It's not clear to me which forum you were/are seeing the red (1) on but if it's the "Mac OS X 10.0 - 10.5.x" forum where "7 Pass Zero-out Drive on a Latest System?" was started then it seems likely the pointer is the cause. Whichever forum it is, though, the red number should disappear once you visit that forum.
It is in the forum listing for the original thread for "7 Pass Zero-out Drive on a Latest System?" That's why I posted the question there.
And, nope, the red 1 is still there....after I've visited both threads, this one, et cetera....many times over.