bloat assassin

[iowabeakster]

Hi,

This is my first post. I've been lurking for a while. First of all, I really want to thank those folks who have been so helpful to all of us newbies. You guys and gals are wonderful.

I've had the Incredible for a month or so. I finally gave myself root access tonight. Everything went perfectly. If anybody wants some easy instructions, in linux, from somebody who just did it, I'm your man. 3 simple command lines and 3 minutes, is all it takes.

Now, before I just start killing the bloat... are there any programs I should be wary about getting rid of. I notice that Skype is always running. I take it that means that some part of the Android system is using it. Or, mabe not? I'm not sure. This is my first android phone.

Has anybody removed something, and later realized that something else stops working?

Or can I just start killing the bloat, without any worries?

For now, I'm just concerned with getting rid of stuff I don't use. And adding the stuff that I will. I don't have any problems with the stock ROM (2.2). So, I'm not sure that I gonna be diving into that pool, yet. Unless somebody has some compelling reason why I should. What do the other ROM's have that I want? Give me a good reason or two... I'll probably do it.

Lastly, if Verizon sends out a new update, I can always refuse it, correct? It won't just update automatically. Is there some setting to regulate updates that I haven't found?

Many thanks to you all, even the newbies for asking the dumb questions. Now, It's my turn to ask the dumb questions.

[Ads]

[razor02097]

Hi,

This is my first post. I've been lurking for a while. First of all, I really want to thank those folks who have been so helpful to all of us newbies. You guys and gals are wonderful.

Welcome to the forum!

I've had the Incredible for a month or so. I finally gave myself root access tonight. Everything went perfectly. If anybody wants some easy instructions, in linux, from somebody who just did it, I'm your man. 3 simple command lines and 3 minutes, is all it takes.

Now, before I just start killing the bloat... are there any programs I should be wary about getting rid of. I notice that Skype is always running. I take it that means that some part of the Android system is using it. Or, mabe not? I'm not sure. This is my first android phone.

Be careful when you are uninstalling system apps. Normally they are used for a function of the phone rather than a standard app. For example uninstalling the HTC FM radio app will disable the FM radio function. There are many System apps and some can vary depending on the ROM so before getting rid of a system app it is advisable to do some research on exactly what it does.

Has anybody removed something, and later realized that something else stops working?

Or can I just start killing the bloat, without any worries?

Bloat in the android operating system is a subjective word. Just because it is running in the background doesn't necessarily mean it is using excessive resources or battery power. Killing bloat and using ATK apps for the most part aren't necessary in the android system. Here is why...

The android OS uses memory differently than... say a windows machine... The phone keeps apps in memory in order to speed up the phone. In other words it tries to fill the memory. If the phone needs memory it will automatically kill unused tasks. It might be a little confusing to understand. Lets say if skype and other apps are on the "running applications" list but you never use them; that means your phone still has a good amount of memory it can use.

Basically the only reason to uninstall an app is if you no longer want to see it in your app drawer or if for some reason you require more space in the internal memory.

For now, I'm just concerned with getting rid of stuff I don't use. And adding the stuff that I will. I don't have any problems with the stock ROM (2.2). So, I'm not sure that I gonna be diving into that pool, yet. Unless somebody has some compelling reason why I should. What do the other ROM's have that I want? Give me a good reason or two... I'll probably do it.

Here is a suggestion. Try out an app called Titanium backup. It can be found in the android market. It allows you to backup your apps and do some pretty cool things. If you buy the pro key you can "Freeze" apps which means it stops them from ever starting and it removes the icon from your app drawer (in essence uninstalling the app without actually uninstalling it). The nice thing is you can unfreeze them if you ever need it again.

Lastly, if Verizon sends out a new update, I can always refuse it, correct? It won't just update automatically. Is there some setting to regulate updates that I haven't found?

Now that you are rooted you will have to manually update. However if you go a step further and flash a new ROM you won't have to worry about it prompting you to update. When ROMs are updated the developer usually "bakes in" the updates found on the OTA Verizon update.

Many thanks to you all, even the newbies for asking the dumb questions. Now, It's my turn to ask the dumb questions.

There are no dumb questions. If you are unable to find the answers you are looking for you are welcome to post your question in the appropriate section. We are more than happy to help you. Have fun and make yourself at home

[Fixwheel]

Welcome to the forum and the great questions. I learned something reading it also. Thanks Razor.

[mountainbikermark]

Welcome to the forum!



Be careful when you are uninstalling system apps. Normally they are used for a function of the phone rather than a standard app. For example uninstalling the HTC FM radio app will disable the FM radio function. There are many System apps and some can vary depending on the ROM so before getting rid of a system app it is advisable to do some research on exactly what it does.



Bloat in the android operating system is a subjective word. Just because it is running in the background doesn't necessarily mean it is using excessive resources or battery power. Killing bloat and using ATK apps for the most part aren't necessary in the android system. Here is why...

Basically the only reason to uninstall an app is if you no longer want to see it in your app drawer or if for some reason you require more space in the internal memory.



Here is a suggestion. Try out an app called Titanium backup. It can be found in the android market. It allows you to backup your apps and do some pretty cool things. If you buy the pro key you can "Freeze" apps which means it stops them from ever starting and it removes the icon from your app drawer (in essence uninstalling the app without actually uninstalling it). The nice thing is you can unfreeze them if you ever need it again.



Now that you are rooted you will have to manually update. However if you go a step further and flash a new ROM you won't have to worry about it prompting you to update. When ROMs are updated the developer usually "bakes in" the updates found on the OTA Verizon update.



There are no dumb questions. If you are unable to find the answers you are looking for you are welcome to post your question in the appropriate section. We are more than happy to help you. Have fun and make yourself at home

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[tweebee]

Welcome to the forum!

+1 on Titanium Back and using it to freeze apps because you can always unfreeze them later if you need any of those back.

[s197]

I've had the Incredible for a month or so. I finally gave myself root access tonight. Everything went perfectly. If anybody wants some easy instructions, in linux, from somebody who just did it, I'm your man. 3 simple command lines and 3 minutes, is all it takes.

Okay you have my interest. Can you go into some details as to what you did? Were you still superuser after reboot? Also, were you able to flash an alternate recovery?

[iowabeakster]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. And Thanks Razr, for the informative response.

It seems like there is still something(s) I am not understanding here about getting rid of the apps that I don't want. Maybe I just don't get how the phone's memory/storage works, I thought that I had pretty good grasp of this stuff, I guess not.

Here's what I think I know...

I understand the SD card. That is simple enough... removable flash memory chip. I've just got the 2gig card that came with the phone. I'm already needing a bigger one. There is my clockwork mod folder (from the rooting process) my music files, and several apps that I downloaded (amongst other odds and ends).

I understand there is an internal flash storage chip. If i go: menu>settings>SD and phone storage I see, Phone Storage --x.x of 6.6 gigs available. If I use my file manager, I can see it as /emmc. There are some downloaded apps and some odds and ends in there.

When I go menu>settings>SD and phone storage: I also see the Phone Memory --xxxmbs of 748mbs available. This is my RAM, or so I assumed.

But, I also have several apps that I've downloaded from the market (i.e. Angry Birds). They aren't located in either of those two flash storage locations (/sdcard or /emmc). I've played around moving them. I can move them to the SD card and back to the phone. But, when I move them back to the phone, I can't find where they are located. In RAM?... This confuses me.

If I use a file manager, I see the all the stock apps are located in: /system/app. Are these stock apps parts of the stock ROM?

There are some stock apps I do use. There are a whole bunch of stock apps I don't use, and don't want, and would like to remove. I understand the recommendation to freeze them with Titanium, so I could still have them for future use (i will get titanium for sure). I just know that most of these apps I will never use. I would like to have as much space for apps that I will use.

That is the whole reason why I wanted the su permissions. I just figured since there are stock apps that I do use, and my battery life is just fine, it would be easiest delete those stock apps that I don't use. Then I'd have plenty of room for the ever increasing number of apps that I am accumulating.


s197,

I hope you weren't expecting some kind of new super-hacker method of rooting. I just used unrevoked. I searched in the forums and stickies, and never found any specific newbie-friendly linux instructions. I found plenty of hand holding for the Apple and MS users, just nothing for linux users. I saw a number of people looking for help, though. Maybe the detailed instructions are around, I just didn't find them. So I thought I would offer up my procedure.

Details?

1. Download latest unrevoked for linux

2. extract to desktop

3. set phone to: USB Charge only (menu>settings>connect to pc>default connection type>charge only)

4. enable phone USB debugging (menu>settings>applications>development>USB debugging-check)

5. connect phone to computer

6. open a terminal

7. type in terminal:

cd /home/username/Desktop

(hit enter)

(Use your own "username" above. The prompt in terminal will begin with username@computername.)

8. type in terminal:

chmod +x reflash

(hit enter)

9.type in terminal:

sudo ./reflash

(hit enter)

(it will ask for your administrative password, enter)

10. Wait for the rooting process to finish.


Superuser after reboot? S-off, superuser icon in app tray

Alternate recovery? Yes

[s197]

Ah gotcha. I thought you meant you used an alternate method to root.

Regarding your question, the apps you see in the /system partition are from the stock ROM. Your downloaded apps should be in the /data/app partition. With su, you can go ahead and delete the apps from the /system partition if you like. As mentioned there can be some issues so don't go too crazy. What I would do is make a backup of your existing ROM if you're going to remove apps. You can also disable apps by doing a simple rename in ADB (just add an extension like .bak or something). Remove the extension and reboot to re-enable. Even if you are over zealous and remove too much, it's not really the end of the world, you can just flash an alternate (or stock) ROM. In fact, that might not be a bad place to start, ROMs like Virtuous remove a lot of the bloat but maintain the stock ROM for the most part. If that's what you're after.

[iowabeakster]

So, I guess I just got carried away. Now I'm running Redemption Rom 2.4. Got all my data, contacts, and setting restored back with Titanium. I've downloaded SDK and adp and been playing around with that. Check out hey it's lou's youtube channel, it had me playing around with phone/pc in no time.

YouTube - OhHeyItsLou's Channel

I've got a question about Titanium. After installing the Redemption Rom, when I run a batch backup (all user apps+system data)... I don't get the smiley face icon (signifying app+data backed-up). Now, I've just got the checkmark(signifying only data back-up). Why don't I get the smiley faces anymore? I got them using the stock ROM, and using the same batch process. Is it anything to worry about?

[s197]

I don't know about smiley faces but it's generally not a good idea to restore system data when changing ROMs. I would stick with just restoring apps.