jennay33

Q: Installer process eating up application memory.

I am hoping someone can help me, I have a 2013 MacBook Air running OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) and following a system update a few days ago my laptop has significantly slowed down (moving the cursor would trigger the spinning rainbow).

 

I have identified the what I think is the issue using Activity Monitor; I have two Installer processes running and each of them are using about a gig of memory. When I quit the process my laptop goes back to functioning normally, but after a restart the Installer processes reappear and slow it back down.  Screen Shot 2016-09-16 at 12.52.24.png

 

After doing some research I saw that a lot of people had a similiar issue around 2014 and it was an adware named Genieo, sadly that doesn't seem to be the same issue I am having as I can find no trace of Genieo on my laptop.

Screen Shot 2016-09-16 at 12.53.58.pngScreen Shot 2016-09-16 at 12.54.46.png

Not sure if the Installers are left over from the system update I just did or from something else I downloaded. I traced them in finder and tried to eject them but they returned after a restart and they cannot be sent to the trash, so other then doing a force quit every time I want to use my laptop, I am not sure what to do next.

 

Does anyone know what is going on or have any suggestions on how I can resolve this?

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 16, 2016 5:22 AM

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Q: Installer process eating up application memory.

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  • by JimmyCMPIT,Solvedanswer

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Sep 16, 2016 5:33 AM in response to jennay33
    Level 6 (8,013 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 16, 2016 5:33 AM in response to jennay33

    reboot into safe mode

    Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up - Apple Support

     

    set your gatekeeper to a higher level of security than it currently is set if it is set to "anywhere"

    OS X: About Gatekeeper - Apple Support

     

    check your user account for launch items and remove them

    >System Preferences>Users & Groups

    go to your account

    unlock the pannel

    go to Login Items

    remove anything you dont' want in there by highlighting it and clicking the "-" icon

     

    go to

    Macintosh HD/Library/StatupItems

    remove anything you don't want in there by dragging it out.

     

    you can download etrecheck for further analysis of your system and post the results here

    www.etrecheck.com

    this will allow the volunteers here to get a better idea of what is installed on your computer, if you have detectable malware and what it detects it can remove, if not you can check for and remove most known malware with this tool.

    https://www.malwarebytes.org

    While no single method can ever be100%  effective both of these tools are free for mac and the volunteers often suggest using them for these types of issues and many others.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Sep 16, 2016 5:47 AM in response to jennay33
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 16, 2016 5:47 AM in response to jennay33

    Both of those Installer processes you have running are Genieo installers, each running from a disk image that is mounted as a "disk" on your system. Those disk image files should be in your Downloads folder, or wherever you have your browser set to download files, and would have been something you downloaded, opened the disk image, then ran the Installer app contained in that disk image.

     

    Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac should remove whatever those installers might have installed. But you'll want to make sure those Installer processes are killed first. Kill both in Activity Monitor, then clean out your Downloads folder. Delete anything you've downloaded recently, any anything that you can't identify. Then run a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac and restart your computer.

  • by jennay33,

    jennay33 jennay33 Sep 16, 2016 4:21 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 16, 2016 4:21 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT

    Thanks, going in and removing an item from my Login Items fixed it. I really appreciate all of the suggestions!