I’ve been using the Messages Beta since it came out & on the whole it’s pretty good stuff. Over the last couple of days, however, I’ve been experiencing an annoyance: the Messages icon on the Dock showed a badge with the number 1 in it. Nothing I did could get rid of that 1, except this:

  1. Close Messages
  2. Kill the Dock: in the Terminal, enter killall Dock, & press Return. Watch as the Dock disappears & reappears a moment later.
  3. Restart Messages & the erroneous badge should be gone!

This has been a public service announcement for anyone else experiencing this little unpleasantry.