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Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
When I boot up my iMac, or waken it up, a pop up appears on the desktop saying, "No internet, needs to connect to the internet in order to work. Please connect and try again." I click OK on the message box, it disappears and I proceed to use the internet or I can use the internet without clicking off the message! No apps are open when the message appears. There is a small icon, which I don't recognise, in the message box. I don't know how to show the icon here but it's similar to the App Store icon. This message started popping up about a week ago but I can't say what action I took at the time. I am using OS 10.13.6 High Sierra.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Mick Burrell
Does the iMac connect wirelessly? If so, it sounds as if it's a little slow to connect. You get the message but by the time you've reacted, it's connected.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
Connected by ethernet cable Mick. I will try to describe the icon of what looks like an app that needs to be connected to the internet - It's a blue page slightly at an angle of about 10 degrees left and in the bottom righthand corner is the shape of an A with the left leg being pencil, the right leg is a brush or pen and across the centre is a ruler.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Have you got the App Store app running? If so, quit it and try again.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
App Store not running Trevor.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Mick Burrell
That's the generic icon for an application. If you click the message, does it tell you which application this it's not connected? (Name in bold by the Apple logo perhaps?) Alternatively, it may be an application that needs the internet to work but you'd denied it access somewhere.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
Thanks Mick. There is nothing clickable on the message, just an OK button. Clicking that removes the message but I can't see any indication of an application. Your second alternative seems the most likely. Not a great problem, just a nuisance. Have tried a Restart but it returns so hope it vanishes on my next update. Unfortunately my old iMac (mid 2010) is not compatible with Mojave.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Tony Still
You quoted the words of the error message above, is that the exact words? Does it appear before or after you type your password (and hit Return)? Is your Hard Drive encrypted (ie is File Value turned on - this changes the order of major events at start-up so could be relevant)? What apps auto-run at start-up?

It doesn't sound very Apple so, at a wild guess, something early (too early) in the start-up sequence is trying to "phone home". This could easily be a legitimate something (Adobe or other subscription handling, for example).

It would be really useful to have a photo of the offending dialogue box: can you post it somewhere or E-Mail it?

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
Thanks Tony. The clip of the message in question is on the way via email.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Tony Still
From Ray's image we can see:
* Mick correctly deduced that the icon is for a generic app
* The message body starts with a space and then “needs to…” so the dialogue was expecting to be given a name to put at the start of its text but it wasn’t.

So it's an anonymous app. The message appearing is probably a simple timing issue so the mystery is why it has suddenly appeared. Some commercial apps invisibly call their licence server regularly to check that they are legitimate copies and some, like Adobe, need to check that subscriptions are current. Could you have updated either an app or macOS or installed a new app around the time that it first appeared?

If you updated an app then that’s probably our culprit, if you updated nothing and installed nothing then it’s slightly worrying.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
Thanks again Tony. During the past 3-4 weeks I have updated Garmin Express (Sat Nav), Regevpop has appeared in the list of apps without me activating it (something to do with Malware Fixes), I used Maps and may have updated it, I downloaded Handbrake when trying to open an .fms file (see 9/12/2018 forum comments) have recently uninstalled Handbrake. That's about it but can't be 100% sure.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
After my previous comments above a new message came up saying a suspect app had been found. However the message disappeared when I clicked the button for more information. That took me to: https://www.f-secure.com/sw-desc/adware_osx_genieo.shtml

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Mick Burrell
As far as I'm aware, Genieo is something you don't actually want. If you do a search online, I'm sure you'll find ways to remove it.

I'm sure you wouldn't have intentionally installed it but I wonder if you've fallen foul of the big green Download button.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
Genieo (or anything with that name) is not in my Applications folder so am puzzled about that link. Might be hidden somewhere and will keep an eye on anything unusual.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Mick Burrell
Here's a page all about uninstalling it:

Uninstall Genieo

Don't click the big green "Start Now" button, that's another advert for something you don't need! If you scroll down you'll find instructions for Mac and later on Safari.

Good luck

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Tony Still
You also mentioned Regevpop being installed, you don't want that either (though they appear to be related). There are some more uninstall instructions here but ignore the steps that ask you to download things because we don't want any more uninvited guests.

Hopefully somewhere amongst these things is our anonymous Internet user.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
Many thanks for your comments and links Mick and Tony. I will be uninstalling soon.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Roy Rainford
Tony, you say "ignore the steps that ask you to download things" but the first step in your link for uninstalling Regevpop is, "Click here to Download Combo Cleaner".
The same page says, "Combo Cleaner is a trusted Mac utility application". Is it?

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Euan Williams
In step 4 of Tony Still's linked removal suggestion Malwarebytes, is mentioned as part of the process. Does it succeed as a first step? A tincture of Malwarebytes is my go-to specific for MacKeeper (the big green button), Geniio and a considerable number of other miseryware infiltrations.

Happy Christmas and a bug-free New Year to everyone.

Re: Strange message appearing.

Avatar Tony Still
Roy, I don't know and haven't researched Combo Cleaner so I don't know if it's trustworthy but I suggested that you ignore that step so it doesn't matter. It is, in general, a bad idea to download random pieces of software suggested by web sites of unknown provenance.

Euan's comment relates to the use of Malwarebytes... that I advised you not to download. Now there is nothing wrong with that piece of software but I don't know whether the link in question leads to a legitimate (ie Malwarebytes and nothing but Malwarebytes) copy or not - I didn't do that piece of research either. If you want Malwarebytes then please only download it from its own website.

To be safe on the modern web, you have to evaluate carefully every step you take. Downloading software is dangerous so the safest advice is 'don't' unless it's essential.
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