Something called ProductUpdater shows up in my Activity Monitor as consuming 95-99% of CPU and draining my Powerbook battery rapidly. What is this and how can I stop it?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Powerbook
I have been having this same problem with ProductUpdater for several months. It was running as a Kernal process and eating up 99.7% of CPU usage, causing the machine to run hot. My initial solution was to delete it with Activity Monitor. That solved the problem temporarily. It would then reappear a couple of days later.
Apple level 1 support thought that it was probably cause by McAfee, which Apple does not recommend. I called McAfee support. They didn't think that it was their software (Total Protection). Since I am running McAfee Total Protection on two other Macs, and not having this problem, I thought that they were probably correct. I ran Total Protection Scans and it did not find any malware.
With the help of Apple Level 2 support, I think that I have finally solved the problem. The support person recommended a malware protection product called Malwarebytes. You can download this product on a trial basis. I did this and ran a scan, which took less than a minute. It found a malware program (not found by McAfee) which it categorized as a "Firefox Profile" and quarantined it. I then deleted the quarantine file. That seems to have solved the problem. Unfortunately I neglected to record the name of the malware program. It doesn't have "ProductUpdater" in the name.
That was 3 days ago. So far no problems with ProductUpdater being loaded. Based on this I purchased a subscription to Malwarebytes.
I have been having this same problem with ProductUpdater for several months. It was running as a Kernal process and eating up 99.7% of CPU usage, causing the machine to run hot. My initial solution was to delete it with Activity Monitor. That solved the problem temporarily. It would then reappear a couple of days later.
Apple level 1 support thought that it was probably cause by McAfee, which Apple does not recommend. I called McAfee support. They didn't think that it was their software (Total Protection). Since I am running McAfee Total Protection on two other Macs, and not having this problem, I thought that they were probably correct. I ran Total Protection Scans and it did not find any malware.
With the help of Apple Level 2 support, I think that I have finally solved the problem. The support person recommended a malware protection product called Malwarebytes. You can download this product on a trial basis. I did this and ran a scan, which took less than a minute. It found a malware program (not found by McAfee) which it categorized as a "Firefox Profile" and quarantined it. I then deleted the quarantine file. That seems to have solved the problem. Unfortunately I neglected to record the name of the malware program. It doesn't have "ProductUpdater" in the name.
That was 3 days ago. So far no problems with ProductUpdater being loaded. Based on this I purchased a subscription to Malwarebytes.
I have bad news and good news. After I posted the comments above. ProductUpdater reappeared, so the solution I suggested was not the solution. Today I again called Apple support level 2. With ProductUpdater running, I think we got to the bottom of the problem.
It turns out that the OS was trying to update one of my Apple applications, Final Cut Pro. For some reason the update had been paused, apparently during the initial attempt to update the application. This meant that ProductUpdater, presumably an Apple Process, couldn't complete the update. So it just kept trying, hogging the CPU. Once I unpaused the update, it completed updating Final Cut Pro and ProductUpdater went away. Hooray!!!
I hope that Apple recognizes this software issue. It would be helpful if the ProductUpdater process notifies the user when it can't update an application and suggests that the user unpause the paused update.
My 9/25/19 post turned out to be wrong. ProductUpdater reappeared. So I removed McAfee Total Protection. That seems to solve the problem.
I got to the bottom of this issue. I discovered that Product updater is related to McAfee. I then removed McAfee and replaced with Norton Antivirus and the problem went away. I will never under any circumstances use McAfee again. The amount of system instability that it introduced via this issue and other previous issues is unacceptable. What a terrible product
I tried the same thing since my CPU was way to high 98%-99%, ProductUpdater. It was something from McAfee, downloaded the trail for free at the official Malware website and it haven't been a problem since then with the CPU. My Mac doesn't get too warm anymore and the battery isn't draining as much as it used too either.
I tried the same thing since my CPU was way to high 98%-99%, ProductUpdater. It was something from McAfee, downloaded the trail for free at the official Malware website and it haven't been a problem since then with the CPU. My Mac doesn't get too warm anymore and the battery isn't draining as much as it used too either.
I do not have Final Cut Pro, but removing McAfee has solved my problem; at least for the last 2-3 weeks since I removed it, ProductUpdater has not been On.
How to uninstall MacAfee Internet Security from a Mac
This is from MacAfee.
Here's what you need to know to protect your Mac and it does not include any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" or antivirus apps.
Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community
No PowerBook can run Mac OS 10.14. PowerBooks of all types were discontinued in early 2006 and the latest models can run no higher mac OS version that OS 10.5--yes, that's a "5".
So you must have one of the following to run OS 10.14:
If you tell us which one, we can ask the Hosts to get you moved to a more active and appropriate forum section. This one is for Macs made before 1998 and gets almost no views.
You do NOT need McAfee, no matter what any others may say outside these forums
Do NOT click on any "bait" links anywhere and you will be fine - just use common sense
Malwarebytes is sufficient
this article is BY the developer of the MWB Mac product - and fellow member here in the community
Have you read John Galt's User Tip > Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community?
Macs do NOT require antivirus apps
The only threat you face is Malware, which requires that you take some action from some malicious webpage - in other words, "fall for the con"
This app was invented as AdwareMedic by a respected ASC member, thomas_r. - it was purchased by the company and he is now Director of Mac Products
Malwarebytes | Malwarebytes for Mac — Mac Antivirus Replacement | Malwarebytes
I run a MWB product on my PC and my iPhone without any noticeable performance hit - except when it catches a bad website and it either barks with a popup or refuses to load it with a MWB webpage subsituted
It may have been that ProductUpdater was trying to update your McAfee application and it couldn't do it, for some reason, and kept running trying to do that. If this is the case, when you deleted McAfee, then you eliminated the application that ProductUpdater was trying to unsuccessfully to update??
Yes, I hope that removing McAfee will permanently solve my problem. So far so good. I gather that ProductUpdater can get stuck on other programs???
You do NOT NEED any Anti Virus for a Mac - AT ALL
All these do is slow down the Mac's processes.
There are no viruses for Mac = BUT - there IS a Malware threat
If you are CAREFUL, you do not need anti-MALWARE
If you are NOT careful, you should use the only "safe" product of which I am aware
READ this by a respected member of this forum - AND the Advertising on the page = thomas_r. DEVELOPED the app
The Safe Mac » “There are no Mac viruses”
What OS version is your Powerbook running?
Something called ProductUpdater shows up in my Activity Monitor as consuming 95-99% of CPU
