'Installer' Process Using 6GB of RAM

[MarkTa]

Hi,

Lately I have this process that runs every couple of hours, which completely eats up all available RAM, causing me need to restart of if I'm able to close the process via the activity monitor. Bizarrely, the process is called 'Installer'. I've tried to google it, but no die. Anyone know what it might be, and how to get rid of it? Screenshot attached below.

 

[DeltaMac]

In Activity Monitot, if you click on the "Inspect" icon, you can discover some more about what that Installer is doing, and where it is located. You will see what the parent process is, and you can click on the "Open Files & Ports" to see where that Installer is located. The "Inspect" window may give you a good clue about what makes that Installer process run.
Does that Installer happen to run when you use the Sublime Text? (I ask from ignorance, as I have no experience with that Sublime Text app 😀 )

 

[MarkTa]

Not entirely sure what any of this means.. or why it feels the need to take up all the memory. It doesn't run with sublime specifically, just every hour or so it runs. I've found it definitely runs when I open up a pdf in chrome, not sure why. It slowly eats up more and more ram every second till it has it all.

I'm guessing it's some sort of install process, but it's bizarre that it causes my mac to completely freeze and eats up all the RAM.

Inspect


Port/Location


Sample

 

[DeltaMac]

Notice the "genieoinnovation.installer" ?
That's what is running.
It's some interesting tracking software used by some advertisers.
You can expect that software occasionally "phones home" to pass on info about where you surf.
You can call it malware - that's what I call it.
Here's some more info, along with a site that will help you remove it (and you should remove the "Genieo" software.) You received it when you previously installed something else, or maybe just registered at some dodgy site.
http://www.thesafemac.com/malicious-genieo-installers-persist/