Can't install or uninstall

Bob...

Just to verify, Terminal DID return the following message when I tried the launchctl list | grep -i sophos command:

-       -5      com.sophos.uiserver
Skipping down the next line as if waiting for a command (that is, my computer was listed, as at start-up of Terminal), I entered the launchctl remove com.sophos.uiserver command.

Again, it just skipped down to the next line as if awaiting another command.

Again I will Quit & Shut-down everything & fire up the computer again.

If I don't add another message to this one, it didn't work.

                                                                                                  ~Mark33

Hi Mark33,

When launchctl succeeds it doesn't print anything. So that sounds about right.

If you run the launchectl list | grep -i sophos command again, does it print anything? It shouldn't, if the remove worked.

Bob...

VICTORY.

I began to look at things a bit differently, trying to approach the problem more in terms of processes than sophos- or savos-specific investigative work.

Although I realize there is obviously a problem within the booting process, & lauchd thinks SophosUIServer still exists, I had to accept, finally, that it was simply an anomaly (rare if not impossible in the work of coding, no?), or buried within something so well-masked I couldn't recognize it.

I began working more with Console & Activity Monitor.

I could see processes such as Page Reporter, but eliminating them proved futile.

I managed to deviate my Preferences in Security & Privacy, so that the Pop-up Problem Page was no longer seeking to Report Problem to Apple...so I knew I was onto something.

I returned to CrashReporter, which you remember had the only Sophos .plist which I couldn't erase.

Still, it has continued to seem to me that CrashReporter was the culprit, or if not the culprit then the source of a possible resoultion.

I had researched & read of adjusting my CrashReporter Preference to Server, which would cancel out the Pop-up box, but CrashReporter would continue, indefinitely evidently, writing the perpetual crashes.

It seemed a bit of a cheat solution, but at least the Pop-up would vanish & the computer would cease locking-up.

& Then I found it.

It was a Terminal command, which I was glad of, as this is my first experience with code & I wanted to succeed using it.

The command is: defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none

Shut it completely down.

No more friggin' box.

& So, another maddening chapter comes to a close.

Thanks for your help, your advice.

Hang in there!

Take care...

                          ~Mark33

I'm having the same problem. I've tried the things in this thread but cannot delete your program and it's making me crazy. It's up on my menubar... and it keeps bringing up dialog boxes. I tried installing again - to uninstall, but it won't let me. I tried the activity monitor and terminal commands.  Please - it shouldn't be this difficult. Isn't there some kind of unloader available (yes I know you have it in the noted location - but it wasn't there for me!). I'm not the only person suffering this problem.

Please - I don't want to reformat my computer, losing six plus hours because I trusted your program. BTW, I stopped working on it's own, then I tried deleting it because the uninstall wasn't there!!!

launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.sophos.uiserver.plist in Terminal unloads the menubar icon/menu but I still can't install a new package and it all reloads when I restart. I can't find any sophos files in the Library.

UPDATE:  I searched outside Sophos, and found appcleaner. So far, it appears to have worked. I challenged the fix by trying to install Sophos again and it let me move past the "installed" block. I did not install it - that was too much work, and Sophos needs to address this problem.

Ugh.

Steven

Hi Steven,

Its quite difficult to diagnose these types of issues without a lot more information e.g. what version of the OS you have, what version of our software you started with, what steps you have taken so far, what does "keeps bringing up dialog boxes" actually mean, etc. But hopefully the information here will be helpful.

If the shield is appearing the menu bar there are two places this might be configured (depending on what version of our software you have):

(1) Login items. Check System Preferences, Users & Groups, Login Items

(2) Launch Agents.

There are a few different files that are used to store Login items, depending on what version of the OS you have. Look in these places:

    /Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist

    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist

You can read and write contents of these files using the command line "defaults" program. Be careful with this program, you can seriously muck up your system with it.

For Launch Agents, you should use the commands I've written about in posts above, namely "launchctl remove" and/or "launchctl unload". Once you've managed to stop the process you can remove the file "/Library/LaunchAgents/com.sophos.uiserver.plist".

Thanks Bob. It was OS X 10.8.4 with Sophos 8.0.16 (I think). The dialog box was referrencing the server, I followed everything contained within this thread without success, until I used appcleaner.  I also scoured other threads on your help site without personal success.  I don't recall deleting Sophos, but even if I did and did so without the uninstall program, there should be a tool available on your site that allows for removal at least in the ways appcleaner did. This is just my opinion and I understand there are different causes and problems.  Also, until today I never heard of appcleaner so I do not benefit for mentioning it.

I appreciate your program is free to the individual end user, but would like to feel safer removing your code from my system when I choose to do so. Further, I appreciate your expedient response.

Steven

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stevenremote wrote:

I appreciate your program is free to the individual end user, but would like to feel safer removing your code from my system when I choose to do so.

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Hi Steven,

I completely agree with you. We have no interest in forcing users to keep our software installed if they no longer want it. On the other hand, its somewhat difficult for us to prevent users from doing harmful things to themselves even when well intentioned. Hope you can appreciate the difficulty of that.

Your suggestion to post a separate "remove" program or script is a good one, we will likely do this in the future.