Loadables 4+

Vlad Alexa

    • 3.8 • 6 Ratings
    • $4.99

Screenshots

Description

Loadables attempts to provide a exhaustive list of all the kind of processes, plugins or libraries that are loaded in your system on boot time, on log in, on demand, etc and the services provided by the running applications.

It differentiates* default ones that existed since the install of your operating system from third party installed or otherwise added by a operating system upgrade later.

It provides three actions for most types of services : Stop Process** (stops the process for that service if running) , Disable*** (prevents the service from running without removing it) and Remove Service**** that effectively removes the service from the operating system.

It lists the folowing types of services: Login Items, System Starter and launchd
It lists the mach services currently active (these are core services provided by the running applications, not to be confused with the aqua services or the boot/startup services)
It lists a number of operating system additions, namely : Contextual Menu Items, Kernel Extensions, Address Book Plug-ins, Internet Plug-ins, Spotlight Plug-ins, Authorization Plug-ins, Privileged Helper Tools, System Configuration Bundles, Input Managers, Aqua Services and Login Hooks.

It shows info associated with each item like executable, owner and date if available in order to make sense of when did a service get added and by who etc.

* Entries that are not grayed are not present by default in the operating system and have been added either by a third party or a subsequent operating system update.

** The ability to stop processed depends of the authorization level of the user running Loadables , caution should be exercised when stoping OSX services that could be critical to the operating system.

*** Entries in bold are not handled by launchd for the user running Loadables (they can not be disabled as that has no effect on them)

**** The ability to remove services depends of the authorization level of the user running Loadables, removing a service should be a last resort action and used with caution, they are kept in the Trash for a while shall you change your mind.

What’s New

Version 1.5

build with Apple silicon support

Ratings and Reviews

3.8 out of 5
6 Ratings

6 Ratings

noloadɛr ,

Great application for checking and cleaning startup Items

All in all, this is one of the better specialized applications I have purchased. I would have given the application a 4 1/2, but I had to round down. I would recommend the app to users whose skill set is above a beginner level - such as as tech-savy or computer knowledgaeable users. If you know that an application did not uninstall correctly, or you are reading log files, you will likely find the application useful.

I purchased Loadables after going through the various log files via System Profiler -> Logs. My logs had way too much noise due to missing or mis-configured software. Using Loadables, I was able to locate most culprits (especially the VMware and Parallels gear that burrowed-in like a virus). After locating the offending components, I was able to use a Terminal to delete the items.

To paraphrase a previous poster, the UI is slightly awkward (specifically, the 'actions' window that grows out of the top of the app's window), but nothing that would be considered a deal breaker. I also would have appreciated a context menu available from a right click of the mouse. Title bar feedback would be helpful to let a user know whether they are running under their user account or running as root (in case they flub a sudo). The program *does not* elevate on demand, so if you want to tweak non-user items (ie, belonging to root), you need to either launch as the super user (su), or drop into a shell and elevate. Finally, Vlad's english is very good (much better than my ability to speak his native tongue), so there is no language/culture specific awkwardness.

WarrenO ,

Great little tool

This is a nice, simple app that gives great visibility into what background services are installed, which are running, and so on. It requires some system knowledge for the information to be useful; I learned a few things about how OS X handles background processes along the way. It helped me find some automatic updaters that I will grudginly leave in place, and a couple of remnants of uninstalled apps that I promptly removed.

Thanks for making this handy little tool!

RW4815 ,

Very useful, but could use a few UI tweaks.

I used it successfully to remove a bunch of things I installed but forgot about. The location and date along with owner really help you figure out where things came from. This is a very useful utility.

The details tab is useful telling you what is in the plist or lines in the script. Very nice!

Coloring of the services wasn't intuitive to me, I was expecting black to mean editable, gray uneditable, bold user service, and non-bold default service. However it seems my assumptions are almost exactly opposite (from reading the app description in the store) black is user service, gray is default service, bold is uneditable (not able to unload), and non-bold is editable. The "Info" button is supposed to give you the legend you need, but the first time I clicked it I was on the "Others" tab, and nothing happened. Finally while writing this review I discovered how "Info" adds a legend to the actions window. Possibly a better UI would always show the legend in a seperate window if you click "Info".

However since the version 1.2 update, the right click context menu is awesome. I found it better than expected. Not only does it allow you to "Reveal in Finder" the plist that executes the program, but also "Reveal in Finder" the executable itself. So you can manually disable or delete services running on your computer.

Although it's great that I can remove the "Per-User Services" this app doesn't have the privelages to remove "System Wide Services", however most apps escilate the privelages by asking the user to provide admin credentials. This app does not escilate privelages, and leaves it up to you to do it the manual way in Finder, "sudo" in Terminal, or reportedly run the app while logged into root.

The bottom line: I found it very useful, because it had a complete listing of the startup locations I knew about, and some I didn't know about.

App Privacy

The developer, Vlad Alexa, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Supports

  • Family Sharing

    Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.

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