ylluminate/Monterey_Services_Disabler.sh

Observation of results for before and after on macOS 12.7.5:

Used this to average samples over 10 minutes (measured every 5 seconds):

• https://gist.github.com/ylluminate/5e668091f1c6f0ed851250fed87ec197

Before and with Terminal.app "only" running:

$ ./resource_sampler.sh

Sampling system resources every 5 seconds for 600 seconds...
Average system resource usage over 600 seconds:                                 
Processes: 328
CPU usage: 9.89% user, 25.75% sys, 64.45% idle
Memory: 3560.79M used, 531.33M unused

After disabler applied and then with a reboot and with Terminal.app "only" running:

$ ./resource_sampler.sh

Sampling system resources every 5 seconds for 600 seconds...
Average system resource usage over 600 seconds:                                 
Processes: 305
CPU usage: 6.42% user, 24.76% sys, 68.96% idle
Memory: 3117.99M used, 974.27M unused

Perhaps not a "huge" boost by today's standards, but it's pretty big in my opinion and in the context of an always-on virtual machine.

The disabling can be pressed further if desired, by adding:

• GUI_AGENTS:

com.apple.SafariBookmarksSyncAgent
com.apple.assistantd

• SYSTEM_DAEMONS:

com.apple.cloudpaird
com.apple.itunescloudd
com.apple.parsecd
com.apple.geod
com.apple.promotedcontentd
com.apple.bird
com.apple.sbd

And you can disable or remove all of the Widgets:

#!/usr/bin/env zsh

# macOS_Widget_Eliminator.sh
# Purpose: Comprehensively disable and eliminate all widgets from running on macOS
# Version: 1.0

# Global definitions
SCRIPT_NAME="macOS_Widget_Eliminator"
LOG_FILE="${SCRIPT_NAME}.log"

# Initialize log file
echo "${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh - $(date)" > $LOG_FILE

# Function to log messages
log_message() {
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - $1" | tee -a $LOG_FILE
}

# Function to log errors
log_error() {
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - ERROR: $1" | tee -a $LOG_FILE >&2
}

# Check if script is run as root
if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
   log_error "This script must be run as root"
   exit 1
fi

# Function to disable all widgets system-wide
disable_all_widgets() {
    log_message "Disabling all widgets system-wide"
    defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES
    killall Dock
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        log_message "Successfully disabled all widgets via Dashboard settings"
    else
        log_error "Failed to disable all widgets via Dashboard settings"
    fi
}

# Function to disable Notification Center widgets
disable_notification_center_widgets() {
    log_message "Disabling Notification Center widgets"
    defaults write com.apple.ncprefs enabled -boolean NO
    killall NotificationCenter
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        log_message "Successfully disabled Notification Center widgets"
    else
        log_error "Failed to disable Notification Center widgets"
    fi
}

# Function to unload widget-related launch agents
unload_widget_launch_agents() {
    log_message "Unloading widget-related launch agents"
    launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.widget*
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        log_message "Successfully unloaded widget-related launch agents"
    else
        log_error "Failed to unload some widget-related launch agents"
    fi
}

# Function to disable individual widget extensions
disable_widget_extensions() {
    log_message "Disabling individual widget extensions"
    for extension in $(pluginkit -mva | grep -i widget | awk -F: '{print $1}'); do
        pluginkit -e ignore -i "$extension"
        log_message "Disabled widget extension: $extension"
    done
}

# Main execution
log_message "Starting widget elimination process"

disable_all_widgets
disable_notification_center_widgets
unload_widget_launch_agents
disable_widget_extensions

# Restart affected services
log_message "Restarting affected services"
killall Dock
killall SystemUIServer

log_message "Widget elimination process completed"

# Create a function to reverse the changes
create_reverse_script() {
    cat << EOF > reverse_${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh
#!/bin/zsh

# Initialize log file
REVERSE_LOG_FILE="reverse_${LOG_FILE}"
echo "reverse_${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh - \$(date)" > \$REVERSE_LOG_FILE

# Function to log messages
log_message() {
    echo "\$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - \$1" | tee -a \$REVERSE_LOG_FILE
}

# Function to log errors
log_error() {
    echo "\$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - ERROR: \$1" | tee -a \$REVERSE_LOG_FILE >&2
}

# Check if script is run as root
if [[ \$EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
   log_error "This script must be run as root" 
   exit 1
fi

# Function to re-enable all widgets system-wide
enable_all_widgets() {
    log_message "Re-enabling all widgets system-wide"
    defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO
    killall Dock
}

# Function to re-enable Notification Center widgets
enable_notification_center_widgets() {
    log_message "Re-enabling Notification Center widgets"
    defaults write com.apple.ncprefs enabled -boolean YES
    killall NotificationCenter
}

# Function to reload widget-related launch agents
reload_widget_launch_agents() {
    log_message "Reloading widget-related launch agents"
    launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.widget*
}

# Function to re-enable individual widget extensions
enable_widget_extensions() {
    log_message "Re-enabling individual widget extensions"
    for extension in \$(pluginkit -mva | grep -i widget | awk -F: '{print \$1}'); do
        pluginkit -e use -i "\$extension"
        log_message "Re-enabled widget extension: \$extension"
    done
}

# Main execution
log_message "Starting widget re-enabling process"

enable_all_widgets
enable_notification_center_widgets
reload_widget_launch_agents
enable_widget_extensions

# Restart affected services
log_message "Restarting affected services"
killall Dock
killall SystemUIServer

log_message "Widget re-enabling process completed"
log_message "Check \$REVERSE_LOG_FILE for detailed logs."
EOF

    chmod +x reverse_${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh
    log_message "Created reverse_${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh to undo the changes made by this script."
}

create_reverse_script

log_message "Widget elimination complete. A reverse script has been created."
log_message "To reverse changes, run 'sudo ./reverse_${SCRIPT_NAME}.sh'"
log_message "Check $LOG_FILE for detailed logs."