What is FUSE for macOS?

[MBP_187]

Hi All,

I just did a SMC reset and then went to System Preferences to check if any power options were changed. Thankfully, they were the same as before the reset.

I did notice, however, a new icon in the System Preferences; the was an icon for FUSE. I searched the net and think I have a basic understanding of what it is; asking the Forum to explain more in layman terms, if possible.

My main query is, how did it appear? I do not recall downloading it. Is it something that is installed by default? did I just not notice it before?

Thanks in Advance for the replies.

PS. My system: MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011),
2.4 GHz Intel Core i5,
512 Gb SSD
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
OS X Yosemite.

 

[Cycling Asia]

Without knowing what the icon looks like, I'm just guess that you've got the FUSE I think you have, but from previous experience, FUSE is a filesystem extension that allows you to read (and maybe write) disks that are formatted in non offical formats using user mode drivers (e.g., to read EXT2/3/4 partitions)

As FUSE is an open source project, there are several sources for it, https://osxfuse.github.io is one of them.

This extension wouldn't be installed without some user intervention - had you installed any apps recently? Perhaps file recovery or disk repair software? If so, they could have dropped the FUSE extension to enable them to repair (or search) for files on USB disks that could have other formats.

I hope that helps you.

 

[MBP_187]

Thank you for your reply Cycling Asia.

I did use my USB drive in my other (windows) laptop and have transferred some files.

Might have this caused the FUSE to appear?

I will run a scan with Malware bytes now.

Thanks again.

 

[Moriarty]

It's impossible for an SMC reset to install software. FUSE is not malware. Either it is malware that is masquerading as FUSE (that's unlikely), or you actually installed FUSE at some point in the past and only just noticed it.

FUSE is sometimes bundled with other software, such as programs that allow you to write to NTFS-formatted drives.

If you installed NTFS-3G to read your flash drive, then that's where FUSE is from and you have nothing to worry about.