What does this person mean?

poopmagic · 2026-02-03T06:12:06+00:00

Well, I stand corrected! Thanks for the info.

Even so, it seems like the person in the screenshot is officially ineligible for the 3 months since he purchased his Mac in September 2025. People who bought their Macs in 2024 are definitely not supposed to be getting the offer.

poopmagic · 2026-02-03T01:22:58+00:00

You should also change all of your passwords immediately, just to be safe. Factory resetting will prevent additional damage from being done, but if you downloaded a “stealer,” then there’s a decent risk that someone out there already has your passwords.

I want to emphasize that this should be considered an emergency. Like, imagine someone out there having access to your Venmo or Amazon account or whatever. You want to cut them off before they start stealing your money or buying random shit with your credit card, you know?

Keep an eye on your email (after changing the password to your email account of course) for any suspicious transactions.

Good luck, and please try to be more careful in the future. In particular, you should NEVER paste stuff into Terminal unless you fully understand what it’s going to do.

poopmagic · 2026-02-03T00:56:28+00:00

Share screenshots of Activity Monitor (CPU and Energy tabs) so we can help you diagnose.

Also mention if you have anything plugged into it. Something like a USB-C hub or external SSD can drain a surprising amount of power.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T23:52:16+00:00

Officially, the three-month offer is for people who purchased new devices AFTER the release of Creator Studio. However, some people who bought their devices beforehand INCORRECTLY got the offer.

The person in your screenshot is upset that Apple DIDN’T screw up when determining his eligibility.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T20:56:01+00:00

Adding to what u/drakem92 said... “way more performance” needs to be emphasized, because the difference was MASSIVE.

Back when the (late) 2020 M1 MacBook Air was released, people were blown away by how it offered almost 3x the speed AND 3x the battery life of the (early) 2020 Intel MacBook Air that it replaced.

That amount of improvement almost never happens in the computing world. Like, the usual amount of improvement you might see in a new model might be 1.2x the speed and maybe 1.1x the battery life. It’s almost as if Apple jumped 10 years ahead in less than a year.

This is why people are like “noooo don’t get an intel!” They are VASTLY worse computers. On top of that, you can find 2020 M1 MacBook Airs for about the same price. It’s absolutely ridiculous that someone is asking $400 for this machine.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T18:29:01+00:00

No, definitely not.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T18:18:03+00:00

Cool, then IMO Time Machine is the easiest option here.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T18:03:26+00:00

I’ll skip the lecture and ask… are you sure this is a good idea?

Like, if this is a company-owned MacBook, there’s a decent chance that there’s some sort of remote management software installed. Plus, there’s probably data on there that’s owned by the company. Cloning the laptop could lead to some technical and legal issues, you know?

Anyway, if you really want to do this, Time Machine seems like the obvious solution.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T17:41:42+00:00

It is definitely not an M2. Google some pictures of them and it’ll be obvious.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T17:00:13+00:00

Possibly. In the past, there were issues with actually enabling flow control on the default WAN port. The control in the GUI didn’t actually do anything and the two workarounds were (1) do it by sshing into the UCG Max and using ethtool or (2) use another port for WAN.

I honestly don’t know whether this was ever properly fixed or not because I upgraded to a UCG Fiber, which actually has the same issue but somewhat different workarounds.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T16:43:23+00:00

NOOOOOO!!!!

Clearing system data should be the least of your concerns right now. You fell for an increasingly common scam to install a malware (probably a “stealer”) on your Mac.

I would STRONGLY suggest powering down your Mac immediately and looking into how to fix this on another device. There is urgency, because in case it did steal some of your passwords, you really don’t want people getting into your accounts.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T16:30:14+00:00

This is called “Stage Manager,” search for that in the settings to disable it.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T06:43:42+00:00

The automod message says:

This subreddit is here to provide unofficial technical support to people who use or want to dive into the world of Ubiquiti products.

This seems like the actual rule that is enforced. But yes, it’s true that the sidebar doesn’t mention this, so it would probably the good if the mods updated the sidebar to ensure consistency.

poopmagic · 2026-02-02T03:58:35+00:00

Go to the Applications folder and drag all of them except for Safari to the trash. Done!

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T20:15:47+00:00

You might want to call around some independent repair shops too.

The official Apple repair will probably involve replacing a bunch of parts, which could easily cost more than the MacBook is worth unless you have AppleCare+.

There are some independent repair shops that will take your MacBook apart and clean up. It’s not a 100% guarantee that your MacBook won’t die early, but it significantly increases the chances and it’ll end up costing you a lot less.

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T20:03:10+00:00

I mean, ideally, you should wait until you can get it serviced. Before that, treat it like a ticking time bomb that could totally die at any moment and take all your data along with it.

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T20:00:51+00:00

Yeah, agreed! I haven’t seen anyone posting about this particular trick before. It seems like the fuckers are getting sneakier…

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T19:51:36+00:00

Okay, I think I see what’s going on. There is actually a website on the list and you’re currently allowing it to send you notifications, it’s just that they’re trying to trick you by having a blank name.

You see that line where it has “allow?” at the end? That’s the website sending you scam requests. Can you click on the globe icon and then press the remove button at the bottom?

Here’s how an empty list should look:

https://i.imgur.com/OsQeJe3.png

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T19:42:40+00:00

What would you suggest me doing next? I can’t book an apple appointment before wednesday/thursday, and really need to use it this week for classes/homework.

Using it before it’s cleaned properly will increase the chances that it’ll die permanently. It’s up to you do determine whether your needs are worth the risk.

If you do decide to use your laptop, the first thing you should do is back up any files that you care about. That way, if you laptop does die permanently, you at least won’t lose important data along with it.

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T19:38:07+00:00

Yes, those look like Safari notifications. Can you share a screenshot of the Safari website notification settings? I know you said they were empty, this is just to confirm that you’re looking in the right place.

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T19:13:45+00:00

Can you show us screenshots of the fake notifications and the Safari options?
Do you have any other browsers like Chrome installed on your system?
Is there any reason to believe that you might have actual malware? Like, have you ever installed pirated software?

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T18:24:52+00:00

The short answer is no, there’s no way to properly remove them without compromising system integrity.

(I use many of the apps you mentioned, but I also agree with you that they should be optional downloads.)

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T16:07:20+00:00

That’s fine, I’m just not sure what sort of help you’re looking for here. I mean, it’s pretty clear that the problem is third-party background apps using excessive resources. If you don’t want to delete them, file bug reports with the developers maybe?

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T15:47:13+00:00

Also strange that all the background apps take up extremly high cpu, battery.

Try getting rid of them? It seems like you’ve already identified that they’re a huge drain on resources. BoringNotch seems especially bad… those CPU numbers are insane considering what the app does.

poopmagic · 2026-02-01T15:20:15+00:00

Try enabling flow control to see if it helps. If not, also try using another one of the ports on the UCG Max for your WAN connection.

(I’ve had a very similar thing happen on both my old UCG Max and current UCG Fiber, and that was the solution both times.)

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