Get Rid of those Pesky Crash Reports Today!

I hate it when an application crashes, it is far and beyond annoying; the only thing that pisses me off more is the popup that shows up after it crashes asking if I want to send all of my personal information to Apple… Of course I do NOT! So why bother with these pesky solicitations of privacy when you can easily get rid of them? Simply open up Terminal and enter the following command:

defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none

If for any reason you lose your mind and decide to reactivate these popups, retype the code replacing “none” with “prompt”

Submitted on December 17, 2007 at 9:41 am - Get Rid of those Pesky Crash Reports Today! was written by Michael Zhao - There have been 6 comments - Categorized in Advanced Tips, Terminal Tips

6 Responses to “Get Rid of those Pesky Crash Reports Today!”

Charlie

I actually like to fill out those crash reports, for I believe that the information Apple receives as to why the program crashed (what was going on at that particular moment) will help Apple fix the bugs that the program has so that can release an update. The more people that submit these reports, the quicker these programs will be fixed and the better they will be. December 17th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Splyntyr

I send these reports in all the time. What is the big privacy concern here? Someone gets my machine configuration and maybe what website I was visiting with no personally identifiable information. Even if they could trace it to me - who cares? So someone at Apple knows that someone somewhere is surfing eBay or googling 'britney spears.' Shocker!!

This information actually helps developers gather information that can help them write more robust code, so in reality your "tip" is making us less productive by inhibiting a very important part of the development cycle, which is user feedback. December 17th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Edwin

Agreeing with Charlie here... those reports are to aid Apple in fixing WHY the program has crashed - except unlike M$ these bugs usually get looked at and incorporated to either an update or the next release. December 17th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Michael Zhao

I disagree because, although I am an avid fan of apple, I still do not trust any large company with my information on principle. I respect that you feel submitting the reports is doing well but personally, I don't think they are. That's for the testers and QQ agents to work out. My thoughts on what they do with this info is that they have automated machines study it to see how people use their computers and how they can use this data to make more money in the future.

@Edwin: You compare Apple to M$ but let's rewind here, which company was indicted on charges of Backdating stock options? It wasn't Microsoft. Although I love Apple products and Apple culture, the company is still a company not my best friend to whom I tell all my secrets.

Not: this is my opinion, you are entitled to yours December 17th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Omer Zach

@Edwin: What makes you say that the Borg (Microsoft) doesn't look at the crash reports? December 18th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Edwin

@Micheal: I respect your opinion but you can see what the report is submitting be for you do so, and it only submits what program crashed and possibly how it crashed or causes. This shouldn't be confused with 'beta testers' jobs, that prerelease work as opposed to gathering data to find out what improvements can be made. But as you stated, it's your opinion. As for Apple Stock, not really caring that much about that.

@Omer: It's possible that the Borg (lol) does look at them, I should have stated actually DOING something with them. December 26th, 2007 at 7:08 pm