Uninstall Mac OS X software properly
Part 1: Uninstall Mac OS X software properly |
Part 2: Clean up after uninstalling apps |
There is a huge amount of software available on the internet and there are some fantastic programs for Macs running OS X. There are commercial programs, shareware, freeware, and open source applications. If you visit websites like www.apple.com/download and Softpedia you will discover thousands of programs you can download and install, and they are very tempting because they cost nothing.
Of course, you cannot install everything you see because the hard disk drive in the computer is only a finite size and not everything that is available on the internet will fit on it. The problem is even worse now that media has gone digital - photos, music, videos - and requires many gigabytes of disk space. This means that sooner or later, depending on how big the hard disk drive is in your computer, you will run out of disk space. To download and install more software (or music or videos), you will have to remove programs you no longer want or need to free up some disk space.
Long before you get to the point where there isn't any more physical space on the hard disk drive to install more software, you will want to remove some previously installed applications anyway. Unless you have a very small capacity disk drive the amount of space that is available isn't usually a problem.
You will want to remove software for various reasons and if you have downloaded and installed shareware you will find that it stops working after 30 days or it is converted to a very cut down version with limited features. Of course, you can simply pay the registration fee and continue to use the fully working software, but unless you are a lottery winner you will soon run out of money. For this reason there are always programs on the hard disk drive that have timed out and that must be removed.
Demos of commercial software are useful because they give you an opportunity to see what the software is like before you hand over your hard earned money. However, demos are limited versions that are not fully functional, so after trying them for a short time you will either decide to purchase the full program or remove it from your computer.
Another reason for wanting to uninstall software on your computer is that you might discover something better. Even if a program is free, if you find something else that is free and that offers more features and functions, why not replace it? You just need to uninstall the old program and then download and install the new one. When upgrading a program from an older version to a newer version, you sometimes have to remove the old one or the new one might not work properly.
Where's the uninstaller?
Mac OS X programs are generally well behaved and they keep most of the files together in one place. An icon in the Applications folder may be a single file with simple software, but with more complex ones it is actually a folder that contains all the files that are required.
It's called a package and if you hold down the Ctrl key and click on an application you will see a Show Package Contents item on the menu. You can select it if you want to open a Finder window to view the files and folders in the application.
It is a trivial task to remove the vast majority of files making up an application and all you need to do is to drag the application icon to the Trash. Alternatively, you can hold down the Ctrl key and click on the icon, then choose Move to Trash from the menu that is displayed.
The ease with which applications can be uninstalled means that a special uninstaller utility often isn't needed. However, a few applications do come with uninstallers though, so before you drag the application to the Trash can you should check to see if one is available. For example, there is an uninstaller utility supplied with ClamXav, the free anti virus program for the Mac, and VirtualBox (run Windows or Linux on your Mac). You should always run the uninstaller to remove the program.
It is best to install and uninstall software while logged on as an administrator rather than a standard user. This is because you have access to parts of the system that are off limits to standard users and can perform tasks that are otherwise blocked. If you try to uninstall a program while logged on as a limited user you may be prevented from removing some or all the files associated with it.
Why Trashing it doesn't work
The popular beilief is that moving an application to the Trash will remove all traces of a program from the computer, but frequently it does not and many files and folders can be left behind. This can happen even after using an application's uninstall utility - if it came with one - and you might think that this is simply bad programming, after all, why can't a program remove the files it uses? However, there are several reasons why Trashing an application or uninstalling it might not do the job as thoroughly as you would expect.
One reason is that programs can install files to other locations and not all of them are stored with the program in the app folder. For example, it is common for programs to provide customisation options, such as preferences and options, skins, add-ons and plug-ins. These are be stored in various files and folders on the hard disk drive and because they are not part of the original application, they are not removed when you drag an application icon to the Trash folder.
A program may also cache information, which means that it stores information on the hard disk drive so that it can be accessed more easily the next time it is required. A typical example is a web browser and dragging the application icon to the Trash will not remove the cache files because they are stored somewhere else on the hard disk drive. Hundreds of megabytes of files could be left behind!
Go to part 2: Clean up after uninstalling
