Can't disable application startup. Not in sys prefs!

If Walk-And-Talk is a .app application, and the path to it is /Applications/Walk-and-Talk.app, then what you need to disable is the UNIX executable hidden inside it. Luckily, it's always in the exact same place and with the same name as the application. What you'd need to type would be

cd "/Applications/Walk-and-Talk.app/Contents/MacOS/"
(Press return key)
sudo chmod a-x "Walk-and-Talk"
(Press return key, enter password at prompt)

Hi

some digging in the application installer packages produced this 'postflight' file below, which suggests that you should look for entries in 'loginwindow.plist' in /Library/Preferences/ . Some googling shows a number of different apps use this method to make a startup item - you wouldn't be the first to be frustrated by it.
--------


#!/bin/sh
# Script called from Installer to set up a startup item
# for Walk-and-Talk
# $1 is the full path to the package
# $2 is the destination path of the installation
# $3 is the installation volume to receive the payload
# $4 is the root directory of the system
# $RECEIPT_PATH is the folder we and other extra files are in
echo ${RECEIPT_PATH}/StartupItemTool -add "$2/Walk-and-Talk.app" >>/private/tmp/wntinst.log
echo chmod 664 $4/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist >>/private/tmp/wntinst.log
"${RECEIPT_PATH}/StartupItemTool" -add "$2/Walk-and-Talk/Walk-and-Talk.app" || exit
# Make loginwindow.plist group-writable so that the
# launch-at-startup preference works for admin users
chmod 664 "$4/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist"
exit 0

Yes, that would be the correct command.
And no, you won't be able to open it manually without using the terminal command.
I could probably write an Applescript Applet that would enable and open Walk-and-Talk and one to disable it.…

studioduck wrote:
I checked the folders and nothing appears to be there except maybe one file, called ntalk.plist, perhaps this is an abbreviation for "walk-and-talk" (or perhaps, unbelievably wishful thinking :-D)

'Fraid so. ntalk.plist is a standard system file, should not be deleted and would not solve the problem if it were deleted.

- cfr

andyBall_uk wrote:
Hi

some digging in the application installer packages produced this 'postflight' file below, which suggests that you should look for entries in 'loginwindow.plist' in /Library/Preferences/ . Some googling shows a number of different apps use this method to make a startup item - you wouldn't be the first to be frustrated by it.
--------


#!/bin/sh
# Script called from Installer to set up a startup item
# for Walk-and-Talk
# $1 is the full path to the package
# $2 is the destination path of the installation
# $3 is the installation volume to receive the payload
# $4 is the root directory of the system
# $RECEIPT_PATH is the folder we and other extra files are in
echo ${RECEIPT_PATH}/StartupItemTool -add "$2/Walk-and-Talk.app" >>/private/tmp/wntinst.log
echo chmod 664 $4/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist >>/private/tmp/wntinst.log
"${RECEIPT_PATH}/StartupItemTool" -add "$2/Walk-and-Talk/Walk-and-Talk.app" || exit
# Make loginwindow.plist group-writable so that the
# launch-at-startup preference works for admin users
chmod 664 "$4/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist"
exit 0

So studioduck could try dragging /Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist to the Desktop, say, and then restart to see if that works better and to check nothing undesirable happens. (An alternative would be to check the file and see if it is starting anything that is wanted.)

- cfr

Here's the applescript to disable it. Copy the following line and paste it into Script Editor, found in Applications/Applescript/
Press "Compile" or hit Enter. (Enter, NOT Return. It's on the numeric keypad.)
Go to the file menu, select "Save as…", give it a name, choose "Application" from the "File Format" drop down menu, and press "Save."
You'll then have a new application. Whenever you want to disable Walk-and-Talk, double click this application and it will disable it for you.
(The line may be broken in the browser, but it needs to be all on one line before you compile and save the script.)

do shell script "chmod a-x /Applications/Walk-and-Talk/Walk-and-Talk.app/Contents/MacOS/Walk-and-Talk" with administrator privileges

Do the same thing replacing the "a-x" with "a+x" to get an application that enables walk-and-talk.

This sounds confusing the way I describe it, but it's not that hard when you actually do it.

Message was edited by: adsfushi72

Hey - I'd like to hear how you ended up disabling start up of smart board software. It seems as if this thread concerns the disabling of a few different annoyingly embedded white board items, and I want to be sure to execute the correct command line.

Thanks very much

I disabled the SMART Board Software executable by adjusting its permissions in such a way that nobody was allowed to execute it.
Studioduck took a better approach. Rather than completely disabling it, he changed a few plist files to keep the Walk-and-Talk from automatically running at login.
Both methods should work for whatever whiteboard software you have.

Thanks for the feedback! 🙂