YONGMING ZHANG has been added to your login items.

[generdude]

As I was just about to close up my '24 MacBook Air Sonoma I saw this notification pop up and disappear quickly - something like this: YONGMING ZHANG has been added to your login items.

In General_Login items_Allow in Background there is an item called YONGMING ZHANG. I can't find this anywhere on the computer. With login items you can + or - them, but with the ones in Allow in Background you can't.

So, what is this and how do I get rid of it?

And why - how did it get placed in there out of nowhere? Malwarebytes doesn't see it.

I ran sudo sfltool dumpbtm in Terminal but it wasn't there. There's a lot of other stuff that I don't exactly remember.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hi,

Do you have Adware Doctor installed?

I found this article that may be related: Daring Fireball: The Curious Case of Adware Doctor and the Mac App Store

C

 

[generdude]

Hi,

Do you have Adware Doctor installed?

I found this article that may be related: Daring Fireball: The Curious Case of Adware Doctor and the Mac App Store

C

I do not have Adware Doctor installed. Never did.
Interesting, Since there is a mention of Malwarebytes in that article of a few years ago I'll see if I can get in touch with that company to see if they know anything.
Meanwhile, how do I get rid of it, although it's probably (hopefully) not affecting anything.

 

[baker_rrr]

It looks like something unfamiliar or unwanted has been added to your account or background items, probably by a third-party program. Since it doesn't appear in your regular login items and Malwarebytes didn't detect it, it's probably not malware, but you should still be cautious. Try disabling it in System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items and see if any apps or extensions have added it. If it's still there, try resetting your login items by deleting them and restarting your Mac. If you can't figure it out, run another antivirus scan or check if you've installed any new apps recently.

 

[Rodananne]

Interesting reference; Zhang Yongming (Chinese: 张永明; 1956 – January 10, 2013) was a Chinese serial killer and cannibal who was convicted of, and subsequently confessed to, the murder of 11 men between March 2008 and April 2012. It is believed that he fed flesh from some of his victims to his dogs and sold other parts at the local market, calling it "ostrich meat". He was executed on January 10, 2013.
Is this familiar to you, have you done a web search for this person or...?