Uninstalling apps on the Mac (vs Windows)

TidBITS Talk
21

I also use Nektony’s App Cleaner & Uninstaller. I actually got it with the whole MacCleaner Pro suite of apps. Granted, it’s more now than when I bought it, but $86 for a one-time lifetime purchase is not bad for all the apps. Lots of regular and free updates. No major upgrades yet which would cost money, assuming I’d want to upgrade. And great technical support. I’ve been using it for years without issue. I use the uninstaller regularly as I try new apps and then delete them if I don’t want to keep them. Would recommend that app or suite.

App Cleaner & Uninstaller also has an Updates panel that tells you what apps on your Mac need updating and can then update them itself, except for a few which require updating within the app itself.

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22

Here’s an idea, maybe to come in Linux, but why not Mac? Business reasons, I suppose…

23

Not bad, but it’s more likely that it’s just another fragmentation of the Linux experience by adding a new standard for doing something. (I say that as something who regularly uses and Linux and anticipates eventually retiring on it.)

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24

I’m kind of surprised GNOME needs/wants something so complicated. All Linux distributions these days include a very robust package management system (RPM/Yum/DNF and dpkg/apt being the most popular two systems). It is very easy to query what package provides any particular file and then delete that package, along with associated dependencies (packages that require the one you’re deleting) and orphaned packages (those that were only installed to satisfy your package’s dependencies).

Maybe GNOME wants this to be package-manager-independent, or to work with apps not installed via the system package manager but it seems like unnecessary complexity to me.

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25

For those who have it, Hazel offers to delete all other app files when you delete an app. Seems to do the job for years now.

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26

Handy but a bit concerning… I deleted an old app the other day and Clean My Mac popped up suggesting that it fully uninstalls that deleted app. It seemed to work OK but I don’t think that app had associated data and preferences for it to find.

27

Same with me. It is a rock steady application that does a fine job. Like other similar applications, it does not find every file associated with an app. But I have that solved also. I use the excellent (and fee!) app called EasyFind to find the remainder of the files. AppCleaner and EasyFind: a definite winning combination!

28

Could maybe be something for new users without the technical knowledge of package management… :man_shrugging:

29

Yes, but they could design a GUI interface to the existing package manager(s) without designing new back-end infrastructure.

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31

For years, I’ve used AppCleaner to remove apps and associated files.

It works most of the time, but doesn’t completely “clean out” some apps. For those I do this:

  • run AppCleaner first, trash whatever it finds
  • use EasyFind to search for files with the same name as the app I just deleted – it often finds a few more files
  • use EasyFind again, to search using the name of the publisher of the software. Sometimes that finds things that AppCleaner missed.
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