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What is growl?

can't believe this thing installed with Adobe CS5, it doesn't even use it! infuriating!!:mad:

managed to get rid of grrr-rowl pretty easily though: just do command-F from the desktop to bring up a search window, press '+' to add the condition that "system files" "are included", search for "growl", and trash the unwanted files (there were about 7 relevant files altogether)
 
Guess I'm the only person who likes growl... In regards to skype, that's because skype stupidly setup the notifications system to set off a growl notif anytime you get a message, even if you're viewing the window or not, you can turn that off, that's not growls fault though...
 
I installed growl on purpose. I don't need this kind of thing for a MBP. It is overkill for these simple systems. I will give it another week to grab me, then bye bye.
 
I too suddenly got Growl installed without any notifications. Don't know with witch software I installed to get this app.... Since I do NOT like applications that installs without my knowledge, is it safe to use? I still kinda like it thou........ :confused:

EDIT: Aha I installed CS5 like others have mentioned in the thread. A post about this can be found at the Adobe blogs:
http://blogs.adobe.com/oobe/2010/05/growl_installation_with_adobe.html

In short users have complaint that Growl is installed without any notification from Adobe. They will fix this and make it as an option during install in later releases. So I guess Growl safe to use then :)
 
Wow... people's comments on the Adobe page were pretty severe. Although Growl sounds nice when wanted, I am in the group that's pretty surprised that some third-party app was installed without my permission or knowledge. To save others time, here are the instructions from Adobe's site to remove:

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Click the Growl preferences.
3. Click Stop Growl.
4. Deselect Start Growl At Login. (Might already be deselected)
5. Deselect Show Growl Icon In The Menu Bar. (Also might be deselected by default)
6. At the top of the System Preferences window, click Show All.
7. Right-click the Growl preferences, and then click Remove Growl Preference Pane.
 
thanks

to all posters specially Kevin L. I thought I was going nuts as any downloads are normally in the "downloads" of my browser and there was no record and no memory of any choice. Recently I downloaded "drop box for Ipad and Dreamweaver CS5 trial. From what you have said Growl could have arrived with either of those:rolleyes:.
 
hmm. i thought this was a new feature of skype since it only showed messages of skype. but today i saw "growl update is available" thing and found this thread.

yeah i installed cs5 trial. it must have come with cs5. but i don't see cs5 in the application tab of system preference->growl. only ff and skype.

what's the relationship between adobe and growl? if adobe bundled this, actually growl is not that bad?
 
guthy-lux said:
hmm. i thought this was a new feature of skype since it only showed messages of skype. but today i saw "growl update is available" thing and found this thread.

yeah i installed cs5 trial. it must have come with cs5. but i don't see cs5 in the application tab of system preference->growl. only ff and skype.

what's the relationship between adobe and growl? if adobe bundled this, actually growl is not that bad?
Click to expand...

I like growl, lots of applications use it to provide notifications (Firefox, Transmission, Skype, XSlimmer, etc., etc.). Apple should include it in OS X. At least most apps use the same notifcation framework, compared to windows where every crappy app uses its own
 
OK, I'm sitting at a 13" MBP which is on my lap. How hard is it -really- to monitor what is going on?

I deleted growl.

JavierP said:
I like growl, lots of applications use it to provide notifications (Firefox, Transmission, Skype, XSlimmer, etc., etc.). Apple should include it in OS X. At least most apps use the same notifcation framework, compared to windows where every crappy app uses its own
Click to expand...
 
Growl is useful with some applications, like Adium. I've had it installed on pretty much all my Macs, and I'm used to it. That being said, I've never had it installed without my permission. Adobe does have a history of hiding other applications in their installations, though; they sneaked a copy of Opera into the .app package for...I think it was Adobe Bridge CS3. I'm not sure, but I know they did do it, because I saw 'Open in Opera' in my Services menu on my iBook, when I KNEW I hadn't installed Opera!
 
trish857 said:
We finally got around to installing Adobe CS5 on the weekend and, as others have mentioned, it installed Growl without my knowledge or consent. In fact, I only knew something was going on at all because whenever someone in my Skype contact list logs on, or when someone is typing me a message and also when the message is sent in Skype, Growl gives an alert, which is both annoying and a waste of space (it's like seeing everything in double, one at the bottom of my Skype window and one at the top). Until this morning when a message popped up telling me to click to install the newer version of Growl, I didn't even know that that's what was causing the extra messages with Skype. I've read the comments from others saying that Growl is great, but so far it's only been irritating. Maybe if you don't use Skype then Growl is less annoying, I don't know. If it's there to tell me about software updates, then does that mean that the normal software update alerts (which, though slightly annoying with the bouncing of icons when you're in the middle of something, seems to work fine and less obtrusively) will not be coming? Or is Growl just an extra alert system? If it is, then why bother? It's taking up my screen space and I'd much rather it didn't.
Click to expand...

You can disable those alerts you know :rolleyes:
 
I have GROWL. I also have CS5. But my "applications list" of programs using GROWL only contains:

Popcorn
Toast Titanium
Skype
Yahoo Messenger

So I would suspect that it was any or all of those programs...
 
Let me see if I can explain this simply. Growl is a messaging system that displays messages generated by applications and the system. It is selecting messages that are contained in the console log that are "translated" to a more understandable language according to flags that are set within the program and growl. Nothing more, nothing less, it is a messaging system working within OSX.
I find it miserable that certain vendors do not respect individuals rights to CHOOSE what software is on their systems. I feel better now!
 
There are all sorts of nifty productivity aids for Mac.
I am just not that intimidated by getting messages from apps.
Laptop systems really aren't that confusing to me.

MACMAD08 said:
Let me see if I can explain this simply. Growl is a messaging system that displays messages generated by applications and the system. It is selecting messages that are contained in the console log that are "translated" to a more understandable language according to flags that are set within the program and growl. Nothing more, nothing less, it is a messaging system working within OSX.
I find it miserable that certain vendors do not respect individuals rights to CHOOSE what software is on their systems. I feel better now!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks jdcassler.

dscasler said:
To Remove Growl - go to system preferences, find the Growl icon (on the bottom under 'other') right click (i.e. cntrl click) and remove. I, too was not pleased to find out this crap was running on my machine against my knowledge or authorization.
Click to expand...

I never found the way to get rid of the Growl window asking to update. You gave the simple solution.
 
Growl

bukalemun said:
I am a long time reader of the forums, and just registered to reply because I did not like the way the thread has gone throughout the years, people seem to think of Growl as some kind of spyware as they could not find information or could not understand it.

Growl is one of the best applications that Mac OS has and it is very useful for other applications to notify you. You should never remove it IMHO. It is only a framework to notify you about what's going on in an application and legitimate applications use it to function better. Some examples, Firefox, Roxio Toast, Adium etc.

It's best to keep it and not remove it.
Click to expand...

How and when would i use it, please explain what it is for. Like many other am being reminded that a new update is available.

L
 
This is why I switched to Mac!

My PC would get bogged down with what I call "parasitic apps".
This should absolutely NOT happen on a Mac no matter how good the software may be.
I definitely did NOT authorize the installation of Growl and thought it might be a virus when it asked for permission to update and then started downloading.:eek:
Because of this, I will never use Growl.

P.S. I just registered on this forum so I could post this.

Love my Mac.
 
ericjedelen said:
My PC would get bogged down with what I call "parasitic apps".
This should absolutely NOT happen on a Mac no matter how good the software may be.
I definitely did NOT authorize the installation of Growl and thought it might be a virus when it asked for permission to update and then started downloading.:eek:
Because of this, I will never use Growl.

P.S. I just registered on this forum so I could post this.

Love my Mac.
Click to expand...

Then you should have unchecked it when you were installing whatever it is you installed :rolleyes:
 
lindawestmore said:
How and when would i use it, please explain what it is for. Like many other am being reminded that a new update is available.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply, I am still trying to get used to the forums.

You do not directly use Growl. It's not something that you open and use. But it is something the programs use to notify you. For example, if Growl is installed on your computer, Firefox can notify you with a small non interrupting window that a download is completed. Or Roxio Toast can notify you about a succeeded disc burn, etc. It is a great notification framework for other programs to use.
 
dscasler said:
To Remove Growl - go to system preferences, find the Growl icon (on the bottom under 'other') right click (i.e. cntrl click) and remove. I, too was not pleased to find out this crap was running on my machine against my knowledge or authorization.
Click to expand...

What out for those instructions. I am not a MAC expert but I also did not authorize it's install. Very annoying. I wanted it out as well - no matter what some of the people are saying here it is essentially spyware. Not a single post really explains what it does or why in the world you need it. Following the above instructions looks like it simply removes it from the preferences pane only - try it and read the dialog - it says nothing about removing the "program." INSTEAD - go to the system preferences, find the Growl icon under 'other' then NORMAL click on it to bring up the preferences. Then select the 'applications' tab, select Growl and then hit the 'remove' button. That should do it. Then you can go back and right click on the Growl icon and remove the icon from the preference pane.
Sneaky B#%^ards.
 
"What is Growl? How does Dropbox use it?
From Growl's website: "Growl is a notification system for Mac OS X: It allows applications that support Growl to send you notifications." In other words, Growl lets Dropbox notify you of any sync activity right on your desktop.

Growl notifications appear at the top right corner of the screen. A Growl notification will appear whenever new changes are made to the contents of your Dropbox, such as a newly added file or a change to a shared folder.


A Dropbox notification using Growl.
Windows and Linux versions of Dropbox also have similar notification messages. These versions use notification systems built into the operating system."

From the Dropbox site.
 
...

something installed it on my system, i like it though it notifies me when mail.app gets an email (there is a plugin to let it do that) which I find very nice
 
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