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I’m running Mac OS X 10.6.8. I like my dock to contain only running apps, so I’ve removed all other icons from there (by clicking and dragging them out of the dock).

However, every time I restart my computer, the icons for Facetime and the App Store re-appear in the dock, even though the apps aren’t running.

How can I remove them from the dock permanently?

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Go to /Library/Preferences (root library, not ~) and locate the file com.apple.dockfixup.plist. Open the file with an application like Dashcode or Textwrangler. Locate the following part under the 10.6.6 section:

    <array>
            <dict>
                    <key>path</key>
                    <string>/Applications/App Store.app</string>
                    <key>after</key>
                    <string>begin</string>
            </dict>
            <dict>
                    <key>after</key>
                    <string>/Applications/Safari.app</string>
                    <key>path</key>
                    <string>/Applications/FaceTime.app</string>
            </dict>
    </array>

Delete that section and then save the file (make sure you keep a backup of the original), then either log out and back in, or try killall Dock.

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Well done that man. – Paul D. Waite Jul 17 '12 at 16:58
up vote 2 down vote

Do other apps remain in the dock after being removed and restarted? Does this behavior also occur when you log out and back in?

I'll assume yes on both until more information is supplied:

Barring some extraneous application modifying the dock .plist (which is unlikely that you're unaware of) it might be locked or otherwise unwritable for you. Check the permissions on your ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist file, making sure you have Read/Write.

If you want, you can modify the file directly to see if you have the rights to do so, but theres a whole lot that can go wrong with that. Instead, modify your dock and see if the file's date modified changes. If it doesn't, your dock isn't writing the plist correctly.

If it's not a big issue, you can simply back-up and delete the com.apple.plist file and reconfigure the dock to your liking.

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Alrighty: the behaviour does aso occur when I log out and back in (i.e. if I remove the two apps from the Dock, then log out and log back in, they reappear in the Dock when I’m logged in again). However, this doesn’t happen with any other apps — it’s just FaceTime and the App Store, which (I think — it’s a laptop issued to me by the place I’m working, so I didn’t set it up myself) were added to the Dock by OS X. – Paul D. Waite Apr 12 '12 at 8:29
I have read and write permissions on the Dock’s plist file, and when I remove the icons from the Dock, the modified date of the plist file changes. When I log out and log back in, the last modified date of the plist file changes again, so I guess it’s being re-set on log out or log in. – Paul D. Waite Apr 12 '12 at 8:31
I backed up and trashed the Dock’s plist file, then logged out and logged in, removed all icons from the Dock, then logged out and logged in again. The App Store and FaceTime icons reappeared in the Dock again. There is a file next to the Dock’s plist file called com.apple.dock.db — not sure if that’s got some more permanent settings in it. – Paul D. Waite Apr 12 '12 at 8:34
I’ve tried deleting com.apple.dock.db too, and the icons still come back after every log out/restart. – Paul D. Waite Jul 17 '12 at 15:13

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