MacOS software allowed in the background: Corsair Memory Inc

This has been driving me crazy as well. I disabled the app in the Login Items, yet I kept seeing this dang popup. I spent a lot of time researching launch agents running on my system and finally found the culprit: Elgato Stream Deck!

Elgato is owned by Corsair and it turns out they are saving costs by using a single Apple Development team for signing their applications. This can be seen by viewing the signing certificate associated with the Stream Deck application:

$ codesign -dv --verbose=4 /Applications/Stream\ Deck.app
Executable=/Applications/Stream Deck.app/Contents/MacOS/Stream Deck
Identifier=com.elgato.StreamDeck
Format=app bundle with Mach-O thin (x86_64)
CodeDirectory v=20500 size=105537 flags=0x10000(runtime) hashes=3289+5 location=embedded
VersionPlatform=1
VersionMin=658688
VersionSDK=721152
Hash type=sha256 size=32
CandidateCDHash sha256=ae4a3d15bceb92cfea0c7f2b1d2f87557f2063c2
CandidateCDHashFull sha256=ae4a3d15bceb92cfea0c7f2b1d2f87557f2063c2df36b705df9bea2f52a162ce
Hash choices=sha256
CMSDigest=ae4a3d15bceb92cfea0c7f2b1d2f87557f2063c2df36b705df9bea2f52a162ce
CMSDigestType=2
Page size=4096
Launch Constraints:
	None
CDHash=ae4a3d15bceb92cfea0c7f2b1d2f87557f2063c2
Signature size=8976
Authority=Developer ID Application: Corsair Memory, Inc. (Y93VXCB8Q5)
Authority=Developer ID Certification Authority
Authority=Apple Root CA
Timestamp=Sep 29, 2022 at 6:54:05 AM
Info.plist entries=28
TeamIdentifier=Y93VXCB8Q5
Runtime Version=11.1.0
Sealed Resources version=2 rules=13 files=527
Internal requirements count=1 size=184

So this is safe to be running if you installed any Elgato software and want it to run in the background on login.

I couldn't find any settings within the app to disable the auto-start behavior. So you can manually remove this launch agent to prevent it from running in the background:

sudo rm -rf /Library/LaunchAgents/com.elgato.StreamDeck.plist
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.elgato.StreamDeck.plist

I confirmed removing this file does remove the item from the "Allow in the Background" list. This file gets installed when installing the app. So it won't return unless you update or reinstall the app.

If you want to allow the app to open on login, just open the "Settings->Login Items" and add the app into the "Open on Login" list. This will open it in the foreground, so you just need to close it after it opens.

Not ideal, but it removes the annoying popup. Hope it helps!

@gregaitch, I just installed my Stream Deck + software, and got the message telling me that there was a new background process from Corsaire Memory, Inc. allowed to run. I looked at the box, and it clearly states, “Elgato, a division of Corsair Memory, Inc.” with three addresses in USA, UK, and Netherlands. Just to be sure, I wanted to do a quick check, and I found your query. I agree with @jls5177’s well researched response.

gregaitch wrote:

What does Corsair Memory Inc software do in the background of my Mac

God only knows…

should I allow it?

Absolutely! Whether you should have installed the software or not is the question you should have originally asked, but didn’t. Now it is installed and it needs to run background tasks. You should allow this. Otherwise, the software will not run properly. What are the implications of this? Again, God only knows - for real this time. Even the people who wrote the software don’t know what will happen if you disable part of it.

If you don’t want to run the software, then uninstall it using the official uninstaller or uninstallation procedures provided by the developer. Do not use any kind of “app cleaner” or “app zapper”. Usage of such tools will sometimes corrupt your system to the point where you have to erase your hard drive and reinstall the operating system (without restoring your files, of course).

I'm seeking knowledgable answers, rather than suggestions to Google it (I have: unedifying), or circular logic that because it is there, I installed it and it is therefor useful, legitimate and in my best interests.

It’s not quite circular logic. Apple added this new interface but it will take at least a few years for 3rd party developers to adjust to it. Right now, it would not be a good idea to make any changes in the new Ventura Login Items / Allow background interface because it would result in the software running in an unexpected and unpredictable state.

I get that amenity comes with risk/cost; I'm evaluating the amenity that an unfamiliar process apparently supports. eg Is it a driver for a peripheral and by which company? This would help explain its presence and justify its existence.

Obviously it is from Corsair Memory Inc. It is also probably an driver for some external SSD or flash drive. But this is not a normal software development company that you can just Google and see what they do. It’s Corsair Memory Inc, which is a well-known maker of memory chips and similar devices. Whether you actually need it or not is not a question that anyone can answer. The best we can tell you to do is to try uninstalling and see if that breaks anything.

AFAIK, software to control memory usually involves customizing the LEDs on the memory modules. This is the best case scenario, but is useless on a Mac with no clear panels to view any LEDs (I don't get it anyway unless a person is just showing off a computer like people do with car shows). Worst case is this software is trying to control how memory is used on a Mac...I would avoid that at all costs as that involves modifying the basic behavior of macOS which usually leads to major issues...macOS does not like surprises or deviations from system defaults these days.

If you haven't guessed, I am against having this third party software installed. Users should minimize the amount of third party software installed especially third party software that installs into the bowels of the OS which generally results in issues at some point.

Dude, thank you!! This is the most helpful response I have ever seen on a community forum. Came here cuz I got that pop-up and was trying to do my due diligence; so glad you connected this to Elgato. I doubt I would have figured that out anytime soon without your help. Thanks again!

For me it was the EpocCam drivers (for using smartphone as webcam with EpocCam-App) from Elgato who used the background-item "Corsair Memory Inc".

When uninstalling the EpocCam Drivers the "Corsair Memory Inc" went also away.

Here is an official Support-Article from Elgato to remove the EpocCam drivers from the system (weirdly using a shell script): https://help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048910371-EpocCam-How-to-Uninstall-EpocCam-Driver

Hope this information helps following question-seekers :)

Wow - that's some good sleuthing! I didn't know Corsair owns Elgato so I couldn't have started the search to find this. Thanks for taking the time to answer for all of us @jls5177!

I just did a Stream Deck software update & now I have the Corsair Memory at login. Never seemed to have it before this update.

Thanks for the info in this thread too.