What is Parsec-FTB and why is it running on my Mac?

Based on the name you saw — parsec-tbf (or parsec-ftb, which might’ve been a quick visual misread) — it does sound like it’s related to the Parsec remote desktop app. Parsec is commonly used for high-performance remote desktop streaming, especially in gaming or media production contexts. Even if you didn’t knowingly install it, it could be bundled with or required by other apps (e.g., game launchers, cloud gaming tools, or even third-party remote support utilities).

To help confirm if a Parsec-related app is installed and where it’s located, use the following command in the Terminal app: system_profiler SPApplicationsDataType | grep -i parsec -A 5

To get a better understanding of this command, here is its breakdown:

system_profiler SPApplicationsDataType

This calls the system_profiler tool, which reports detailed information about your Mac. The SPApplicationsDataType argument tells it to return data only about installed applications—like name, version, location, last opened date, etc.

| grep -i parsec -A 5

The pipe (|) takes that long output and passes it into grep for filtering. grep -i means you're doing a case-insensitive search. So it will match "Parsec", "parsec", "PARSEC", etc. -A 5 means "print 5 lines After the match". This helps grab some of the metadata (like version, path, last opened date) that follows the application's name.

That is the time you last logged into the Mac.

👍🏽