strange process in activity monitor with process name ":, ..."

Question

Level 1

5 points

strange process in activity monitor with process name ":, ..."

My computer has been freezing a lot lately and I've had to restart it occasionally. I'm not sure if this is related, but I've noticed a strange process in the activity monitor, that I'm unable to even search on google because the process name consists only of special characters. It is:

:, ...

Namely, an emo of a crying face. This seems very disturbing to me -- there often seems to be 5 or so copies of it running. Right now 3 of these processes are running, using about 190MB, 110MB, and 53MB respectively.

Here is what the process looks like in the activity monitor:

How can I find the application that is running this process? Is there a way to figure out what it's doing?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 16GB memory; 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7

Posted on Mar 14, 2016 10:51 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,483 points

Mar 15, 2016 8:55 AM in response to StevieP123

Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.

Etrecheck – System Information

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Answer 2

StevieP123 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 15, 2016 10:31 AM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric, thanks for the suggestion-- here is the output of Etrecheck. I was reluctant to post this after having to agree to their several warnings and disclaimer absolving them of any responsibility, but it looks like fairly generic information. My system currently has much more RAM available now than it does when I typically use it, since it froze completely last night and I had to reboot it using the on/off button (Etrecheck reports this crash in their Diagnostics section).

EtreCheck version: 2.9.9 (260)

Report generated 2016-03-15 10:06:17

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 2:08

Performance: Excellent

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

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

Problem: Apps are crashing

Description:

Applications seem to crash often.

There is a lot of beach-balling.

Computer runs hot, fan is on often.

There are unidentified processes running in the Activity Monitor, including a process labelled “:, …” that I cannot find the source for.

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,5

1 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 230

Video Information: ⓘ

AMD Radeon R9 M370X - VRAM: 2048 MB

Color LCD 2880 x 1800

Intel Iris Pro

System Software: ⓘ

OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 (14F1605) - Time since boot: about 12 hours

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0512G disk0 : (500.28 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

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

Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 499.06 GB (139.16 GB free)

Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

Core Storage: disk0s2 499.42 GB Online

USB Information: ⓘ

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Applications/MATLAB_R2015b.app

[not loaded] com.mathworks.sldrtkrn (5.1.0 - OS X 10.8 - 2016-01-25) [Support]

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

[loaded] com.avast.AvastFileShield (3.0.0 - SDK 10.10 - 2016-02-15) [Support]

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

[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (2.0 - SDK 10.10 - 2016-02-15) [Support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.livescribe.kext.LivescribeSmartpen (1 - 2016-02-16) [Support]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 5 Apple tasks

[loaded] 140 Apple tasks

[running] 67 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 46 Apple tasks

[loaded] 139 Apple tasks

[running] 77 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-09-24) [Support]

[running] com.avast.secureline.update-agent.plist (2016-03-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.userinit.plist (2016-03-04) [Support]

[running] com.avast.update-agent.plist (2016-02-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist (2016-02-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist (2015-07-22) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2016-01-23) [Support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (2015-10-16) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.DesignScience.DSMTTool.plist (2015-10-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (2015-09-24) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-03-07) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.init.plist (2016-02-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.init.plist (2016-03-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.uninstall.plist (2016-03-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.update.plist (2016-03-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist (2016-02-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.update.plist (2016-02-21) [Support]

[running] com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd.plist (2015-07-22) [Support]

[running] com.livescribe.PenCommService.plist (2015-10-14) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helpertool.plist (2016-02-17) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (2015-07-01) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2016-01-23) [Support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (2015-10-16) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2015-10-30) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2015-09-24) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.home.userinit.plist (2016-02-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.home.userinit.plist (2016-03-04) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ

SpeechSynthesisServer Application (/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks /SpeechSynthesis.framework/Versions/A/SpeechSynthesisServer.app)

Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Aquamacs Application (/Applications/Aquamacs.app)

Safari Application (/Applications/Safari.app)

MATLAB_R2015a UNKNOWN (missing value)

Thunderbird Application (/Applications/Thunderbird.app)

Terminal Application (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)

Fantastical 2 Application (/Applications/Fantastical 2.app)

Pages Application (/Applications/Pages.app)

Preview Application (/Applications/Preview.app)

Livescribe AutoLaunch Application (/Applications/Echo Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/Pen Auto Launcher.app)

Other Apps: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro.149700

[running] com.adobe.PDApp.AAMUpdatesNotifier.125276.17B9B2F5-8F82-401C-9209-C403957572A5

[loaded] com.avast.account

[loaded] com.avast.crashreport

[running] com.avast.daemon

[running] com.avast.fileshield

[running] com.avast.helper

[running] com.avast.proxy

[running] com.avast.secureline.222404

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.app

[loaded] com.avast.secureline.burger

[running] com.avast.service

[running] com.etresoft.EtreCheck.227232

[running] com.flexibits.fantastical2.mac.179520

[loaded] com.flexibits.fantastical2.mac.launcher

[running] com.getdropbox.dropbox.91480

[loaded] org.gnu.Aquamacs.94320

[loaded] org.mozilla.thunderbird.115904

[running] org.videolan.vlc.120164

[loaded] 391 Apple tasks

[running] 197 Apple tasks

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.182 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-10) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-02-16)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 10.1.16 (2015-10-15) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 10.1.16 (2015-10-15) [Support]

Flash Player: 21.0.0.182 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-10) [Support]

Default Browser: 600 - SDK 10.10 (2015-08-25)

Silverlight: 5.1.41105.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-01-03) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 73 build 02 (2016-02-17) Check version

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

Google Scholar Button (2015-11-19)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-03-07) [Support]

Java (2016-02-17) [Support]

TeXDistPrefPane (2015-08-15) [Support]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

14% WindowServer

5% chimera

3% fontd

2% kernel_task

1% com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

1.76 GB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(21)

1.19 GB kernel_task

524 MB thunderbird

459 MB softwareupdated

213 MB Safari

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

4.93 GB Free RAM

11.00 GB Used RAM (2.62 GB Cached)

1.49 GB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

Mar 14, 2016, 10:00:17 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Aquamacs_2016-03-14-220017_[redacted].hang

/Applications/Aquamacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Aquamacs

Mar 14, 2016, 09:57:06 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Microsoft Excel_2016-03-14-215706_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

/Applications/Microsoft Excel.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Excel

Mar 14, 2016, 09:55:00 PM Self test - passed

Mar 14, 2016, 06:13:34 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2016-03-14-181334_[ redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

/System/Library/StagedFrameworks/Safari/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices /com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

Mar 14, 2016, 09:06:53 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/deleted_2016-03-14-090653_[redacted].crash

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CacheDelete.framework/deleted

Mar 13, 2016, 05:37:58 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/DictationIM_2016-03-13-173758_[redacted].crash

com.apple.inputmethod.ironwood - /System/Library/Input Methods/DictationIM.app/Contents/MacOS/DictationIM

Mar 12, 2016, 04:41:52 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Microsoft Word_2016-03-12-164152_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

/Applications/Microsoft Word.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Word

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Answer 3

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Mar 15, 2016 10:59 AM in response to StevieP123

To find out the starting program.

the ps command will list the starting app. more list one page at a time. grep searches for a string. press return to run command.

/applicaitons/utilities/terminal

ps aux | more

ps aux | grep "..."

You should get rid of avast.

[running]

com.avast.secureline.update-agent.plist (2016-03-04) [Support]

Simple put, Apple attempts to provide all the malware detection and removal you need in Mac OS X. Malwarebytes has come to be accepted as the only malware detector you should consider. For those pestered by browser attacks consider Malwarebytes.

Discusses Mac OS X operating system wide malware detection and removal

See Linc Davis, thomas_r., and etresoft comprehensive write ups on

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5728993

etresoft steps back and states that the frequency of malware is increasing on the Mac. thomas_r. reveals his involvement in Malwarebytes as Director of Mac Offerings

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7343915

"Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac Removes adware and malware Revives your Mac"

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

"visibility & protection to the core"

https://objective-see.com/

Web browser malware removal:

see Esquared, Linc Davis

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6689392

Fixing Safari malware attacks. See thunderzzz approach.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7307569

The best techniques for securing your Mac from the professionals.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2048160/how-the-nsa-snoop-proofs-its-macs.html

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

217,004 points

Mar 15, 2016 11:35 AM in response to StevieP123

Double click on the item in Activity Monitor to bring up the info pane for it. The pane may show the apps name that is causing it. For example the Web Mail Content process gives you this:

See what you get in the info window.

Reply

Answer 5

etresoft

Level 9

57,692 points

Mar 15, 2016 7:28 PM in response to StevieP123

StevieP123 wrote:

I was reluctant to post this after having to agree to their several warnings and disclaimer absolving them of any responsibility, but it looks like fairly generic information.

Hello StevieP123,

Sorry for the scary warning. I realized relatively late that I really needed such a disclaimer. Apple Support Communities is hosted on an apple.com site, but this is still essentially the wide open internet. Apple will moderate posts for swear words and blatantly insulting comments, but that's about it. Otherwise, anyone can say anything. At one point I was torn between what I should do with the monster EtreCheck I had created. I didn't know whether to kill it or feed it. I decided to feed it, but also put up a big warning sign saying that it could be dangerous if you get it wet or feed it after midnight.

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