How do I find out what an icon is in my Menu Bar?

[Howard Brazee]

I have a new icon in my Menu Bar. I tried to command-drag it off, but it didn't work. But I'd rather find out what it is. What is that orange book thing in this screen print?

 

[maw_walker]

I am not sure if Safari extensions add menu bar icons but the "Show suggested promotions" tells me it is some sort of app affiliated with a company selling something. Maybe take a peek at your Safari extensions to see if anything looks like that. Or your installed applications if nothing in Safari extensions.

 

[Howard Brazee]

I don't see it in Safari (or Chrome). I'm afraid it could be something bad. Malwarebytes doesn't see anything.

 

[maw_walker]

If you choose "Quit" from the context menu, does it come back with a logout/login or reboot?

 

[Howard Brazee]

Yep.

 

[maw_walker]

Does it show as an installed application in "Applications"? If not, it's a bit of a slippery slope but you can check the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons directories under the root of your "Macintosh HD" to see if anything looks unfamiliar. Don't arbitrarily delete anything as you can break things. It may not be readily apparent what is supposed to be in those directories and what is not though since you you are not sure what that app is. I did some quick googling as well and didn't come up with a name either.

 

[Howard Brazee]

I looked in applications before I did anything else. I opened the most recent plists in those libraries without anything jumping out at me.

 

[maw_walker]

Well that's odd - the "recent promotions" thing makes me think it is related to advertisements. I'll do some more searching to see if I can come up with what that icon represents.

 

[Howard Brazee]

Thanks!

 

[maw_walker]

Wow, this is a rough one, lol. I am usually pretty good at searching but can't come up with anything. I did however find this: https://www.macbartender.com. That software is commercial but has a trial period and is used to organize menu bar icons and apps. It supposedly may be able to tell you what that icon is from. Worth a try and you can always uninstall bartender once (if) it figures out what the offending icon is for.

 

[ScottyJ]

Howard, did you get to the bottom of this? I have the same strange icon on my menu bar, and it's driving me crazy.

 

[Howard Brazee]

Yes. I can't remember the name of the app, but I found it in System Preferences/User and Groups/Login Items.

 

[JimBourg]

Does anyone have info on what this is ? Just upgraded to Catalina and it appeared. Cannot find it in extensions, login items by users or groups or anywhere else ! Also amazingly little info about it online.

 

[JimBourg]

FINALLY found it in the applications folder just by looking at every icon till I found it : It's the Canon hdAlbum EZ.app installed as part of the printer software package for a Canon color inkjet printer. It allows you to have HD photo albums printed by Canon but apparently defaults to installing that irritating little icon in your menu bar all the time.

 

[JimBourg]

Howard, did you get to the bottom of this? I have the same strange icon on my menu bar, and it's driving me crazy.

Scotty - see my answer below - it's a stupid Canon printer app to have them print HD paper picture albums - can be gotten rid of by quitting it and deleting the app.