Apple has pushed a silent Mac update to remove hidden Zoom web server

Post by pishpash » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 4:55 AM UTC

oneplane wrote: post #117

javagram wrote: post #96

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> And Windows does? Control Panel “add and remove programs” usually works? There’s no equivalent on Mac. Yes, dragging the app to the trash is a thing but that leaves behind content in ~/Library/caches, ~/Library/Application Support, and ~/Library/Preferences . It’s been somewhat of an issue with Mac ever since they first put a hard drive on the original ones back in the 80s... Edit: I literally cleared several GB of…

Have you checked ProgramData, Local, and Roaming recently? Or your registry? Also, Add/Remove only works if the program adds itself there. And remove only works if the program added an uninstaller. Also, even then, it still leaves crap behind.

Post by pishpash » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 5:00 AM UTC

taftster wrote: post #231

donarb wrote: post #222

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Mac OS is a multi-user operating system. Most applications that are installed are global to the system although each user also has their own Applications folder. The Application Support folder resides in the user's Library folder and contains information that the app needs when running for that particular user. Storing information in the .app bundle would affect every user on that computer.

You're saying that an application can't write user specific information into the bundle and sort that out? There's no difference between these two (hypothetical) file paths: /Applications/SomeApp.app/users/taftster/user.specific.data /Users/taftster/Library/Application Support/SomeApp/user.specific.data These two file paths are effectively the same. And when the "global" application gets deleted, I most definitely wa…

Post by ssalazar » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 5:04 AM UTC

taftster wrote: post #211

moduspol wrote: post #169

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As a Mac app developer, you mostly have to go out of your way to install things[1] outside of the app bundle, and you typically don't want to because that's only extra maintenance you have to do to update / version those files. Most apps don't, and that's why most apps actually are effectively removed when you drag the bundle into the trash. There is already a concept of a "user data" directory for the app, which is…

Thanks for the reply, really good stuff. But what I don't get, why even have an "Application Support" directory at all. There is absolutely nothing of value added to me (as a user) to have files stored there. It's just one more place I have to look to clean up after an application is deleted. So dumb and adds zero value. I'll put my files into Documents (or whatever). And you (as an application developer) put your fi…

Post by hunter2_ » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 5:06 AM UTC

pishpash wrote: post #286

hunter2_ wrote: post #141

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> all the files it brought with it or created during runtime are now gone. How would this work with apps that create things that a user would expect to persist, like downloads (kept after uninstalling a browser) or office documents (kept after uninstalling the office suite), or media production apps, IDEs, etc.? It could have some rule like "let it be if it's in the user home directory" or "only remove stuff in these…

Such a system would not allow the application to write to any place outside of its sandbox or a designated user document volume. The system can't be touched. If you want to create a system config file, you are responsible to break the glass and move it and then all bets are off.

Post by sudhirj » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 5:12 AM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #276

pjmlp wrote: post #269

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Until Catalina, which will more aggressively use permissions and require all software to be notarized.

Neither statement is true. There is still the same control-click to open non signed software and there is still no aggressive permission model outside of the App Store.