Author Topic: Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac  (Read 8166 times)

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Offline Kimberly68

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Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac
« on: July 12, 2022, 04:37:04 AM »
About 3 or 4 weeks ago my Mac upon startup only had one user to log into the machine. Suddenly an 'Other' user has shown up so upon startup I see my user name and this 'Other' user. After working with Apple for about a week they determined it was probably Avast Security so I uninstalled that but that wasn't it. I then unistalled the VPN, Cleanup and AntiTrack and started to install one app at a time. Turns out it was the VPN that created this 'Other' user. Anyone else have this problem and is there a solve for it? I've had Avast for 2 or 3 years now and this is the first time this issue has ever turned up.

Offline krahulik

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Re: Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2022, 07:18:24 AM »
Hi,
Avast SecureLine VPN started to create a service user '_avastsecurelinekillswitch' since the last update. The Kill Switch functionality uses it for DNS queries during a VPN session establishment. Similarly to other service users in the system, the user is marked as hidden not to be visible in a login window. Could you please tell me what is your operating system version? The login window can behave differently on computer launch; after user logout; with fast user switching and even be replaced with some custom solution (i.e. Microsoft). Do you see the 'Other' user in all or only in some specific login situations?

Thank you very much for letting me know about the issue,
Martin

Offline Kimberly68

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Re: Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2022, 10:35:23 PM »
Hello Martin, I am on Big Sur 11.6.7. I only see the 'Other' user upon machine startup or restart. I don't see 'Other' in my Users and Groups in the system prefs. I also haven't noticed it anywhere else. Just upon machine startup.

Offline krahulik

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Re: Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2022, 11:07:35 AM »
Hello Kimberly,
thank you very much, I will try to investigate the cause.

Offline Kimberly68

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Re: Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2022, 05:18:50 PM »
Thank you!

Offline Kimberly68

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Re: Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2022, 04:18:14 AM »
Any update on this?

Offline Kimberly68

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Re: Avast VPN has suddenly created an 'Other' user on Mac
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2022, 03:10:34 AM »
I tested this last night and it appears the mysterious 'other' user is now gone. Whatever ya'll did it worked.  :D