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MacOS disable services
System process daemons that are system-wide provided by mac os x are described by launchd preference files that can be showed with the command:
$ sudo ls -all /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/
Third party process daemons that are system-wide provided by the administrator are described by preference files that can be showed with the command:
$ sudo ls -all /Library/LaunchDaemons/
Launch Agents that are per-user provided by mac os x usually loaded when the user logs in. Those provided by the system can be found with:
$ sudo ls -all /System/Library/LaunchAgents/
Launch Agents that are per-user provided by the administrator and usually loaded when the user logs in. Those provided by the system can be found with:
$ sudo ls -all /Library/LaunchAgents/
Launch Agents that are per-user provided by the user and usually loaded when the user logs in. Those provided by the system can be found with:
$ sudo ls -all ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
Launchd also runs SystemStarter during boot, which loads legacy third-party OSX startup items that can be viewed with 2 commands:
$ sudo ls -all /System/Library/StartupItems/
$ sudo ls -all /Library/StartupItems/
Login Items are started at the very end of the user’s login and can be found with the next 2 commands:
$ sudo ls -all ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist
$ sudo nano /private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd.peruser.501/overrides.plist
+++ How to disable unneeded services from running on each startup? +++
You need to use the launchctl command as follows:
sudo launchctl unload -w /path/to/.plist/file
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/file.plist
In this example, you are disabling the Netbios service, enter:
$ sudo launchctl unload -w System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.netbiosd.plist
Disable IPv6 for Ethernet:
$ sudo networksetup -setv6off Ethernet
Disable IPv6 for Wi-Fi:
$ sudo networksetup -setv6off Wi-Fi
Disable mDNSresponder (Not working for OS X Yosemite 10.10 and newer)
$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist
$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponderHelper.plist
Disable Discoveryd (replacement for mDNSresponder) only for 10.10 Yosemite and newer.
$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist
Disable Cups 2.0
$ sudo sh -c ‘echo “Sandboxing Off” >> /etc/cups/cups-files.conf’
Disable imclient (Facetime)
$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.imagent.plist
Disable notification center, with these 2 commands:
$ sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui KeepAlive -bool false
$ sudo killall NotificationCenter
Disable Apple push notification:
$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.apsd.plist
Disable Calender agent
$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.CalendarAgent.plist
How to check if the unloaded service is still running (Replace NAME with anything you want)
$ sudo launchctl list | grep NAME
Get a simple list to view with what IP addresses you are connected, and from what program the connection is coming:
$ sudo lsof -P -n -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN,ESTABLISHED | less
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