This is a big issue - on Windows you can set services to not start up unless they are needed, and you can turn them off so they don't run at all.
On macOS, the launchd configuration seems to be hard-wired and protected by SIP; there's no easy way to disable random daemons for features like remote student device management - something that most users would not need or want. And as you note even if you disable the associated feature (e.g. in Preferences) its daemon can still run.
It's always annoying when you're not doing anything but your laptop heats up and turns on the fans because some stupid daemon has woken up and decided to re-scan the same files (such as game updates) for the 100th time.
Not to mention photoanalysisd, which burns large amounts of CPU for days/weeks and runs even if you disable the intrusive and obnoxious holiday events/memories features in Photos.
> Not to mention photoanalysisd, which burns large amounts of CPU for days/weeks and runs even if you disable the intrusive and obnoxious holiday events/memories features in Photos.
This and many other daemons related to photos is very annoying. I have my photos stored on an external drive because the internal SSD isn’t large enough for that, and it’s a nightmare every time trying to eject the external drive. Even when nothing has changed in the photos library, these daemons will be busy scrubbing the disk and keeping it busy for hours or days. The only solution is to find each process (per user) and kill them.
Does anyone know for a way to disable this scanning by photoanalysisd? (Other than not having any photos.) my old laptop keeps chugging away at that process for tens of minutes after each wake.
Apple's Photos app can search photos based on their contents (e.g. try typing "cat" into the Photos search box). It can also identify individual faces, and group photos based on who's in them.
All of this is local-only. (Which is why it has to run an expensive indexing process locally.)
Cool tech, but so frustrating if it can't be toggled as an option. Reading this it's clear that I would be even more incompatible with macos now than when I left it years ago, just the lack of control.
photoanalysisd was responsible for making my Mac feel slow at least 80% of the time I started to notice it chug. Apple should really limit the processes CPU time so that it doesn't randomly spin up my fans.
The CSAM thing "came to light"? They announced it publicly and proudly, before it was even implemented! There's no reason to think they are hiding anything.
On macOS, the launchd configuration seems to be hard-wired and protected by SIP; there's no easy way to disable random daemons for features like remote student device management - something that most users would not need or want. And as you note even if you disable the associated feature (e.g. in Preferences) its daemon can still run.
It's always annoying when you're not doing anything but your laptop heats up and turns on the fans because some stupid daemon has woken up and decided to re-scan the same files (such as game updates) for the 100th time.
Not to mention photoanalysisd, which burns large amounts of CPU for days/weeks and runs even if you disable the intrusive and obnoxious holiday events/memories features in Photos.