Storeagent process - What is it?

I've had storeagent run when a SDHC card is plugged in also.

It also runs when software update does its automatic check, even with links turned off.

Are we able to ask Apple what information they are gathering?

How does one go about doing this?

A couple of months ago, I sent a letter to the VP of Engineering as well as the Legal Department at their Cupertino address expressing my concern and asking for an option to disable Storeagent; I have not received a reply.

If you are uncomfortable with you Mac 'phoning home' you can download LittleSnitch which runs in the background and prompts you when ANYTHING dials 'out'. You can select 'safe' applications (like Safari, Mail etc) and therefore only receive that prompt once. If you dont want the App dialling out you can block it their and then.

a great way to see what your Mac is up to!

Just because we can do a thing doesn't dictate that we should do a thing. LittleSnitch is what told me about Storeagent. The burning question is, "What will break if I block it?"

henrybutz wrote:

Just because we can do a thing doesn't dictate that we should do a thing. LittleSnitch is what told me about Storeagent. The burning question is, "What will break if I block it?"

Block it and see

Block it and see is simply the best answer... the app will tell you if it needs constant access / needs to dial home. In your direct issue - I cant see it 'breaking' anything. The worst case scenario is to reverse it. For avoidance of doubt, I blocked storeagent and everything remains fine!

Here's my take on the app store stuff and it's associated "calling home". Yes, you can block calls home after you are logged in. It's what can happen before you are logged in that concerns me. The app store stuff is deeply entangled into the system and it has been stated no one exactly knows what's being sent home prior to log in. It is conceivable that apple could override LS during boot time or even do their sending during boot time before the LS daemon (lsd) is activated.

I've avoided the issue by simply not going to the App Store. You can check Activity Monitor for any Storeagent activity; I've tested it on a since erased partition and it appears to activate shortly after the App Store is launched.

The burning question is, "What will break if I block it?"

The burning answer is, "The Mac App Store." Nothing else.

oooohh - Storeagent is for the app store, not data which is being stored. Lame. Thank-you for the answer.

henrybutz wrote:

oooohh - Storeagent is for the app store, not data which is being stored. Lame. Thank-you for the answer.

All the app store haters need to be aware that upgrading to OS X Lion will be through the app store only. If you got rid of the app store because you are paranoid about Storeagent you can't upgrade to Lion. You will be stuck in time. Good luck.

Apple has pulled a whammy on Little Snitch, adding a "port 80" rule. Anyone confirm?

As you notice, I denied any connection previously.

So I checked LS today when I saw this thread and guess what I see. 😀

I wouldn't be surprised if MAS in LIon was in EFI, out of reach of LittleSntich.

EFI is a firmware interface that sits between the OS and the firmware/hardware, one can install programs in there that run outside the operating system.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Inter face

Programs like rEFIt run in EFI.

http://refit.sourceforge.net/

lkrupp wrote:

henrybutz wrote:

oooohh - Storeagent is for the app store, not data which is being stored. Lame. Thank-you for the answer.

All the app store haters need to be aware that upgrading to OS X Lion will be through the app store only. If you got rid of the app store because you are paranoid about Storeagent you can't upgrade to Lion. You will be stuck in time. Good luck.

I'll stay stuck in time. You move on. Good luck. (Not all change is progress.)

WZZZ wrote:

I'll stay stuck in time. You move on. Good luck. (Not all change is progress.)

Amen.

I'll install Lion on my old MacBook Pro as a science experiment only.

MAS is a corny rip off of the Ubuntu Software Center, at least there most of the software is free as in beer and free as in no DRM.

They want you to use their software and even allow you to alter it so it becomes better. 😀

MAS is going to kill innovation in software, turn the Mac into console. Like iOS devices that people desperately try to jailbreak.

ds: I stopped it in its tracks the first time it ever tried to run. No need to write a global rule.