How to hide the machine application icon at startup

Question

I create an automatic application and set it to run when I log in, and I check the "Hide" field, but it still appears (gear icon) in the status bar. How can I hide this?

I check the "Hide" window here:

but the gear icon is still displayed (worse, it never stops spinning!)

Can I hide this icon or stop its rotation?

Answer 1

control-click and select "Show Package Contents" in the pop-up menu. Inside the Contents folder, open Info.plist and change LSUIElement from No to Yes (when using the property list editor) - or change the line after the LSUIElement key line (if using a text editor). Save Info.plist. Now, when the alarm is triggered, the Automator plugin will work in the background without the Dock icon or menu bar, and the focus will remain on the application you are using.

Three notes:

• You may need to move the plugin from the iCal folder and work again for this. Tiger caches LSUIElement information; moving the app causes Tiger to update the cache.
• You probably don't want to do this with any iCal plugin that has dialogs or requires user interaction! It is best suited for maintenance activities, automatic downloads, etc.
• Thirdly, it will work with any Automator workflow that is saved as applications, and not just with iCal plugins. "

Then clear your cache