# IZotope Product Portal menu bar icon



## Bman70

When I updated iZotope's Product Portal today, it installed a menu bar icon at the top menu where WiFi and battery is displayed (MacBook Pro running Catalina). Most apps have an option to show a menu bar icon in Preferences, but I don't see this in Portal. I'm very possessive about my menu bar, and have nothing there from 3rd party apps. If I have to I'll delete Product Portal completely, but I wonder if someone has been able to remove the icon. Thanks!


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## cuttime

I'm on High Sierra and I can't find a way to remove it, either. The ⌘ - drag trick doesn't work either. Thing is, it doesn't seem to do anything at all, and it is only there for me when the application is open. I posted other problems with this update here.


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## Bman70

The menu icon is there even when I completely close the application, and clicking it opens Product Portal. Not sure if that's what you meant. Waiting to hear from customer service. Yes Cmd+drag only works for Mac icons, not 3rd party.


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## cuttime

The icon disappears for me when I close the app. I haven't heard from CS yet on the other issue, but I did get a message saying they were having a high number of reports to attend to. I think they hosed this latest update.


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## cuttime

Bman70 said:


> When I updated iZotope's Product Portal today, it installed a menu bar icon at the top menu where WiFi and battery is displayed (MacBook Pro running Catalina). Most apps have an option to show a menu bar icon in Preferences, but I don't see this in Portal. I'm very possessive about my menu bar, and have nothing there from 3rd party apps. If I have to I'll delete Product Portal completely, but I wonder if someone has been able to remove the icon. Thanks!


Two days later and this exact problem has started for me. I still haven't heard from CS. Have you?


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## Bman70

cuttime said:


> Two days later and this exact problem has started for me. I still haven't heard from CS. Have you?


Nothing from CS yet. I found if you "force quit" the Portal (Cmd+Opt+Esc), the menu bar icon disappears. But not if you quit it normally.


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## jcrosby

Check the following locations for some kind of launch agent it installed. (I don't mess with Portal FYI. I kind of have always hated it). That said when something like this launches and doesn't go away it may very well have installed a Launch Agent...
(My guess would be this has something to do with infrastructure coming for their subscription).

I'm not suggesting deleting anything. At least you know whatever 's going on though... If it is a launch agent and doesn't have an option to disable it on startup that's shady, and you should send a follow up email to izotope telling them that...

_~/Library/LaunchAgents.
/Library/LaunchAgents.
/Library/LaunchDaemons._

(I doubt there's anything in these two. But still a good idea to check....)
_/System/Library/LaunchAgents.
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons._

You can also install EtreCheck and have it specifically scan for launch agents... (You might see some you recognize that may be needed). Pretty sure EtreCheck allows you to remove them as well, but it's been a while since I've needed to use it...






EtreCheck







etrecheck.com





If unfamiliar/curious about EtreCheck:





Using EtreCheck - Apple Community







discussions.apple.com


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## Bman70

Response from iZotope: 






Basically, they want their bloatware to always be running on your computer now, instead of you opening it when you need it. (I'm a little mad because I really liked Portal before, one of my favorite developer interfaces.) I emailed back to the effect that it doesn't need an option to "hide" the persistent running app, but an option to remove it from the menu bar, i.e. shut it down. 

@jcrosby Thanks I checked there and didn't see anything from iZotope. I'm not sure if they've made it a computer startup item, but once you open Portal it stays open in the menu bar with no way to close it. (Short of Force Quit.)


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## jcrosby

Bman70 said:


> Response from iZotope:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Basically, they want their bloatware to always be running on your computer now, instead of you opening it when you need it. (I'm a little mad because I really liked Portal before, one of my favorite developer interfaces.) I emailed back to the effect that it doesn't need an option to "hide" the persistent running app, but an option to remove it from the menu bar, i.e. shut it down.
> 
> @jcrosby Thanks I checked there and didn't see anything from iZotope. I'm not sure if they've made it a computer startup item, but once you open Portal it stays open in the menu bar with no way to close it. (Short of Force Quit.)


Ugh. I've been a die hard Ozone user. Love trash and Neutron too... But between the subscription model and this it all seems kind of greasy. Sounds like they're collecting analytics on their users now without you being able to opt out. (Which you always could previously in their plugins).
I really don't like where Izotope's heading lately. 

You bet, and that's weird. Something should show up in one of those spots. As far as I know it would either be there, or possibly in the startup items folder. (developers are more likely to hide things in the launchagents folder).

/Library/StartupItems

There's more about things you can check here:








Speed up your Mac by removing unnecessary startup and login items


Is your Mac starting up slowly? A mess of startup and login items might be to blame.




www.macworld.com





Honestly I'd email them a follow up and tell them you don't appreciate them installing a persistently running app with no way to disable it, and as far as you're concerned it might as well be malware. (Sure that's an exaggeration, but apparently thats the only kind of language that might get their attention...)


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## Bman70

Update: So customer care sent another email, this time they revealed how to shut down the app normally (Mac): In the left top menu bar, open the Product Portal dropdown. Then select Quit Product Portal. This will actually kill the menu bar right icon as well. Oddly enough, they've modified the usual Quit command (Cmd+Q) to only close the app window, while the app runs in the menu bar. A bit unusual, but not a bug apparently.


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## rnb_2

This whole thing doesn't make much sense. What is the benefit to the user of having an installation/update manager always running?


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## Bman70

rnb_2 said:


> This whole thing doesn't make much sense. What is the benefit to the user of having an installation/update manager always running?



"To make authorization more consistent and easy" was the explanation. I'm not sure what that means though. Was authorization inconsistent before? Lol


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## rnb_2

It must be connected with the subscription service - Adobe has their Creative Cloud desktop app that lives in the menu bar, and if you do the usual Cmd-Q with the window open, it pops up a dialog letting you know that this will completely shut it down, so it won't be able to let you know when applications included in your plan are updated and various other things, and allow you to just hide the app window instead (same as clicking the close button in the app window). They don't go so far as to basically hijack Cmd-Q to mean something different just for their app the way Izotope has, though.


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## jcrosby

Bman70 said:


> "To make authorization more consistent and easy" was the explanation. I'm not sure what that means though. Was authorization inconsistent before? Lol


The choice to modify the menu so the quit command closes the window but leaves the application running in the background definitely looks deliberate. I really think this is an excuse to collect analytics with no obvious way to kill it. As you said, there was nothing complicated or inconsistent about portal so it sounds like complete BS.

And considering how NI made a big deal about "daily active users" during the big announcement they made about being bought out by their overloads, it makes me even more likely to assume that's the real story here...

(But I'm a cynic with a tinfoil hat sooo )


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## cuttime

I guess I won't be updating (or subscribing) anymore.


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## fold4

Coming into this thread late, but in case it's helpful - you can remap Cmd-Q on Mac back to quit instead of "close window."

Open keyboard settings, select Shortcuts, then App Shortcuts. Add a new shortcut using the "+". Select iZotope Product Portal as the application and type in "Quit Product Portal" as the shortcut name (to match what you see in the portal application menu) and press Cmd-Q to assign the shortcut.

I can now fully quit the product portal using Cmd-Q, and the menu item goes away.

I tend to ascribe this kind of thing to developers thinking they're doing something good rather than being malicious. In their minds it makes sense to keep this menu item there. Why? Who knows. Don't care. Apple's own software is full of "good" ideas like this that they think enhance the user experience but really get in the way and create annoyances for anyone who isn't a casual computer user (and are generally of no practical benefit to the casual user.)

Support may be reporting what they've been told. It sounds like BS, but they're often not in the know and have to repeat the official line.


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## Kery Michael

Bman70 said:


> Update: So customer care sent another email, this time they revealed how to shut down the app normally (Mac): In the left top menu bar, open the Product Portal dropdown. Then select Quit Product Portal. This will actually kill the menu bar right icon as well. Oddly enough, they've modified the usual Quit command (Cmd+Q) to only close the app window, while the app runs in the menu bar. A bit unusual, but not a bug apparently.


Thanks! Just recently got Nectar and this popped up on my menu bar. Driving me nuts, could not get rid of it. Until I found this.

Re-mapping Quit to just close the window and not the app doesn't seem too honest.


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## synthetic

Thanks for the workaround, but yeah that sucks. I hate apps that hijack my menubar. Apple needs to put something in the OS that lets you nuke those.


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