How do you uninstall applications?

[bdugan]

I am new to a mac and know how to uninstall programs from windows, but does the mac have a similar application to uninstall? How do I uninstall a program I dont want?

THanks

 

[Jaffa Cake]

No applications necessary – just drag the app into your Trash, and delete it. Easy as that and twice as simple!

There will still be a few small files for the app left on your computer (preferences and stuff like that) but they're harmless and take up a minute amount of space, so there's no need to worry about them.

 

[WildCowboy]

If you're really paranoid about getting rid of the few preference files that remain behind you can either use something like AppZapper or just do a Spotlight search for the name of the program to identify what's been left behind.

Not really necessary though...

 

[Foxglove9]

I usually just trash the app file. Then do a search for the app name and trash all of it's related files. There are some exceptions to doing that, you don't want to trash a file that might be have the name of the program but is found in say photoshop folder or illustrator as a plug-in or whatever it might be.

 

[kirk.davis]

Welcome to the world of Apple and OSX, it's sooooooo much nicer than Windows

/* From another switcher /*

 

[techound1]

Yeah, it took me a couple of months after switching to really believe such a simple way worked...

 

[BurtonCCC]

I usually just trash the app file. Then do a search for the app name and trash all of it's related files. There are some exceptions to doing that, you don't want to trash a file that might be have the name of the program but is found in say photoshop folder or illustrator as a plug-in or whatever it might be.

Yeah, Spotlight is great for finding every single thing that might be related to the App you just deleted, but make sure the files don't belong to another important program you're not getting rid of by ctrl-clicking on the files that Spotlight finds and clicking "Reveal in Finder."

Daniel.

 

[gog]

Just trash it. Joyous.
Don't do the spotlight thing. Pointless.

 

[thegreatluke]

Just trash it. Joyous.
Don't do the spotlight thing. Pointless.

Yeah, the preference files are about a couple KB of space.

And then, if you reinstall the app, you have all the preferences still there.

Edit: I just checked my .plist (preference) files, and ALL of them take of 4 KB. Same thing though.

 

[Josias]

EXTREME! Now I love OS X even more!

 

[thegreatluke]

EXTREME! Now I love OS X even more!

Mac OS X is amazing because there's NO FRIGGIN' REGISTRY.

My parent's computers take several minutes to open Word now, and they're only a couple years old...

It's not like they have much of a spyware/virus problem though.

But I do imagine that at least one of them is a zombie spam server by now.

 

[nutmac]

Mac OS X applications are usually installed one of 3 ways:

• Disk image (or zip or StuffIt) containing the actual application package. Most shareware and freeware are distributed in this format. Simply drag it to your Applications folder to install and trash it to uninstall. For more thorough cleanup, use Spotlight against the program name to delete data (usually in ~/Library/Application Support/) and preferences (usually in ~/Library/Preferences).
• Some programs, such as Apple's, require the use of installer. Many of them can be uninstalled the same way as above, but some installers have "Uninstall" feature built-in. I recommend using these Uninstall feature to uninstall, then do cleanup as necessary.
• Some programs are a lot more complicated to uninstall, such as device driver and server software (a.k.a., daemon). Most of the time, they can only be uninstalled with the uninstaller (if one is included) or via specific uninstall instructions on the readme file. And in some rare instances, you can't unless you are familiar with UNIX.

 

[Josias]

Mac OS X is amazing because there's NO FRIGGIN' REGISTRY.

My parent's computers take several minutes to open Word now, and they're only a couple years old...

It's not like they have much of a spyware/virus problem though.

But I do imagine that at least one of them is a zombie spam server by now.

I have a friend who's dad has a quad with 8 GB RAM, and a friend who's dad has a Dual Intel Xeon 2 3.0 GHz (64-bit) with 8 GB RAM. WE tried to compare, and I don't think I even have to tell you who won.

 

[riel505]

Mac OS X applications are usually installed one of 3 ways:

• Disk image (or zip or StuffIt) containing the actual application package. Most shareware and freeware are distributed in this format. Simply drag it to your Applications folder to install and trash it to uninstall. For more thorough cleanup, use Spotlight against the program name to delete data (usually in ~/Library/Application Support/) and preferences (usually in ~/Library/Preferences).

• 
  
  - do you need to empty trash or does it take effect immediately?
  (am newly converted to mac and am still in amazement that uninstalling is just a case of drag to trash...)
  - i have an older version of photoshop and i want to install the cs2, i don't want to have problems with two photoshops running in my mac.
  thanks!