How to uninstall BESAgent? Resumes after force-quitting.

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How to uninstall BESAgent? Resumes after force-quitting.

I visited stanford university for a couple days over a year ago and they made me install "BigFix" - https://itservices.stanford.edu/service/bigfix

Today, a process called BESAgent is 100% of my CPU constantly (based on what Activity Monitor is showing me). I reinstalled BESAgent, and it went down to 0% for 10 seconds, then went back to 100. I tried to quit the process using Acitivity monitor but it didn't work. So I force quit it using activity monitor. It came back after 5 seconds and was at 100%. Shutting down and restarting didn't help either.

I found instructions from IBM for uninstalling, but it is outdated. They say the uninstaller should appear in the installation.dmg file, but the file has been switched with a pkg file (which I used to re-install the thing, but that didn't help). The outdated uninstall instructions are here: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21505762

Is there a way to make Activity Monitor prevent BESAgent from starting? Does anyone know how to uninstall this?? Any help would be appreciated!

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jan 20, 2014 7:04 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 30, 2017 10:28 PM in response to Alias7

Old thread but had the same issue - they're still using it at Stanford (annoyingly).

There is an uninstaller within the BESAgent package contents

/Library/BESAgent/BESAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/BESAgentUninstaller.sh

Note:

- 'Library' is the main disk library, not the one in your user account

- select BESAgent/BESAgent.app and right click 'Show Package Contents'

While I can't test this (still 'need' it installed unfortunately) it should work to run this line from terminal

sudo /Library/BESAgent/BESAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/BESAgentUninstaller.sh

Also a note regarding the accepted answer, if you're uninstalling manually,

ensure you delete BESAgentDaemon.plist from

/Library/LaunchDaemons/BESAgentDaemon.plist

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Answer 2

Alias7 Author

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57 points

Jan 20, 2014 7:16 PM in response to Alias7

There is also a "BESClientUI" and its only taking up 0.2% CPU. Force quitting it didn't do anything. There is no application related to BESClientUI or BESAgent or BigFix in the applications folder. I don't know what to do!

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Answer 3

Alias7 Author

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57 points

Jan 20, 2014 8:31 PM in response to Alias7

I found the BESAgent folder in the Library folder containing the BESAgent application. I deleted it, then force quit it with the Activity Monitor and it didn't come back. Hopefully this helps anyone else who happens to be in the same situation!

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Answer 4

Missey

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Feb 3, 2014 6:26 PM in response to Alias7

Alias7...I am having the same issue. I am running 10.8.4 OS X. I went to the library folder but could not find the folder BESAgent. It won't stop running and my MacBook Air is getting really hot every time it is use. Is there a subfolder or something?

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Answer 5

Alias7 Author

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57 points

Feb 3, 2014 6:36 PM in response to Missey

There are at least two different library folders and I forget which one it was in. There is one within the Users/Name/ folder, and there is another library folder within the same folder that "Users" is in.

If you still can't find it, select the BESAgent within Activity Monitor. Press Command+i then select the "Open files and ports" tab. Maybe there it will indicate which folder it is in.

Let me know if you can't find it. I can look in my Time Machine backup to find exactly where it was.

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Answer 6

Missey

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Feb 3, 2014 6:47 PM in response to Alias7

I tried Command button and i at the same time and it brought up the inspection screen

But I didn't see a "Open files and ports" tab. Any additional help would be great!

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Answer 7

Alias7 Author

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57 points

Feb 3, 2014 6:49 PM in response to Missey

Click the "launchd (1)"... it may have the tab I was talking about. If not, then click its parent process and so on.

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Answer 8

Alias7 Author

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57 points

Feb 3, 2014 6:58 PM in response to Alias7

Based on my Time Machine, the BESAgent was in the highest up Library folder... the one in the folder that is named whatever you named your computer. I named mine Jack. It was not in the Users folder.

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Answer 9

Missey

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Feb 3, 2014 7:14 PM in response to Alias7

Well there were no tabs...it went from BESAgent to launch (1) to kernal_task (0).

Here are screen shots of my library...nothing looked like a computer name folder. I am starting to feel incompetent about myself not being able to find this folder that is causing this fan to overheat my mac.

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Answer 10

Alias7 Author

Level 1

57 points

Feb 3, 2014 7:27 PM in response to Missey

I am guessing you are in the wrong "Library" folder because the correct library folder on my mac does not have a "Safari" folder like yours. You need to find the other Library folder.

Go to Finder. Click the "Go" menu, and click on "Go to folder...".

Then type /library and click on Go. It should open a finder window.

Sort the list of folders alphabetically by clicking on "Name." That should make it easier to find the BESAgent. If it is not there, then repeat everything again except type /users/johnny except replace "johnny" with the user's name and try to find BESAgent in the Library folder there.

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Answer 11

Missey

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Feb 3, 2014 7:33 PM in response to Alias7

Yeah!!! Success I found the folder🙂 Thank You! Thank You! I followed directions as above and so far the BESAgent has not restarted. Really appreciate the help on this discussions page!!!

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Answer 12

Alias7 Author

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57 points

Feb 3, 2014 7:39 PM in response to Alias7

YAY glad it worked 🙂

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