Is Dock mod a scam

This is a "haxie". It's probably not a "virus" but if you spend some time on these forums (like I have for about the past decade), you will learn what most of us have, which is these cute haxies are very often the source of later problems. All they do is make eye candy; they don't really add any useful function to your computer or to whatever you use your computer for. They are terrific time wasters. They are usually poorly written.

Almost always, when people write in to these forums with huge problems with their computers, it is because of some turdware like this that they have installed. The same goes for any "optimizers", "cleaners", or "utilities". You don't need them.

So you can either use your computer for what you want to use it for, or just play around with useless haxies like this that change the GUI. Apple seems to me to be a smart company with smart software engineers that write excellent, intuitive software that works well. I try to stick to that software.

I use my computers constantly for writing manuals for work, email, research, reading, study, video editing, music, movies, audio recording, and audio editing. I can't remember the last time I had any software issue (or hardware issue), crash, hang, or slowdown. Maybe it's because I avoid haxies.

Or perhaps you are a shill for the software.

Hacking the user interface is the surest way to end up with an unstable, unreliable system.

The problem with these kinds of "mods" is that they have to do one of two things: patch the system at a very low level, which is prone to causing all kinds of stability issues, or replace some components of your system, which can also cause problems as well as not being easily reversible. You have been well-advised to avoid such programs, for these reasons.

Its neither a virus nor any other kind of malware, but as mentioned before it's a system modifier (aka Haxie) that may while should work fine, does change parts of the system that can at times result in odd or unwanted behavior. If you decide to use it, I'd recommend ensuring you have a full and updated system backup that you can restore to, and then use this program. Often the changes done are simply superficial and can be reverted manually if needed, but at times they can be deeper.

I've been running this on a 2011 MBA and a late-2012 iMac for the last few weeks without any discernable problems, but be aware that because of its nature - it is a hack at the end of the day - it isn't guaranteed to work with future minor releases of Mountain Lion (shoud there be any more) and certainly doesn't even attempt to run under Mavericks, which suggests that the author has at least thought about what he is doing and doing whatever he can to reduce risks to destabilise the system.

If you buy a licence and then upgrade you are at the mercy of the author as to whether he decides he can upgrade the software. Personally I lovve this bit of 'eye candy'!

The command line version of dockmod and 1.0 were far more stable. Hovever if you download Nocturne theme for OS X and then use Pacifist to extract only the needed dock files in the needed places (basically you have to back up/overwrite some graphics and a file called "dock" inside Dock.app) so it runs exactly the same and just as stable as non-modified version

Nonsense, DockMod is safe to use, in fact it backups your Dock. You can uninstall the app and go back to your default dock. I've been using DockMod ever since it was released for OS X Mountain Lion and never had any issues. The developer of DockMod has done a good Job, his code is fine and very well written (I am a Unix programmer myself). There are frequent updates and it's certainly no scam or dangerous to use!

We wouldn't have to do this if Apple would actually give us the option to customize the color or image of the dock. Even freaking Microsoft gives their customers the option to choose the color of their start-bar in Windows which is equivalent to the OS X Dock!

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

STAY *AWAY* from this app!

I installed and deleted it, as I did not want to buy it.

Now my Dock is hijacked, I see a message (DockMod Trial) on the icon's tooltip and a scrolling message on the bar about this... This guy is real crappy!

This is simply not true. Chris, you reached out to me via email to help you solve this issue just a few minutes ago. We'll get the issue resolved, there's no need to spread disinformation about my application.

You did not follow the correct uninstall procedures as outlined on the website tutorial. And then you deleted the backup of your system files that DockMod created. I'm also assuming you did not make a backup yourself.

Due to the nature of the app, it is necessary to modify core operating system files in order to theme the dock. This is clearly stated in the license agreement which is shown before you can even open the disk image file. Wish we didn't have to, and I hope Apple someday allows us more ability to customize our Macs, but this is how it has to be done now. This procedure is also COMPLETELY reversible by simply toggling the enabled button in the DockMod application. Of course, this must be done before you start deleting the application.

You can reach out to me again via email and we will get this sorted out. Thanks.

Message was edited by: unsanity... changed misspellings.

| Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem.

| If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

If only this were true...

Back in the beginning of OS X those of us who felt the dock was intrusive, provided no worthwhile functionality (beyond looking appealing when selling computers), and wasted screen real estate, would simply kill the dock process. Problem solved, eh?

Well, no. Apple, over time, reacted by integrating the dock more tightly into the desktop, making it far more difficult to be rid of it. I won't bore you with a more than a decade's worth of details, but I will point out Apple have a very long history of either not responding to this kind of feedback, or doing so in what I would call a negative way. This is not to say you should stop submitting it, but be aware the chance of it resulting in a positive outcome, at least in this (dock) case, is virtually non-existent.

So. Is DockMod a hack? Of course it is. There is no other way to, say, achieve a transparent background. All that is buried in the dock executable. That's not the way I'd write it, but -- we have to deal with what we have, not complain about what we wish we had. And, a "hack" is not always intrinsically bad. In this case it means getting something useful done the hard way, without the benefit of proper documention from the vendor (Apple).

Is there any risk in patching the dock executable? Perhaps, but it's extremely small, if it exists at all. In this case, the benefits so far outweigh the imagined possible problems there is no way to even compare the two - I can actually see what's in the dock now.

I think the worst that can happen is one would need to reapply the dock patches when an operating system update replaces the dock, and that may mean DockMod would need to first be updated to accoodate changes in the dock. I don't know if DockMod checks the dock version before patching it, but even if it doesn't the risk is quite small. There are many ways to launch programs, including DockMod to back out of a dock patch.

If, by the way, one must look at this from the "Chicken Little" perspective (which does nothing beyond impeding rational discussion), there was far more risk in Apple's recently patched "goto fail" bug, for example.

Billy Y..

Hey unsanity,

I'v done the same thing as Chris, I get always the same message as him. what should I do to solve this problem? Thanks

Use the contact form on the website for support requests. I respond quickly to them there.

how this can be done? (contact form)?

Hello. explain please how to delete this command line and (DockMod Trial) on the icon's tooltip.

I've the app by Clean My Mac.