Google LLC Running in Background on Mac

This Chrome trash thing is super annoying, to keep spamming even after disabled in Notifications and Login Items.

I suspect that GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app that running invokes it, so I killed it, no messages so far

to check if any similar processess are running:

ps aux | grep -i google 

to kill it:

pkill GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent # not sure it will work, I killed it using Process ID

or

kill -9 `ps aux | grep -i google | awk '{ print $2 }'`

or

pkill <PID>

I hope that disabled 'Google Update' in Login Items would prevent it from starting again on next boot, but Im not sure and likely Chrome will start it anyway at some point (I'm not even using Chrome everyday, I just use it occasionally to test something)

To be fair, I noticed a notification banner about this item being added after Chrome updated. It could be easy to miss, though it did appear even despite the DnD mode.

I believe Google would prefer the browser to constantly auto-update for many reasons, including good (0day fixes) and probably not-so-good reasons (various new tracking tech and whatnot, I imagine). It’s understandable that many power users would dislike this, of course…

I just want to know if this is allowing Google to track me in ways I may not want or doing something else vaguely nefarious.

I have the option of turning it off in "Login Items" but I don't know if that will affect the functionality of Chrome - unfortunately, I have to have Chrome for one particular application that won't work on Firefox or Safari, but I won't use it for anything else.

I have never "installed Google," nor would I, and still have had this added.

This is getting even more interesting :)

So you are saying you have no Google software whatsoever installed on your Mac, and this login item was still added???

If this is the case, then this implies this was actually added by Apple, which would be outrageous!

Quid pro quo.

Of course, there has always been some level of cooperation & communication between the two ... consider the development of standards for network communications as an example. But this appears to be a new twist.

anyone have more concrete info on this?

I'm seeing such drastic mixed things from; its just google doing its thing, to its a possible virus. Which is very conflicting and concerning.

Is it important? Can it just be deleted? If so how?

Where even is it installed on mac? the only place I see it is in login items, under, "allow in background."

anyone with concrete info would be much appreciated.

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

Posting a brand new question is the best way to elicit the individual attention you deserve. To do that, click the Ask the Community link above.

As recommended I've created a new question / topic here:

What is the "Google LLC" login item and what is it doing? It just added itself to my login items.

Wendylash wrote:

what is google LLC

Youtube is also owned by them. You search in Safari through it....and so on...

You do not have to use Google to search. In Safari's settings, go to the "Search" tab.

When you say we installed "google", are you referring to google chrome?

Youtube is not owned by Google. Meta (Facebook) now owns Youtube.

Brian Teaman wrote:

Youtube is not owned by Google. Meta (Facebook) now owns Youtube.

Also fascinating.

I am constantly amazed by what can be learned from this site.