Why does this process keep running?

Discussion in 'macOS' started by gigabit, Jul 9, 2009.

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  1. gigabit, Jul 9, 2009

    gigabit macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2009
    #1
    Hello. I recently installed Little Snitch on my Mac and I immediately noticed a process by the name of GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent constantly trying to connect to Google's servers. The process is located in the following location:

    /Users/me/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent

    I know I could easily delete the file, but first I'm more interested in finding out exactly what mechanism is allowing this process to be run periodically. I checked the login items for my account, /Library/StartupItems/, and /System/Library/StartupItems/ and there's nothing there. So how does this thing keep starting itself?

    Thanks for any help or suggestions.
     
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  2. angelwatt, Jul 9, 2009

    angelwatt Moderator emeritus

    angelwatt

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2005
    Location:
    USA
    #2
    It's usually there because you installed Google Desktop / Earth / etc. I got rid of Google Desktop because that dang thing kept getting started. Don't expect it to be easy to get rid of. It has a habit of recreating itself.
     
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  3. larkost, Jul 9, 2009

    larkost macrumors 6502a

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    #3
    This is run by a per-user launchagent so in:

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents

    If you delete it it will be re-created the first time you use any of the Google applications that it updates. I have feed-back to Google that not being able to disable this is a really bad idea, and will prevent their software from being run in computer labs.
     
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  4. gigabit, Jul 9, 2009

    gigabit thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2009
    #4
    What do you know, there it is! Thanks... I didn't even know about the LaunchAgents folder until now. Good to know. Thanks again.
     
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