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What is Categoriesservice and Is It Safe?

All,


Can anyone tell me what categoriesservice is? I see it in my antivirus software's firewall activity monitor. Someone on another message board called it a key logger? Is this malware or is it safe? Thanks in advance.


Peter

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Jul 3, 2021 6:23 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 4, 2021 2:47 AM

Are there any AntiVirus, Disk Cleaner, Optimizers, Defrag, VPNs etc installed which should be removed as per Developers Instructions. They are useless, unneeded, cause havoc and interfere with the normal operation of the OS and may even Corrupt the OS requiring a Reinstallation. The Built-in Security of Big Sur is all that is required.


Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, alter, modify, remove or delete or attempt to do so is an invitation for disaster and may require a Reinstallation of the OS.


There are no known Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS. There are Malware and Adware that does affect macOS and are often times downloaded as part of an Application from Third Party UnTrusted Site and get installed along with the Application.

13 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 4, 2021 2:47 AM in response to PhotosPete

Are there any AntiVirus, Disk Cleaner, Optimizers, Defrag, VPNs etc installed which should be removed as per Developers Instructions. They are useless, unneeded, cause havoc and interfere with the normal operation of the OS and may even Corrupt the OS requiring a Reinstallation. The Built-in Security of Big Sur is all that is required.


Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, alter, modify, remove or delete or attempt to do so is an invitation for disaster and may require a Reinstallation of the OS.


There are no known Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS. There are Malware and Adware that does affect macOS and are often times downloaded as part of an Application from Third Party UnTrusted Site and get installed along with the Application.

Jul 5, 2021 3:27 AM in response to PhotosPete

One could safe some more money and System Resources by eliminating the " antivirus software's firewall " which got lost in this discussion. That was my real thrust of initial response to your original posting.


Are there any AntiVirus, Disk Cleaner, Optimizers, Defrag, VPNs etc installed which should be removed as per Developers Instructions. They are useless, unneeded, cause havoc and interfere with the normal operation of the OS and may even Corrupt the OS requiring a Reinstallation. The Built-in Security of Big Sur is all that is required.

Jul 4, 2021 1:46 PM in response to PhotosPete

Thanks for your reply. What I should have said is that a VPN would shield any personal information while using a public hot spot.

Shield from who? The VPN company who is selling it?

It’s also good while online making purchases and things like that from home or your mobile connection, no?

Only if you would like your VPN company to know what you are buying.


The odds of anyone snooping on your home network are probably slim to none. Even on a public WiFi, they would have to be set up to intercept your secure connections. Certainly highly more probable on a public network, but then why would you use it for anything that necessitated a secure connection?

If you are sending it through a VPN, you are 100% guaranteeing that someone else has intercepted your connection.

Jul 4, 2021 2:24 PM in response to PhotosPete

As more Senior Contributor has outlined earlier.


Commercial VPNs are in for business and how better than to collect data and monetize it in whatever way they decide to do. The only real need for VPNs ( IMHO ) if mandated by the company one works for to work Off-Site and connect to HQ Network and / or Banking. The rest is just buying into a myth that ones Privacy and Security is protected.

Jul 5, 2021 7:10 AM in response to PRP_53

Thanks again for your input. I get emails from Macrumors and I remember a quote from an Apple executive at a conference that thousands (or maybe tens of thousands) of Macs worldwide are infected with malware. I’m very conservative when using this computer but am always concerned about an attack. In fact, the reason I bought it was because Apple stopped sending security updates to my two older Macs, computers I was quite happy with.

What is Categoriesservice and Is It Safe?

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