John Zwiebel

Q: Deleting X509Anchors Keychain

My Mac has been running slowly for some time.

 

In the console there are a number of message ending with:

Warning: accessing obsolete X509Anchors.

 

This link says the x509anchor keychain is no longer used and provides information on how to delete it in 10.7.

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/x509anchors.html

 

However, following those instructions does not delete the keychain.

 

While the above link suggests that keeping the keychain in place does not affect system performance, I'd like to remove it anyway if only to eliminate all the console warning messages.

 

Any clues?

MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 10, 2015 12:40 PM

Close

Q: Deleting X509Anchors Keychain

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by John Zwiebel,

    John Zwiebel John Zwiebel May 10, 2015 12:43 PM in response to John Zwiebel
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Apple TV
    May 10, 2015 12:43 PM in response to John Zwiebel

    PS. This link (which was obtained from the first) explains how to delete the keychain in OSX10.7, it does not work in 10.10

    https://help.apple.com/keychainaccess/mac/10.7/help/index.html?lang=en#kyca2423

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis May 10, 2015 2:10 PM in response to John Zwiebel
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    May 10, 2015 2:10 PM in response to John Zwiebel

    It's best to describe the problem in as much relevant detail as possible, rather than what you think is causing it or how you think it should be solved.

  • by John Zwiebel,

    John Zwiebel John Zwiebel May 10, 2015 4:40 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Apple TV
    May 10, 2015 4:40 PM in response to Linc Davis

    This is a pleasant surprise.  I just ran your diagnostic that you have in pastebin.com.  I found a couple of things that didn't look right and so deleted them.

     

    First though, I do want to delete the X509Anchor keychain since it is my understanding that it is not used except by Entourage which I do not use.  I understand that it isn't suppose to hurt anything, but I'm thinking of getting a new mac with a flash drive and I need to pare down the files on my current system with its 500G HD to fit on a 250 flash.  OTOH, if removing this keychain is not a good idea, then I'll leave it in place.

     

    The "real" problem though is my Mac can run really slowly.  I have manometers installed so I monitor the CPU use and the paging space.  FWIW, I often have screen sharing open to manage a mac-mini.  Otherwise, Safari, Mail and occasionally Excel are the only aps I use frequently.

     

    After my computer has been up for a while (over 24 hours but less than 72), physical memory will fill up and page in/outs will frequently show 1k+ on menumeters.  When this happens System CPU will start climbing and be reported at >30% for extended periods (10 minutes).  This is backed up by the Activity Monitor.  At this point Safari will crawl to a near stop and mail will take extra time to download new mail.  Other applications will also be non-responsive.

     

    When I check with Activity Monitor there will usually be a daemon using an excess amount of CPU.  It is not always the same daemon.  I recall backupd, powerd, and launchd but there may have been others.  There may have also been other applications that were at the top of the list.  Activity Monitor would show >30% for just the single process.  On occasion I have killed the offending daemon.

     

    When this "overswapping" happens, it -MAY- also affect my internet connection (speediest.net), but not always.  Most often speedtest.net will show 100M up/ 5M down, but getting the flash interface up to start the test may take minutes (vs the usual seconds).

     

    After running your cosmic diagnostic script the first time I:

     

    Remove these Bad kernel extensions

    <

    <     /System/Library/Extensions/Lexmark X422.kext

    <     /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUsbSerial.kext

     

    Removed these bad plists:

    <     Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.Classic.001b639d9898.plist

    <     Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.Flurry.001b639d9898.plist

    <     Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.ImageCapture2.001b639d9898.plist

    <     Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.iToolsSlideSubscriptions.001b639d9898.plis t

    <     Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.MIDI.001b639d9898.plist

    <     Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.systempreferences.001b639d9898.plist

    <     Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.intuit.spc.aap.patchclient.001b639d9898.plist

    <     Library/Preferences/IM_Installer.plist

     

    Removed these Startup items

    <     /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/CiscoVPN

    <     /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN/StartupParameters.plist

     

    And rebooted the computer.

     

    Since it has been up less than an hour, it isn't clear yet that any of the above operations did anything to resolve the problem.

     

    If I were to guess, I would think there is a memory leak of some kind. 

     

    I ran your cosmic diagnostic again after rebooting

    The results are here if you are willing to take a look

    http://pastebin.com/eLVtct2c

     

    Thanks

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis May 10, 2015 6:32 PM in response to John Zwiebel
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    May 10, 2015 6:32 PM in response to John Zwiebel

    A

    Some of your user files (not system files) have incorrect permissions or are locked. This procedure will unlock those files and reset their ownership, permissions, and access controls to the default. If you've intentionally set special values for those attributes, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it, but you do need to follow the instructions below.

    Back up all data before proceeding.

    Step 1

    If you have more than one user, and the one in question is not an administrator, then go to Step 2.

    Enter the following command in the Terminal window in the same way as before (triple-click, copy, and paste):

    sudo find ~ $TMPDIR.. -exec chflags -h nouchg,nouappnd,noschg,nosappnd {} + -exec chown -h $UID {} + -exec chmod +rw {} + -exec chmod -h -N {} + -type d -exec chmod -h +x {} + 2>&-

    You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

    The command may take several minutes to run, depending on how many files you have. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear, then quit Terminal.

    Step 2 (optional)

    Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1, if you prefer not to take it, or if it doesn't solve the problem.

    Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select

              Utilities Terminal

    from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open. In that window, type this:

    resetp

    Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:

    resetpassword

    Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.

    Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.

    Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.

    Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.

    Select

               Restart

    from the menu bar.

    B

    Back up all data.

    Run the following command in the same way as before. It moves to the Trash "semaphore" files that have not been cleaned up by the system and may be interfering with normal operation. The files are empty; they contain no data. There will be no output this time.

    find L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.??????? -exec mv {} .Trash/ \; 2>&-

    Log out or restart the computer and empty the Trash.

    C

    Back up all data before proceeding.

    Launch the Font Book application and validate all fonts. You must select the fonts in order to validate them. See the built-in help and this support article for instructions. If Font Book finds any issues, resolve them.

    Start up in safe mode to rebuild the font caches. Restart as usual and test.

    Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t start in safe mode. In that case, ask for instructions.

    If you still have problems, then from the Font Book menu bar, select

              FileRestore Standard Fonts...

    You'll be prompted to confirm, and then to enter your administrator login password.

    Also note that if you deactivate or remove any built-in fonts, for instance by using a third-party font manager, the system may become unstable.

    D

    There are indications of a possible hardware fault, such as a startup drive in the early stages of failure. If there's no improvement after the above steps, see below.

    Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider. You may have to leave the machine there for several days.

    Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.

    If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.

    Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair

    Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.

    *An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.

  • by John Zwiebel,

    John Zwiebel John Zwiebel May 12, 2015 4:12 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Apple TV
    May 12, 2015 4:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks Linc for the very explicit instructions.  They seem to have worked quite well.  The usual slowness I'd been seeing for the last several months seems to have been resolved.  I did not follow the optional step 2.

     

    FWIW:  When I got to the "resolve conflicts in Font Book", I found quite a few of them.  These were mostly "duplicate fonts", although only one was ever enabled.  I deleted a few of them, and then ran into some that had other minor problems.  I tried to remove each of these, but a dialogue box popped up saying these were "system fonts" [Font Book is trying to remove existing system fonts], so I decided to leave that alone for now.

     

         Fang Song Regular: 'post' table usability

         Geezah: 'kern' table structure and contents

         Seoul Regular: 'post' table usability

         Song Regular: 'post' table usability

     

    Anyway, this lead me to this web page for an excellent discussion on OS X fonts by Kurt Lang:

         http://www.jklstudios.com/misc/osxfonts.html

     

    I found the information here to be very useful.  Eventually I downloaded Onyx and used that to clean my font caches.  Onyx found some HD problems and instructed me to use Disk Utility to repair my Startup drive.

     

    I am considering removing many of the extra fonts I don't need (e.g. /Library/Fonts/Microsoft) and doing a bit more research on the minor errors that remain.

     

    I also found: OS X: Fonts included with Mavericks - Apple Support

     

    I was disappointed to not be able to locate a similar page for Yosemite.

     

    Thanks again for you very clear and comprehensive instructions.

  • by John Zwiebel,

    John Zwiebel John Zwiebel May 17, 2015 10:05 AM in response to John Zwiebel
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Apple TV
    May 17, 2015 10:05 AM in response to John Zwiebel

        It has been 5 days since I completed Linc's instruction and a couple less since I completed Kurt Lang's paper on fonts.

    http://www.jklstudios.com/misc/osxfonts.html

     

    I have removed all of the duplicate fonts using Font Book.  Not just making them inactive, but actually deleting them.

     

    My computer's performance has dramatically improved.  While there are still instances of high volume page-in/out, they are hardly noticed and I do not experience the frozen keyboard and non-responsiveness I had been.

     

    Onyx was also very helpful since it was used to remove the font caches.  It was not nearly as difficult to use as it first appears.

  • by Shelda17,

    Shelda17 Shelda17 May 21, 2016 3:49 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 21, 2016 3:49 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I realize that this is a year old now, but it seems to be the best advice I've found about deleting this keychain. However, when I enter the string you've included into Terminal, I get the following error: "UID: Undefined variable."

     

    Any ideas? My OS is 10.9.5 (not Yosemite)