Windows 10 - SnoreToast is added to Start Menu

[MarcusCemes]

Good day! 😁

Problem

1. Installing ts-node-dev, which lists node-notifier as a dependency, on Windows 10 creates a Start Menu shortcut to the SnoreToast.exe binary.

2. The Start Menu entry is not removed when the node_modules folder is cleaned (removed). I'm particularly worried about any registry (ugh...) changes that might be made on installation.

Reproduction

Adding the ts-node-dev package to any Node.js project on Windows 10 installs node-notifier, and annoyingly, creates a shortcut under
C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\SnoreToast
that points to
C:\Users\...\some_project\node_modules\node-notifier\vendor\snoreToast\SnoreToast.exe.

Context

For the past few days, I've been noticing an application called SnoreToast appearing and disappearing in my Recently Added under the Start Menu. I've finally tracked it down to a deep npm dependency in one of my projects.

I'm guessing that the vendor install script runs an installer that expects a user-wide install? What if there are two separate projects using the package?

Motivation

It's annoying. I don't expect anyone that installs a local npm dependency to end up with additional entries in their Start Menu/Launchpad/Linux-distro equivalent. Many programmers use Windows, please don't let this descend into a "well you should be using Linux, issue closed" debate.

[mewtlu]

I've also seen node-notifier installing terminal-notifier.app as a startup app on MacOS, which makes me very uneasy? Any info on why this might happen?

[mikkelgunvald]

It seems to be a requirement from windows that you have to have a valid shortcut in the start menu to send notifications.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/legacy/hh802762(v=vs.85)?redirectedfrom=MSDN

However it should remove shortcut when package is remove/deleted/cleaned, imo.

[peppelongo96]

Good day!

Problem

1. Installing ts-node-dev, which lists node-notifier as a dependency, on Windows 10 creates a Start Menu shortcut to the SnoreToast.exe binary.
2. The Start Menu entry is not removed when the node_modules folder is cleaned (removed). I'm particularly worried about any registry (ugh...) changes that might be made on installation.

Reproduction

Adding the ts-node-dev package to any Node.js project on Windows 10 installs node-notifier, and annoyingly, creates a shortcut under
C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\SnoreToast
that points to
C:\Users\...\some_project\node_modules\node-notifier\vendor\snoreToast\SnoreToast.exe.

Context

For the past few days, I've been noticing an application called SnoreToast appearing and disappearing in my Recently Added under the Start Menu. I've finally tracked it down to a deep npm dependency in one of my projects.

I'm guessing that the vendor install script runs an installer that expects a user-wide install? What if there are two separate projects using the package?

Motivation

It's annoying. I don't expect anyone that installs a local npm dependency to end up with additional entries in their Start Menu/Launchpad/Linux-distro equivalent. Many programmers use Windows, please don't let this descend into a "well you should be using Linux, issue closed" debate.

I made my personal fix for my use case that is as "illegal" as very useful. Since node.js installation adds also its site link on start menu, I used 'https://nodejs.org/' as appID field, and that's it.