LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  This is Pedro, one of the devs. Activity Profiler should show the correct information if you use Xslimmer 1.7.4 - no need for workarounds like the one described by chriswan should now be necessary.

Thanks for your comments!  
(Version 1.7.4)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  Hi Mazzboy,

Usually, apps that perform some sort of startup check and have not yet been added to the blacklist refuse to start at all, but it's very rare that they crash due to having been slimmed down. Please, note also that no system libraries or components should have been touched during the process.

Could you please contact us so that we can follow your case? We'll try to identify whether there's something going on that could make your system crash.

Thanks!

--

Pedro  
(Version 1.5.3)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  Hi Jono,

Terminal.app works correctly for me after having slimmed it in my Leopard, Tiger and Panther machines. Could you please write us with details about your system, so we can investigate what could have gone wrong?

Reliability is paramount to us, so we'll do every effort to try and track this down.

Thanks!

--

Pedro  
(Version 1.5.3)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  Ok, I won't engage in a discussion about Monolingual. Users may download Monolingual, TrimTheFat, or any of the other solutions, compare them with Xslimmer, and choose the one that suits them best. This has always been the case, of course.

I would have liked that you had backup your low rating for Xslimmer on specific claims about our software that we could analyze and maybe address. Instead, it seems the reason you don't like it is apparently based on the fact that other alternatives exist. I can't see how competition makes our software worse; on the contrary, it's another reason to improve.

Anyway, we read all comments here and all emails sent to our address. We'll seriously study any ideas, suggestions or problem reports. Do not hesitate to send your feedback in whatever way you prefer.   
(Version 1.2.8)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  @Brettd

I don't like to comment on other developers' work, but I believe that Xslimmer and Monolingual are quite different. Monolingual could have a greater appeal for some users, and while that's of course perfectly fine, it doesn't mean it's a better (or a worse) product.

Xslimmer will allow you to select which applications you want to slim, and will not deal with system libraries, frameworks or components. According to Monolingual's comments thread here in MacUpdate, Monolingual is essentially a batch tool and you have to be careful not to remove essential files in your system (Rosetta can be destroyed, for example, making it impossible to run PowerPC applications).

Monolingual requires the user to select from a list what architectures should be preserved, while Xslimmer automatically uses the best one for the machine it is running on. Some users may find Monolingual's architecture list (which includes more than a dozen entries) informative, but we believe others might think it's too much detail. We consciously chose not to force the user to understand the implications of selecting which architectures to preserve.

Xslimmer employs a dynamic downloadable blacklist of troublesome applications, instead of the static one used by Monolingual. Xslimmer is also able to backup your apps before slimming.

Xslimmer is being actively developed and maintained. It supports Panther (like Monolingual), Tiger and Leopard - new code-signed binaries, for example, are handled correctly by the latest version of Xslimmer. Our blacklist is updated constantly using the feedback we get from our users.

I think Xslimmer offers a lot of value for users looking for a pleasing, reliable and user-friendly way to save some space. It is easier to use, more informative and clearer. It is also smart enough to detect the architecture it is running on and act accordingly. It provides you with detailed information about what applications can be slimmed, how much space will you save, or if an application is known to cause problems after being slimmed down.

Monolingual may be all you need, and that's great. We have made a huge effort to create interesting and compelling features, and we are extremely grateful to the many users that have come to appreciate Xslimmer's added value.  
(Version 1.2.8)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  We could finally solve PROGRAMHAPPY's issue when he contacted us from a different email account. I thought this was worth mentioning, because unfortunately this is not the first time we've had a hard time trying to get our emails through.

- Our licenses are processed and sent automatically, so they should reach you minutes after your purchase.

- If you don't receive your license soon, you can try to use the form at http://www.xslimmer.com/Registration/LostLicense/ and enter the email address associated to your PayPal account.

- If that does not work either, please email us providing an alternative email account whenever possible. Include also your original address or your transaction ID, so that we can identify you.

Our business relies on customer satisfaction and word of mouth, so we try to answer all the emails sent to us. When we notice that our messages are not reaching their destination, we try several options: we resend from different accounts; we remove or zip attachments; sometimes we even had to open a direct telnet connection to the destination mail server to see what's going on.

So, if you don't receive what you expect, please try to provide a different account where we can try to reach you.

Thanks!  
(Version 1.2.4)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  Hello Jason,

We have been trying to contact you repeatedly, using different email accounts. We have checked our mail server logs, which show that our emails are being sent to the address you provided. So far we are not getting any bounces or error messages, but obviously our emails are not reaching you for some reason.

Could you please email us with one of your alternate addresses, so that we can resend your license again?

Best regards,

--

Pedro

Xslimmer Team  
(Version 1.2.4)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  Hello,

Thanks everybody for your positive reviews, we are proud you find Xslimmer useful!

@Bob - Among other safety measures, Xslimmer has a downloadable blacklist with some applications that do not work properly after being slimmed down due to integrity checks that they perform on themselves. Skype has been there for several weeks, so Xslimmer should have warned you. Could you please contact us at support@xslimmer.com so that we can analyze your case in depth?

Also, the "detailed information" drawer will display any side-effects that may happen with certain apps, such as the need to reauthorize them to grant them access to the keychain again (this happens because Keychain will detect that the application has been modified).

Finally, Xslimmer sports a backup feature, so if everything else fails, you can use that to restore your original app instead of having to install it anew.

Thanks again for your comments!  
(Version 1.2.4)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  Hi Bruce,

The reason Monolingual and other similar apps do not remove English is because they perform a batch search of all language folders across the whole system, including some system locations not intended to be dealt with. Removing English localization from those locations is not safe, and thus, those applications completely avoid removing English from the system.

Xslimmer, on the other hand, is devoted to reduce the size of regular applications, and not of any system components or frameworks. User-intended applications can perfectly run even if they do not contain an English localization. Xslimmer algorithm was designed to preserve at least one localization for each app, that localization being the same as the preferred one configured in your System Preferences.

Unfortunately, there was a bug in the initial release of this feature a few hours ago. Some users, including those whose preferred language was "British English" (not to be confused with the more frequent "English") were affected by this bug. It was a flaw in our code we had not detected, even though we had conducted a closed beta programme to test these new features. This mistake has nothing to do with the fact that some of the affected users had British English configured in their machines.

The bug has now been solved, and a new version of Xslimmer has just been released. Users of 1.2.0 can "Check for updates" to download 1.2.1.

Our apologies to the affected users, and many thanks to the British customers that reported the problem to us.  
(Version 1.2)

LATENITESOFT - PEDRO  @meatmcguffin - We are sorry you encountered problems with Xslimmer. Our code does indeed check that there is at least a remaining language for every app before removing the language folders. This might be a bug with the UK English variant, we are currently checking it and, if confirmed, will release a patch soon.

Thanks for reporting your experience, reliability is of the foremost importance to us.  
(Version 1.2.0)