keystone - Google Software Update Agent
in [UK Mac]
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From: D.M. Procida on 26 Jun 2010 04:32 When I restarted my iMac this morning - after a spinning beachball of death at login when - I was puzzled to see a GoogleSoftwareUpdate disk image mounted in the Finder. There was a Python script in there called keystone.py (or something similar); then the image unmounted. A bit of searching reveals that this is some kind of sneaky Google updater. The only Google software I have is Google Earth. Daniele
From: Andy Hewitt on 26 Jun 2010 04:46 D.M. Procida <real-not-anti-spam-address(a)apple-juice.co.uk> wrote: > When I restarted my iMac this morning - after a spinning beachball of > death at login when - I was puzzled to see a GoogleSoftwareUpdate disk > image mounted in the Finder. > > There was a Python script in there called keystone.py (or something > similar); then the image unmounted. > > A bit of searching reveals that this is some kind of sneaky Google > updater. The only Google software I have is Google Earth. Yup, it's horrible, and is the one reason I now refuse to install any Google software on my Mac. Their updater insists on installing automagically with their apps, and is terribly unreliable and a system hog to boot. You can download a non-updater' version of Google Earth, but other apps still install it, such as Chrome or Picasa. I also found it will wake up my Mac during the night to run update checks, with no way to turn it off. -- Andy Hewitt <http://web.me.com/andrewhewitt1/>
From: Chris Ridd on 26 Jun 2010 08:03 On 2010-06-26 09:46:36 +0100, Andy Hewitt said: > D.M. Procida <real-not-anti-spam-address(a)apple-juice.co.uk> wrote: > >> When I restarted my iMac this morning - after a spinning beachball of >> death at login when - I was puzzled to see a GoogleSoftwareUpdate disk >> image mounted in the Finder. >> >> There was a Python script in there called keystone.py (or something >> similar); then the image unmounted. >> >> A bit of searching reveals that this is some kind of sneaky Google >> updater. The only Google software I have is Google Earth. > > Yup, it's horrible, and is the one reason I now refuse to install any > Google software on my Mac. Their updater insists on installing > automagically with their apps, and is terribly unreliable and a system > hog to boot. > > You can download a non-updater' version of Google Earth, but other apps > still install it, such as Chrome or Picasa. > > I also found it will wake up my Mac during the night to run update > checks, with no way to turn it off. Doesn't disabling it via Lingon work? -- Chris
From: Martin-S on 26 Jun 2010 08:07 In article <1jkostq.15z6zasxmtxa4N%real-not-anti-spam-address(a)apple-juice.co.uk>, real-not-anti-spam-address(a)apple-juice.co.uk (D.M. Procida) wrote: > A bit of searching reveals that this is some kind of sneaky Google > updater. I somehow managed to get rid of mine. I don't quite recall the exact steps, but there are some instructions floating around such as: <http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090424045847496> Alternative and simpler methods are mentioned in the comments; I haven't tried those though. -- Martin
From: Andy Hewitt on 26 Jun 2010 10:08
Chris Ridd <chrisridd(a)mac.com> wrote: > On 2010-06-26 09:46:36 +0100, Andy Hewitt said: [..] > > Yup, it's horrible, and is the one reason I now refuse to install any > > Google software on my Mac. Their updater insists on installing > > automagically with their apps, and is terribly unreliable and a system > > hog to boot. > > > > You can download a non-updater' version of Google Earth, but other apps > > still install it, such as Chrome or Picasa. > > > > I also found it will wake up my Mac during the night to run update > > checks, with no way to turn it off. > > Doesn't disabling it via Lingon work? There are a couple of possible hacks for sure. One was to open the app package and remove the installer for the updater, then remove the updater. However, I don't want software on my Mac that offers me no choice whether to update or not - even MS Office isn't that bad! Personally, I have very mixed feelings about the Google stuff. Their webmail is second to none, IMHO. It works reliably, and is reasonably easy, and has the best spam filter I've ever used. IMAP is a bit fiddly, but POP work just fine. It's certainly more reliable than Yahoo. The other online stuff also seems quite good too, for what it is, Google Docs is reasonably useful for basic needs. But, their downloadable apps just don't seem to cut it. Picasa immediately starts importing your iPhoto Library, and anything else in the Pictures folder, without offering you an option. Google Earth is interesting, but seems very resource hungry, and doesn't really do much more than Google Maps online does. Not forgetting the automatic installation of the aforementioned buggy and intrusive updater software, which seems to appear all over the shop like a rash. -- Andy Hewitt <http://web.me.com/andrewhewitt1/> |