How To: Disable Dashboard in OS X Mountain Lion

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How To: Disable Dashboard in OS X Mountain Lion

31 December 2012 4,362 views 6 Comments

Disable Dashboard and you can reduce RAM, battery and system resource usage, and getting it done is surprisingly easy to do

Whether you have an older model that’s getting slow or a brand new Christmas Mac, if you don’t use Dashboard, there is no reason to let it live — kill it, now. Disable Dashboard and you can reduce RAM, battery and system resource usage, and getting it done is surprisingly easy to do.

First of all, navigate to and open Terminal:

Choose a method…
• Applications > Utilities > Terminal
• Launch Pad > Utilities > Terminal
• Spotlight > Terminal

Next, to disable Dashboard, copy and paste the following command into Terminal and hit Return:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES;killall Dock

In order to re-Enable Dashboard, copy and paste the following command into Terminal and his Return:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO;killall Dock

The above method will work just fine for folks running OS X Lion.

Those running OS X Snow Leopard, try this method instead.

via MacGasm

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6 Comments »

iPad Bookmarks Disappeared? Try This Simple Fix - FairerPlatform said:

[...] posts: — How to: Disable Dashboard in OS X Mountain Lion — How to: Make Library Visible in OS X 10.8 — How to: Run Snapchat on Mac [...]

# 7 January 2013 at 12:20 am

Is my Mac AirDrop Compatible? Find Out - FairerPlatform said:

[...] posts: — iPad Bookmarks Disappeared? Try This Simple Fix — How to: Disable Dashboard in OS X Mountain Lion — How to: Make Library Visible in OS X 10.8 — How to: Run Snapchat on Mac — How to: Delete an [...]

# 8 January 2013 at 1:21 pm

BitTorrent Surf Extension for Chrome Arrives - FairerPlatform said:

[...] my Mac AirDrop Compatible? Find Out — iPad Bookmarks Disappeared? Try This Simple Fix — How To: Disable Dashboard in OS X Mountain Lion — How to: Make Library visible in OS X [...]

# 11 January 2013 at 12:58 pm

Matt-Boy said:

As I have always understood it, DashBoard doesn’t run and use resources unless you launch it. Then it stays active in memory. I have always just removed it from the dock and disabled the keyboard shortcut to launch it so I know it won’t get activated.

Is it really necessary to actually disable it in Terminal?

# 15 January 2013 at 9:49 am

How To: Combine PDFs with Preview, Automator - FairerPlatform said:

[...] Related posts: — How To: Compress PDF Files with OS X Preview — 2012 iMac Benchmarks: Fusion Drive vs SSD vs HDD — Mac Mods: Get the Mac OS [old school] Theme — Is my Mac AirDrop Compatible? Find Out — How To: Disable Dashboard in OS X Mountain Lion [...]

# 22 January 2013 at 9:44 pm

Top 10 Mac OS X Dashboard Widgets for 2013 - FairerPlatform said:

[...] See also: How To: Disable Dashboard in OS X Mountain Lion [...]

# 4 February 2013 at 12:08 am