How to optimize memory usage when dealing with XProtectRemediatorSheepSwap on Mac

Well, I’m happy I’m not the only one. Misery loves company. 😉

I do hope this gets resolved somehow. I’d hate to have to drag my old 2009 mac out of storage, haha.

Anyway, I’ll update when I get the clean install done.

Thanks for the update. I rebooted the system at the beginning of the evening yesterday and haven't seen the issue pop up yet. Left it running overnight, seemingly without any hick ups. It's 1:20pm here and it's been behaving normally all morning so I think I'm going to hold off doing the clean install for now. I checked the 'Installations' section and didn't see any updates to XProtectRemediatorSheepSwap. Interesting. I'm cautiously optimistic but like you said, I don't want to jinx it. I'm just happy I was able to get some work done without the computer throwing a fit. Looks like the old '09 Mac can stay in storage after all. 😂 (I booted it up yesterday and I gotta say, it still runs surprisingly well. The step back from a Retina display to a 'normal' one is really jarring though.)

Anyway, I hope your computer keeps behaving and I'll let you know if anything changes on my end.

That sucks. Sorry to hear that. I've not seen any misbehaving myself as of yet. Just started doing some work (9:30am here) and we'll see how it goes throughout the day. Fingers crossed. I also think it's unlikely a hardware issue is to blame. What are the odds that we're both having the same issue at the same time. And just like yours, it's been running just fine apart from this issue.

Well, after laying low for 2 weeks the issue is back in full force since yesterday. It was only popping up once a week but now it’s multiple times a day again. ☹️ Tried everything I could think of at this point including a clean install, which made no difference (and no, I did not restore a time machine backup after the clean install. The issue also occurred on a totally vanilla install. Maybe it’s some sort of hardware issue after all? idk at this point)

So, if reverting to a previous version helps, good, but it is only a temporary fix (and may leave you open to possible vulnerabilities fixed in the subsequent versions).

True. This is a problem Apple should fix asap and rolling back to an old version of XProtect is far from ideal. It's just that I'm basically at my wits' end right now. Like tobwise, I've tried a clean install (no backups restored or any 3rd party apps installed) and even then the problem persisted.

I hope so too. It's weird such a small number of user seem to be affected. The issue has been reported by Sonoma users as well so it's not exclusive to Ventura.

When tobwise first did a clean install it also did not solve the problem. It's nice to hear they don't have the issue now but then again, I also rarely had a hiccup for nearly two weeks until 2 days ago, without a clean install. I've tried to discern a pattern, but alas, no luck. If anything, it's the randomness that's driving me up the wall. 😅

Thanks for the update Tobwise. I'm happy to report I have not been troubled by XProtectMediaSheepSwap in over a month (last time was March 6 I think). Never did a second clean install. I hope we've seen the last of it.

Another day without the issue popping up. I hope you're having the same luck.

Just as a side note, Malwarebytes is only useful as a 'after the fact' tool. It's completely unnecessary to have it permanently installed and/or run it on startup.