Golden Gate not syncing with iCloud Contacts

break7bg wrote:

<Updated Etrecheck Report with Full Disk Access.log>

Several issues from your Etrecheck report:

Antivirus software: Apple, Avira, and Malwarebytes

Red flag here for Avira anti-virus. That should be 100% UNINSTALLED using an uninstaller from the provider. You may have to search for leftover remnants from that software.

Malwarebytes is likely ok but should be uninstalled also to try to provide a clean reference system. It can be reinstalled later. But I suggest NOT using its VPN (or any VPN) and also turning off its automatic background checking.

System Extensions:

AdBlock VPN Tunnel - version 4.0.6 (App Store - installed 2026-08-20)

Application: /Applications/AdBlock.app - version 4.0.6 (App Store - installed 2026-09-06)

Description: AdBlock requires this extension to create a VPN tunnel for ad blocking.

Another VPN, should be completely UNINSTALLED.

Malwarebytes Engine - version 5.27.1 (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2026-10-01)

Application: /Applications/Malwarebytes.app - version 5.27.1 (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2026-10-01)

Description: The Malwarebytes Engine extension manages your connection to the Malwarebytes VPN service.

The VPN here should also be deactivated. I don't know how it is mechanized so to be safe, completely uninstall Malwarebytes for now, it can be re-installed later, but I suggest without its VPN and without automatic background checking. Malwarebytes even in minimal mode scans every day, you will be quite safe without all that other stuff.

DuckDuckGo VPN Network Extension - version 1.210.0 (Duck Duck Go, Inc. - installed 2026-10-07)

Application: /Applications/DuckDuckGo.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/DuckDuckGo VPN.app - version 1.210.0 (Duck Duck Go, Inc. - installed 2026-10-07)

Description: DuckDuckGo VPN

So now I count at least three VPNs. Even if not active or running, these multiple installations can create conflicts.

All VPNs should be completely uninstalled (unless required and custom configured by an employer or school). These interfere with all kinds of network/internet functions on Macs and lo and behold, you are experiencing iCloud issues with syncing and with FindMyMac.

IMPORTANT: you are experiencing anomalies in your network and connection to the internet ... e.g. Contacts not syncing and other issues (Find My Mac not working). All these VPNs might be falling over one another and certainly interfering with normal Mac network and system operations. Plus that anti-virus on top of it all, I am not surprised you are being blocked somehow in some of your cloud functionalities.

Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

FileAccessControl.kext - com.avira.kext.FileAccessControl (1.2.5 - SDK 10.9)

Huge problem having anti-virus like this on a Mac. It might be blocking your icloud functions or somehow combining with all those VPNs to interfere.

Other stuff still showing in the Etrecheck report, these things are still present and can impact functionality even when not loaded. All of these items should be 100% completely uninstalled and removed:

User Login Items:

[Not Loaded] CleanMyMac_5_HealthMonitor (MacPaw Way Ltd - installed 2026-09-25)

Modern Login Item

/Applications/CleanMyMac_5.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac_5_HealthMonitor.app

[Not Loaded] CleanMyMac_5_Menu (MacPaw Way Ltd - installed 2026-09-25)

Modern Login Item

/Applications/CleanMyMac_5.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CleanMyMac_5_Menu.app

[Not Loaded] DuckDuckGo Personal Information Removal (Duck Duck Go, Inc. - installed 2026-10-07)

Modern Login Item

/Applications/DuckDuckGo.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/DuckDuckGo Personal Information Removal.app

[Not Loaded] DuckDuckGo VPN (Duck Duck Go, Inc. - installed 2026-10-07)

Modern Login Item

/Applications/DuckDuckGo.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/DuckDuckGo VPN.app

CleanMyMac is still active! This can be poison for the macOS. See below:

Plugins:

[Loaded] CleanMyMac_5_AppIntentsExtension - /Applications/CleanMyMac_5.app

[Loaded] Intents - /Applications/WhatsApp.app

Finder sync extensions:

[Not Loaded] CleanMyMac_5_FinderSyncExtension - /Applications/CleanMyMac_5.app

Ancient internet plug ins, probably not the cause but who knows, these are non-functional and should be uninstalled:

Internet Plug-ins:

RL Secure Plug-In Layer: (? - installed 2014-02-21)

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: 12.3.6 (? - installed 2013-03-19)

Silverlight: 5.1.50428.0 (? - installed 2016-08-03)

Very slow read and write disk speeds for an SSD. Should be 2x as fast as what you are getting. This could be due to interference from the antivirus or real time checking of Malwarebytes or some combination of those questionable extensions, VPNs, etc. I pointed out above, including the pieces that are left over from CleanMyMac.

Write speed: 1865 MB/s

Read speed: 2793 MB/s

break7bg wrote:

used Terminal to search for any remaining pieces of Avira

Not sure what commands in Terminal you used. It needs to be able to search through the user Library folders and also some directories or folders that may be hidden. FindAnyFile does search those places if you instruct it to.

All gone. My next step is to uninstall Clean My Mac, if you believe this is the issue. I have used CMM on both mine and my wife's laptops for ages with no symptoms of anything bad. Mt Mac had been running very smoothly until this incident of not Finding itself. I even log into iCloud to see if my Mac is there. It tells me to turn on Find My Mac on iCloud, too.

CleanMyMac is not guaranteed to be the cause of this problem, but something installed is (new Macs without things installed don't exhibit this problem). CMM is one of the more notorious apps as can be seen from searching Apple Discussions, thousands of posts reporting operational problems with Macs caused by CMM. It sometimes has been known to "clean" out computers by deleting files that should not be deleted, and their absence then interferes with proper functions. This sometimes is not seen until a seemingly minor OS update or security update occurs, and then the absence of those files/folders becomes problematic.

Should I uninstall CMM? I know there is an uninstall program that come with CMM. I will use it should you advise. I will reboot after cleaning all of that. Then, try settings, again?

I would absolutely uninstall CMM. Also, uninstall all the VPNs (you had several, some were loaded, some were not loaded, but all should be removed, preferably uninstalled). Then reboot into Safe Mode, leave it in Safe Mode for 15-30 minutes, then reboot normally. Then see if Contacts will sync and FindMyMac works.

You should also rerun Etrecheck and post an updated report. If things still aren't normal, there may be residual things to take care of that Etrecheck might show.

If, after all that, it's still not right, then, if it were my Mac, I would make at least two backups on reliable media, test those backups to make sure they have all your files and that a few sample or random files and folders can be properly restored from them, and then completely wipe/reset the Mac as per

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

Then you will be left with a like-new Mac with a fresh OS but nothing else. On first boot up, it will offer to migrate from a backup. I would migrate only user accounts and files, but nothing else, no settings, no apps, no misc items. Then, I would check for normal Contacts sync and FindMyMac. If somehow those still don't work, then you would need to repeat the wipe as per Apple link above but then, instead of migrating from the backup, you would need to manually copy your user files from the backup over to the new system, which is much more laborious and hopefully won't be needed. In that case, having one of those backups be a "clone" type backup makes this much easier. SuperDuper is a cloning backup tool that comes with a free version you can use for this; the paid up version is also worth getting as it includes some extra features. Another cloning tool is Carbon Copy Cloner.

I have done this wipe/format and migration from a backup, it is fairly straightforward and does not take very long. Re-installing your paid for apps (Microsoft, Adobe ...) does take a little time and you will need your installation codes but I did it some years ago for an older MacBook Air that stopped booting after a security update. I had "inherited" that laptop from my daughter who had used it in college and who knows what she had installed on it or done to it. So it ran much smoother and faster after the wipe/migration. I migrated in that case from a Time Machine backup.

break7bg wrote:

We have discontinued various software, like "Clean My Mac," to determine if other software causes the issues. We even set up a TEST ID as an admin to see if that works. It did and it left my Find My Mac ON.

Seeing that "CleanMyMac" had been active in the past and only recently "discontinued" (what does that mean), that's very concerning. What other "tools" had been installed and active in the past? CMM can be damaging because in some of its "cleaning" activities, files can be deleted and remain deleted even when CMM is installed or turned off (discontinued?). Those missing files can interfere or prevent normal operating system functions.

The fact that the problem is gone with a new user is strong evidence that something that was installed by the original user has caused this issue. It is not an OS issue but rather a consequence of a user installation. It could have been CMM or perhaps something else.

Posting an Etrecheck report here might enable you to "crowd source" the problem as scores of readers here wth experience in these things may find what is causing it for your user account.

Otherwise, I would tend to agree with neuroanatomist that wiping/erasing the Mac back to its as new state and restoring user files (not settings and not apps) and then reinstalling afresh trusted apps might be the only way.

break7bg wrote:

This is what I had done personally before contacting Apple Support last night telling them: My MacBook Air M4 is signed into my Apple Account and appears in my Apple Account device list. Location Services, Find My Mac, Find My network, two-factor authentication, and Full Security are all enabled. But when I turn on Find My Mac, it says ON, and immediately after I click Done it changes back to OFF. The Mac does not appear in Find My on my iPhone or at iCloud.com/find. I spent an hour with Apple Support trying everything. Then, Apple Support told me to contact an Advisor today at Apple Support during business hours with this summary: My Mac won't enable Find My Mac. I've checked all settings, confirmed Location Services, and iCloud are ON, there are no profiles or restrictions, only one user, and no alerts. I've restarted several times (even from Safe Mode), but Find My Mac still turns OFF after clicking DONE.

I will be contacting them this afternoon.

This sounds like more than just the Contacts not syncing on the Mac ... it seems other aspects of iCloud and/or Apple ID (Apple account) are not working properly on that Mac. So far I see two problems: Contacts on the Mac not syncing; and Find My not working on the Mac.

Something else to try that might help: boot into Recovery and run Disk Utility First Aid on all volumes starting at the lowest level and working up to the highest level (hardware device level). This has to be done from Recovery so First Aid can work on the boot drive. But the most common fix is to log the device completely out of the Apple account (Apple ID) and then reboot and log back in. Running First Aid can fix some things that can also interfere.

Do you have any of the following (or things like any of the following) installed with third party (non-Apple) software (whether active or not):

• Anti-virus
• Network security tools
• Network monitoring tools
• VPN
• Custom DNS or other special router or network settings that are non-standard
• "Cleaning" tools (such as Clean My Mac)

It could be helpful for you to download and run Etrecheck and post the report here using

How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

There are a number of experts reading this column and they may discern something you can change from that report that may help you resolve this.

The solution that worked for me was simpler: Log Off from iCloud on the Mac and don't keep local copies of the data (it's scary because you have to make some decisions about fotos, Stock, Siri, ... but like this you have all the original files in iCloud and you won't produce douplicates when logging in again).

Restart the Mac.

Log in to iCloud again.

Contacts where immediately synched to the Mac. Everything else might take a while, especially fotos.

FYI, I worked with Apple Support for 3 days and finally — finally — fixed this problem. I ended up having to erase my Mac and set up my profile again and then rebuild. Works fine now. The tech had me sign on with a second user profile and when I did so it synced the contacts perfectly, so he said I had to wipe everything because something was associated with my profile that was causing the jam. I still think it is related to the Golden Gate upgrade, but I got tired of waiting for a fix via a future update.

Just erased those old files: Avira, Avast, and CMM using FAF. Rebooted and I can sync my Contacts, now.

Follow the steps in this Apple Support article that specifically address iCloud syncing issues.

If your iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders won’t sync - Apple Support

break7bg wrote:

<Etrecheck Report on my Mac Air M4 2025.log>

Just ran this after cleaning most that I can find.

Good work on your part!

I still see these, so some residual pieces of Avira are still there (they can load at any time so "not loaded" is not reassuring), and you should remove those ancient plug ins that certainly no longer work.

Kernel Extensions: /Library/Extensions [Not Loaded] FileAccessControl.kext - com.avira.kext.FileAccessControl (1.2.5 - SDK 10.9)

Internet Plug-ins: RL Secure Plug-In Layer: (? - installed 2014-02-21) OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: 12.3.6 (? - installed 2013-03-19) Silverlight: 5.1.50428.0 (? - installed 2016-08-03)

Write speed: 2005 MB/s Read speed: 2820 MB/s

These write/read speeds should be well over 3000 MB/s. They still seem low to me, not sure how to interpret that. My 2019 MacBook Pro, an Intel machine that is much slower than your M4 laptop, gets over 3000 MB/s for write and read speeds when Etrecheck is run.

Terminal was used per your instructions

The Terminal instruction I provided was the one line command uninstaller from Avira (which apparently no longer works). What you will want to do is use FindAnyFile and instruct it to:

• Search for all files and folders that contain the string "Avira" in their name
• Search for all files and folders that have the string "Avira" in their contents

This will be two searches.

Be attentive to false positives that have nothing to do with this antivirus software.

Make sure you configure it to search in hidden folders and files. Have it do this with admin privileges.

I see this on Avira's web site: "Avira is part of Gen - a global company with a family of trusted brands"

The string "Gen" will probably generate zillions of hits in a search, however, most likely not relevant.

Are your iCloud functions still not working (FindMyMac; Contacts sync) on your Mac? Did you do the Safe Boot as I suggested?

break7bg wrote:

Please be patient. I want this solved as much as you do. But, I had other things to focus on this afternoon. I have not gone to the Safe mode, yet. The iCloud still tells me to try to set up Find My Mac. When I do, it still stays OFF. I will get that software you suggested and run it to clean up more. Then, I will empty Trash and reboot in Safe Mode to see what can be done as you suggested.

No worries!

When you get around to booting into Safe Mode, it might be instructive to see if the FindMy and Contacts sync work, while in Safe Mode.

I don't know a way to force sync contacts on a Mac. Sometimes in situations like this, rebooting into Safe Mode and then rebooting normally helps. In addition, you can on the Mac log out of your Apple ID/account, reboot, then log back in again, to see if that gets it back to normal.

break7bg wrote:

I I do that (log out of my Apple Id), my laptop tells me I lose all my Wallet Cards! Are you sure I should do that?

Yes, you would need to re-enter each wallet card to restore them after logging back in. I have done that myself multiple times and did not consider that a major thing. Presumably all that data is well known to you and would be easy to re-enter.

Since it sounds like you prefer not to do that, however, here is an alternate suggestion:

• Open Contacts on your Mac and choose File => Export and select an option to export your contacts as they appear on your Mac. This is just so you have a backup of what is there now.
• Close Contacts on the Mac.
• Go to System Settings and select your Apple ID/Account, go to iCloud and deselect Contacts. This is choosing "do not sync" for Contacts. You may see a warning about losing the iCloud contacts on your Mac when they are de-synced. This is why you should create a backup/archive in the previous steps.
• Close System Settings, and reboot into Safe Mode. Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support (NZ) The purpose of that is that Safe Mode clears out some of the caches, which might have stale data that could cause this type of problem. Sit in Safe Mode for 15 minutes or so.
• Reboot normally. Go back to System Settings and reactivate Contacts sync for your Mac. Report back on results.

For resolving sync issues typically—

Sign out of your Apple ID/Account /iCloud on the Mac and back in again and compare your results

Sign in to or out of your Apple Account on Mac - Apple Support

break7bg wrote:

I am pretty certain that I will need to go through that step of a clean swipe and start again as you say. This will probably happen today (or the next time they connect with me) as I wanted to give Apple a chance to identify the issue. Things are not dire, yet. I will let them walk me through erasing the Mac and steps going forward.

Typically once Apple ascertains that there is no hardware cause for the problem, it is assumed that either something user-installed, or perhaps some combination of things user-installed, or perhaps some aspect of the user configuration, is causing the problem.

The logic is as follows:

• No hardware issue, hardware is tested and believed to be fine
• Since 99.999% of millions of users do not experience the issue, the macOS itself is believed NOT to be the cause since it is common to all those users
• Therefore something installed or a configuration setting in the user account is the most likely cause
• Due to the difficulty in troubleshooting that, usually it is recommended to restore the computer to its pure state as when new, e.g., by following these instructions:

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

This results in a "wiped" computer and the next step is to restore the user files. This can be done with Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant (or first boot up), or by manually copying user files for the Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Pictures etc. folders. Of course this requires a good backup (two should have been made for redundancy).

There is some manual effort involved in this restore, but it is not difficult at all. One does have to reinstall all non-Apple apps from scratch. Bringing installations, apps, and settings over from the backup may well reintroduce the problem into the new system.

Just a tip while you are working the problem. I just opened Safari and iCloud.com to my contacts page and then saved the link to my dock on my Mac and started using that instead of clicking my Contacts app. That way my contacts were available and synced on all my devices……

break7bg wrote:

I have not been able to set Find My Mac ON, yet.

So that means that the Mac is still being negatively impacted by something, possibly those Avira remnants, or something leftover from those other problematic apps that had been installed. Find My is fairly basic Apple device functionality, it is unacceptable that a user innocently installs an app meant to make things easier and instead they lose such key functionality. So more still needs to be done.

But, at least my Contacts are syncing.

That is certainly progress, but it shows that what happened to you with those antivirus and "cleaner" apps may be a combination of things and could be more complex than just deleting a few files.

I am using FAF and it finds a reference to Avira (two small folders) on iCloud. Each time I try to trash, FAF will not allow me to trash ... when rebooting, they come back.

Avira has polluted your iCloud? That's insidious. There are some things to try. (1) Log in to iCloud in a web browser and delete the files from there. Watch on your Mac to verify that they are gone there too. Empty the Trash. Then reboot and re-check. (2) Boot into Safe Mode and try to delete the files while in Safe Mode. (3) There are other more invasive steps one can take if (1) and (2) do not succeed but I would pause at that point. A wipe/reinstall might make more sense then because the corruption may be very difficult to remove. Realize that antivirus apps check anything being done on your Mac, including file activity in iCloud that involves files going to/from your Mac. This can slow down everything.

I have not tried rebooting in Safe Mode, yet. Any other recommendations before trying Safe Mode?

Safe Mode is benign, it just starts up your Mac with most third party software and extensions disabled. Safe Mode might even fix what residual issues you are seeing, but it might also enable you to permanently delete those files associated with the anti-virus. It would be helpful to see if both Contacts sync and FindMy work properly in Safe Mode.

I notice the errors for large CPU consumption. How do I address that?

Your write/read disk speeds are also still low. Those high cpu flags and slow disk performance are indicative of background processes still running that need to be rooted out. You could look at Activity Monitor but there is so much information in there and it changes constantly, so it is hard to interpret. I would wait on dealing with the high cpu issue until you have the cloud based functionality back and working (FindMy, etc.). I also assume all VPNs are UNINSTALLED, removed, those can absolutely slow down computer performance, especially the networking part.

Latest Etrecheck Report.

break7bg wrote:

We have discontinued various software, like "Clean My Mac,"

When BrickMyMac is involved, sometimes the only solution is to erase the Mac and set it up from scratch, reinstalling needed apps and manually copying over user files from a backup.

break7bg wrote:

Thank you for this detailed feedback. I will attempt to rid my Mac Air of these issues(software) that were installed over the years. I will uninstall Duck Duck Go browser, if I can find the proper way to do it.

I think DuckDuckGo may be ok, it is the VPN part that I was bringing to your attention. Using VPNs can interfere with normal macOS operations and you have multiple such VPNs active or installed.

I will, then, return to using my Apple-installed Safari browser and I will get rid of Ad Block Extensions in my Safari.

After things are working on your Mac, you can probably reactivate those ad blockers, lots of people use them, but you have a lot of stuff installed that may impact the network traffic and it might be best to start "clean" to get back to a properly working Mac.

The Avira software has been dragged to the Trash can.

Avira says its preferred uninstall procedure is to drag the Avira app to the Trash and empty the Trash. Hopefully that works. If not, Avira says

"it may happen that after an operating system update Avira Antivirus can no longer be uninstalled the conventional way. Consequently, the uninstallation must be performed via terminal.

Click in the menu bar Go → Utilities → Terminal.

At the cursor, enter the following line:

/Applications/Utilities/Avira-Uninstall.app/Contents/MacOS/Avira-Uninstall

Avira Antivirus for Mac is then completely removed from your system."

https://support.avira.com/hc/en-us/sections/360003731798-Installation-Uninstallation

I am using Finder...Go...Go to Folder... to check for remaining files of Avira, Duck Duck Go, Malwarebytes, etc. What next?

That is good but might not find everything. Best way is to get an UNINSTALLER for each product to try to completely remove it. Keep your installer codes and such for a future installation that you could try to do after things are working properly. If you can't get an uninstaller, you will need to use Find Any File (which I believe is free) to search deeply through your Mac, including hidden folders and directories, to find all files associated with the thing you are uninstalling. Spotlight does not search those other folders as deeply as Find Any File does.

If you are still encountering problems, you might consider neuroanatomist's suggestion to completely wipe/format/erase the drive and restore it to as new condition with a fresh OS installed and then migrate over only your files to the new system. I sent you a link Apple provides with instructions for that in an earlier post.

I am not familiar with Avira software so it sounds a bit inconsistent if not buggy. It sounds like the manual uninstall by putting the Avira app in the trash and emptying the trash might be the best you can do. I would search with FindAnyFile (free app) for all files from that manufacturer and also looking to match strings in filenames and internal to the files. FindAnyFile searches many folders that Spotlight does not search (I don't know how you are searching with Terminal). Anyway, you can only do your best. Be careful not to delete files or folders that might be "false positives" in these searches. (I speculate that this might be one of the ways CMM causes problems ...)

If you uninstalled all the VPNs and security tools (Avira, others) as well as CMM, I would boot into Safe Mode, let it sit for 15-30 minutes, then reboot normally, and retest. If still problematic, rerun Etrecheck and post its report.

I am trying to have you avoid the wipe/migrate step that neuroatomist had suggested but I am starting to suspect that will actually be needed if uninstalling all this stuff does not lead to normal functioning of the Mac.

If your wife's Mac is still working ok, I would leave it as it is, but would still recommend uninstalling CMM if she has it too.

What, you installed Avast? That's another one of those pesky items that people report not being able to remove from their Macs in a straightforward way!

I see that Avast does offer some uninstaller for the Mac. I would further explore those. You do need to get rid of all the remaining pieces of Avast. I would use FindAnyFile, I would not use App Cleaner, we see many posts from people whose Macs have been compromised from "cleaner" apps (like CleanMyMac). Although I do see some people who report that if one is careful, App Cleaner can be ok.

I don't think things are looking very promising here, as you had CleanMyMac, Avira, and now Avast and are trying to remove them piecemeal by searching for files. That feels fragile to me. I guess I would welcome second opinions from others here but I am leaning towards what neuroatomist (who has more experience than I do) suggested way back, which is to wipe, reinstall, and migrate files only back from a reliable backup. For this, make sure you have at least two good backups and one should be a "clone" type backup in case you need to resort to manually copying files back.

If you had access to thorough and trustworthy complete uninstallers for each of those three problematic apps, I might encourage more of the "removal" approach. I fear that something leftover or modified by these apps will eventually bite you during some future routine OS update. It doesn't hurt to continue trying to remove things, I guess. But I would not use something called App Cleaner unless you are confidant you understand it and know what you are doing with it.

An aside: I may have mentioned this before, but Apple's standard mitigation for a situation where the system isn't functioning right (Contacts not syncing, FindMy not working) is to verify that the hardware is sound, and if it is, to erase/format/wipe the computer, reinstall a clean vanilla OS, and copy user files only back from a backup. This almost always works because most of the time these things stem from user installed items.

P.S. I would also uninstall or remove that unsigned item from over ten years ago that you found.

I have a good timeline of what started and when for me:

After I upgraded my MBA M4 to 27, this started across iCloud and Gmail contacts on my MBA. My Mac Mini 26 has no issues; the same goes for my iPhone and iPads. Logging into iCloud Contacts is a mess; it's not on the 26 devices. I show 2,700 contacts in 26 (correct) and 333 in iCloud and MBA.

The back office for Contacts is either completely out of sync or stuck across the board.

I've been on a few calls with Support; they're very pleasant. They call me, then hang up, and I get an email saying they tried to contact me. This has been going on since Oct 12.

For some reason, they updated my case to include photos; I haven't reported this. Waiting for a 27 update to fix this.

Yeah, don't EVER use CleanMyMac. EVER.

Next Step is to Boot in Safe Mode, unless you see something that needs addressing.

How can I log out of my Apple ID without losing my financial information in my Wallet? Can someone tell me step-by-step how to solve my initial question or to help me log out without losing everything?

This is what I had done personally before contacting Apple Support last night telling them: My MacBook Air M4 is signed into my Apple Account and appears in my Apple Account device list. Location Services, Find My Mac, Find My network, two-factor authentication, and Full Security are all enabled. But when I turn on Find My Mac, it says ON, and immediately after I click Done it changes back to OFF. The Mac does not appear in Find My on my iPhone or at iCloud.com/find. I spent an hour with Apple Support trying everything. Then, Apple Support told me to contact an Advisor today at Apple Support during business hours with this summary: My Mac won't enable Find My Mac. I've checked all settings, confirmed Location Services, and iCloud are ON, there are no profiles or restrictions, only one user, and no alerts. I've restarted several times (even from Safe Mode), but Find My Mac still turns OFF after clicking DONE.

I will be contacting them this afternoon.

I am still waiting for the Senior Expert to get back with me. We have done everything that you guys have recommended. The Expert wants to have the programming engineers watch my keystrokes so they can determine why the Find My Mac switches back to OFF after I physically set it to On and then click Done. We have done the First aid in Safe mode, I have no VPN nor do I have an anti-virus. I have tried switching to another WiFi, too. The Expert says that Apple has identified this as a problem, but no common solutions, yet. Once we get the Find My Mac to work, we shall work on why my Contacts are not syncing.

We have discontinued various software, like "Clean My Mac," to determine if other software causes the issues. We even set up a TEST ID as an admin to see if that works. It did and it left my Find My Mac ON. So, this is why they wanted to mirror my keystrokes to get into the detail of what the programming is doing.

Thank you for trying! I appreciate all thhe ideas.

I have had the exact same problem, and I have tried seven suggested tips to fix it, and none of them work. It's wreaking havoc on my business, as I need to use my address book on my iPhone and my macbook regularly, and I am always intaking new clients...I hope they fix this soon. I also noticed that my Apple Watch's wallet app is no longer syncing with the iPhone, and since the solutions to fix it are similar and it's also not working, I'm wondering if these are related...

My calendar, reminders, and everything else syncs with iCloud and works fine, but my iCloud contacts do NOT sync with my MacBook AIR. I've spent three days with Apple support and even completely wiped my MacBook and reinstalled everything, and still it doesn't work. The contacts on my phone and iPad sync fine with iCloud, but not the MacBook. WHEN will they find a fix for this?????

I am getting a call back today at 12 noon Eastern. Engineers have studied my computer diagnostics. I will find out more soon. This issue is a real pain because I can’t add new contacts and have them sync with all devices. Devices on iOS 27 are fine. It is the Mac Air M4 not syncing either way. But, the main problem seems to be Find My Mac not able to stay ON. Automatically switches back to OFF.

break7bg wrote:

I am getting a call back today at 12 noon Eastern. Engineers have studied my computer diagnostics. I will find out more soon. This issue is a real pain because I can’t add new contacts and have them sync with all devices. Devices on iOS 27 are fine. It is the Mac Air M4 not syncing either way. But, the main problem seems to be Find My Mac not able to stay ON. Automatically switches back to OFF.

Did you see neuroanatomist's post in response to your query?

"When BrickMyMac [CleanMyMac] is involved, sometimes the only solution is to erase the Mac and set it up from scratch, reinstalling needed apps and manually copying over user files from a backup."

What have you done to completely remove CleanMyMac? Did you use the provider's UNINSTALLER to completely remove it? Have you searched for any leftover pieces of CleanMyMac still on your computer?

You can talk with Apple engineering as much as you want but unless they identify a hardware problem on your Mac, they probably won't be able to diagnose issues caused by things previously user installed on your Mac.

dile12 wrote:

same here, I tryed everything but no luck, contacts simply doesn't sink with icloud, everything else fine. hope for a fast fix, this is really annoying.

It might be better for you to start your own thread because the original poster may have had issues stemming from their earlier installation of CleanMyMac. They also had other problems such as Find My Mac not staying activated even when switched on in preferences. Unless you have those exact same symptoms, your problem likely has a different cause and solution.

I am pretty certain that I will need to go through that step of a clean swipe and start again as you say. This will probably happen today (or the next time they connect with me) as I wanted to give Apple a chance to identify the issue. Things are not dire, yet. I will let them walk me through erasing the Mac and steps going forward.

The link in my dock to iCloud on safari is just a workaround -- I did't meant to suggest it causes the contacts to sync. But since they already sink with all my apple devices other than my MacBook, I temporarily used the link because it linked to a correct (and syncing) data set on my iCloud account, rather than the Contacts app on my Mac.

I am curious. So far, the Engineers have not responded with anything from last week. But, the Senior Advisor had me stop Clean My Mac from running and had me install Malwarebytes. So, currently Malwarebytes is running and not CMM. What is your recommendation for clean syncing in the future? Should I have ANY other software giving me feedback on my Mac Air M4? I am told that this (Find My Mac) issue is not uncommon. Apparently, there are many users that are having this problem. And, the solution may take several weeks. Once identified, what will be the resolution? Will I need to "wipe" it clean and restore? Or, what?

Thank you for this detailed feedback. I will attempt to rid my Mac Air of these issues(software) that were installed over the years. I will uninstall Duck Duck Go browser, if I can find the proper way to do it. I will, then, return to using my Apple-installed Safari browser and I will get rid of Ad Block Extensions in my Safari. The Avira software has been dragged to the Trash can. I am using Finder...Go...Go to Folder... to check for remaining files of Avira, Duck Duck Go, Malwarebytes, etc. What next?

I much appreciate these steps. I have uninstalled Avira, DuckDuckGo browser, uninstalled the Ad Block extension from Safari, and used Terminal to search for any remaining pieces of Avira. All gone. My next step is to uninstall Clean My Mac, if you believe this is the issue. I have used CMM on both mine and my wife's laptops for ages with no symptoms of anything bad. Mt Mac had been running very smoothly until this incident of not Finding itself. I even log into iCloud to see if my Mac is there. It tells me to turn on Find My Mac on iCloud, too.

Should I uninstall CMM? I know there is an uninstall program that come with CMM. I will use it should you advise. I will reboot after cleaning all of that. Then, try settings, again?

Also, when I downloaded the zip file from Avira, I clicked on the command program and a message popped up tell me that "Apple cannot guarantee that 'Avira.Uninstall.command' is free of malware. is no malware in this." Do I run it anyway?

break7bg wrote:

Also, when I downloaded the zip file from Avira, I clicked on the command program and a message popped up tell me that "Apple cannot guarantee that 'Avira.Uninstall.command' is free of malware. is no malware in this." Do I run it anyway?

Well, that's not ideal, and it speaks to the (low) quality of the Avira products. I guess I would run the uninstaller anyway and accept the risk, which I think is small if you originally obtained the Avira software by going to the Avira web site yourself (versus clicking on some link in an unsolicited email).

Please be patient. I want this solved as much as you do. But, I had other things to focus on this afternoon. I have not gone to the Safe mode, yet. The iCloud still tells me to try to set up Find My Mac. When I do, it still stays OFF. I will get that software you suggested and run it to clean up more. Then, I will empty Trash and reboot in Safe Mode to see what can be done as you suggested.

Late last night, when I was trying to download FindAnyFile, I mistakenly downloaded Avast One security software. I immediately uninstalled it. But, in my latest FindAnyFile run searching for Avast, it found quite a number of Avast files on my system. Obviously, that Uninstaller did not do a complete job. Should I use FindAnyFile to delete them or is there a better way, in your estimation? I have searched for how to rid Avast, and there is a software called, App Cleaner & Installer from Nektony. Do you recommend?

break7bg wrote:

Just erased those old files: Avira, Avast, and CMM using FAF. Rebooted and I can sync my Contacts, now.

Excellent! Sometimes it's a "journey" ... but you persisted. Congratulations! I assume FindMy is also working now as well. Good computing, break7bg.

I have not been able to set Find My Mac ON, yet. But, at least my Contacts are syncing. I am using FAF and it finds a reference to Avira (two small folders) on iCloud. Each time I try to trash, FAF will not allow me to trash. S, I try deleting immediately. They are gone, but when rebooting, they come back. Hmmm...? I have not tried rebooting in Safe Mode, yet. Any other recommendations before trying Safe Mode? I notice the errors for large CPU consumption. How do I address that?

How do I find files in iCloud? I do not see files anywhere. Please advise on that specific instruction. I rebooted in Safe Mode. Find My Mac still is set to OFF. Nothing I try seems to turn it ON. Even while I am in iCloud, the Mac Air M4 2025 cannot be found. The only devices iCloud shows are my iPhone and my iPad.

How do you recommend fixing the high CPU usage? Is there a specific file I can sort out? I have never installed VPNs, yet they have shown on the Etrecheck reports in the past. From the report, it shows the Antivirus programs to be both Apple and Avira (which I believe are the two files from iCloud) What is the Apple Antivirus? Is there a name I can find?

break7bg wrote:

I am using FAF and it finds a reference to Avira (two small folders) on iCloud. Each time I try to trash, FAF will not allow me to trash. S, I try deleting immediately. They are gone, but when rebooting, they come back.

Just where in iCloud does FAF show those pesky Avira files, what is the path or folder where they are, in some iCloud Drive folder perhaps?

FWIW I once had stubborn Documents & Desktop folder remnants in iCloud Drive after I had disabled iCloud Drive "Documents & Desktop" option. Deleting them via the Finder or via Safari from iCloud web immediately re-created them. The fix was to in Finder drag them to the Desktop, and then trash them and empty the trash.

...anyway I'd again recommend the nuclear option to end this saga:

Backup (via Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper).

System Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Erase All Content and Settings...

Restore only user data files, keep Mac's built-in Firewall OFF (it is only cosmetic eye-candy which might sometimes introduce issues).

Re-install only essential known-good 3rd party apps.

Stay away from 3rd party "cleaners", anti-virus and VPN apps (VPN to work or school is OK if their IT staff so requires).

Matti/Steve, I am swamped with things I need to do for a 3-day men's retreat I am Leading in two weeks. I have eliminated all Avira references on my Mac, except for two folders containing 1 file each that exhibit the Avira name. It may be nothing. And, when I return from the retreat, I will be ready for the final option, I believe. I have never done anything like that before. But, with your guidance, I would feel more confident. My latest Etrecheck Report is here.

break7bg wrote:

<Find My Mac not syncing my Contacts..log>

Matti/Steve, I am swamped with things I need to do for a 3-day men's retreat I am Leading in two weeks. I have eliminated all Avira references on my Mac, except for two folders containing 1 file each that exhibit the Avira name. It may be nothing. And, when I return from the retreat, I will be ready for the final option, I believe. I have never done anything like that before. But, with your guidance, I would feel more confident. My latest Etrecheck Report is here.

I would not undertake any major updates or changes to your computer with an important event looming soon. Your Mac is functioning ok for now. There are other things you can do anyway before doing the major erase/wipe and reinstall. If you are not comfortable doing that big reset yourself (after your meeting has taken place), you can probably have an Apple Authorized Service Provider do it for you for a small fee. Not sure if an Apple Store does that also but they might. You could investigate that option.

I did not see anything odd in your latest Etrecheck except that the disk write/read speeds are still lower than they should be, and I see your Firewall is explicitly blocking CleanMyMac. Which I guess is fine but I am not used to seeing things like that.

I put that in the firewall. Lord knows why. I can easily take that out. Can you give me some insight about how to get the speed back up where it should be? And, can I do anything with those old kext files?

I don't think that Firewall entry is hurting anything.

I suspect that the disk speeds are lower (I would expect 3000+ MB/s for both write and read) because one or more of these items is taking away computer resources and thus could be making your disk speeds slower:

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

Heavy CPU usage - Some processes are using an unusually high amount of CPU.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.

Apps crashing - There have been numerous app crashes.

Apps with heavy CPU usage - There have been numerous cases of apps with heavy CPU usage.

Runaway user process - A user process is using a large percentage of your CPU.

That said, I don't the disk speeds have anything to do with the remaining issue of FindMy not working. I would characterize the disk speed as lower than average but not alarmingly so.

I would not worry about those oddball kexts for now. You may be able to delete them by booting into Safe Mode (I have done that) or if they are stubborn possibly by booting into Recovery (I have never had to do that) or by taking other steps even. I am not understanding why FindMy isn't working because I see nothing in the Etrecheck report that might impact that. It could be latent damage from CleanMyMac or the anti-virus. This can be further explored after your upcoming meeting/event.

I don't think that Firewall entry is hurting anything.

I suspect that the disk speeds are lower (I would expect 3000+ MB/s for both write and read) because one or more of these items is taking away computer resources and thus could be making your disk speeds slower:

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

Heavy CPU usage - Some processes are using an unusually high amount of CPU.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.

Apps crashing - There have been numerous app crashes.

Apps with heavy CPU usage - There have been numerous cases of apps with heavy CPU usage.

Runaway user process - A user process is using a large percentage of your CPU.

That said, I don't the disk speeds have anything to do with the remaining issue of FindMy not working. I would characterize the disk speed as lower than average but not alarmingly so.

I would not worry about those oddball kexts for now. You may be able to delete them by booting into Safe Mode (I have done that) or if they are stubborn possibly by booting into Recovery (I have never had to do that) or by taking other steps even. I am not understanding why FindMy isn't working because I see nothing in the Etrecheck report that might impact that. It could be latent damage from CleanMyMac or the anti-virus. This can be further explored after your upcoming meeting/event.

break7bg wrote:

<Latest Etrecheck different from yesterday's.log>

I wonder why? I made no changes, but the runaway user process was not flagged.

"Time since boot: Less than an hour"

Probably because you rebooted a very short time before running Etrecheck, the runaway process did not have enough time to become a runaway process ... I can only speculate. The Etrecheck developer participates in these forums and may comment.

I I do that (log out of my Apple Id), my laptop tells me I lose all my Wallet Cards! Are you sure I should do that?

I tried this, no luck. I guess I'll have to do the complete sign out.

I've had this happen once or twice in years past too. C'mon Apple, FIGURE IT OUT!!! Fix the bugs!

same here, I tryed everything but no luck, contacts simply doesn't sink with icloud, everything else fine. hope for a fast fix, this is really annoying.

How does having a link in the doc allow the contacts to sync?

Here is the Etrecheck report.

The Mac will not allow it to run. I have also uninstalled CMM. Next?

Terminal was used per your instructions in the feed. I will run Etrecheck after rebooting.

Just ran this after cleaning most that I can find.

Sorry! Last report did not have full access to the data files. I had switched full access OFF yesterday.

I did notice in this Etrecheck that I have an unsigned file called Java Mission Control.app which was last updated in 2014. Do I just delete it?

I ran FindAnyFile on my Mac. Identified 12 files/folders with Avira. Tried to 'move to trash' for the folders and did not get permission to do it.

All good with Avira. FindAnyFile does not find Avira anymore. For a whole crap load of CleanMyMac files, though.

I wonder why? I made no changes, but the runaway user process was not flagged.

So, it will have a runaway user process if I keep the mac booted? Does this expose background processes that, perhaps, should not be running?