Apps showing up twice in “Installations”

[Silly John Fatty]

I noticed something weird when I go to:

About this Mac > More Info > System Report > Software > Installed Software

Basically some applications appear twice in the list. For example a game that I have. It stopped working for some reason, so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. Now it appears twice in the list, the one I installed yesterday and the one I installed earlier today after it stopped working.

Is there a way to delete one of them? That may be the reason why the game won’t work.

Another weird thing is that iTunes appears in the list as well. They are both the same version and one was installed 30 minutes after the first one was.

Note that I’ve done a fresh install so the game is really the only thing I have installed since then.

Maybe someone can enlighten me!

 

[Shrink]

I noticed something weird when I go to:

About this Mac > More Info > System Report > Software > Installed Software

Basically some applications appear twice in the list. For example a game that I have. It stopped working for some reason, so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. Now it appears twice in the list, the one I installed yesterday and the one I installed earlier today after it stopped working.

Is there a way to delete one of them? That may be the reason why the game won’t work.

Another weird thing is that iTunes appears in the list as well. They are both the same version and one was installed 30 minutes after the first one was.

Note that I’ve done a fresh install so the game is really the only thing I have installed since then.

Maybe someone can enlighten me!

Is it possible that you didn't completely uninstall the app the first time?

If so, this is the best way to completely delete an app.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Is it possible that you didn't completely uninstall the app the first time?

If so, this is the best way to completely delete an app.

Possible, yes! There was an uninstall terminal script that came with it, so I used this to uninstall it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work properly, probably it’s faulty. I had to go in the folders and delete stuff myself then. I then also used this technique you posted, it seems like I got rid of everything.

But why would iTunes appear twice?

And by the way: It isn’t exactly the best technique (I thought it was), but I’ve found plenty of files that I had to delete manually which weren’t found with this technique, even though the words I searched were the same. Not sure why it didn’t find them.

 

[Shrink]

Possible, yes! There was an uninstall terminal script that came with it, so I used this to uninstall it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work properly, probably it’s faulty. I had to go in the folders and delete stuff myself then. I then also used this technique you posted, it seems like I got rid of everything.

But why would iTunes appear twice?

And by the way: It isn’t exactly the best technique (I thought it was), but I’ve found plenty of files that I had to delete manually which weren’t found with this technique, even though the words I searched were the same. Not sure why it didn’t find them.

Don't know about iTunes.

I wasn't clear if you were referring to the instructions I suggested when you said "It isn't exactly the best technique". Did you mean you had a different technique that worked better, i.e. showed more files to be deleted that the one I suggested?

If you have a different technique that works better than the one I suggested...could you post it so I can steal it (just like the one I sent you I stole from GGJstudios)?

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Don't know about iTunes.

I wasn't clear if you were referring to the instructions I suggested when you said "It isn't exactly the best technique". Did you mean you had a different technique that worked better, i.e. showed more files to be deleted that the one I suggested?

If you have a different technique that works better than the one I suggested...could you post it so I can steal it (just like the one I sent you I stole from GGJstudios)?

No, sadly I don’t have a better technique I actually posted GGJStudios’ technique myself in another thread today, it worked fine for deleting a simple app, such as Skype.

But basically, when I tried it with this other app (the game), it didn’t work properly. I searched for various keywords, like the technique suggests, but it missed lots of them. These were located in both the user and the Mac library. Maybe there’s a setting so the search is “active” there as well? The options “system files” and “hidden files” in the aforementioned technique don’t change anything at this point because these aren’t system files, neither they’re invisible.

Maybe I need to check another option to scan the Libraries?

 

[Shrink]

No, sadly I don’t have a better technique I actually posted GGJStudios’ technique myself in another thread today, it worked fine for deleting a simple app, such as Skype.

But basically, when I tried it with this other app (the game), it didn’t work properly. I searched for various keywords, like the technique suggests, but it missed lots of them. These were located in both the user and the Mac library. Maybe there’s a setting so the search is “active” there as well? The options “system files” and “hidden files” in the aforementioned technique don’t change anything at this point because these aren’t system files, neither they’re invisible.

Maybe I need to check another option to scan the Libraries?

Wish I could help more..but I'm pretty much useless past what I suggested. I hope some other kind souls come along and can help you more than my piddly stuff!

Good luck...

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Don’t worry I’ll continue searching myself and who knows, it might help someone else in the future!

 

[Weaselboy]

I noticed something weird when I go to:

About this Mac > More Info > System Report > Software > Installed Software

Basically some applications appear twice in the list. For example a game that I have. It stopped working for some reason, so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. Now it appears twice in the list, the one I installed yesterday and the one I installed earlier today after it stopped working.

Is there a way to delete one of them? That may be the reason why the game won’t work.

Another weird thing is that iTunes appears in the list as well. They are both the same version and one was installed 30 minutes after the first one was.

Note that I’ve done a fresh install so the game is really the only thing I have installed since then.

Maybe someone can enlighten me!

You are misunderstanding what that list is. All that is is a log (list) of software that has been installed on your computer. It does not necessarily have anything to do with what is on your computer now. You can completely remove an application from your computer and it will still be shown in that log because the log is a historical list of everything you installed.

If you reinstall a program nine times, then completely delete the program, there will still be nine entries in that list. That is by design. The presence of a listing in that log could in no way interfere with anything on your machine.

The list is kept in a plist file at the below location. You can view it in Quick Look and see it matches what you are viewing in the System Report.

/Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Makes sense now, thanks!!