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I just noticed a thing called "Hazel" has appeared in my System Preferences. I've no idea what it is or how it got there.

When I googled hazel mac, it looks like it's a popular app with glowing reviews...

So how did it appear on my computer? I'm a developer and I like to think I'm usually pretty good at avoiding drive-by installations of crapware on my computer...

Has anyone else had this happen?

UPDATE

It was me being stupid. It looks like I installed it myself via Homebrew Cask when I ran a bunch of slapdash copy+paste commands when setting up my machine.

By the way, I emailed Hazel support while I was trying to work this out, the developer emailed me straight back; can confirm Hazel is reputable :)

callum
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  • Are you absolutely sure you didn't install it yourself some time ago to give it a try? – nohillside Apr 08 '15 at 16:42
  • Yep. Never heard of it. It has appeared since I last opened system preferences, which was probably less than a week ago. Since clicking its Prefs pane today, it's just started a free 2-week trial and has a menubar icon. It actually looks like a pretty cool app that I might want..! But I am certain I have never seen it before or even heard of the name, or even heard of the concept of what it does :) wtf, slightly worrying... – callum Apr 08 '15 at 16:46
  • The only thing I can think of that I've installed recently is Java. And that has come bundled with bad stuff in the past, like Ask.com toolbar etc, and I remember it using dark patterns to make it harder to deselect bundled extras... But Hazel looks like reputable software, so I don't get it – callum Apr 08 '15 at 16:55

1 Answers1

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It's extremely unlikely to be malware as the Hazel program is a reputable utility that automates file actions by extending spotlight and file change detection systems of OS X. It does exist as a System Preference panel, so you could easily miss it's footprint on disk if it were not for the menu bar icon.

You can get updated versions and uninstall info from the vendor:

If you have Time Machine, you can use spotlight to determine pretty much precisely when it appeared.

Now, with the NSA and hackers and all sorts of people making software modifications and using back doors, your installation of hazel could be malware masquerading as an honest program. Without forensic analysis - it's hard to know. I'd start with reinstalling the latest version and doing a sanity check to make sure you're happy with it. If not, removing it should be easy and secure enough for most people.

bmike
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