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djinn

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2003
1,850
368
Whats the best way to uninstall an application in OSX? Dragging it to the trash bin doesn't move all the files.
 

swiftaw

macrumors 603
Jan 31, 2005
6,328
25
Omaha, NE, USA
Whats the best way to uninstall an application in OSX? Dragging it to the trash bin doesn't move all the files.

The only file it usually leaves behind is a plist file, which is only a few KB in size.

You can always use spotlight to find all the files and delete them manually.
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,495
2,992
Here is a guide to several ways of uninstalling apps. In most cases, if the app doesn't come with an uninstaller, simply deleting the app itself is fine, as the small plist files left behind don't make a difference. (Of course, if they're corrupted for some reason, you would want to get rid of them.) But certainly it is nice to have clean system.

Spotlight is a good way to find some of the associated files. There are also third-party apps like CleanApp and AppZapper that can help find the small associated files. They aren't perfect, but they do a pretty good job.
 

swiftaw

macrumors 603
Jan 31, 2005
6,328
25
Omaha, NE, USA
Uninstalling apps in oSX is a million times better than trying to uninstall Windows apps, at least you don't have to worry about the registry :)
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,495
2,992
AppZapper deletes everything...

Definitely not for Apple apps. Try to drag GarageBand to AppZapper...it misses all the loops, which are the things you'd really like to get rid of in order to save space.
 

72930

Retired
May 16, 2006
9,060
4
Definitely not for Apple apps. Try to drag GarageBand to AppZapper...it misses all the loops, which are the things you'd really like to get rid of in order to save space.

Sorry then...my mistake, I never used it, just expected it to work from what others have said...
 

djinn

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2003
1,850
368
Whats the best way to get rid of Norton Antivirus 10? Seems it integrated itself into the right click option for scanning and when I boot its doing a lookup. And it isn't in my startup options for my user.
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,495
2,992
There should be an uninstaller app...I believe it's in the Symantec Solutions folder inside your Applications folder.
 

djinn

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2003
1,850
368
I guess before uninstalling this I should ask, is it really worth having an Antivirus on the mac? Or is it going to slow my system down..
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,495
2,992
Norton is terrible for your system...get rid of it.

You don't really need antivirus for your Mac, since there aren't any OS X viruses, but if you're worried about passing along viruses to your Windows-using friends, get the free, lightweight ClamXav.
 

steve_hill4

macrumors 68000
May 15, 2005
1,856
0
NG9, England
Definitely not for Apple apps. Try to drag GarageBand to AppZapper...it misses all the loops, which are the things you'd really like to get rid of in order to save space.

Ironically tried this yesterday in a clean up operation to see how much space I would save if I decided to get rid in future. It did include loops for me. However I have some other apps, mainly games, which when I dragged, it didn't include any saved game data, so I'd have to hunt and delete manually.
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,495
2,992
I'm not sure if I was using the most up-to-date version of AppZapper, and it was GarageBand 2 that I was playing with at the time, so I guess your mileage may vary. :)
 

iW00t

macrumors 68040
Nov 7, 2006
3,286
0
Defenders of Apple Guild
I paid for AppZapper and it has some nice flashing effects and a killer "Zeeoooo!!!" sound, but it really is, for all intents and purposes, in the words of another anti-Delicious-Library-generation developer just a spotlight wrapper with nice snazzy effects.

What I am really looking for is an app that hooks into the OS and monitors file activity as apps work. Some apps have some funky trial periods and they write some secret stuff into your system SOMEWHERE which you can perfectly remove short of a total nuke and reinstalling your entire operating system.
 

psingh01

macrumors 68000
Apr 19, 2004
1,591
635
Apple may not have a registry like Windows, but the uninstall process is by no meas better. It is inconsistent. Leaving plist files (though harmless) is not a good design. Some apps have uninstallers, others you just trash, some you don't even know what to trash....There needs to be a consistant way to uninstall all apps.
 

djinn

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2003
1,850
368
All I do now is use spotlight and just delete the files that way, but I know what you mean. I guess I can write a little application to do the uninstall for me.
 

72930

Retired
May 16, 2006
9,060
4
Apple may not have a registry like Windows, but the uninstall process is by no meas better. It is inconsistent. Leaving plist files (though harmless) is not a good design. Some apps have uninstallers, others you just trash, some you don't even know what to trash....There needs to be a consistant way to uninstall all apps.

AppZapper is what you want...as I said before...
 
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