[Q] What is safe to remove from the Atrix? - Atrix 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I like that you can remove stuff like AT&T Navigator without even rooting, just from the Manage Applications screen. But the manage applications screen has over 200 items in it. What can I remove safely? And is there even more bloat that the manage apps screen doesn't show, stuff that only titanium backup or a root explorer would show?
I have some idea of what I'm doing. Sort of lol

Through the settings app, you can only remove applications under the downloaded tab. With root, you could do more, but risk bricking your device.
If you have the itch to remove software, get out the thread about freezing them with Titanium Backup (with root).

Wasn't it possible to remove a lot of crap from the Captivate?

Check the development section. There are two relevant sticky posts. Root but remove nothing use Titanium backup to Freeze certain apps only.

snlu178 said:
Check the development section. There are two relevant sticky posts. Root but remove nothing use Titanium backup to Freeze certain apps only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here and here, specifically.

Related

Uninstalling factory applications?

I wanted to know if there was a way to remove apps such as MobiTv and other apps that came with the phone. Some are really pointless and just take up space. My device isnt rooted.
Yep you have to root it first then you can start removing apps.
I rooted mine using the instructions in the Developement area.
Used Root Explorer to creat a folder in your sdcard. Of course any app can do that.
I then used Titanium Backup and made a backup of everything.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=726637
Have fun.
after having root where are them stock apps located.. i cant find them in linda file manager..or the application list?
Removing apps
Use titanium backup to uninstall the apps you don't want after you back them up.
if you select an app that you don't like in the list it will come up with a host of options, one will say un-install. this should remove it from the device.
and if you backed it up ahead of time, you can usually reinstall without an issue.
just don't remove twlauncher..
My phone isnt rooted tho...
root it!!!!!!!!
itsLYNDZ said:
My phone isnt rooted tho...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your phone is REQUIRED TO BE ROOTED to uninstall stock applications. It is not a choice, you have to do it if you want to remove them. It's a really simple process and takes less than 2 minutes to do. It's really hard to brick your device by rooting, its just too simple.
When you're rooted you can many options to do what you want to do:
- Root Explorer (Paid App)
- ADB (takes a while to setup the environment if you don't have it already set up)
... and the other methods that i didn't list.

freezing, backing up and fw update questions

ive done a fair amount of reading and searching and i just want to get some straight answers with these questions as sometimes, opinion with these seem to vary.
1. i use bloat freezer. are there major differences between it and titanium backup?
2. is it necessary to unfreeze apps before a fw/kernel update?
3. is it necessary to unfreeze apps before backing up?
4. is a restored backup with titanium backup as good as a clean wipe and full reinstall of the apps?
hope someone helps me clear it up once and for all and TIA
rab1412000 said:
ive done a fair amount of reading and searching and i just want to get some straight answers with these questions as sometimes, opinion with these seem to vary.
1. i use bloat freezer. are there major differences between it and titanium backup?
2. is it necessary to unfreeze apps before a fw/kernel update?
3. is it necessary to unfreeze apps before backing up?
4. is a restored backup with titanium backup as good as a clean wipe and full reinstall of the apps?
hope someone helps me clear it up once and for all and TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. From the point of view of freezing/unfreezing the apps, only real difference is the price
2. No, but if you change your firmware you will need to refreeze the apps you want to freeze.
3. Don't really know, but I would think no
4. Titanium backup, backs up more than just your apps, including system apps, data and setttings - so they are different
I have a question my self,
If you freeze apps using Titanium backup, is that mean that now Titanium back would run at the background and prevent those apps to start ?
If so, I better remove them right ?
ZagatoDB7 said:
1. From the point of view of freezing/unfreezing the apps, only real difference is the price
2. No, but if you change your firmware you will need to refreeze the apps you want to freeze.
3. Don't really know, but I would think no
4. Titanium backup, backs up more than just your apps, including system apps, data and setttings - so they are different
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as for no. 4
follow this thread, there is a mini discussion on titanium backup:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1198334&page=90
pulser_g2, my fav developer, clearly states:
"You should only titanium restore USER apps and data, not preinstalled ones."
ShivaShidapu said:
I have a question my self,
If you freeze apps using Titanium backup, is that mean that now Titanium back would run at the background and prevent those apps to start ?
If so, I better remove them right ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not sure about titanium backup, but for bloat freezer it isnt a running background service. but they should be working the same way.
personally, i choose freezing becasue, there is no perceptible performance hit between freezing and uninsall; and i can always infreeze if i need to use the program again
rab1412000 said:
im not sure about titanium backup, but for bloat freezer it isnt a running background service. but they should be working the same way.
personally, i choose freezing becasue, there is no perceptible performance hit between freezing and uninsall; and i can always infreeze if i need to use the program again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that no one really knows the answer to this question, but thanks for letting me know about bloat freezer.

[Q] how exactly to remove bloat after rooting?

just finished rooting my phone.
I do not know how to delete bloatware or other things i don't really need.
do i need to download an app or something to do this?
also, what other apps should i download now that i am rooted?
Download Root Explorer. It's a file manager that will allow you access to the system files/structure. It will also allow you to delete any system apps that you don't want (they're under system/app).
But first, get Titanium Backup so you can backup your phone, apps, data and settings. You can also remove the system apps with TiBu, I just recommend having Root Explorer regardless.
And be careful about what you remove. Some apps are necessary for system functionality. I'd suggest looking at the info for one of the third-party roms like Cognition and follow the list of apps they removed in their roms to get a good idea of what you're safe to delete.
I'd also like to recommend Titanium Backup as well. I'd also advise getting the Pro version and Freezing anything you're not 100% certain you can safely delete. Either way, do a full backup of all apps first before you remove them as you never know what you might want/need down the road.
systemappremover is also a viable option
There's a Google Doc of what is and is not safe to remove... may want to have a read:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18099044&postcount=9

Cannot restore system apps using Titanium Backup

I have an SGSII, rooted with Odin/CWM 4 and I cannot restore any system apps using Titanium Backup - it simply sits there saying 'Restoring App' and nothing happens. Normal apps can be restored OK. I tried changing the app processing mode in TB to Auto/Indirect but it didn't help.
Any ideas? I have TB Pro FWIW.
Can't you just restore systemdata? I assume the apps are there already.
ps you know the downside of restoring system apps?
I backed up and then uninstalled some system apps using TB Pro (TpLauncher, AccuWeather, etc.) but now I'd like to get some of them back. I assumed using the TB restore option was the way to go.
What's the downside of doing this? Can I restore these manually?
Same happened to me, I guess lesson is don't uninstall sys app unless you really don't want them.
Glad it's not just me and I have a nandroid so I can get everything back but it's annoying. I've reported it to the TB devs. If they come up with a solution I'll let you know.
I use root explorer backup the system apk, restore it when need it back.
what i do, is close titanium application then restart it again. then viola.
seems strange ... TB Pro always do the job for me
FWIW these were apps I first freezed, then uninstalled (without unfreezing). I wonder if this is relevant. Perhaps the permissions are screwed or something. If I could get a TB log I could find out. Hopefully the developers will help out.
Bump. Any updates on this? I'm having the same problem
Here is my reply from Titanium Backup support:
"We're sorry, system apps are critical and should not be removed in the first place. Some apps are tightly ROM bounded, while others are dependent on other system entities which could break things when they are removed. We have already provided the warning in the preferences that you will be held responsible of your own actions upon removing the system apps and we will not provide support for restoring them back. In most cases like this, you will have to reflash your ROM or restore your nandroid backup (you must always keep a nandroid handy)."
So in other words - tough sh*t! Not what I was expecting.
I restored my Nandroid and now only freeze apps, and they seem to defrost OK but after that reply I'm wondering if I should continue to use their product.
rec71 said:
Here is my reply from Titanium Backup support:
"We're sorry, system apps are critical and should not be removed in the first place. Some apps are tightly ROM bounded, while others are dependent on other system entities which could break things when they are removed. We have already provided the warning in the preferences that you will be held responsible of your own actions upon removing the system apps and we will not provide support for restoring them back. In most cases like this, you will have to reflash your ROM or restore your nandroid backup (you must always keep a nandroid handy)."
So in other words - tough sh*t! Not what I was expecting.
I restored my Nandroid and now only freeze apps, and they seem to defrost OK but after that reply I'm wondering if I should continue to use their product.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fairness they are right, anyone who uninstalls system apps is asking for trouble why would you want to do that in the first place,you can simply freeze any apps you don't use instead, i have most of the Samsung bloatware frozen in Titanium as i don't use them and many of them are responsible for excessive battery drainage.
BTW Titanium Backup is probably the best overall app in the whole market and they always release updates, i highly recommend this app to anyone who doesn't already have it.
As a software developer myself if one of my apps didn't work correctly and a customer asked for help I would do my level best to get to the bottom of the issue instead of fobbing them off.
The app lets you uninstall system apps and restore them again - why would you want to? because on some devices space might be at a premium - I freed up 100MB on my previous device (Xperia Arc S) using this feature for example - which made a big difference.
Luckily I don't need the space on my SII but I'm surprised that the TB devs wouldn't want to find out what the issue is.
rec71 said:
As a software developer myself if one of my apps didn't work correctly and a customer asked for help I would do my level best to get to the bottom of the issue instead of fobbing them off.
The app lets you uninstall system apps and restore them again - why would you want to? because on some devices space might be at a premium - I freed up 100MB on my previous device (Xperia Arc S) using this feature for example - which made a big difference.
Luckily I don't need the space on my SII but I'm surprised that the TB devs wouldn't want to find out what the issue is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They know what the issue is. The outcome of removing an restoring system apps is just unpredictable. They gave a warning that it could cause unwanted results. Messing with roms gives unpredicted results.
Same thing happened to my Galaxy Pocket. I uninstalled system apps and can't restore them.
THE solution is wen u want to uninstall an system app den first of all make an back up of DATA of that system app and den go 2 loaction of app through root explorer in internal storage and copy that APK file to ur sd card as backup .
den delete the APK file mannualy or uninstall using titanium backup...
wen u want dat app again den copy the APK to its original old location of system /app and restore the data using titanium backup and just restart the phone..
hope it helps ...
Yes, I can restore system data
Lennyz1988 said:
Can't you just restore systemdata? I assume the apps are there already.
ps you know the downside of restoring system apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be more thorough:
I am able to restore system data of an app but I can't restore an app.
In fact, if I locate the apk which titanium backup had backed up with a file browser and install it manually, it works fine! I can then restore data with titanium backup.
Issue on my Galaxy SII (no matter what ROM I use)
You shouldn't be restoring system apps at all/you shouldn't need to (the data may be another question though). Why are you wanting to restore system apps/which apps in particular ?

After root, how to deal with the bloatware?

I've posted a few questions here or there in the last few days and received great help from all of you. Thank you!
Now my phone is rooted. I am thinking to deal with the bloatware. There are a few come to my mind, please tell me if it is safe to touch them:
1. KNOX;
2. Verizon Mobile Security;
3. Backup Assistant Plus;
4. Google+;
The ideal of treating these bloatware is to stop them from running so memory can be used more productively. I used to rename bloatware with the bak. Is it the right way of doing thing nowadays? (My last phone was a droid 3).
Hope I will get some directions here. Thanks again.
newshook said:
I've posted a few questions here or there in the last few days and received great help from all of you. Thank you!
Now my phone is rooted. I am thinking to deal with the bloatware. There are a few come to my mind, please tell me if it is safe to touch them:
1. KNOX;
2. Verizon Mobile Security;
3. Backup Assistant Plus;
4. Google+;
The ideal of treating these bloatware is to stop them from running so memory can be used more productively. I used to rename bloatware with the bak. Is it the right way of doing thing nowadays? (My last phone was a droid 3).
Hope I will get some directions here. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SuperSU will stop the user-land Knox agent from running.
You can stop Verizon Mobile Security with "pm disable com.asurion.android.verizon.vms" at a root shell prompt.
After that, freeze any applications that you don't want to run using Titanium Backup. That will keep them from running and allow you to re-enable anything that you've been too aggressive about.
I've found this to be a great help with cutting away the bloatware:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2258952
Do not delete anything that you actually use (Google Calendar/Contact Sync). Cross check the applications to see the functions of each with:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AmzC8GFarItSdGpOZzBfWlR4MC03aDMyZ1BDUFNqU0E&usp=sharing
You can remove anything with Knox in the name after rooting. As always, if using Titanium Backup, backup the app before deleting or freeze it. I don't see anything wrong with renaming the bloatware (apk & odex files).
Somewhere I learned that the vmmhux.apk is Backup Assistant Plus. I rename it with bak suffix, well, the Backup Assistant is still shown under Account. What do we know about this vmmhux.apk?
Also, which app is for Verizon Mobile Security?
EnUfor said:
I've found this to be a great help with cutting away the bloatware:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2258952
Do not delete anything that you actually use (Google Calendar/Contact Sync). Cross check the applications to see the functions of each with:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AmzC8GFarItSdGpOZzBfWlR4MC03aDMyZ1BDUFNqU0E&usp=sharing
You can remove anything with Knox in the name after rooting. As always, if using Titanium Backup, backup the app before deleting or freeze it. I don't see anything wrong with renaming the bloatware (apk & odex files).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be better off using Titanium Backup for finding which APK belong to which process. Backup Assistant is baked into the system. Even after uninstalling all of Verizon's applications, Backup Assistant will still exist in the settings (opening a menu results in Settings crashing). I won't be able to help you with vmmhux.apk.
According to Titanium, Verizon Mobile Security is /system/app/VMS.APK

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