AKA How to Properly Uninstall Stuff on Mac?
Hi, new to Mac here,
tried it according to this video…
… and wanted to ask if this the 100% correct solution that won't miss anything and there won't be any leftovers at all, like stuff stuck shown in installed Apps, etc.
Tried it with Garageband and this method showed a lot of files and folders, including two metadata.plist files for GB and one file which obviously was related to a Melda installer.
Tried to put everything except that Melda file into the trash, but it said that it can't delete a few of these files
CMD+Z'ed it until all files were back in place because i wasn't sure if i might actually mess things up, regarding what's shown as installed Apps
Not looking for specific apps that do the job for me as i'm actually trying to learn my way around this OS a bit more
Any Experienced Mac Users Here?
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- KVRist
- 48 posts since 13 Dec, 2021
The way Mac apps are designed, you don’t really have one way to uninstall them. Some of them are just a package you copy to the application folder. For those you could delete them to uninstall. For others that have a install wizard. You need to use its uninstall wizard to remove it.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1524 posts since 29 Oct, 2015 from Jupiter 8
Thanks, but how do i know what to use?
Can i just use the uninstall function and still find everything remaining by manual search (if there happens to be some traces left) ?
Can i just use the uninstall function and still find everything remaining by manual search (if there happens to be some traces left) ?
The GAS is always greener on the other side!
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1524 posts since 29 Oct, 2015 from Jupiter 8
Ok, deleted it the Apple way by deleting it from the Launchpad.
Then deleted the rest as described in the video.
Seems to work fine
Then deleted the rest as described in the video.
Seems to work fine
The GAS is always greener on the other side!
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musicaldesigner musicaldesigner https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=479932
- KVRer
- 3 posts since 27 Nov, 2020
There are also apps like App Cleaner & Uninstaller which help you find all the leftover folders and files and delete them.
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- KVRAF
- 9560 posts since 6 Jan, 2017 from Outer Space
That video is pretty good actually. There are also apps like cleanmymac which probably just do the same…
On the Mac there are common places that store information for apps you usually don’t want to know about as user. Some apps even install hidden processes that run in the background. (Roland Cloud being the worst…)
Serious developers that install more than just the application often have an uninstaller coming with the app. If you run that you are on the safe side. But the majority would just leave preference files in the system which only take a tiny bit of space and do no harm. If you installed an application by just moving it into the application folder its fine to just move it into the trash…
On the Mac there are common places that store information for apps you usually don’t want to know about as user. Some apps even install hidden processes that run in the background. (Roland Cloud being the worst…)
Serious developers that install more than just the application often have an uninstaller coming with the app. If you run that you are on the safe side. But the majority would just leave preference files in the system which only take a tiny bit of space and do no harm. If you installed an application by just moving it into the application folder its fine to just move it into the trash…