Q: How can I uninstall OS X Yosemite and return to OS X Mavericks?

Hi,

I read your response from Oct. '14 and have a few questions. Hopefully, you can help.

Like many others, I want to restore to my previous OS as I am fed up with Yosemite for various reasons. First, I want to confirm that the Internet Recovery is NOT the same as Time Machine. I did not do a time machine back-up before Yosemite.

Is the process to launch the Internet Recovery pressing the option, command and R keys? I as because the instructions for launching Recovery (not internet recovery) are simply command + R. I'm wondering if the addition of the option key is what boots Internet Recovery.

You mentioned that you formatted your OS partition and not the whole hard drive. What are the advantages of doing it this way? Why not the whole hard drive? Is that the way it came from the factory?

Thanks in advance. Hopefully, I can get this mess ironed out.

II've just rest my MacBook to its factory

iIm happy got rid of OSXYOSMIT after it created many problems for my MacBook

i just shut down, restart with power+command+option+R

i was turned to internet recovery,then erase all my computer on utility disk( don't know about partition) I was just firmly decided to erase everything on my computer and start it on old set . And finally I got it reset to its mountin lion X

  it's great now I love it..! amazingly faster and easy quick functionality & browsing

ah .. Forgot to mention that I did backup to my new time capsule 2TB for 300$ extra cost for YOSMIT damage

I'll never install YOSMIT again ..lion is the best

  good luck guys

I want to uninstall on my macbook pro because EVERYTHING runs slow, Spotify, Illustrator, Photoshop (really glitchy and keeps shutting down) Preview won't close even with Force Quit so I had to switch off. Yosemite is terrible.

Brian Bearden wrote:

 

I want to confirm that the Internet Recovery is NOT the same as Time Machine.

That's correct. Internet Recovery will simply install the same version of OS X that was first installed on your Mac downloaded from the Internet. It has no relationship to backups, including Time Machine.

Is the process to launch the Internet Recovery pressing the option, command and R keys?

Yes.

You mentioned that you formatted your OS partition and not the whole hard drive. What are the advantages of doing it this way? Why not the whole hard drive? Is that the way it came from the factory?

I don't really understand what he did and why, so I'll let him explain it if he is still monitoring this old discussion.

I suggest you download and install EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Run EtreCheck and publish report here

Allan

Here is the report in my case. I had actually posted this in another thread...one that the OP started with a more provocative title. That thread may not be too popular as a result. So thinking I should post up the report here for comment. One of the posters participating in that thread suggested that I should uninstall sophos for starters. I really don't have a problem with doing that. Thought it might be best to see if in fact there is much more to be done than that I as I would like to do this all at once if possible.

Basic problem appears to be that Firefox and kernel_task just keeps grabbing more and more memory the longer this Macbook stays on since installing Yosemite. Ultimately, if I have any Firefox pages open, Firefox (a little over a 1.2 GB), kernel_task (750 MB), NortonInternetSecurityBF (about 750 MB), Firefox Plugin Process (about 350 MB) and SymDaemon (about 325 MB) are sucking away a good bit of the Memory. Both Firefox and kernel_task grow in Memory allocation even if I am just idling with some web pages open. Right now Memory shows 7.91 GB of the total 8.00 are allocated with the top users as shown above. I have cleaned up old files (there was about 18 GB of stuff in there. Forcing me to rebuild my Safari and Firefox history files but I expected that. I have reset SMC and repaired disc permissions. There is a piece of Malware circling that is really some bogus Adobe Flash Pro fake out thing that I do not install but it keeps showing up asking to me installed. Sophos and Norton appear to clean up the file but it does keep coming back only to be cleaned again about twice a week or so.

Here is the report. Thanks for the help:

EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)

Report generated November 26, 2014 at 6:25:53 AM EST

Hardware Information: ℹ️

    MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) (Verified)

    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2

    1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2-core

    8 GB RAM Upgradeable

        BANK 0/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

        BANK 1/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ℹ️

    Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB

    NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 512 MB

        Color LCD 1680 x 1050

System Software: ℹ️

    OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 0:58:57

Disk Information: ℹ️

    APPLE SSD TS256B disk0 : (251 GB)

    S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

        Macintosh HD (disk1) /  [Startup]: 249.77 GB (188.56 GB free)

            Core Storage: disk0s2 250.14 GB Online

    MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898 

USB Information: ℹ️

    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

    Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

    Iomega Iomega eGo HDD 500.11 GB

        S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

        disk2s1 (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 262 KB

        Iomega_HDD (disk2s2) /Volumes/Iomega_HDD : 500.10 GB (497.27 GB free)

    Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

    Anywhere

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

        /Library/Extensions

    [loaded]    com.sophos.kext.sav (9.2.50 - SDK 10.8) Support

    [loaded]    com.sophos.nke.swi (9.2.50 - SDK 10.8) Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.kext.SymAPComm (12.7.1f4 - SDK 10.8) Support

    [not loaded]    com.symantec.kext.filesecurity (12.7f4 - SDK 10.8) Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.kext.fw (5.3.1f4 - SDK 10.8) Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.kext.internetSecurity (5.4f4 - SDK 10.8) Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.kext.ips (3.9.2f1 - SDK 10.8) Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.kext.pf (5.7.1f4 - SDK 10.8) Support

Launch Agents: ℹ️

    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

    [running]    com.sophos.uiserver.plist Support

    [failed]    com.symantec.errorreporter-periodicagent.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.nis.application.plist Support

    [running]    com.symantec.uiagent.application.plist Support

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

    [running]    com.sophos.common.servicemanager.plist Support

    [running]    com.symantec.deepsight-extractor.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.errorreporter-periodic.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.liveupdate.daemon.ondemand.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.symantec.liveupdate.daemon.plist Support

    [not loaded]    com.symantec.nav.migrateqtf.plist Support

    [running]    com.symantec.sharedsettings.plist Support

    [running]    com.symantec.symdaemon.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

    [invalid?]    com.jdibackup.MyPCBackup.autostart.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist Support

User Login Items: ℹ️

    iTunesHelper    Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)

    Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector EX    ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Canon Utilities/IJ Network Scanner Selector EX/Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector EX.app)

    EpsonLowInkReminderAgent    Application (/Applications/Epson Software/Epson Low Ink Reminder.app/Contents/EpsonLowInkReminderAgent.app)

    SymSecondaryLaunch    UNKNOWN (missing value)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

    Easy-WebPrint EX: Version: 1.1.0 Support

    Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.4.2.4 Support

    AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 1.0.0.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 Support

    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

    Silverlight: Version: 4.0.60531.0 Support

    Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 Support

    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.7

    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.6 - SDK 10.6 Support

    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

    GarminGpsControl: Version: 2.9.3.0 Release Support

    NortonInternetSecurityBF: Version: 1.10.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

    EPPEX Plugin: Version: 3.0.5.0 Support

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

    Norton Internet Security

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

    Flash Player  Support

    Flip4Mac WMV  Support

    Norton\nQuickMenu  Support

Time Machine: ℹ️

    Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

        16%    firefox

        12%    WindowServer

         6%    mds

         3%    MyPCBackup

         0%    fontd

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

    756 MB    firefox

    318 MB    SymDaemon

    172 MB    SophosScanD

    163 MB    InterCheck

    155 MB    WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

    1.20 GB    Free RAM

    3.35 GB    Active RAM

    2.78 GB    Inactive RAM

    1.26 GB    Wired RAM

    2.59 GB    Page-ins

    0 B    Page-outs

Uninstall everything from Symantec, Sophos and CleanMyMac2

After you do that run the report again and post the new one here

Should I just dump them, treat them as valueless.....or back them up to a service like MyPCBackup or something like that? If they are more trouble than they are worth, maybe I should just dump them.

Get rid of them, yes.

You will need to use the uninstall procedures for them because they have put their tentacles everywhere into your system.

Looks like I might be in luck here. All three including CleanMyMac have uninstallers. So I think I will try using their uninstallers unless there is a trap there that I don't know about. That sound like an OK way to get rid of them?

If not, then your next etrecheck report should show any remains.

Cheers

Pete

Here is report post uninstall for CleanMyMac2, Symantec products and Sophos. Not sure if there is a next step. There is no question that their elimination has helped a great deal. Sophos by itself never did appear to create any issues for this Mac previous to Yosemite. Sophus would scan, when it detected something untoward and would send it off to Quarantine where the OS would see it and trip functions that would clean it. Beyond that, you would not know that Sophos was there. I had been using Symantec on my PC based laptop. When it came up for renewal they offered a multi-user, multi-platform product that would not have to be updated for two years. Hence I end up with an additional year for the PC based laptop if nothing else. The Mac was running slower after the Symantec install but was not bogged...just a bit slower, laggy at times might be a better description. But after Yosemite, it was close to dead.

The only reason I "needed" to move on to Yosemite was to help my young daughter with her music files. I had moved on from mobile devices that needed/used iTunes. But she had not and iTunes 11.4 had become problematic as we know. I could not view a page that would let me even consider iTunes 12.0 when I had Mavericks. But 12.0 just piggybacked right behind the Yosemite install without me even asking for it.  Right or wrong, tt is not likely that I would have looked at Yosemite twice were it not for my daughter's music files.

Not sure now if any issues between Yosemite and either of Sophos or Symantec was just a factor of the added overhead these "enhanced" OS packages always bring along plus the overhead of all this other junk or a more deep rooted incompatibility between Yosemite and all this other junk. CleanMyMac2 was always going to be a shortcut to eliminating much of the garbage that has gathering in these files and in the trash bin for the last three years. I had no interest in looking at them as I knew I would find some excuse for keeping some of them around if I did. Sure I probably blew away some stuff that I might have had some ancillary interest in on occasion. But looking through 18 GB of built up junk to find a GB of potentially interesting stuff just was not worth the effort. However even with that, I don't see any ongoing, everyday value to a package like CMM-2 anyway even if it were perfect. You want the garbage truck coming by once a week to pick up the trash. You really don't want the garbage truck sitting at the end of your driveway all week. It is probably pretty clear that CMM-2 is represented by the garbage truck in this little analogy.

If I had to guess, just based on how the computer performed over an extended period with different OS and these three applications, my guess would be that the biggest chasm exists between Yosemite and Symantec. Anyway here is the report. Much less memory being absorbed and at present does not appear to be "leaking" memory either. If it is, it is doing it at a much much slower rate. I did lose some emails and some Outlook information. I was not prepared for Outlook to ask me if I wanted to create a new profile or not. I decided I did not want to do that. However for whatever reason when it went back to the saved profile it also eliminated emails that I had received and sent since that profile had been saved. Not a terrific result but still an acceptable price if the computer is going to run as it has been running the last couple of hours or maybe run even a little better than that.

If you guys see any additional suggestions from this newer report....suggest away. Thanks again.

EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)

Report generated November 29, 2014 at 8:23:58 PM EST

Hardware Information: ℹ️

    MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) (Verified)

    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2

    1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2-core

    8 GB RAM Upgradeable

        BANK 0/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

        BANK 1/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ℹ️

    Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB

    NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 512 MB

        Color LCD 1680 x 1050

System Software: ℹ️

    OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 2:18:12

Disk Information: ℹ️

    APPLE SSD TS256B disk0 : (251 GB)

    S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

        Macintosh HD (disk1) /  [Startup]: 249.77 GB (190.33 GB free)

            Core Storage: disk0s2 250.14 GB Online

    MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898 

USB Information: ℹ️

    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

    Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

    Iomega Iomega eGo HDD 500.11 GB

        S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

        disk2s1 (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 262 KB

        Iomega_HDD (disk2s2) /Volumes/Iomega_HDD : 500.10 GB (497.27 GB free)

    Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

    Anywhere

Launch Agents: ℹ️

    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support

    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

    [invalid?]    com.jdibackup.MyPCBackup.autostart.plist Support

User Login Items: ℹ️

    iTunesHelper    Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)

    Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector EX    ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Canon Utilities/IJ Network Scanner Selector EX/Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector EX.app)

    EpsonLowInkReminderAgent    Application (/Applications/Epson Software/Epson Low Ink Reminder.app/Contents/EpsonLowInkReminderAgent.app)

    SymSecondaryLaunch    UNKNOWN (missing value)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

    Easy-WebPrint EX: Version: 1.1.0 Support

    Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.4.2.4 Support

    AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 1.0.0.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 Support

    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

    Silverlight: Version: 4.0.60531.0 Support

    Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 Support

    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.7

    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.6 - SDK 10.6 Support

    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

    GarminGpsControl: Version: 2.9.3.0 Release Support

    EPPEX Plugin: Version: 3.0.5.0 Support

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

    Norton Internet Security

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

    Flash Player  Support

    Flip4Mac WMV  Support

Time Machine: ℹ️

    Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

         9%    WindowServer

         6%    mds

         3%    MyPCBackup

         0%    fontd

         0%    AppleSpell

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

    275 MB    firefox

    163 MB    Safari

    155 MB    WindowServer

    146 MB    mds_stores

    120 MB    Microsoft Outlook

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

    4.42 GB    Free RAM

    2.32 GB    Active RAM

    690 MB    Inactive RAM

    1.15 GB    Wired RAM

    3.51 GB    Page-ins

    0 B    Page-outs

New to Mac, Quick question, do you have a anti virus program?

If you read the couple of posts before the one you replied to, you will see that he had two which he has now uninstalled (almost). They are not necessary for OSX.

Pete

You still have some Symantec junk - SymSecondaryLaunch and Norton Internet Security

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

    Anywhere

Which indicates that you have GateKeeper one of Apple security software features turned off.

Time Machine: ℹ️

    Time Machine not configured!

Which indicates that you don't have Time Machine turned on. Do you have another backup solution?

Lose of data is a certainty, the only question is when you will lose it.

Backup. Backup again.