What is com.quest.QuestAgent?

Question

Level 1

9 points

What is com.quest.QuestAgent?

Hi Everyone

I did a fresh install of Yosemite when it was released and all has been good since. However, I'm now experiencing some startup delays even with an SSD installed and I was wondering whether I had too many startup items enabled.

I downloaded CCleaner to check and I've seen one I don't quite understand. It's labelled as com.quest.QuestAgent.

I've Googled the term but get very little relevant results, I then tried just "Quest Software Mac" but all I get is Dell's website and a brief description about managing group policy which doesn't make sense as I've never tried to change anything like that on my Mac... I thought it was actually just a Windows thing.

Has anyone ever run into this before and do you think I'm ok to delete it from startup?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Jan 16, 2015 3:06 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Leopardus

Level 4

1,303 points

Jan 16, 2015 3:32 AM in response to weeblthedj

Hi W,

CCleaner is not what you should have on your Mac, ever!

Startup Items is a NO, NO in Yosemite! It has been discontinued.

Remove all the startup Items.

Run EtreCheck and see if all is well with your Mac. (Developed by a frequent contributor on the site)

Regards

Leo

Reply

Answer 2

weeblthedj Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 16, 2015 3:43 AM in response to Leopardus

Ah ok, I'll uninstall it now then.

Sorry what do you mean by discontinued? Surely I shouldn't be deleting all of the startup items as I can see that some of them are being used by my anti-virus?

Thanks for the heads up on EtreCheck, I've just run it and got a few problems.

How do I go about removing any startup items I don't need without using CCleaner?

Thanks

EtreCheck version: 2.1.6 (109)

Report generated 16 January 2015 11:37:52 GMT

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Adware] links for help removing adware.

Hardware Information: ℹ️

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) (Technical Specifications)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 265

Video Information: ℹ️

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB

VH226 spdisplays_1080p

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.1 (14B25) - Time since boot: 0:42:52

Disk Information: ℹ️

SanDisk SDSSDP128G disk0 : (126.04 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

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

SSD (disk2) / : 124.80 GB (74.74 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 125.18 GB Online

ST9320325ASG disk1 : (320.07 GB)

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

HDD (disk1s2) /Volumes/HDD : 319.73 GB (32.66 GB free)

USB Information: ℹ️

Generic External

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.AvastFileShield (2.1.0 - SDK 10.9) [Support]

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (2.0 - SDK 10.9) [Support]

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.3.20) [Support]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.3.20) [Support]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.3.20) [Support]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.3.20) [Support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.avira.kext.FileAccessControl (1.0.0d1 - SDK 10.9) [Support]

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Support]

[running] com.quest.QuestAgent.plist [Support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

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

[loaded] com.avast.init.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist [Support]

[failed] com.avast.update.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Support]

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

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist [Support]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist [Support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

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

[invalid?] com.avast.home.userinit.plist [Support]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist [Support]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist [Support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

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

Google Drive Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)

Cinch Application (/Applications/Cinch.app)

Karabiner UNKNOWN (missing value)

cDock Agent Application (/Applications/cDock.app/Contents/Resources/helpers/cDock Agent.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.257 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.257 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.7 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 25 Check version

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

AdBlock [Installed]

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player [Support]

Java [Support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

SSD: Disk size: 124.80 GB Disk used: 50.06 GB

Destinations:

HDD [Local]

Total size: 319.73 GB

Total number of backups: 6

Oldest backup: 2014-10-20 12:36:00 +0000

Last backup: 2015-01-15 12:47:08 +0000

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 319.73 GB > (Disk used 50.06 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

22% mds

6% WindowServer

0% AppleSpell

0% fontd

0% Google Drive

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

292 MB Safari

146 MB mds_stores

146 MB com.avast.daemon

112 MB Finder

103 MB Mail

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

2.23 GB Free RAM

3.45 GB Active RAM

1.40 GB Inactive RAM

1.50 GB Wired RAM

2.36 GB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Jan 16, 2015, 10:55:36 AM Self test - passed

Reply

Answer 3

Leopardus

Level 4

1,303 points

Jan 16, 2015 4:04 AM in response to weeblthedj

Uninstall the antivirus program, they don't work. Besides, this is a Mac, not a Windows Machine.

Open System Preferences, > Security and Privacy, > Change Allow Apps downloaded from to Mac App Store until you have learned which download sites are trustworthy.

Rather use Yosemite's built in antivirus and the Firewall to look after the security of your system.

Remove the Avast things, they spy on you

The Safe Mac » Avast installs adware!

Reply

Answer 4

weeblthedj Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 17, 2015 6:10 PM in response to Leopardus

Thanks Leo.

I've got rid of Avast and gone for ClamXav instead.

Reply

Answer 5

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,233 points

Jan 18, 2015 1:42 AM in response to Leopardus

Leopardus wrote:

CCleaner is not what you should have on your Mac, ever!

Startup Items is a NO, NO in Yosemite! It has been discontinued.

Remove all the startup Items.

Although CCleaner refers to those items as "Startup" they are actually User "Login Items" and most should not necessarily be removed.

Reply

Answer 6

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,233 points

Jan 18, 2015 1:51 AM in response to weeblthedj

weeblthedj wrote:

How do I go about removing any startup items I don't need without using CCleaner?

Don't worry about it, EtreCheck shows you don't have any actual "Startup Items" installed.

In addition to Avast! you seem to have a partial install of Avira (/System/Library/Extensions/) but it's not running.

Steamclean has been known to slow down some users.

Karabiner in System Preferences->Login Items tab doesn't seem to exist. Fix or delete using the minus "-" button at the bottom of the list.

If you see anything else you no longer use, uninstall in accordance with Developer instructions (e.g. Teamviewer, VirtualBox, Google Drive, Spotify)

Reply

Answer 7

abro

Level 1

13 points

Jun 2, 2015 7:56 PM in response to weeblthedj

com.QuestAgent is likely a component of a virtual deskop software client. You may have it installed as part of a package that let's you run apps on a remote server or to access an entire remote desktop environment. I've used it to run Quickbooks Enterprise in a secure hosted environment.

It can be difficult to uninstall. I think it has pieces in the /Applications folder and in the /Library/Application Support directory. These paths may not be exact as I'm working from memory, but if you find Quest or vDesktop Client directories in any of these places, delete them all. Once deleted, you can reboot and the QuestAgent process should be gone.

There may be an elegant uninstall application as part of the client installation image, but you'll need to obtain the original installer to know for certain.

I hope this helps.

Reply