What is "dashboardadvisoryd"

[mark hunte]

Little snitch tells me this wants to contact apple.

I have no real problem with that, but any one know what it wants to do when it does ??

[NovaScotian]

Does it to me too. It's .plist says:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Command</key>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/dashboardadvisoryd</string>
<key>OnDemand</key>
<true/>
<key>ServiceName</key>
<string>com.apple.dashboard.advisoryd</string>
</dict>
</plist>
I let it go

[bramley]

I've also noticed this - if you look in /Library/Receipts for the BOM file for the 10.4.7 update you will find a few references to "dashboardadvisoryd" So I conclude it's new with 10.4.7.

Looking in the info for the update here (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303771), there is this note:-
You can now verify whether or not a Dashboard widget you downloaded is the same version as a widget featured on (www.apple.com) before installing it.

I guess that's what it is about - I decided it's being a bit nosey so have stopped it with Little Snitch.

[NovaScotian]

I guess that's what it is about - I decided it's being a bit nosey so have stopped it with Little Snitch.
I suspect that setting "OnDemand" to false in its plist would stop it as well.

[mark hunte]

It seems odd apple would start version checking on widgets.

But I see no harm in it.


Thanks Guys..

[voldenuit]

I think this is a Bad Move by Apple.

Whatever phones home does at the very least have to ask for permission, state what data exactly it wants to transmit and should default to off.

The fact that many of us consider Apple to be the Good Guys does not change this very basic principle.

[NovaScotian]

I think this is a Bad Move by Apple.

Whatever phones home does at the very least have to ask for permission, state what data exactly it wants to transmit and should default to off.

The fact that many of us consider Apple to be the Good Guys does not change this very basic principle.
Agreed. That's what keeps Little Snitch in business - people don't ask.

[bramley]

The fact that everybody's copy of 10.4.7 is phoning home in this way does constitute a security risk since my DNS server/cache could be poisoned and dashboardadvisoryd pointed to a different server which then downloads (I assume dashboardadvisoryd has this function) a new set of less-than-benign widgets - the security risks of which have already been commented on.

The risk of this actually happening is small, but the payoff for a black-hat hacker is high.

[NovaScotian]

The fact that everybody's copy of 10.4.7 is phoning home in this way does constitute a security risk since my DNS server/cache could be poisoned and dashboardadvisoryd pointed to a different server which then downloads (I assume dashboardadvisoryd has this function) a new set of less-than-benign widgets - the security risks of which have already been commented on.

The risk of this actually happening is small, but the payoff for a black-hat hacker is high.
In my case, Little Snitch to the rescue. Just say no.

[bramley]

I ought to add that since my last post, I've noticed that Apple has also added a digital certificate to the system keychain specifically for dashboardadvisoryd, which should ensure that connections go to the right server - so not quite as irresponsible I had painted.

[voldenuit]

Nonetheless, not communicating and not defaulting to not to phone home are inexcusable.

Didn't they learn their lesson with the iTunes mini-store ?

[beausmith06]

Check this link, it will tell you history and how to stop it: http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/07/07/privacy/index.php

[hai_ok]

Apple are the good guys. Seriously when you compare them to others in the industry (and we have all seen the nasty prostitution of your poor pc) they really stand alone in design, performance and integrity. Not to say that they shouldn't ask before they phone home. Maybe they break a few rules, but they have the cleanest hands in the industry.

I honestly have seen the guts of a lot of these kinds of things, and I have written more than a few of my own. When you set about writing something, adding functionality that lets an app check on things outside of the users closed system is irresistible because of the sheer usefulness of the limitless things you can tap into. And that's the point of a LOT of widgets. To relay and feed you info at the press of a single button. Like weather. You're not getting that from a rain gage, barometer and stuff all crammed into your mac. So I think they find it safe to assume that you don't mind if this particular facet of the dash can reach out and touch home once in a while.

On the other hand... I hate Widgets. I really do. After I read a short piece on the amount of system resources consumed by them (because they are always running) I decided immediately to disable them. In fact, it's the first thing I do on any machine under my oversight. I think they are cute and stuff. But not for utilitarian, administrative and production environments, there really is no reason to have them running.

Don't get me wrong, I have a top-of-the-line machine. And even though it's not FULL of as much RAM as I can pack into it and I have run a lot of resource hungry things at the same time and haven't seen it slow down at all, I still want to trim the fat. I take it very seriously when I decide what should be installed an running on anything I use, set up or administer.

In the end, you are right. Anything that phones home, should ask. Otherwise, it should default to off.

Good link (above). And when Apple says they take your privacy very seriously, I for one, believe them.

[daliscar55]

to update this discussion could anyone point out the way to disable all the widgets? id like to do that, never even contemplated howe resource hungry they could be. i never use the damn things......

[NovaScotian]

to update this discussion could anyone point out the way to disable all the widgets? id like to do that, never even contemplated howe resource hungry they could be. i never use the damn things......

The easiest way is to log out and in again, then don't touch the dock icon. Widgets don't start until the Dashboard is started for the first time.

[giskard22]

Open Terminal and enter:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

Then log out and back in.

[ActiveMan]

When I write the proposed preference:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

My dashboard no longer work.

It can be solved easily setting this value to again to No

[Aram Fingal]

Open Terminal and enter:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

Then log out and back in.

I have, in fact, used the above command on my machine to disable dashboard but still got the warning from Little Snitch about dashboardadvisoryd wanting to connect to Apple. Probably, it is also necessary to do something like NovaScotian said and set "OnDemand" to false in dashboardadvisoryd.plist.