[Guide] How to remove Bloatware from the Thunderbolt

[Bretski]

I do not get that prompt when I download root explorer

 

[mfancy]

I still see the apps in the app drawer after I moved them. What did I do wrong?

 

[Cyber Warrior]

I still see the apps in the app drawer after I moved them. What did I do wrong?

Reboot your phone.

 

[mfancy]

Reboot your phone.

Still there

 

[mfancy]

Ok got everything off except for Blockbuster app. No idea why it won't move. Any ideas?

 

[dethanb]

G'Day to all of you fine folks.

I'm not sure if this thread is still monitored as the last post is a couple of months old now. If it is still monitored, than read on...

First off, a huge thank you to all who provide support for us Noob's. I've been a BB guy for years, mainly for the push to talk feature (and a requirement of my job), but recently took the plunge into the Droid side of the world. The Thunderbolt is my first Droid, and I like some features/functions of the unit, but I sure do miss some of the functionality of my Blackberry. So, a HUGE thank you to Scott Streater, Android Police, team AndIRC, and everyone else that makes life so much more enjoyable for us that hate the big business bullying and force feeding.

With that being said, I am a virgin NOOB to Droids and Rooting. I read all that I could read, and have successfully rooted my Thunderbolt. Thank you very much for the instructions. Some issues I ran into in the rooting process is the loading of the ROM's. I loaded and loaded and loaded the ROM's over and over and I could not get them to unzip on the phone. I happened across a post that said to change the names on the SD card (as I had been renaming them on my computer before pushing over) which was the only way I could get it to work. So, if any folks are having the same issue, give that a try.

Files that I've successfuly moved from the /System/App/ folder without errors so far are:

----------------------------------------

Volume in drive P is HTC
Volume Serial Number is 45C0-0FF2

Directory of P:\.Thunderbloat\system\app

07/02/2011 09:09 PM 840,722 Blockbuster_htc.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 681,987 CityID.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 1,691,610 com.htc.FMRadioWidget.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 143,408 com.htc.FMRadioWidget.odex
02/26/2011 07:55 AM 755,790 com.htc.MusicWidget.apk
02/26/2011 07:55 AM 113,624 com.htc.MusicWidget.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 312,891 com.htc.TwitterWidget.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 75,728 com.htc.TwitterWidget.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 232,829 Flickr.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 262,288 Flickr.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 622,607 GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 1,316,474 HtcFMRadio.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 423,240 HtcFMRadio.odex
07/03/2011 07:03 PM 531,451 HtcMIM.apk
07/03/2011 07:03 PM 739,128 HtcMIM.odex
07/03/2011 06:57 PM 229,066 HtcMimWidget.apk
07/03/2011 06:57 PM 90,344 HtcMimWidget.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 205,119 SearchAnywhere.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 215,728 SearchAnywhere.odex
02/26/2011 07:55 AM 1,860,411 Gmail.apk
07/03/2011 07:12 PM 475,301 HtcGreader.apk
07/03/2011 07:12 PM 1,138,280 HtcGreader.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 177,509 HtcTipWidget.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 32,352 HtcTipWidget.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 650,392 HtcTwitter.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 595,720 HtcTwitter.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 9,057 HTMLViewer.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 7,768 HTMLViewer.odex
07/01/2011 09:09 PM 3,224,206 Quickoffice.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 1,287,849 SlackerRadio.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 2,138,814 TuneWiki.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 798,303 VCast.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 51,573 VoiceDialer.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 91,664 VoiceDialer.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 1,247,280 VoiceSearch.apk
07/03/2011 07:16 PM 370,584 VVM.apk
07/03/2011 07:16 PM 406,200 VVM.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 2,804,118 VzNav.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 2,580,095 VZW_BitBop.apk
07/02/2011 09:10 PM 137,411,108 VZW_Golf.apk
07/02/2011 09:10 PM 5,505,609 VZW_Rhapsody.apk
07/02/2011 09:10 PM 28,683 VZW_RockbandStub.apk
07/02/2011 07:54 PM 2,295,150 Mail.apk
07/02/2011 07:54 PM 3,590,256 Mail.odex
07/02/2011 07:54 PM 2,222,019 Mms.apk
07/02/2011 07:54 PM 1,937,992 Mms.odex
07/03/2011 07:07 PM 4,121,106 HtcFootprints.apk
07/03/2011 07:07 PM 886,360 HtcFootprints.odex
02/26/2011 07:55 AM 187,453 FriendStream.apk
02/26/2011 07:55 AM 209,000 FriendStream.odex
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 64,420 QuickLookup.apk
07/02/2011 09:09 PM 79,608 QuickLookup.odex
02/26/2011 07:55 AM 1,629,716 NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket.apk
07/05/2011 08:12 AM 0 dir.txt
54 File(s) 189,599,990 bytes

Total Files Listed:
54 File(s) 189,599,990 bytes
2 Dir(s) 30,805,524,480 bytes free

----------------------------------------

I've been having some issues with the Widget Removal in that it leaves wierd file names on the screen that bother me. I'm sure they don't both the system at all, but it does me, so they remain for the time being. I do like that I've been able to free up 190MB of space on the phone for other apps. I've noticed there appears to be some substantial memory leaks in the operating system. Has anyone found some fixes for this?

Now, on to my main questions:
1) In my reading of this thread (and others), I happened across a post on this thread that (confirmed) raised a thought of mine. I've read over and over again on here "Not to delete" the files on the phone, but to move them, or rename them. If the PG05IMG_stock.zip has all of the bloatware, apps, and other information needed to reload the phone to factory specs, why would we need to save the files if our intent is to never use them again. If the phone has to go back for a warranty issue, we are going to unroot the phone, and load it to factory specs before returning it. Instead of wasting 189,599,990 bytes of SDCard storage, why not just delete them once we confirm they are not a needed application?

2) Now that I have the phone setup the way that I want it (basic apps installed and bloatware removed), how do I create a "ROM" that I can load if I need to reformat the drive. So, if I set the phone back to factory specs, how can I just "Push" a personally created ROM to the drive that will delete what doesn't need to be there, and load everything that I have setup at this point, to include downloaded apps from Market.

3) I've read in post after post about "other ROM's" availabe for people to load on their phone. Where do I find these ROM's, and is the loading of these ROM's the same process as loading the PG05IMG_stock.zip onto the phone?

4) If for some reason, my phone semi-bricks because I deleted or added a program that does this. Is there a way to get back into the phone at POST using ADB or soemthing else that will allow me to load the PG05IMG_stock.zip ROM back to the phone and bring it back to factory specs? Then load my "Safe ROM" (once I figure out how to create one) onto the phone bring it back to my useable state?

I love to experiment, and I love to take things as far as I can with modifications. I'm no noob to programming, modifying or creating files, as I'm a weekend armchair programmer. By no means am I a master at any of this, but I'd love to learn more. So, if you wanna talk a lot (like I do), or just point me to threads that cover my interests here, either works for me. Again, I truly appreciate the posts, walk-throughs, and assistance you all provide. I just want to learn more and exeriment with my phone.

Thank you very much,
~ David

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Now, on to my main questions:
1) In my reading of this thread (and others), I happened across a post on this thread that (confirmed) raised a thought of mine. I've read over and over again on here "Not to delete" the files on the phone, but to move them, or rename them. If the PG05IMG_stock.zip has all of the bloatware, apps, and other information needed to reload the phone to factory specs, why would we need to save the files if our intent is to never use them again. If the phone has to go back for a warranty issue, we are going to unroot the phone, and load it to factory specs before returning it. Instead of wasting 189,599,990 bytes of SDCard storage, why not just delete them once we confirm they are not a needed application?

2) Now that I have the phone setup the way that I want it (basic apps installed and bloatware removed), how do I create a "ROM" that I can load if I need to reformat the drive. So, if I set the phone back to factory specs, how can I just "Push" a personally created ROM to the drive that will delete what doesn't need to be there, and load everything that I have setup at this point, to include downloaded apps from Market.

3) I've read in post after post about "other ROM's" availabe for people to load on their phone. Where do I find these ROM's, and is the loading of these ROM's the same process as loading the PG05IMG_stock.zip onto the phone?

4) If for some reason, my phone semi-bricks because I deleted or added a program that does this. Is there a way to get back into the phone at POST using ADB or soemthing else that will allow me to load the PG05IMG_stock.zip ROM back to the phone and bring it back to factory specs? Then load my "Safe ROM" (once I figure out how to create one) onto the phone bring it back to my useable state?

Thank you very much,
David

Hi David, yes this thread is still monitored as are all threads on Android Central whether they're still active or not.
As for your questions, most of the info you need are in the stickies located at the top of the page in this forum.

1. Yes, you are correct in that you can delete the bloat from the phone since the unroot procedure will return everything back to stock.

2. You need to create a nandroid/backup of your stock rom. Info is here: http://forum.androidcentral.com/thu...-backup-restore-install-roms-thunderbolt.html
As for backing up apps, they are automatically saved to your Google account that was used to setup your phone. For backing up apps + app data, go here: http://forum.androidcentral.com/thu...store-apps-data-when-installing-new-roms.html

3. No its not the same process. Custom ROMs need to be flashed through ClockworkMod Recovery and the pg05img.zip needs to be installed from bootloader. More info and a full list of custom ROMs can be found here: http://forum.androidcentral.com/thu...-backup-restore-install-roms-thunderbolt.html

4. Depending on how bad the phone is, yes you can use ADB or boot into bootloader to access your nandroid/backup of your stock rom. Again, all info is in the ROM Guide that I linked.

EDIT: The auto unroot procedure will return your phone back to stock. Info here: http://www.androidcentral.com/htc-thunderbolt-auto-root-and-unroot-forums

 

[offroadace]

Re: [Guide] How to remove Bloatware from the Thunderbolt using Su

Super Explorer
Step 12a - Cut - allows you to Paste in Step 20.

 

[dethanb]

As for your questions, most of the info you need are in the stickies located at the top of the page in this forum.

Forgive me, as I'm new to this forum. You mentioned "Stickies" which to me means little yellow pieces of paper.

Maybe a hint as to what a sticky is on this forum?

Depending on how bad the phone is, yes you can use ADB or boot into bootloader to access your nandroid/backup of your stock rom. Again, all info is in the ROM Guide that I linked.

Thank you very much. I just got back from camping, and after a shower, I'll be reading more. Any and all help you all provide is awesome, and much appreciated!

THANK YOU...

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Forgive me, as I'm new to this forum. You mentioned "Stickies" which to me means little yellow pieces of paper.

Maybe a hint as to what a sticky is on this forum?

THANK YOU...

For every device listed on this site there are three separate forums... the main device page, a sub forum for hacks and a sub forum for accessories.
So for example.. this would be the Thunderbolts main page: http://forum.androidcentral.com/verizon-htc-thunderbolt-forums/
On top of all the threads you will see 5-6 sticky threads.. they are locked in place, they will always be on top for everyone to see.

Same goes for the hack thread: http://forum.androidcentral.com/thunderbolt-rooting-roms-hacks/
5-6 stickies on top... before the title of the thread, it will say "Sticky: example name"

If you have any other questions.. feel free to ask.

 

[mumfoau]

Cory...Thx a ton!! This REALLY helped me!! I wish I had found/read this prior to going in and renaming all the bloat with the .bak extension.

 

[rusticchasm]

why doesn't it let me create a new folder when i use supermanager?

 

[sr2381]

OK I'm a super noob. I opened Root Explorer, now what? What folder do I pick?

 

[JojoK32]

I downloaded Super Manager but it does not allow me to enable the Root. I just purchased this phone yesterday so maybe it can't be rooted?

 

[kiki527]

Is there another place to see the steps listed in the first post? I just get blocks saying Photobucket Bandwith Exceeded. I can see the headings in bold like this
Steps 3 - 5: Use Root Explorer to get to the bloatware:
But I can't see what the steps are.
Thank you!

 

[Daniel.Lynch]

Ok got everything off except for Blockbuster app. No idea why it won't move. Any ideas?

What did you do to get them off?
I moved the files, and rebooted my phone, and the apps are still on the list AND they still open. Any help?

 

[Daniel.Lynch]

What did you do to get them off?
I moved the files, and rebooted my phone, and the apps are still on the list AND they still open. Any help?

Don't care anymore, flashed a ROM.