Deleting & Uninstalling Mac Programs and Apps

[NacSquared]

Hey guys, I just recently got myself a rMBP 13" and I'm loving everything about it. I just have a few questions as I'm quite the paranoid type when it comes to my electronics.

I have installed a few things recently ( Install360Controller, BetterMoveTool, etc. ) and I have a question about uninstalling these applications. With windows, you could go through the Control Panel and uninstall programs separately. With Mac, I learned that you can just drag the application into the trash bin.

I must admit, dragging the application into the trash bin does not seem to get all of the files, so I went ahead and downloaded AppCleaner.

When trying to uninstall the Install360Controller program, it deleted the program itself, but I quickly learned that it had completely left numerous files that were associated with the program. I had to manually find each associated file and delete them myself.

So, when uninstalling BetterMoveTool, I used the AppCleaner and it found associated files which I proceeded to delete.

My overall question is, is there anyway to be sure that I have completely uninstalled or deleted the program and all files associated with it? Anything like uninstalling a program on windows? Yes, I know I'm the very paranoid type, I just like to keep my things in order.

Thank you in advance guys,

Nick
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[ProphetX]

Hey guys, I just recently got myself a rMBP 13" and I'm loving everything about it. I just have a few questions as I'm quite the paranoid type when it comes to my electronics.

I have installed a few things recently ( Install360Controller, BetterMoveTool, etc. ) and I have a question about uninstalling these applications. With windows, you could go through the Control Panel and uninstall programs separately. With Mac, I learned that you can just drag the application into the trash bin.

I must admit, dragging the application into the trash bin does not seem to get all of the files, so I went ahead and downloaded AppCleaner.

When trying to uninstall the Install360Controller program, it deleted the program itself, but I quickly learned that it had completely left numerous files that were associated with the program. I had to manually find each associated file and delete them myself.

So, when uninstalling BetterMoveTool, I used the AppCleaner and it found associated files which I proceeded to delete.

My overall question is, is there anyway to be sure that I have completely uninstalled or deleted the program and all files associated with it? Anything like uninstalling a program on windows? Yes, I know I'm the very paranoid type, I just like to keep my things in order.

Thank you in advance guys,

Nick
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Drag from App folder to trash can.

 

[NacSquared]

Drag from App folder to trash can.

It's rather apparent you didn't read the entire post.

Thanks for the effort, though.

 

[rocknblogger]

It's rather apparent you didn't read the entire post.

Thanks for the effort, though.

Par for the course around here

Read this. This will help you understand and make you a better Mac user

 

[Manic Harmonic]

I typically look in the following places:
-/Library/Preferences and ~/Library Preferences
-/Library/Preference Panes and ~/Library/Preference Panes
-/Library/LaunchAgents
-/Library/LaunchDaemons
-~/Library/LaunchAgents
-/Library/Application Support and ~/Library/Application Support
-/System/Library/Extensions and /Library/Extensions

App Cleaner should be able to find files in most of those places, so usually it's a pretty safe bet. I usually still check the extensions folders, launchagents and launchdaemons folders afterwards.

Oh, and don't drag things to the trash can. Use Command+Option+Delete to trash and Command+Shift+Delete to empty the trash.

 

[aristobrat]

I must admit, dragging the application into the trash bin does not seem to get all of the files, so I went ahead and downloaded AppCleaner.

IMO, this situation is similar to how many apps on Windows leave values and preferences set in the registry after an uninstall.

I don't know of a absolutely 100% way to guarantee that literally everything is removed during an uninstall on either operating system.