Common mistakes when cleaning up a TV

Having read a fair number of forum threads from people asking for help, the failures repeat. These are the seven most common.

1. Copying a list from another model#

Mistake number one by a distance. Somebody posts their package list from a TCL 43P8M and somebody else applies it to a Hisense. The names partly match and the dependencies do not.

What to do: use lists for your exact model, or work through general categories one at a time.

2. Removing fifteen packages at once#

If something breaks, you will not know which did it, and you will have to restore all fifteen and start over.

What to do: one, check, next. It is boring and it is faster than the alternative.

3. Not saving the original list#

It costs five seconds and it is the difference between a ten-second doubt and an afternoon of archaeology.

adb shell pm list packages > before.txt

4. Removing the launcher without another one#

You end up looking at an empty screen. Recoverable over ADB, but only if you were still connected.

What to do: install the alternative, check it, and only then disable the factory one.

5. Touching com.google.android.gms#

Google services are a dependency of half the television. It is the most common cause of "Netflix will not open" and of boot loops.

6. Ignoring the remote packages#

Anything with remote, ir, irkey, bluetooth or input deserves a check first. Losing the remote is the most annoying failure to recover from, because the usual way to fix things on a television is the remote.

7. Confusing --user 0 with a real deletion#

The opposite of what people fear: plenty of people believe they have wiped something from firmware and panic. You have not touched firmware. A factory reset brings everything back. Always.

The rule that covers all seven#

Before removing any package, ask yourself two questions: do I know what it does? and do I know how to put it back?

If either answer is no, find out first. It takes two minutes.