In my computer, I can see two googleUpdater processes. I cannot remove them from start up because they are not present in the start up !!!? I use windows BTW.
infoentropy
· 1 year ago
Thanks for this. This has been bothering me for weeks. Google updates that stupid app engine thing every other day.
Nick
· 1 year ago
I discovered this the same way you did. Totally horrifying and very Microsoft-like, shame on you google.
Completely removing it though requires some more effort. Note that it re-installs itself every time you run the App Engine Launcher (evil).
First you'll need to tell launchd to kill the updater process and not attempt to reload it when we delete it later. In Terminal, type:
launchctl remove com.google.keystone.user.agent
That should kill the daemon (named GoogleSomethingOrOther..., check Activity Monitor to make sure it's dead).
Now you'll need to delete both Google's .plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents, and the Google support folder ~/Library/Google. (why isn't it in Application Support like it should be!).
You'll also need to delete the following file from within the application package to prevent it from reinstalling the updater:
And you should be clean. Remember to delete that .tbz file again when you update the app yourself.
Daniel
· 1 year ago
Hi I deleted the file as prompted. However the process hasn't stopped and every time I try to close it it pops up again. Any suggestions? Has Google closed that loophole?
Check to see if you have a system-wide version in /Library, or a user version in your ~/Library, and choose the appropriate command from the site above to --uninstall the GoogleSoftwareUpdate stuff. Note that this doesn't seem to affect your existing Google apps, like Google Earth. It simply stops the dynamic updating. But be aware that Google may reactivate GoogleSoftWareUpdate. Alternatives are to add the "Disabled" code to the appropriate plist, or to change RunAtLoad's option to <false>. Good Luck.
dbm989
· 1 year ago
yeah, i was surprised to see google software updater pop up on my screen. the only google software i installed was a PLUGIN for google talk!
William Shepherd
· 1 year ago
Even worse, the updater for Google Talk demanded that I close the browser I was using, and then when I did, wouldn't go away, just sat on top of everything else. I had to reboot the system. Reminded me of why I had long ago uninstalled Google Desktop, Google Earth, Google Etc.
James
· 1 year ago
Thank you! I was annoyed about Google installing this as well, especially when I couldn't find any way to turn update checking off.
On a side note, I didn't have a user specific configuration file, mine was installed into the global Library folder. So the location of the file is /Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist in this case, in which you need to sudo to edit it (sudo vi /Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist).
LL
· 1 year ago
same here. i installed google talk. helpful info. thanks.
i have dial up at home and it was using all my bandwidth at startup. so much so that my browser stalled. it downloaded ~5MB+ of SOMETHING which took like 20 minutes. i hate dial up but if i had high speed, i wouldn't even have noticed the 5MB's sneak into my computer.
so i was sitting there trying to figure out why i was downloading data without being able to access the net.
this has happened before and i found this software called Lingon. i honestly don't know how to use all of this app's functionality but it does allow me to keep the files but MODIFY how often they seek update data.
I did better than that. I removed every trace of Google on my computer. I certainly don't need an advertising company sneaking crap like this on my computer. Google Earth 5 will put back the software update daemon even if you remove it yourself.
Google has crossed the fine line and "do no evil" is just a dead markup on a web page. It makes sense. How long can an advertising company hide behind technology front face?
Winton Davies
· 10 months ago
Thanks for this, been bothering me for ages too.
Claudio
· 9 months ago
I had it in the Library>Prefs folder. And yes, it's not a very honest practice from Google. Thanks for the tip.
Marc
· 8 months ago
Another way to delete or deactivate google earth software update is this one:
Thanks for the tip. I only noticed this update agent when it told me about a new Picasa version. This is horrible behavior - the last thing I want is some software popping up at random times interrupting my work. What if everyone did this?
magical
· 6 months ago
If everyone did this.. it would be windows...
ReaderX
· 6 months ago
Thanks. Today this annoying alert about Google kept popping up in my Lil Snitch firewall. I suppose I should not have installed Chrome. Anyway, your instructions eliminated this unwanted headache for the time being. Much appreciated.
Charles Edwin Griffin III
· 4 months ago
Thank you. This thing keeps quitting on me and asking to ignore or relaunch and I could never find it to get rid of it. aggh. Now I will. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Leon Buijs
· 3 months ago
I installed Google Earth yesterday and ever since I noticed GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent trying to connect to tools.google.com on TCP port 443 (https) established by /Users/me/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent .
I'ts not surprising at all. Google makes money by using the info gleaned from tracking people's browsing habits. Try a web search of "Google Spyware" or "google privacy". read and learn a bit.
With that in mind... do you think they would do anything different in regards to installing google update automatically ?
FWIW: If more people bought and used software like "LittleSnitch" they'd be surprised at home much software calls home and uses up CPU power/RAM when running, hidden in the background.
All Comments
Completely removing it though requires some more effort. Note that it re-installs itself every time you run the App Engine Launcher (evil).
First you'll need to tell launchd to kill the updater process and not attempt to reload it when we delete it later. In Terminal, type:
launchctl remove com.google.keystone.user.agent
That should kill the daemon (named GoogleSomethingOrOther..., check Activity Monitor to make sure it's dead).
Now you'll need to delete both Google's .plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents, and the Google support folder ~/Library/Google. (why isn't it in Application Support like it should be!).
You'll also need to delete the following file from within the application package to prevent it from reinstalling the updater:
/Applications/GoogleAppEngineLauncher.app/Contents/Frameworks/KeystoneRegistration.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Keystone.tbz
And you should be clean. Remember to delete that .tbz file again when you update the app yourself.
I deleted the file as prompted. However the process hasn't stopped and every time I try to close it it pops up again. Any suggestions?
Has Google closed that loophole?
Regards
Daniel
http://www.google.com/support/installer/bin/ans...
Check to see if you have a system-wide version in /Library, or a user version in your ~/Library, and choose the appropriate command from the site above to --uninstall the GoogleSoftwareUpdate stuff. Note that this doesn't seem to affect your existing Google apps, like Google Earth. It simply stops the dynamic updating. But be aware that Google may reactivate GoogleSoftWareUpdate. Alternatives are to add the "Disabled" code to the appropriate plist, or to change RunAtLoad's option to <false>. Good Luck.
On a side note, I didn't have a user specific configuration file, mine was installed into the global Library folder. So the location of the file is /Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist in this case, in which you need to sudo to edit it (sudo vi /Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist).
i have dial up at home and it was using all my bandwidth at startup. so much so that my browser stalled. it downloaded ~5MB+ of SOMETHING which took like 20 minutes. i hate dial up but if i had high speed, i wouldn't even have noticed the 5MB's sneak into my computer.
so i was sitting there trying to figure out why i was downloading data without being able to access the net.
this has happened before and i found this software called Lingon. i honestly don't know how to use all of this app's functionality but it does allow me to keep the files but MODIFY how often they seek update data.
hope this helps somebody else...
peace,
LL
MORE INFO...
- http://dfbills.com/display/835
- http://tuppis.com/lingon/
Google has crossed the fine line and "do no evil" is just a dead markup on a web page. It makes sense. How long can an advertising company hide behind technology front face?
http://www.mac-rookie.de/how-to/google-software...
Very rude to install this without asking it.
Found the uninstaller at http://www.google.com/support/installer/bin/ans...
Google makes money by using the info gleaned from tracking people's browsing habits.
Try a web search of "Google Spyware" or "google privacy". read and learn a bit.
With that in mind... do you think they would do anything different in regards to installing google update automatically ?
FWIW: If more people bought and used software like "LittleSnitch" they'd be surprised at home much software calls home and uses up CPU power/RAM when running, hidden in the background.