connect it, and immediately restart from that drive and see if the problem then surfaces. But there is a chance of corrupting such a backup also, I think.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
The reason the window won't go away when you click on anything is because whatever it is trying to do (evil or just a poorly-worded error message), it's stuck. You should thus be able to get rid of it by hitting command-option escape and force-quitting anything on the list that doesn't look like some program you know for a fact is open (like Finder, Safari, et al).

The paid version of MalwareBytes is identical to the free version with one key difference: the paid version runs continuously in the background monitoring for problems before they become problems, and can take automatic action to block threats preemptively. Well worth the ~$50/year (but don't sign up for their VPN or Browser Guard add-ons, at least at present).

Hard to speculate on where this weird message came from, but certainly be sure that no browser is running, and clear your User & Groups system preference of any login items you don't recognise. This could be a remnant of a Flash installer (or a fake Flash installer). Another possibility is as Dave suggests: some newer Malware that the older version may be running can't fully remove, thus the error message.
 

Cougurr

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the follow up Chas. Unfortunately the window has not gone away and still remains even when all items are off and when checking the force quit window only the Finder is left in the list. I have only seen this on Facetime by iphone of the imac in question but confess it does seem to be present and not really doing anything. Just is there every time restarted. Appreciate your input. Happy New Year to both of you and again thanks for your assistance and suggestions.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
id bet it is the remnants of some malware since removed, thus the error message.

I’d suggest backing up the startup items in “Users and Groups” in System preferences.

You should also try starting up in “Safe Mode” to see if the message comes back.
 
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