Install Customisation - MacOs

[Madonepro]

With the ability on iOS and iPadOS to remove apps that are present on first install, is it not time for Apple to consider a similar process for MacOS?

There are many apps, that are on the Mac, that have been there for decades, that I’ve never used, and if these forums were a litmus test, many others here would agree.
We often see, trotted out, questions on how to remove Photo Booth, Chess, and others.

In the early days of MacOS/MacOSX, when installing from CD/DVD you were often presented with items you wished to install.

Introducing a feature that either allows you to ‘delete’ them iOS style, or install would reduce clutter, and retrieve some space, albeit it, not that much.

 

[bogdanw]

It would be great, but it’s not going to happen. As Apple pushes its services more and more aggressively, more bloatware will be included in the OS. Like News and Freeform in recent years and now the so called “Apple Intelligence”.

 

[Madonepro]

It would be great, but it’s not going to happen. As Apple pushes its services more and more aggressively, more bloatware will be included in the OS. Like News and Freeform in recent years and now the so called “Apple Intelligence”.

I hold out hope, that 1. This community will make enough of this thread, to able to deliver to Apple a clear message, and 2. With the complete transition away from intel coming soon, that this will be a great opportunity for MacOS to get a 'spring clean'.

 

[winxmac]

Windows 2000 and earlier, and Windows XP to an extent if using a modified installer, allowed users to choose which features to install but is no longer the case since Windows Vista. You can create a modified installer to get the same desired effect but very few highly technical users would do that.

I have watched old videos of installing Mac OS X and I did see there was a point during setup that you are allowed to choose which features to install. The ones I have watched are mostly customized or unofficial Mac OS X releases but I think even the official releases allowed that. It seems that choosing features during setup stopped being a thing in Mavericks or even as old as Snow Leopard.

 

[Madonepro]

For those not too familiar with Mac OSX this is how we could customise the install.

 

[Madonepro]

Thought there would be more interest in this topic.

 

[bogdanw]

Thought there would be more interest in this topic.

"Legacy Apps" is not the most suggestive title

And there is little interest in general in such things “macOS Debloating thread”https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-debloating-thread.2278758/

 

[Madonepro]

"Legacy Apps" is not the most suggestive title

And Debloating is?

 

[bogdanw]

And Debloating is?

By the engagement on that thread, probably not. But regardless of titles, macOS users just don’t care about this. I’m surprised nobody commented so far that Photo Booth is only 4.5MB and you should just ignore it

 

[Madonepro]

By the engagement on that thread, probably not. But regardless of titles, macOS users just don’t care about this. I’m surprised nobody commented so far that Photo Booth is only 4.5MB and you should just ignore it

The idea is not to debloat the OS, which is the theme of the thread you linked to, and are active in, but to include a method of customising the OS at some point. GarageBand comes on every new Mac, and I like a lot of people simply remove it. What I choose to want to do, with my hardware, and what I'd like to see brought from iOS to macOS is a viewpoint, which I wish to share.
Clearly it's not widely interesting to others, so we'll leave it there, and go back to reading how 'member x' feels liquid glass is too blurry.

 

[maflynn]

GarageBand comes on every new Mac, and I like a lot of people simply remove it

The simplicity of macOS - here's how you can remove it:

If you want to fully clean things up, then remove GarageBand related files from here:

• ~/Library/Application Script/
• ~/Library/Caches
• ~/Library/Container
• ~/Library/Preferences

 

[Madonepro]

The simplicity of macOS - here's how you can remove it:
View attachment 2532042

If you want to fully clean things up, then remove GarageBand related files from here:

• ~/Library/Application Script/
• ~/Library/Caches
• ~/Library/Container
• ~/Library/Preferences

Not sure the point of your post. Clearly from my above posts, 1. I. know how to remove GarageBand, 2. It's removing other apps that are presented on macOS more easily. Please feel free to read, all of what I have written.

 

[maflynn]

t's removing other apps that are presented on macOS more easily

What could be more easy then dragging and dropping? I see no reason on why apple should make the installation process more cumbersome when all you have to do is drag and drop to the trash can.

If you know how to drag and drop as you say, then you're asking for a solution for a non existent problem.

 

[kitKAC]

Those apps would be part of the SSV, right? Removing or changing what's installed would change the hash and cause all sorts of issues.

 

[bogdanw]

The idea is not to debloat the OS, which is the theme of the thread you linked to, and are active in, but to include a method of customising the OS at some point. GarageBand comes on every new Mac, and I like a lot of people simply remove it. What I choose to want to do, with my hardware, and what I'd like to see brought from iOS to macOS is a viewpoint, which I wish to share.
Clearly it's not widely interesting to others, so we'll leave it there, and go back to reading how 'member x' feels liquid glass is too blurry.

You probably haven’t noticed, I understood you perfectly and voted the same as you since the start of the thread:
“By not including them in OS, but have them in App Store”

 

[Madonepro]

What could be more easy then dragging and dropping? I see no reason on why apple should make the installation process more cumbersome when all you have to do is drag and drop to the trash can.

If you know how to drag and drop as you say, then you're asking for a solution for a non existent problem.

Try and drag and drop chess, or Photo Booth. None of which, are worth there space they take.

 

[MacGizmo]

What could be more easy then dragging and dropping? I see no reason on why apple should make the installation process more cumbersome when all you have to do is drag and drop to the trash can.

If you know how to drag and drop as you say, then you're asking for a solution for a non existent problem.

Dragging apps to the trash does NOT fully uninstall/remove the app. There can be gigs of files left in various Library folders, the User folder, and elsewhere. While that method works fairly well with Apple apps, I assure you it does not with 3rd-party apps.

If you wish to see the problem in action, try dragging an Adobe or Microsoft app to the trash and deleting it. Then manually (no, Spotlight search is of no use here) search through Library folders, the Utility folder, and depending on the app, the Documents folder. You'll find a ton of preference files, daemons, and configuration files still sitting around taking up space.

 

[maflynn]

Try and drag and drop chess, or Photo Booth. None of which, are worth there space they take.

Fair enough, I cannot drag and drop Chess and that one app consumes a total of 0.0021% of my 512GB drive.

I guess we do need apple to make the install more cumbersome to allow us to save 11 megabytes

search through Library folders, the Utility folder,

And that's why I had put in my post this:

If you want to fully clean things up, then remove GarageBand related files from here:

• ~/Library/Application Script/
• ~/Library/Caches
• ~/Library/Container
• ~/Library/Preferences

 

[Fishrrman]

When I want to get rid of an application and its ancillary files, I use "AppCleaner".

It generally does the job well. But not always...
With some apps, even AppCleaner can't get rid of all their "stuff" left behind.

So... I then use the free "EasyFind" and search for them.

Then, I can delete them (mostly) from EasyFind, individually or all-at-once.
However, if EasyFind won't delete a particular file, I choose "reveal in finder" and then delete it manually (usually a password is required).

Works for me.