While the Dashboard in MacOSX is a neat utility, I basically stopped using it after the novelty wore off (I prefer to have my widgets on the Desktop itself, and thus switched to the now free Konfabulator).

Since I prefer not to have unused applications running and taking up memory, I tracked down this MacOSX hint to disable & enable the dashboard. It’s been commented elsewhere that running “killall dock” and never launching the Dashboard basically has the same effect. This is true but I prefer to disable the Dashboard altogether to prevent accidentally starting it up (requiring a logout & login to get Dashboard out of memory).

Using ScriptGUI I packaged both scripts into an executable which can be placed right on the Desktop or in your Applications or Utilities folder. Running “Disable Dashboard” removes it from memory and disables F12 and the Dashboard icon. Running “Enable Dashboard” restores it (with the previously running widgets still in place).

Download ‘Disable/Enable Dashboard’

Update: I have now also released a DisableDashboard-widget.

Note: as a user at MacOSX hints pointed out : “It’s probably also a good idea (that if you’ve disabled Dashboard and/or Spotlight), to remember that you’ve disabled them and re-enable them (just in case) before applying any system updates. I remember reading that some were having problems with the 10.4.1 update because they had disabled Spotlight beforehand.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 30th, 2005 at 15:54 and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.