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Applications not listed in System Profiler
#32965 02/06/15 11:58 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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When I run System Profiler and scroll down to Applications on the left column, I get the message "No information found."

Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
deniro #32967 02/07/15 12:24 AM
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I believe System Profiler relies on Spotlight; sounds like you've got it de-activated.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
artie505 #32984 02/07/15 07:50 PM
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I don't know how to de-activite Spotlight. It look ok to me.

Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
deniro #32988 02/07/15 09:15 PM
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Are you sure you are waiting long enough for System Profiler to populate the applications list? It only happens when you select Applications and populating the list can take a surprisingly long time.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
deniro #32989 02/07/15 09:47 PM
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Expanding on joemike's question, do you see the little work wheel spinning up-top in the middle?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
artie505 #32990 02/07/15 09:50 PM
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Yes, I am waiting long enough. No, I don't see the spinning wheel. The message is "No information found," which I also get when I click the choice right below it, "Developer." Might have something to do with location of folders.

Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
deniro #32991 02/07/15 10:04 PM
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Try clicking on "Extensions", "Fonts", "Frameworks", and "Logs", and see what happens. ("Developer" may be unpopulated by default.)

I see nothing in "Applications", because, if I've got it right, I've got Spotlight de-activated, but those other four are populated when I select them. (Dunno why Spotlight doesn't affect them, too. confused )

(I'm assuming that your applications are located in /Applications.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
artie505 #33002 02/08/15 06:37 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
I believe System Profiler relies on Spotlight; sounds like you've got it de-activated.

Are you sure it's using Spotlight? Spotlight wasn't introduced until OS X 10.4 Tiger, but System Profiler would give you a list of applications long before that.

Launch Services would be a more logical way to get a list of applications. Keeping track of all your applications is a large part of what Launch Services does.

Launch Services automatically indexes applications in the "standard" places (/Applications, /Applications/Utilities, ~/Applications, /System/Library/CoreServices), and will also automatically index any applications in the same folder as an application you launch manually (as by double-clicking it).

Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
ganbustein #33003 02/08/15 07:40 PM
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Could I have deleted a folder I shouldn't have? Not the programs, just an empty folder that had to be in place. For example, some folders in the Hard Drive pathway have icons on them: Applications, Library System, Users. New, blank folders do not have icons on them.

I'm a deleter. I also re-installed the system a couple weeks ago. I haven't had this problem in this past. I don't see how I could have disabled Spotlight.

Last edited by deniro; 02/08/15 07:41 PM.
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
deniro #33005 02/08/15 08:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
… some folders in the Hard Drive pathway have icons on them: Applications, Library System, Users. New, blank folders do not have icons on them.

OS X does not create blank folders uselessly. Those folders may well have had hidden files and/or hidden folders in them. Since you are a self confessed "deleter" you may need to keep "Show hidden files" turned on to be sure.

in terminal: defaults delete com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
ganbustein #33006 02/08/15 09:32 PM
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Originally Posted By: ganbustein
Are you sure it's using Spotlight?

Absolutely not!

I merely repeated what was posted when I asked the same question as deniro sometime in the past.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
artie505 #33007 02/08/15 10:08 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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While troubleshooting, I accidentally deleted a whole bunch of stuff, many of my programs, a huge mistak. So I restored with my SuperDuper backup clone and then re-installed the system from the CD.

I don't know if I added this previously or the system reinstall added it, but what was missing was an alias to an Applications folder. So Sys Profiler works now with:

Hard Drive>Users>myusername>Applications alias


Last edited by deniro; 02/08/15 10:09 PM.
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
deniro #33008 02/08/15 10:27 PM
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That's odd!

There can be an Applications folder in your home folder (It will even be created with an OS X "Applications" icon.), but there's no reason for there to be an alias unless you created it yourself for some reason.

If you select the alias and hit command-R, to what does it resolve? (Alternatively, control-click > Show Original)

Edit: Do you actually see /Users/myusername/Applications alias as a path in System Profiler?

Last edited by artie505; 02/09/15 01:33 AM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
ganbustein #33011 02/09/15 03:01 AM
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Originally Posted By: ganbustein
Are you sure it's using Spotlight?

I take back my original response.

I just remembered that after I posted I did a clean install, and I remembered to look in System Profiler before I disabled Spotlight, and it found the apps in both /Applications and in /Volumes/HD2/Downloads.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
artie505 #33018 02/09/15 02:09 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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Maybe I made the alias. The original folder is Hard Drive>Applications.

Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
deniro #33033 02/09/15 09:47 PM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
Maybe I made the alias. The original folder is Hard Drive>Applications.

Then you most assuredly created the alias yourself!

But I don't see how it could affect System Profiler's functionality.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
artie505 #33078 02/12/15 11:24 PM
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Actually, there may be something to the APPLICATIONS ALIAS icon automatically bring created.

When I did a clean install this past month, I reinstalled YOSEMITE. In MY HOME FOLDER there was an APPLICATIONS ALIAS ICON (with arrow) created which I did not make myself. Clicking on it takes me to the standard APPLICATIONS FOLDER, as expected.

On a similar note, the USER LIBRARY FOLDER (not alias - no arrow) now appears automatically in the HOME FOLDER . . . whereas in Mavericks one had to go to the FINDER task bar, select GO and press the OPTION KEY at the same time to quickly find the USER LIBRARY folder.

Not that any of this information is going to dramatically change one's life. grin

Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
MG2009 #33079 02/12/15 11:34 PM
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I don't know about Yosemite; both deniro and I are running Snowy, in which that alias is anomalous.

I wonder what your alias's purpose is? Perhaps to gently nudge users towards keeping all their apps in one place rather than splitting them between /Applications and /Users/yourshortusername/Applications?

I had heard about /Users/yourshortusername/Library having been restored to visibility; did I also hear that making it invisible is now a preference?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
artie505 #33080 02/13/15 12:50 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
I don't know about Yosemite ...
I had heard about /Users/yourshortusername/Library having been restored to visibility; did I also hear that making it invisible is now a preference?

The visibility of a User Library in Yosemite can be toggled on and off via a checkbox in the Finder’s Show View Options (View menu > Show View Options > Show Library Folder). However, due to Yosemite’s contextual controls, the Show View Options are only visible when a Finder window is open. Likewise, this Show Library Folder option is only visible when the Home window showing the user’s Library is open. You can no longer see all available controls of any control window, only those that are applicable to the particular view that exists at that moment.


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Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
alternaut #33081 02/13/15 12:59 AM
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Thanks.

OS X is becoming remarkably unintuitively intuitive. tongue


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
alternaut #33093 02/13/15 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted By: alternaut
However, due to Yosemite’s contextual controls, the Show View Options are only visible when a Finder window is open. Likewise, this Show Library Folder option is only visible when the Home window showing the user’s Library is open. You can no longer see all available controls of any control window, only those that are applicable to the particular view that exists at that moment.

It's always been that way. The view options panel has only ever shown you the options applicable to the current view of the current Finder window (and affects only the base folder of that window).

Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
ganbustein #33105 02/14/15 04:46 PM
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Originally Posted By: ganbustein
It's always been that way.

After revisiting a few previous OSes I have to agree that the Finder View options I described aren’t good examples of increased contextual controls in Yosemite. Perhaps you could say that Apple is actually getting more consistent in that respect, but more often than not I find that I still don’t like it. Particularly in situations into which I rarely venture, as apparently those Finder prefs. The situation reminds me of computer games in which you have to repeatedly explore all objects onscreen depending on conditions in order to gain potentially important information, and easily miss a crucial clue. Perhaps there should be a pref for that too. wink


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Re: Applications not listed in System Profiler
alternaut #39431 03/13/16 05:00 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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"So Sys Profiler works now with: Hard Drive>Users>myusername>Applications alias"

I don't know why I typed this, because I have the same problem and this didn't solve it. It might be spotlight after all.


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