Whats the right way to uninstall software from a Mac?

[malren]

Hello everyone,

I am new to macintosh, And yesterday I installed Chrome on my Macbook pro.
Today I decided to uninstall it as I didn't really find it useful.
But the problem is I didn't understand Whats the right way to uninstall software in a way that it really deletes all the data of the software and return the OS to the situation it was before installing it.
I saw the option of just dragging the app from the Applications list on Finder to the trash, and I tried that but it seems as it doesn't really do too much in the background, am I right? In addition When I installed the Chrome I noticed it also added "Google Drive", "YouTube", "Google Search" and "Gmail" to the Launchpad and when I dragged the Chrome to the Trash it didn't remove them as well. Nad they don't even appear in the Applications list on Finder. And can not be removed to the trash by dragging them from the launchpad to trash, And can not be removed by pressing on them a long press as they don't have a X sign next to them as the rest do.

What can I do to just remove them? How in the world can I just uninstall software in a way the Mac returns to how it was before installing it.

Thanks for the help.

 

[CoastalOR]

This MacRumor thread might help:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/best-way-to-fully-delete-a-program.999635/#post-11171082

 

[simon lefisch]

Use TrashMe from the App Store. It's about $7. You also have to install the plugin since apple won't let it be used in the App Store. Once installed and activated, any programs you want to move to the trash, TrashMe will detect the related files and ask if you wish to remove them as well. Select yes and all files have been moved to the trash, in turn, you can then empty the trash. Been using it for a couple years now and works wonders. Best $7 I've spent.

 

[e93to]

AppCleaner does similar thing, but it's free. It searches for most files related to the app, and moves to the trash. It may not find all the files, but it still finds most of them.

 

[Tulani]

anybody heard of AppDeleteLite.....free in the mac app store

 

[NoBoMac]

What others have said about various uninstallers out there. If comfortable with dealing with OS X innards, going into ~/Library, /Library, can track down the extra bits of directories/files created during an install, personalization/configuration, etc. manually. The uninstalllers might not catch OPs particular situation, so, this is another option.

Back to OP question, not seeing those items in my Launchpad, so guessing here, those items probably are links to the web apps (ie. will launch a browser to access; never use Launchpad myself). You might be able to remove them from the Launchpad by holding down on the item(s) with the left mouse button, until the items start wiggling and you see an "X" at the upper-left corner of the icon. Click that to delete it. But be careful on other items: that will uninstall that app, not remove it from the Launchpad view.