It will remove simple applications and most of their associated files. Sometimes programs install files (often hidden) not readily associated with the program and if you're worried about those the only thing to do is a scan before and after installing a program and see what has changed.Ĭheck out the utility. You can use a utility like Onyx to toggle visibility on your computer and check for invisible files. In bad situations you have to hunt around yourself. The software installer may have an uninstall option, or there may be a separate uninstaller for these. More involved programs (e.g., Office) may install bits and pieces all over the place, like fonts, libraries, etc. These items are located in: /Library/StartupItems/ or /Users/YourName/Library/StartupItems/ To edit these, go to your account set up in System Preferences, login items tab, select the item(s) and a '-' to remove. Where YourName refers to the user name when you login and the / indicates the series of folders down from your main drive.Ī few programs may set login items to start automatically when your computer starts or a specific user logs in. Users/YourName/Library/Application Support/ Favorite folders for files to be installed are: Try to find files associated with the application you want to delete by using Spotlight, Finder, or EasyFind (free and generally highly recommended) to search for the application's name. However, most app delete programs will not have an inventory of what is installed - they just look for files that are clearly associated with the app you are deleting. Dragging a program and its preferences to the trash is often all that is needed, or you can use a program like AppDelete to delete these programs. After running, the program will likely install a file in Preferences (either in your user area, or the main preferences, or both). Most small programs can have all their components contained within an app package. When removing applications I suggest backing up your drive in case you uninstall something you shouldn't have uninstalled. You can delete the application's preferences file.

There isn't a registry like with Windows.

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