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Strange installer process takes CPU away

I once tried to download paint onto my Mac computer and then that is when things started getting slow, like I think it became kind of laggy, I ended up going to the task monitor thing and saw that there was a process called installer which was taking up a lot to CPU, I ended it but I decided to test around and hope that I fixed the problem, but I found out that every time I moved something random and useless from downloads into the trash, the process comes back, I didnt really move stuff from the downloads stack thingy until now, but I might of done it once or twice before without any problem, also I think it once started without me even moving anything from downloads to the trash, this is weird, how to I make that stop???


I'm not sure if I explained that right

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Apr 15, 2014 5:14 PM

Reply
19 replies

Apr 15, 2014 9:52 PM in response to electrical-dragon

You installed the "Genieo" rootkit. The product is a fraud, and the developer knowingly distributes an uninstaller that doesn't work. I suggest the tedious procedure below to disable Genieo. This procedure may leave a few small files behind, but it will permanently deactivate the rootkit (as long as you never reinstall it.)

Back up all data. You must know how to restore from a backup even if the system becomes unbootable. If you don't know how to do that, or if you don't have any backups, stop here and ask for guidance.

Malware is constantly changing to get around the defenses against it. The instructions in this comment are valid as of the date it was posted, as far as I know. They won't necessarily be valid in the future. Anyone finding this comment after a few days from now should look for more recent discussions or start a new one.

Step 1

In the Applications folder, there should be an item named "Genieo". Select it and open the Finder Info window. If it shows that the Version is less than 2.0, download and install the current version from the genieo.com website. This may seem paradoxical, since the goal is to remove it, but you'll be saving yourself some trouble as well as the risk of putting the system in an unusable state.

There should be another application in the same folder named "Uninstall Genieo". After updating Genieo, if necessary, launch "Uninstall Genieo" and follow the prompts to remove the "newspaper-style home page." Restart the computer.

This step does not completely inactivate Genieo.

Step 2

Don't take this step unless you completed Step 1, including the restart, without any error messages. If you couldn't complete Step 1, stop here and ask for instructions.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Frameworks/GenieoExtra.framework

Right-click or control-click the line and select

Services Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.

If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

A folder should open with an item named "GenieoExtra.framework" selected. Move that item to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your administrator password.

Move each of these items to the Trash in the same way:

  
 
    
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.completer.update.plist
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.engine.plist
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.client.plist
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.client/u/usr/lib/libgenkit.dylib
/usr/lib/libgenkitsa.dylib
/usr/lib/libimckit.dylib
/usr/lib/libimckitsa.dylib

~/Library/Application Support/com.genieoinnovation.Installer

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.completer.download.plist
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieo.completer.update.plist

If there are other items with a name that includes "Genieo" or "genieo" alongside any of those listed above, move them as well. There's no need to restart after each one. Some of these items will be absent, in which case you'll get a message that the file can't be found. Skip that item and go on to the next one.

Restart and empty the Trash. Don't try to empty the Trash until you have restarted.

Step 3

From the Safari menu bar, select

Safari Preferences... Extensions

Uninstall any extensions you don't know you need, including ones called "Genieo" or "Omnibar," and any that have the word "Spigot" or "InstallMac" in the description. If in doubt, uninstall all extensions. Do the equivalent for the Firefox and Chrome browsers, if you use either of those.

Your web browser(s) should now be working, and you should be able to reset the home page and search engine. If not, stop here and post your results.

Make sure you don't repeat the mistake that led you to install this software. Chances are you got it from an Internet cesspit such as "Softonic" or "CNET Download." Never visit either of those sites again. You might also have downloaded it from an ad in a page on some other site. Typically the ad is a large green button labeled "Download Now" in white letters. The button is designed to mislead people who want to download something else on the same page. If you everdownload a file that isn't obviously what you expected, delete it immediately.

You may be wondering why you didn't get a warning from Gatekeeper about installing software from an unknown developer, as you should have. The reason is that the Genieo developer has a codesigning certificate issued by Apple, which causes Gatekeeper to give the installer a pass. Apple could revoke the certificate, but as of this writing, has not done so, even though it's aware of the problem. It must be said that this failure of oversight is inexcusable and has seriously compromised the value of Gatekeeper and the Developer ID program. You cannot rely on Gatekeeper alone to protect you from harmful software.

Finally, be forewarned that when Genieo is mentioned on this site, the developer sometimes shows up under the name "Genieo support." If that happens, don't believe anything he says, but feel free to tell him what you think of his scam.

Apr 16, 2014 8:29 AM in response to electrical-dragon

Everything else you need to use to maintain your Mac ships in the Apple box. The only thing you need to buy is an External drive for Backup. Everyone needs one, but a new computer does not include one.


But that external drive does not need to be especially fast just for Backups, and is therefore not especially expensive. A USB-2 drive will suffice, but get one that is BIG -- two to three times the size of what you want to back up is good. The bigger the better. With its own power supply is best.

Apr 16, 2014 9:22 AM in response to electrical-dragon

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem.

2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.

There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. All it does is to collect information about the state of the computer. That information goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. However, you should be cautious about running any kind of program (not just a shell script) on the advice of a stranger. If you have doubts, search this site for other discussions in which this procedure has been followed without any report of ill effects. If you can't satisfy yourself that the instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.

Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:

☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.

☞ Paste into the window of another application.

☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.

☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.

The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.

4. You may have started the computer in "safe" mode. Preferably, these steps should be taken in “normal” mode, under the conditions in which the problem is reproduced. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.

5. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.

6. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.

Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin; clear; Fb='%s\n\t(%s)\n'; Fm='\n%s\n\n%s\n'; Fr='\nRAM details\n%s\n'; Fs='\n%s: %s\n'; Fu='user %s%%, system %s%%'; AC="com.autodesk.AutoCAD com.evenflow.dropbox com.google.GoogleDrive"; H='^[[:space:]]*((127\.0\.0\.1|::1|fe80::1%lo0)[[:space:]]+local|(255\.){3}255[[:space:]]*broadcast)host[[:space:]]*$'; NS=networksetup; PB="/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c Print"; A () { ((a==0)); }; BI () { $PB\ :CFBundleIdentifier "$1"; }; LC () { $2 launchctl list | awk 'NR>1 && !/0x|\.[0-9]+$|com\.apple\.(AirPortBaseStationAgent|launchctl\.(Aqua|Background|System))$/{print $3}' | grep -Fv "$1"; }; M () { find -L "$d" -type f | while read f; do file -b "$f" | egrep -lq XML\|exec && echo $f; done; }; AT () { o=`file -b "$1" | egrep -v '^(A.{16}t$|cann)'`; Ps "${1##*/} format"; }; Pc () { o=`grep -v '^ *#' "$2"`; l=`wc -l <<< "$o"`; ((l>25)) && o=`head -n25 <<< "$o"`$'\n'"and $((l-25)) more line(s)"; Pm "$1"; AT "$1"; }; Pm () { [[ "$o" ]] && o=`sed -E '/^ *$|CSConfigDot/d;s/^ */ /;s/[-0-9A-Fa-f]{22,}/UUID/g;s/(ochat)\.[^.]+(\..+)/\1\2/;/Shared/!s/(\/Users\/)[^/]+/\1-/g' <<< "$o"` && printf "$Fm" "$1" "$o"; }; Pp () { o=`$PB "$2" | awk -F'= ' \/$3'/{print $2}'`; Pm "$1"; }; Ps () { o=`echo $o`; [[ ! "$o" =~ ^0?$ ]] && printf "$Fs" "$1" "$o"; }; Pu () { [[ "$s" ]] || return; n=$((${#s[*]}-1)); c="${s[*]}"; s[$n]=${s[$n]%[.+-]*}; o=$((s[n]/$1)); o=$((o>=$2?o:0)); Ps "$3 used by process \"${c% ${s[$((n-1))]}*}\" with UID ${s[$((n-1))]} ($4)"; }; R () { o=; s=; ((r==0)); }; SP () { system_profiler SP${1}DataType; }; id -G | grep -qw 80; a=$?; A && sudo true; r=$?; t=`date +%s`; clear; { A || echo $'No admin access\n'; A && ! R && echo $'No root access\n'; SP Software | sed -n 's/^ *//;5p;6p;8p'; h=(`SP Hardware | awk '/ Id/{print $3}; /Mem/{print $2}'`); o=$h; Ps Model; o=$((h[1]<4?h[1]:0)); Ps "Total RAM (GB)"; o=`SP Memory | sed '1,5d;/[my].*:/d'`; [[ "$o" =~ s:\ [^EO]|x([^8]|8[^0]) ]] && printf "$Fr" "$o"; o=`SP Diagnostics | sed '5,6!d'`; [[ "$o" =~ Pass ]] || Pm POST; p=`SP Power`; o=`awk '/Cy/{print $NF}' <<< "$p"`; o=$((o>=300?o:0)); Ps "Battery cycles"; o=`sed -n '/Cond.*: [^N]/s/^.*://p' <<< "$p"`; Ps "Battery condition"; for b in FireWire Thunderbolt USB; do o=`SP $b | sed -En '/:$/{s/ *:$//;x;s/\n//;/Apple|Intel|SMSC/d;s/\n.*//;/\)/p;};/^ *(V.+ [0N]|Man).+ /{s/ 0x.... //;s/[()]//g;s/(.+: )(.+)/ (\2)/;H;}'`; Pm $b; done; o=`pmset -g therm | sed 's/^.*C/C/'`; [[ "$o" =~ No\ th|pms ]] && o=; Pm Heat; o=`pmset -g sysload | grep -v :`; [[ "$o" =~ =\ [^GO] ]] || o=; Pm "System load"; o=`nvram boot-args | awk '{$1=""; print}'`; Ps "boot-args"; o=; fdesetup status | grep -q On && o=On; Ps FileVault; a=(/ ""); A=(System User); for i in 0 1; do o=`cd ${a[$i]}L*/Lo*/Diag* || continue; for f in *.{cr,h,pa,s}*; do [[ -f "$f" ]] || continue; d=$(stat -f%Sc -t%F "$f"); [[ "$f" =~ h$ ]] && grep -lq "^Thread c" "$f" && f="$f *"; echo "$d ${f%%_2*} ${f##*.}"; done | sort | tail`; Pm "${A[$i]} diagnostics"; done; grep -lq '*$' <<< "$o" && printf $'\n\t* Code injection\n'; o=`syslog -F bsd -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'caug|GPU |hfs: Ru|last value [1-9]|n Cause: -|NVDA\(|pagin|proc: t|Roamed|rror|ssert|Thrott|timed? ?o|WARN' -k Message Ane 'SMC:' | tail -n25 | awk '/:/{$4=""; $5=""};1'`; Pm "Kernel log"; o=`df -m / | awk 'NR==2 {print $4}'`; o=$((o<5120?o:0)); Ps "Free space (MiB)"; o=$(($(vm_stat | awk '/eo/{sub("\\.",""); print $2}')/256)); o=$((o>=1024?o:0)); Ps "Pageouts (MiB)"; s=( `sar -u 1 10 | sed '$!d'` ); ((s[4]<85)) && o=`printf "$Fu" ${s[1]} ${s[3]}` || o=; Ps "Total CPU usage" && { s=(`ps acrx -o comm,ruid,%cpu | sed '2!d'`); Pu 1 0 CPU %; }; s=(`top -R -l1 -n1 -o prt -stats command,uid,prt | sed '$!d'`); Pu 1 25000 Ports \#; sys=`pkgutil --regexp --only-files --files com.apple.pkg.* | sort | uniq | sed 's:^:/:'`; bi=`egrep '\.(kext|xpc)/(Contents/)?Info.plist$' <<< "$sys" | while read i; do [[ -f "$i" ]] && BI "$i"; done`; o=`kextstat -kl | grep -Fv "$bi" | cut -c53- | cut -d\< -f1`; Pm "Kernel extensions"; li=`egrep 'Launch[AD].+\.plist$' <<< "$sys"`; jl=`while read f; do [[ -f $f ]] && $PB\ :Label $f; done <<< "$li"`$'\n'"$bi"; R && o=`LC "$jl" sudo`; Pm Daemons; o=`LC "$jl"`; Pm Agents; o=`for d in {/,}L*/Lau*; do M; done | grep -Fv "$li" | while read f; do ID=$($PB\ :Label "$f") || ID="No job label"; printf "$Fb" "$f" "$ID"; done`; Pm "launchd items"; o=`for d in /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems; do M; done`; Pm "Startup items"; b=`sed -E '/^.+Lib.+\/Contents\/Info.plist$/!d;s/\/Info.plist$//;/Contents\/./d' <<< "$sys"`; l=`egrep '^/usr/lib/.+dylib$' <<< "$sys"`; p=`lsbom -pfc /var/db/*/*.BSD.bom | sed -En '/peri.+\/.+\./s/^\.\/[^/]+//p'`; [[ "$b" && "$l" && "$p" ]] && { o=`find -L /S*/L*/{C*/Sec*A,E}* {/,}L*/{A*d,Compon,Ex,In,iTu,Keyb,Mail/B,P*P,Qu*T,Scripti,Sec,Servi,Spo}* -type d -name Contents -prune | grep -Fv "$b" | while read d; do i="$d"/Info.plist; [[ -f "$i" ]] || continue; ID=$(BI "$i") || ID="No bundle ID"; printf "$Fb" "${d%/Contents}" "$ID"; done`; Pm "Bundles"; o=`find /usr/lib -type f -name *.dylib | grep -Fv "$l"`; Pm "Shared libraries"; o=`find -L {,/u*/lo*}/e*/periodic -type f -exec cksum {} \; | awk '{print $3"\t"$1}' | grep -Fv "$p" | awk '{print $1}'`; Pm "Periodic scripts"; :; } || echo $'\nReceipts missing'; o=`for e in INSERT_LIBRARIES LIBRARY_PATH; do launchctl getenv DYLD_$e; done`; Pm "Inserted dylibs"; o=; defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf globalstate | grep -q 0 || o=On; Ps Firewall; o=`scutil --proxy | egrep 'Prox.+: [^0]'`; Pm Proxies; o=`scutil --dns | awk '/r\[0\] /{if ($NF !~ /^1(0|72\.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1])|92\.168)\./) print $NF; exit}'`; i=`route -n get default | awk '/e:/{print $2}'`; I=`$NS -listnetworkserviceorder | sed -En '/ '$i'\)$/{x;s/^\(.+\) //p;q;};x'`; n=`$NS -getdnsservers "$I" | awk '!/^T/{printf "not "; exit}'`; Ps "DNS (${n}from DHCP)"; o=`$NS -getinfo "$I" | awk '/k:/{if ($3 !~ "(255\.){3}0") print}; /v6:/{if ($2 !~ "A") print}'`; Pm TCP/IP; [[ "$I" =~ [AW]i ]] && { o=`/S*/*/P*/*/*/*/*/airport -I | awk '/lR/{print $2}'`; o=$((o<=-87?o:0)); Ps RSSI; }; tb=(`netstat -b -I $i | tail -1 | awk '{print $7" "$10}'`); u=$((t-`sysctl -n kern.boottime | cut -c9-18`)); m=(50 10); d=(in out); f=(recvfrom sendto); for i in 0 1; do o=$((tb[i]/u/1024)); o=$((o>=m[i]?o:0)); Ps "Average bandwidth ${d[$i]} (KiB/s)" && R && s=(`sudo dtrace -n 'syscall::'${f[$i]}':return {@[execname,uid]=sum(arg0)} tick-10sec {exit(0)}' | tail -1`); Pu 10240 0 "Current bandwidth ${d[$i]}" KiB/s; done; R && o=`sudo profiles -P | grep : | wc -l`; Ps Profiles; f=auto_master; [[ `md5 -q /etc/$f` =~ ^b166 ]] || Pc $f /etc/$f; for f in fstab sysctl.conf crontab launchd.conf; do Pc $f /etc/$f; done; f=/etc/hosts; Pc hosts <(egrep -v "$H" $f ); AT $f; Pc "User launchd" ~/.launchd*; R && Pc "Root crontab" <(sudo crontab -l); Pc "User crontab" <(crontab -l); R && o=`sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook`; Pm "Login hook"; LD="$(`find /S*/*/F* -type f -name lsregister | head -n1` -dump)"; o=`for ID in $AC; do [[ "$LD" =~ $ID ]] && echo $ID; done`; Pm "App check"; Pp "Global login items" /L*/P*/loginw* Path; Pp "User login items" L*/P*/*loginit* Name; Pp "Safari extensions" L*/Saf*/*/E*.plist Bundle | sed -E 's/(\..*$|-[1-9])//g'; o=`find ~ $TMPDIR.. \( -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 \) | wc -l`; Ps "Restricted user files"; cd; o=`find .??* -path .Trash -prune -o -type d -name *.app -print -prune`; Pm "Hidden apps"; o=`SP Fonts | egrep 'id: N|te: Y' | wc -l`; Ps "Font issues"; o=`find L*/{Con,Pref}* -type f ! -size 0 -name *.plist | while read f; do plutil -s "$f" >&- || echo $f; done`; Pm "Bad plists"; d=(Desktop L*/Keyc*); n=(20 7); for i in 0 1; do o=`find "${d[$i]}" -type f -maxdepth 1 | wc -l`; o=$((o<=n[$i]?0:o)); Ps "${d[$i]##*/} file count"; done; o=; ((UID==0)) && o=root; Ps UID; o=$((`date +%s`-t)); Ps "Elapsed time (s)"; } 2>/dev/null | pbcopy; exit 2>&-

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

7. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.

8. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "syntax error," enter

exec bash

and press return. Then paste the script again.

9. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. In most cases, the difference is not important. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, press the key combination control-C or just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.

If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.

10. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, there will be nothing in the Terminal window and no indication of progress. Wait for the line

[Process completed]

to appear. If you don't see it within half an hour or so, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, close the Terminal window and report the results. No harm will be done.

11. When the test is complete, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.

If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.

12. When you post the results, you might see the message, "You have included content in your post that is not permitted." It means that the forum software has misidentified something in the post as a violation of the rules. If that happens, please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

Note: This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak only for themselves, and I don't necessarily agree with them.

________________________________


Copyright © 2014 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Terms of Use of the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

Apr 16, 2014 9:45 AM in response to Linc Davis

I'm not sure I could do that, is there any other choices? It just seems hard to do and I am trying to understand stuff


Also I knew I should of said this before but I am able to stop the process before it makes my computer all laggy but I know what makes it start, I think... Like again, that download stack thing, but also when I open paint tool SAI, I just see it pop up... I know it is weird that it happens when I try to use just some random art program, I'm not sure what else would make the process start

Apr 16, 2014 9:53 AM in response to electrical-dragon

Back up all data to at least two different storage devices, if you haven't already done so. One backup is not enough to be safe. The backups can be made with Time Machine or with Disk Utility. Preferably both.

Erase and install OS X. This operation will destroy all data on the startup volume, so you had be better be sure of the backups. If you upgraded from an older version of OS X, you'll need the Apple ID and password that you used, so make a note of those before you begin.

When you restart, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process in Setup Assistant. That’s when you transfer the data from a backup.User uploaded file


Select only users and Computer & Network Settings in the Setup Assistant dialog—not Applications or Other files and folders. Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled.

After that, run Software Update.


If the problem is resolved after the clean installation, reinstall third-party software selectively. I can only suggest general guidelines. Self-contained applications that install into the Applications folder by drag-and-drop or download from the App Store are usually safe. Anything that comes packaged as an installer or that prompts for an administrator password is suspect, and you must test thoroughly after reinstalling each such item to make sure you haven't restored the problem.

I strongly recommend that you never reinstall commercial "anti-virus" products or "utilities," nor any software that changes the user interface or modifies the functions of built-in applications. If you do that, the problem is likely to recur.

Before installing any software, ask yourself the question: "Am I sure I know how to uninstall this without having to wipe the volume again?" If the answer is "no," stop.

Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.

Strange installer process takes CPU away

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