How do I get rid of this icon in my OS 10.6.8 menu bar?

January 29, 2012 1:21 PM

What is this icon that has mysteriously appeared in my Mac OS 10.6.8 menu bar, and how do I get rid of it?

The icon has a fluorescent green circle on it, here is a link: Screen capture. It is the first one on the left.

Mac OS 10.6.8

Hovering over the icon = spinning beach ball

The only utility I use is Cocktail, but I cannot find anything in the application that would trigger this icon to appear

posted by invisible ink to computers & internet (5 answers total)

Usually you can click on a menubar icon, press command, and drag it off of the menubar--poof, it disappears. I don't know if that quits the underlying program in all cases, and does nothing to solve the mystery of what it is.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:24 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Admiral Haddock - unfortunately all I get when I hover over the icon is the spinning beach ball:(
posted by invisible ink at 1:27 PM on January 29

Does the icon re-appear if you re-boot your computer?
posted by dfriedman at 1:34 PM on January 29

If it is beach-balling when you hover over it, it means it is stuck. Is there a non-responsive app in the Force Quit menu? If not, reboot and don't open any apps and if the item appears, perhaps upon reboot you'll be able to click on the item and either shut it off, or at least figure out what it is.

Does the menu item survive a reboot? If so, look at System Preferences... > Users > and the Login Items for your account. Those are the items that will load on login and many will have a Menu icon.
posted by birdherder at 1:35 PM on January 29

Rebooting killed it, thanks everyone!
posted by invisible ink at 1:40 PM on January 29