Mac program uninstallation?

Question

Apple computer question: Can someone tell me if I can unistall a program--ideally to remove a program that is existing?

Many Thanks!

Answer 1

First, I will assume you mean OS X. If not, submit your question again. If OS X, read on. There is no built-in program on a Mac to remove other programs. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible for a "remover" program to correctly and completely remove all the files from a complex installation. How can it trace the correct names of all the files that were installed? You can do a better job yourself. Start by looking in the folder of the progam for an "install log" or something similar. Open that file and see if it shows where all the installed files went. If you don't find such a log, you'll just have to go for the three places that are the most likely suspects.

Drag the main application or application folder to the trash. Oh, by the way, that is NOT the "Applications" folder at the root level of the hard drive. You won't be tossing that one! I mean the program you want to exterminate or the folder with the same name as that program. Mac geeks often say application when real people say program. Now look in the Users / yourname / Library / Application Support folder for anything with the same name as the company that made the program. For example, if I wanted to remove Adobe Photoshop from my computer, I would trash the Adobe folder from that location. Next, look in Users / yourname / Library / Preferences for any folder of the same name. There is another Adobe folder there to trash as well as two files with names that begin with Adobe Photoshop. A third file is Adobe but no mention of Photoshop so it could be a shared preference file such as for Adobe Reader or other program. If it's name is not very specific, just leave it. Now look in the same Preferences folder for a file that has a name com.whatever (if your progam is called "Whatever"). For example, com.adobe.Photoshop.plist and trash that file also. Last, look in the Library folder at the root level of the hard drive for Application Support and see if there is another folder named for the program or the company that made it. Trash that if you find it. That about does it.

A couple of the Apple programs that came with the original installation will have a supporting folder at Users / yourname / Libray, such as iTunes or iMovie. Sometimes a simple program will not have any extraneous files so you are done after you trash the main program. Empty the trash and it's all over. Don't worry about upsetting the system registry like you might have done in Windows. There's no registry on a Mac so it almost never complains.