GoogleSoftwareUpdate?

Question

R_55a Author

Level 2

258 points

GoogleSoftwareUpdate?

Activity Monitor reports that,

1. I have two GoogleSoftwareUpdate applications, and

2. One of them is not responding.

I did not know that I have an application with that name, let alone two.

I did a search of my Mac. It found these:

[username]>Library>Google>GoogleSoftwareUpdate.

[HD]>Library>Google>GoogleSoftwareUpdate.

I cannot tell in Activity Monitor which application is running and which is not responding.

And then, as I proofread this post, both applications disappeared from Activity Monitor.

Do I need either or both GoogleSoftwareUpdate applications?

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 15, 2020 9:12 AM

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Answer 1

lkrupp

Level 6

16,881 points

Feb 17, 2020 10:04 AM in response to R_55a

Those files you see are used by Google's Chrome browser to check for updates to the browser. I believe Chrome comes with auto-update turned on by default. That means Chrome checks for updates from time to time and installs any available updates behind the scenes. That's also why those files come and go in Activity Monitor. Once they've performed their checks they shut down until the next time.

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Answer 2

lkrupp

Level 6

16,881 points

Feb 17, 2020 1:41 PM in response to R_55a

Yes, one in the System Library, one in the user's Library. if you have more than one user account configured it will be in that user account also. If you are worried about this being malware or a virus, don't. Although, some consider any Google app to be malware because of Google's thirst for collecting and selling your data.

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