Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

It's definitely a comprehensive guide, and disabling "phone home" services is the heaviest-hitting bit — but it's not a single large script for a reason, and as the guide mentions you should at least scan the list before blindly disabling agents named "CoreLocationAgent" and "notificationcenterui" and "TMCacheDelete".


Which "phone home" services would you suggest as being safe to disable in general?


If you'd prefer being harder to track over having Time Machine, push notifications, and several sync services work, then you can disable most of them; if you'd prefer services to work and usability of your applications, none of them.

If you're not sure of the nuances (or the pros/cons of using a "secure" Mac OSX install vs a secure Linux distro), you should research each of the services you're disabling to at least appreciate the attack surface each surface adds to your machine.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: