what's the growl pop-up?

I suspect you are using one of several Mac OS X applications that install Growl to allow you to set up certain kinds of notifications.

Do you us / have you installed a chat or IM application? Those often use Growls.

The usual culprit for Growl being installed, sans user notification, is the multi-chat client Adium, or file syncing/sharing/backup service Dropbox.

But other apps also use it.

If you know how, I'd delete Growl; deleting it assumes some familiarity with System Preferences, and the System Library.

Growl is both widely used, and generally, well supported and "safe." Basically, it allows communication between apps and the OS.

See: http://growl.info/

Especially: How did Growl get on your system?

juniper said:

Oh, I added Dropbox recently. So that's probably it.

Safe to keep or should I take it to the Genius Bar and have it deleted? Growl, I mean. I like the idea of Dropbox, even if it is blocked at my job. Which is where I wanted to use it.

Thank you!

ETA: it only seems to appear when I'm logged into AW. Why would that be?

Click to expand...

Probably because you're on AW fairly often.

I'd go ahead and delete, you can likely do it yourself, if you follow instructions. See this for an easy way.

Yep - I was just about to ask if you have Dropbox. That's the issue, and on their site they apologize for it, but say it's necessary. Mind pops up nonstop. But I love Dropbox.

With regards to Dropbox, it is possible to remove it, as per the Growl site (they aren't happy about Dropbox installing it without asking you): http://growl.info/thirdpartyinstallations.php

THAT SAID, so many Mac OS X apps assume Growl is installed as a standardized system-wide notification system, it's easier to just leave it installed. If you have any app, at all, whatsoever that pops up a notification on screen for information when you're not in the app, then 99% of the time it will be using Growl. It's just much easier for apps to use Growl than write their own notification systems, especially since the end-user can configure Growl to do whatever they want in so many ways (how the notices look, when they show up, if there's noises accompanying them, etc.).

As an example of what Growl can do, I have Scrivener -- my writing program of choice -- set to pop up a notification via Growl whenever I hit 1667 words written for the day, during November. Then I can be in full screen mode, typing away, and when I hit my minimum words for the day... pop! A little notice appears on my screen. My FTP program, Transmit, also will Growl me a notice when a set of queued transfers is done. I use a program called Delivery Status that will track package statuses on UPS, FedEx, etc., and whenever the status changes in the tracking information, pop! Growl notice.

If you really find Growl annoying, I'd leave it installed and then just turn it off rather than trying to uninstall it. Then at least other apps that offer the option to install Growl won't bug you about whether or not you want to install it, and if you decide you /do/ like the options Growl gives you, you can just turn it back on later.