Google LLC Running in Background on Mac

Well, I have an answer to Google deciding to install crap on MY computer. I disabled Google LLC from Allow in Background. What I want to know is how our secure MacOS allows Google in stall anything on MY computer. I am assuming this is because I allowed Google Updater to run. I disabled that as well.

Since Google's business model is to sell your personal info, best thing is not to use it.

John Holcomb2 wrote:

What I want to know is how our secure MacOS allows Google in stall anything on MY computer.

macOS did not install Google on your computer. You installed Google on your computer.

It has become apparent to me that — as incredible as it may seem — some people simply do not know what they installed on their Macs. If not for the fact macOS is now informing us of that, perhaps they would never know. Perhaps they would prefer not to know.

Maybe I'm here wondering what the OP is. This just showed up this morning, 11/8/23. I also have Google Updater, which has been there likely since I installed Chrome years ago.

This new Login Item has no icon and just showed up separately from the existing Google item. This is how I got to this forum. Yes, I understand that Google installs updaters etc etc, and whether or not one wants this or agrees with it or not has nothing to do with why an odd Login Item was created called Google LLC. Which incidentally, these can be called anything you want them to be called, so there remains the possibility that this is not from Google at all.

Does anyone else have this on their computer and can provide thoughts, input about it other than just "Google is evil" rhetoric?

I also am wondering what Google LLC is as a login item, as this is exactly what I'm seeing after seeing the same notification. I'm also wondering why it has been added separately from Google Updater without any overt action on my part and what its purpose is. That is fundamentally why I am in this forum.

It is truly unhelpful to tell people that they have agreed to random unexplained login items being installed without an overt opt-in because they clicked "agree" at the end of a 100,000 word legal document that no one ever reads in order to use one of the most ubiquitous browsers in the world.

People who are here (including me) don't always have the level of sophisticated understanding of everything the software is doing or what we supposedly "agreed" to in order to use a common web browser. That's why we are here. We are trying to figure out the implications so we can make informed decisions and take the appropriate actions. The OP is probably just trying to figure out if this thing is thing trying update Chrome, or if it's got some nefarious level of privacy violating purpose (and permissions) that we are not even aware of, outside of being a nosy, privacy violating web browser we use from time to time. Or how about this possibility: what if it were malware masquerading as a component of Google software to mask its purpose?

It's not an unreasonable question, and I look forward to finding out the actual answer!

Please let me know if my summary of the answers I've seen is inaccurate:

• You gave Google permission, so it's not mysterious
• If you don't like Google having this level of permissions, uninstall Google apps

My questions is: What is the Google LLC login item doing that is different from Google Updater login item, and why did it just show up today?

Has that question been asked and answered?

I don't spend a lot of time in these forums, so I would appreciate any guidance regarding where and how I and others should be asking this question in these forums.

NEW INFORMATION

After having disabled it weeks ago, I was told once again that the Google LLC background task was added to my login items. I believe I know the reason.

Occasionally I will open up a YouTube video that someone has emailed to me. I use Safari for my email links, not Chrome. In Chrome, I am logged in to my Google account and have decided I am OK with (but not thrilled with) their knowing my preferences. I am not logged in to my Google account in Safari. Popping up a YouTube video in Safari seems to be the time when I find out that Google LLC is back in business.

APPLE: I would appreciate an option that says that I don't want anything in my OS settings messed around with just because something on a web page tries to make it happen. Yes, the notification that something has happened is nice, but please do not follow that old advice, "it is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission." Thanks!

Well, it appears not being that simple I’m afraid. My wife just got that Google LCC message, on her brand new Mac, with no Google Crome or other Google apps installed. Seems like Apple let the beast in, maybe with the search extension in Safari or something?

I came here with the same questions. I installed Chrome 6 weeks ago on a new Mac. This "Google LLC" was not in my login items 6 weeks ago. I got a popup today that stated a new login item, "Google LLC" had been added. This is not an issue of a new notification for an existing item, this is an issue of Chrome installing something new in the background. There is also a thread over on Google support about this, and it seems this may have something to do with extensions or extension management.

Let me ask the question another way: is there a setting in MacOS Sonoma that allows me to control whether applications are allowed to:

1. Change system settings
2. Install new applications

I cannot seem to find specific permissions for this, and if they existed it might be helpful for controlling this behavior with Chrome and other apps.

I have found System Settings > Privacy & Security. The various settings in here don't have Chrome or Google or anything else relevant listed: "App Management", "Files and Folders", "Full Disk Access", "Automation", "Extensions", "Developer Tools".

👍

~/Library/LaunchDaemons

~/Library/LaunchAgents

~/[user profile]/Library/LaunchAgents

You probably meant to include

/Library/LaunchDaemons

... since ~/[user profile]/Library/LaunchAgents is not a path that would exist on a Mac.

And this is exactly what I meant by "installing Google" because nothing gets installed in those locations without a user's consent. Conversely stated if a file with "Google" its name exists in any of those locations it's there because the user wanted it. In other words if you don't want Google on your Mac... don't install it.

With this recent change in macOS, Apple is informing its users of something they installed. Why did they wait so long to do that? Good question.

Do you really want Google to infest your Mac?

Do you know what it does?

Are you sure?

If the answers to those questions is "yes" then you have your answer.

When I woke my Mac from sleep this morning I received a system notification that a Google LLC background app had been installed. This was new so of course I'm wondering what and why.

what is google LLC

Thank you to the people who are giving helpful answers. It's worth it, even after sifting through Grand Marshall John Galt's finger-wagging smugness.

This happened to me too. It added itself without any action on my part, and without any Google crud open, to my knowledge. How can I determine what added it, so that I can remove it with prejudice?

Update:

Ran `sfltool dumpbtm`

#3:
                 UUID: E3C582DB-F60F-43FA-9A38-2325000511D8
                 Name: GoogleUpdater
       Developer Name: Google LLC
      Team Identifier: EQHXZ8M8AV
                 Type: legacy agent (0x10008)
          Disposition: [enabled, disallowed, visible, notified] (9)
           Identifier: com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake
                  URL: file:///Users/<snip>/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.plist
      Executable Path: /Users/<snip>/Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleUpdater
           Generation: 2
    Parent Identifier: Google LLC

Update 2:

Contents of `com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.plist` show it's Google Chrome related:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>AbandonProcessGroup</key>
	<true/>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake</string>
	<key>LimitLoadToSessionType</key>
	<string>Aqua</string>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>/Users/<snip>/Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleUpdater</string>
		<string>--wake-all</string>
		<string>--enable-logging</string>
		<string>--vmodule=*/components/update_client/*=2,*/chrome/updater/*=2</string>
	</array>
	<key>StartInterval</key>
	<integer>3600</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Still not sure how it got installed when I've got Google background services disabled.

If you delete the files, Google will just replace them and automatically enable them, not unlike malware. I've removed read/write permissions to the files. Untested in the long run, but should render them inoperable and unreplaceable:

chmod 000 ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.*

Good, bad or indifferent ... vendor apps that install themselves without requesting permission and declaring why they are necessary and what they do are necessarily inherently evil. Remember: You are the product. If someone is selling access to your marketing profile or anything else about you ... you are the product.

I think we should propose that google's agent owes each of us, individually, 50% of the revenue obtained from the sale of our information <g> but that won't fly.

Complain. Loudly.