Unknown menu bar item

[your mom]

I have a menu bar item that I cannot figure out what it belongs to. It is a capital F letter, slightly italicized and encircled by a slightly slanted square.

Any ideas? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[6string]

I've not seen it, but what does it say when you right click on it?

 

[hughvane]

Flash Player?

 

[6string]

Also, do you get preferences there on right click?
....& in your system preferences/accounts/login items, there may also be a clue there?

If using 10.5 or 10.6, you can also try 'option' click on the icon, which with certain menu bar icons, can show you a hidden list in the drop down box.

 

[your mom]

I forgot to mention. There is no right click to it. It doesn't do anything. I checked the PreferencePanes in various places to see if something got installed there. Nothing.
I'm not finding the preferences/accounts/login items path mentioned above.

I've never known of a Flash player component to the menu bar in OS X. I can't find any evidence that this is the case. Thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

[6string]

hmmm, maybe just reset the menu bar and see if that fixes it!

 

[toMACsh]

I'm not finding the preferences/accounts/login items path mentioned above.

It's always helpful to give your OS version. The path might be different. The above was speculative. If you read it closely, you'll see that.

In this case, System Preferences refers to an application. It is in your Applications folder, and possibly in your Dock.

There's also something to be said for graphic conventions or standards. I use / to separate folders and > to separate Menu items or steps within an application. I've seen that convention in MacWorld, among other places. Seems like there should be a third convention, to eliminate that "and". Maybe there is, and I'm just unaware of it. Perhaps a right-pointing arrow would be a good one, but I don't have a key for that!

 

[6string]

It's always helpful to give your OS version. The path might be different. The above was speculative. If you read it closely, you'll see that.

In this case, System Preferences refers to an application. It is in your Applications folder, and possibly in your Dock.

There's also something to be said for graphic conventions or standards. I use / to separate folders and > to separate Menu items or steps within an application. I've seen that convention in MacWorld, among other places. Seems like there should be a third convention, to eliminate that "and". Maybe there is, and I'm just unaware of it. Perhaps a right-pointing arrow would be a good one, but I don't have a key for that!

Agreed, and I apologize for that.... I'm a shocker with swapping and changing / to separate folders and > to separate menu items, & I should be a little more regimented.

 

[your mom]

Yeah, I've struggled with how to describe navigation with few words. I've used > for this in the past as well but it's not universal. But in this case, I should have figured what 6string was talking about. duh. And you are right; I should've given my config: MBP 2.8, 4GB, 10.5.8
Anyway, nothing was listed in login items but iTunes and Logitech helpers. They've been there a long time and should not be involved with this odd menu bar icon. Also, here's part of com.apple.systemuiserver.plist that applies:
<key>menuExtras</key>
<array>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Displays.menu</string>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Bluetooth.menu</string>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/AirPort.menu</string>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Volume.menu</string>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Battery.menu</string>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/TextInput.menu</string>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Clock.menu</string>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/User.menu</string>
</array>
It just mentions whatever is to the right of the strange icon and what I would expect to find.

 

[VegasGeorge]

When you open System Preferences, do you see the "F" icon at the bottom under "Other?"

Look at the Application folder. Is there any clue in the apps starting with "F" listed there?

 

[your mom]

Yeah, I checked there too and the only "Other" besides Apple Qmaster and Logitech control is Flip-4-Mac. This was one of the first I checked since it begins with F and is System Preferences. But it doesn't have a menu bar icon option. Thanks tho.

 

[Collin Bl]

. Perhaps a right-pointing arrow would be a good one, but I don't have a key for that!

Actually Character viewer does it for you ☞ ⌘ ⇧ - i have my bunch in Favorites which makes it quicker.

 

[McYukon]

You Control Fonts has some icons that look similar but there is none that looks exactly the same.

 

[toMACsh]

Actually Character viewer does it for you ☞ ⌘ ⇧ - i have my bunch in Favorites which makes it quicker.

Don't know if you're saying hold Cmd-Shift while pressing hyphen (that changes my text size in Safari) or how in the world you got the hand, or the Cmd and Shift symbols for that matter. I've only rarely peeked at Keyboard Viewer.

So, we're still no closer to identifying the mystery F in the menu bar?

 

[your mom]

Thanks McYukon. I didn't know about Control Fonts. I don't have it but it sure looks close.

 

[VegasGeorge]

A quick Google search revealed this:

It is actually placed there by Logitec Control Center software - go into the logitech system prefpane, right (or control) click on the keyboard, and the rest should be self explanatory.

Let us know if that's it.

 

[your mom]

VegasGeorge, you rock. The Logitech Control Panel was indeed the culprit. It takes a little navigating to get there but I found it.
System Preferences > Logitech Control Center > Configure Cordlesss Keyboard > General > Show Keys Status in the Menu Bar.
Doh!
In my defense, that Control Panel defaults to opening the key's settings so that option wasn't ever in view when I checked out the pref pane. I just didn't dig deep enough. I've had this cordless set forever and never even knew that was an option nor was it ever enabled until now. Stupid menu extra doesn't do anything either. Maybe it tells me when the batteries are going low in the keyboard. I turned it off.
Thanks to everyone for your help. Beers on me.