Thunderbolt: Apps that are safe to remove once rooted (and how to put them back!)

[anon(220176)]

I moved the Kindle APK to my SD card but now "com.amazon.kindle" appears in the app list and when I run it, it just tells me there is an issue with Kindle and it has to force close.

Any way to remove it? I didn't see while browsing with super manager.

Try to reboot. If that doesn't work, pull out the battery. It works with mine.

The problem I have is that I removed VCast.apk but the icon is still shown in the "All Application" list.

 

[ForNein]

Try to reboot. If that doesn't work, pull out the battery. It works with mine.

The problem I have is that I removed VCast.apk but the icon is still shown in the "All Application" list.

A reboot fixed it. Thanks.

 

[tekhna]

Does marking apps as old prevent them from starting up? If so, how much more available RAM do you guys have without all this garbage running in the background?

 

[shovelheadhd]

I know a few post have said that they disabled Vzw backup assistant and I just wanted to say that I was also able to move the three files with no problems. I will say that I never used the backup service since all my contacts and emails were already ported using my google account from having an OG Droid.

I did make a backup using CWM before I uninstalled it just to be on the safe side but so far no ill effects from moving the files to my sd card and renaming them.

The biggest reason I moved these apps was not for space but just because I didn't like seeing the service running when I wasn't using or ever going to use the service.

Make a backup in Clockworkmod if you do decide to do this yourself just to protect yourself since Cory has said he doesn't recommend that you remove them.

 

[irie27]

I haven't been able to find information on being able to remove Vcast Media Manager. Is this safe, and if so, which files can I move?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[Cory Streater]

I know a few post have said that they disabled Vzw backup assistant and I just wanted to say that I was also able to move the three files with no problems. I will say that I never used the backup service since all my contacts and emails were already ported using my google account from having an OG Droid.

I did make a backup using CWM before I uninstalled it just to be on the safe side but so far no ill effects from moving the files to my sd card and renaming them.

The biggest reason I moved these apps was not for space but just because I didn't like seeing the service running when I wasn't using or ever going to use the service.

Make a backup in Clockworkmod if you do decide to do this yourself just to protect yourself since Cory has said he doesn't recommend that you remove them.

Good move on the Clockwork backup. It has saved my bacon a few times. I'll checkout moving the backup assistant program. In the past, removing it would have bricked other phones, but it sounds like people aren't having trouble wit this one.

 

[Cory Streater]

I haven't been able to find information on being able to remove Vcast Media Manager. Is this safe, and if so, which files can I move?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

It's part of vCast.apk and it's safe to move.

 

[irie27]

Interesting, I don't have the vcast.apk in my sysyem/app folder, but the vcast media manager icon is still displayed and the program runs.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[DJBeanPole]

If handcent is installed, is it safe to remove the Messages app? Or does handcent require it to function?

 

[reyxlp]

Interesting, I don't have the vcast.apk in my sysyem/app folder, but the vcast media manager icon is still displayed and the program runs.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

VCast Media Manager has a separate APK. I had to scroll slowly to find it but I eventually did. Have a closer look, maybe yours is still there, too.

 

[DJBeanPole]

Another question:

I moved alot of things over [to the SD card] that I didn't want, and I'm sure some of them were associated with widgets. Question being: when I open up Personalize and click on widgets, I see the normal stuff that I kept, but I also see some weird things such as: #b2191919, #ff000000, 0.0dip, 80.0dip, false (listed twice)... and thats it.

How do I make these go away?

Clicking on them causes a "The application Rosie Utility (process com.htc.RosieUtility) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again."

Interesting *wrings hands*

 

[DJBeanPole]

Moto is a different animal, but I'll see if one of the Advisers can take this on.





This is why:

When you move an app (and ODEX if applicable) file, from /system/app to the SD card, the permissions change from rw-r--r-- (to) --rwxr-x. The owner/group changes from root/root to system/sdcard_rw. The app disappears from the app drawer and all is good.

Now, lets say you move them back for some reason:

• When you move them back, the permissions remain what they were on the SD card.
• The apps (e.g., VZ Nav) will not show up in the app drawer - even after a reboot.
• You have to put the permissions back to rw-r--r-- and then reboot before they will show up in the app drawer again.
• If it's Sense related (e.g., one of the widgets), you MUST go into settings > applications > manage applications > HTC Sense > and clear data; otherwise, they will not show up in the widget pick list. After you do so, Sense will revert back to the out of the box config; including wallpapers, widgets, etc.
• The owner/group of these files will remain system/sdcard_rw, but that doesn't seem to have any negative impact.

The best way to change the permissions - is to use Root Explorer.

1. Move your apps from the SD card to your /system/app folder.
2. If it isn't already, mount the folder as R/W
3. Press down on the file you want to change the permissions on then select permissions from the popup. If you get an error that it isn't read/write, then you didn't mount the folder.
4. Next, you should get a popup that allows you to change permissions. Change them as follows:

[table=head;width=50em]Group|Read|Write|Execute

User|Checked|Checked|Not Checked

Group|Checked|Not Checked|Not Checked

Others|Checked|Not Checked|Not Checked
[/table]

ADB should also be able to do this, but no time for me to try that at the moment.

Ok so reading somewhat answered my question...

But I don't want to see these at all in the Widget area under Personalize. I'm never going to use them, so why would I want to see them. If I have to leave them as f00000.whatever I will, but is there not a way to just have it disappear all together?

 

[fatboy97]

These are great.... THANKS Cory!!!

 

[anon(220176)]

VCast Media Manager has a separate APK. I had to scroll slowly to find it but I eventually did. Have a closer look, maybe yours is still there, too.

Do you remember the name of the file? I already moved VCast.apk and the VCast Media icon is still in my "All application".

 

[Hawk11nw]

Hi folks, brand new Android user just soaking up all the info you guys provide, that aside, I believe the file you need to get rid of to get rid of the Vcast media pack is "NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket.apk", I followed the other gentlemans advice about scrolling slow and noticed the icon. Once I moved that to the bloatware folder the icon was gone. Hope this helps=)

OH! And Thank you much Cory, easy to follow steps. My new addiction is getting better and better the more I read!

 

[reyxlp]

Hi folks, brand new Android user just soaking up all the info you guys provide, that aside, I believe the file you need to get rid of to get rid of the Vcast media pack is "NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket.apk", I followed the other gentlemans advice about scrolling slow and noticed the icon. Once I moved that to the bloatware folder the icon was gone. Hope this helps=)

OH! And Thank you much Cory, east to follow steps. My new addiction is getting better and better the more I read!

Yep, that's the one on mine, too!

 

[anon(220176)]

Hi folks, brand new Android user just soaking up all the info you guys provide, that aside, I believe the file you need to get rid of to get rid of the Vcast media pack is "NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket.apk", I followed the other gentlemans advice about scrolling slow and noticed the icon. Once I moved that to the bloatware folder the icon was gone. Hope this helps=)

OH! And Thank you much Cory, easy to follow steps. My new addiction is getting better and better the more I read!

Dude.. that's AWESOME!! Thanks for the tips.

I am trying to figure out now if I can remove GMAIL (NOT HTC Mail)...

 

[Jerm#AC]

So just to make sure that I am understanding this thread correctly. Instead of moving or deleting the files I can just rename them to <filename>.apk.old and they won't show up in the app drawer anymore? And in this case the updates will still work? or at worst I'd have to remove the .old before the update?

thanks,
jerm

 

[adrienqa66]

Thank you Cory!

Interesting, I moved the VVM.apk and corresponding VVM.odex and the Voice Mail icon went straight to the "All messages" section in "Messages" (because when you click on the "Messages" icon, there are three icons listed at the bottom of the screen that you can switch between, "All messages," "SMS/MMS," and Voice Mail).

Now Voice Mail is completely gone and so clicking on the Voice Mail icon doesn't lead me to a screen where I can even click to call regular voicemail.
The Voice Mail screen does mention Visual Voicemail at the top of it, but also has regular voicemail as well and instructs one to "tap" the screen for access.

Well, I moved the two files back to where they were before (VVM.apk and VVM.odex) and the screen is still gone.

I'm wondering if another file was involved... for example, many people reported that (re)moving Blockbuster.app didn't remove the icon from the app drawer. Well, the fix for that was to move NewBayVault_4.2.96.VZMarket.apk.

That did the trick for me and it dealt with the pesky icons (such as the VCast Media icon that still remained in the app drawer; as well as the Blockbuster icon).

I'm wondering if voicemail has a similar situation.

 

[adrienqa66]

I noticed that from within the Root Expander, other files in the /system/app folder have the "Group" (viewable when you long-press on the icon and then select "Properties") set to: root.

However, VVM.apk and VVM.odex do not; they strangely have "Group" set to: sdcard-rw. This is true even though the files are in the /system/app folder!

I see no way to change this. I wonder if this is something that is "confusing" the phone.

Interesting.

Whenever I try to install the VVM.apk package, the installation does not succeed. So, no, that doesn't "restore" the Voicemail screen.

I don't know why restoring the files doesn't seem to work.