The myriad ways in which the App Store sucks

[mikehalloran]

Let's see what Apple has to say about this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202180

App Store.app does not have a screen for setting Preferences – only iTunes.spp.

If you check your Preferences in iTunes.app, you will see that one of your Password options for Purchases is Never Require.

I remember seeing pop-up windows asking to set Free Downloads to Never Require a password. Maybe there was a popup for Purchases at some point and you clicked Yes. Perhaps? I don't know. Anyway, this is where you can check and reset it.

[mhschmieder]

No, my original accusation stands. It is extremely non-transparent to do a transaction in one place and not make it clear that the transaction is actually happening somewhere else. That is very devious in my view. It is a way of extending limited permission beyond the original contract of trust.

Good to know that iTunes handles the preferences for the App Store. If this is intuitive to everyone but me, it may be because I spend almost zero time social networking and do not spend time or money on entertainment; I am working pretty much non-stop at either my day job, as a producer, writer/arrange, or as a performer. I did the "Entertain Me" thing in my youth and got it out of my system when I realized life is short and I'm a doer.

I checked just now, and do not see anything in iTunes Preferences related to purchase approval. I did, however, just shut off podcasts, internet radio, the iTunes Store, and Apple Music Connect (whatever that is). I had already shut off "Shared Libraries" years ago.

[mikehalloran]

Not certain why you don't see it. It's exactly where the support page says it is unless you are misunderstanding where that is. It's the preferences for iTunes.app, not on the web site.

[mhschmieder]

Nope, it's still not showing up.

I think all of this mess -- including my inability to search Apple Mail anymore -- is part of the residuals of that virus that attacked my computer earlier in the summer.

I was thinking of upgrading to Yosemite in a week or two, but El Capitan is real soon (although likely too risky for audio professionals on first release) but I'm not sure whether damage done to a current installation carries over into OS-level upgrades.