Excessive network traffic

[TerenceW]

Hi All,

I couldn't find anything about this in a thread though I'm sure it must have been covered, so apologies if I somehow missed it in the search.

2017 15" MBP, touch bar, 500 GB SSD

I have BitDefender installed also Clean my mac

Problem: around 6GB an hour traffic roughly equal up and down - can't identify it at all and it doesn't show up on Activity Monitor or Little Snitch. I ran MalwareBytes - still nothing.

I really don't want to do a clean install, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that somebody here will have an idea or two.

Any advice will be gratefully received!

 

[BLUEDOG314]

First, delete Clean my Mac, it is basically adware and does nothing for you. Can't speak to BitDefender but you probably don't need that either.

My question for you is what is reporting the 6GB of traffic if you didn't find out via Activity Monitor?

 

[TerenceW]

First, delete Clean my Mac, it is basically adware and does nothing for you. Can't speak to BitDefender but you probably don't need that either.

My question for you is what is reporting the 6GB of traffic if you didn't find out via Activity Monitor?

Thank you - I knew you'd say that BitDefender did stop a threat last year, a keylogger, apparently. Not sure where it cams from though.

Activity Monitor isn't showing anything using the 6GB nor does Little Snitch. More, it can be fine for 30 minutes or so, then just go barmy for an hour. I restored the OS, set up a new admin account with anew password, but got the same result...

 

[LuisN]

Hi All,

I couldn't find anything about this in a thread though I'm sure it must have been covered, so apologies if I somehow missed it in the search.

2017 15" MBP, touch bar, 500 GB SSD

I have BitDefender installed also Clean my mac

Problem: around 6GB an hour traffic roughly equal up and down - can't identify it at all and it doesn't show up on Activity Monitor or Little Snitch. I ran MalwareBytes - still nothing.

I really don't want to do a clean install, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that somebody here will have an idea or two.

Any advice will be gratefully received!

Did you use Activity Monitor? It lists the applications using your network

 

[TerenceW]

Did you use Activity Monitor? It lists the applications using your network

Yes, I did - but it didn't show anything like the amount of traffic that I monitored (1) by 'Bandwidth +' and (2) Seeing how much data I had left of my capped 4g connection when using it. Activity Monitor showed minimal activity.

It's not constant though and will stop for up to 30 minutes. I'm working offline most of the time and only logging on via my very slow landline when I have to... sometimes it starts immediately and at other times it's quiet for 30 minutes, as I say. It's beginning to look like a clean install

 

[chabig]

It sounds like have a lot of crap on your Mac. A clean install might be a good idea. Definitely don't install Clean my Mac or Bit Defender. Avoid all apps which purport to do something involving "cleaning" or anti-virus.

 

[TerenceW]

There's nothing superfluous *that I know of* in the MBP. I installed BitDefender after a virus hit my iMac last year and put me out of action for a while. As an online trainer, I can't afford to take chances!

Thanks for the input - looks like a clean install is needed

 

[TerenceW]

UPDATE: I deleted half a dozen apps I no longer use, 'just in case' and oddly, that seems to have fixed the issue. There was nothing suspicious about them and the only two I couldn't say I trusted completely (only because I'd only used them once and forgotten about it) was something from a company called 'DoYourData'. One was for 'secure deleting' of unwanted apps and the other one was 'Secure Erasing' of data.