Hi,
I’m new to MacBooks and I have a M3 MacBook Pro. I’ve been familiarizing myself with Activity Monitor. There are tons of processes that I’d never heard of before but I was able to find out what they were by doing a Google search. Except for “peopled”. I’ve searched forever and can’t find anything. Could it be a virus/malware?
Thanks.
MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.4
tasks that end in -d are likely daemons, tasks that run in the background all the time.
So my guess would be a background task looking for references to people, such as your current or possible future Contacts.
tasks that end in -d are likely daemons, tasks that run in the background all the time.
So my guess would be a background task looking for references to people, such as your current or possible future Contacts.
MacOS shares a lot of the lock-down mechanisms developed for the iPhone. Applications are all sand-boxed with a list of the resources they require, and they cannot ask for anything outside their sandbox without crashing. Signed Applications are checked that they are from legitimate Developers, and Notarized Applications are delivered with the assurance that they have NOT been modified since their release by the Developer.
From MacOS 11 Big Sur onward, the system is on a Separate, crypto-locked System Volume, which is not writeable using ordinary means. Any unauthorized changes to the crypto-locked volume are quickly detected and you are alerted.
So you could store just about every malware known to mankind on your Mac, and your Mac would not get infected spontaneously. Scanning for virus-like patterns might make you feel a little better now, but non-stop scanning is outdated nonsense, and a tremendous waste of resources.
Nothing can become Executable Unless/Until you supply your Admin password to "make it so".
About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina or later - Apple Support
About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina or later - Apple Support
What is a signed system volume? - Apple Support
What is a signed system volume? - Apple Support
Signed system volume security in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS - Apple Support
Signed system volume security - Apple Support
Unknown process peopled in Activity Monitor
