Pop-up message .... hotspot authorization needed

My imac is only about 2 months old - hasn't got much installed, but I do have Avast Mac Security installed

Out of the blue, while I was typing an email (in Thunderbird) up comes a small popup that said

"Hotspot Authorization Needed

You are connected to a hotspot which probably requires an authorization before it allows you to access the Internet. After you authorize yourself to the hotspot, try to connect again."

We have a network here at home, and it's a secure network requiring a password to get in. I wasn't using a hotspot anywhere.

What do you think this popup means?

I've googled the wording and there's nothing with that precise wording.

Can anybody tell me what it might be?

Thanks

Start by getting rid of Avast and see if that resolves the problem. It's unnecessary and may even be the culprit for all we know. AV software on OS X is all-too-often buggy and a significant drain on system performance.

You should also click on the wi-fi icon in your menubar and take a look at what other networks it is picking up. If you see others, try them and see if you get that same message. If so, then chances are your iMac dropped your own connection for some reason and it tried to connect to the next available one.

From that wi-fi menubar item, you should also select "Open Network Preferences", then "Advanced" when the new window opens. Make sure your home network is the first one at the top of your "Preferred Networks".

Get rid of Avast and have a read of the link. The download includes of lot of adware and suggest you download AdwareMedic and run the Scan mode. If coming from Windows you absolutely feel you must have AV software, why when there are no Mac OS X viruses, use ClamXAV. It uses much less resources.


The Safe Mac » Avast installs adware!