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2020 macbook pro fan going really high when not doing anything

Hello,

My 2020 macbook pro 13" has worked really well ever since I've got it, and has never really overheated or anything unless I was using both safari and chrome and streaming twitch or something in chrome, or downloading a bunch of files or something. However recently, the fan is kicking up when I'm doing nothing, I've got maybe two safari tabs open, and no other apps, no video streaming or anything, and the fans are super loud. I went into activity monitor to check what was going on, and safari is using 110% of my cpu, and what's weirder is it says that it's google that's using it, despite not having a google search page open, and chrome being closed. Safari networking and installed also come up and take up a ton of percentage at times, going even further over, 140% cpu from installd. Is it possible I have a crypto miner installed in the background or something that's causing my computer to take up as much cpu as it is? The battery also doesn't seem to last very long anymore, again even though I'm not actually doing anything on the computer besides web browsing. I've attached a screenshot of activity monitor, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jan 10, 2023 10:22 PM

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Posted on Jan 14, 2023 12:39 PM

So what is the proposed solution to this? Just delete chrome and it will fix it?


No; you must follow Google's uninstallation instructions. Contact them for assistance: Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support.


I don’t have anything else google installed on the computer. ...


Incorrect. You cannot install Chrome without also installing Google. That puts Chrome in an entirely different category than browsers like Brave, Firefox, Opera, and others.


Or is it possible like I asked before that I have some kinda crypto miner that got installed somewhere?


Installing Google turns a Mac into an information-harvesting and -uploading "bot" in the same category as a crypto mining process. Data mining, crypto mining... the only difference between the two is who benefits.


And what is installd? That’s taking up even more percentage that google


Most likely, one or more of Google's constantly self-updating "helpers" is being installed on your Mac. It will do that periodically without letting you know, which understandably causes user confusion when a Mac was performing perfectly well one day only to spontaneously work poorly the next. You agreed to all that when you agreed to install Google. It is by far the most common performance-hindering system alterations on Macs.


I don't believe you quite fully appreciate the implications of installing Google. Think of it as a virus, because it is the closest thing to a macOS virus there will ever be. The difference between it and a theoretical Mac "virus" is that you must agree to installing it, it makes little attempt to hide what it's doing, and it is easily uninstalled.


If you are required to use Google you wasted your money buying a Mac. Buy a Chromebook.

10 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 14, 2023 12:39 PM in response to patricfromhayden

So what is the proposed solution to this? Just delete chrome and it will fix it?


No; you must follow Google's uninstallation instructions. Contact them for assistance: Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support.


I don’t have anything else google installed on the computer. ...


Incorrect. You cannot install Chrome without also installing Google. That puts Chrome in an entirely different category than browsers like Brave, Firefox, Opera, and others.


Or is it possible like I asked before that I have some kinda crypto miner that got installed somewhere?


Installing Google turns a Mac into an information-harvesting and -uploading "bot" in the same category as a crypto mining process. Data mining, crypto mining... the only difference between the two is who benefits.


And what is installd? That’s taking up even more percentage that google


Most likely, one or more of Google's constantly self-updating "helpers" is being installed on your Mac. It will do that periodically without letting you know, which understandably causes user confusion when a Mac was performing perfectly well one day only to spontaneously work poorly the next. You agreed to all that when you agreed to install Google. It is by far the most common performance-hindering system alterations on Macs.


I don't believe you quite fully appreciate the implications of installing Google. Think of it as a virus, because it is the closest thing to a macOS virus there will ever be. The difference between it and a theoretical Mac "virus" is that you must agree to installing it, it makes little attempt to hide what it's doing, and it is easily uninstalled.


If you are required to use Google you wasted your money buying a Mac. Buy a Chromebook.

Jan 11, 2023 1:13 AM in response to patricfromhayden

Google updates its many "helpers" and processes in the background as it constantly scours your Mac for personal information for them to sell. It will do that whether or not you are actively using its Chrome product. If that causes your Mac to perform poorly or to cause its hardware to fail prematurely they do not care.


Google may be "free" but if you are required to use their products and services on a Mac, prepared to buy a new one every couple of years.

Jan 14, 2023 10:34 AM in response to patricfromhayden

The drive in this computer is more than 100 times the typical speed of drives in computers a decade older.


If you have installed software that wastes computer resources on a regular basis, such as third-party Virus Scanners, speeder-uppers, Cleaner-uppers/Removers, Optimizers, third-party file Sync-ers such as DropBox, BackBlaze, OneDrive, or GoogleDrive, or a VPN that you installed yourself, it will do busywork at previously-impossible speeds — heating up at a ferocious rate. 


This older junky software used to run as fast as it could, then would then have to suspend itself to wait for the disk drive to catch up before continuing to waste resources. With a really fast drive, that drive-speed restriction is gone. In many cases it still does not show up as using a lot of CPU, because it is doing a lot of intensive I/O, and not a lot of computing. That will still make your computer slow and heat up.

Jan 14, 2023 11:02 AM in response to John Galt

So what is the proposed solution to this? Just delete chrome and it will fix it? I don’t have anything else google installed on the computer. Or is it possible like I asked before that I have some kinda crypto miner that got installed somewhere? I don’t think I have any third party driver updates or managers or anything. I don’t generally download that kinda stuff. And what is installd? That’s taking up even more percentage that google

Jan 14, 2023 5:03 PM in response to patricfromhayden

Two of your screenshots are showing "installd" as the top most process consuming CPU cycles. Something is installing & updating on your Mac.


All Chromium based browsers are resource hogs sometimes utilizing enormous amounts of both CPU cycles and memory. Google Chrome is the worst of them because it also includes all the Google data mining & monitoring & advertising bits as well. I know on my Chromium based browser Vivaldi, that once in a while I must actually delete "storage browsing data" (not sure what that all includes, but it can help restore resources to my computer...not sure if this is available in Google Chrome proper or not).


To look for possible software issues and to provide us more details about your system including performance stats and summaries of system logs, run EtreCheck and post the report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.


FYI, another app or process can be interfering with the system even though it may not be using much of the CPU. The app/process can tie up some part of the system which may have an adverse affect on other apps or even macOS. Even a file system issue can cause performance issues.

2020 macbook pro fan going really high when not doing anything

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