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AppCleaner made cp run up my CPU usage for 5 minutes after I closed it...

0dev

0dev

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Dec 22, 2009
3,947
24
127.0.0.1
...Why?

This is more curiosity than anything. Google says cp is the copy command in the shell, so was it using that to individually copy each file of the apps I wanted to delete to the Trash? I would have expected it to use rm or something to remove the files, or would that be unsafe because they're removed permanently?
 
You don't need AppCleaner. In most cases, app removal software such as AppCleaner doesn't do a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:
 
GGJstudios said:
You don't need AppCleaner. In most cases, app removal software such as AppCleaner doesn't do a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:
Click to expand...

Yeah but I can't be assed, I deleted like 20 apps at once along with their plist files in five minutes, which I'm quite happy with.
 
0dev said:
Yeah but I can't be assed, I deleted like 20 apps at once along with their plist files in five minutes, which I'm quite happy with.
Click to expand...
If your goal is to simply remove the app, you can drag the .app file to the trash and be done with it. Leaving plist files behind has no effect on your system and they don't take up much space. You don't need an app for that.

If your goal is to remove all files/folders related to an app to free up disk space, plist files are among the smallest of those files. AppCleaner leaves behind much larger files/folders while only removing the smaller ones. Only the manual method removes them all. You don't need an app for that, as none will remove all app-related files/folders.
 
0dev said:
Google says cp is the copy command in the shell,
Click to expand...
cp is copy, so if you used that to trash programs you're not doing that. rm or use mv in place of cp.

Personally, I'd not use the terminal to remove apps, but drag drop them to the trash or use their installer on those apps that use installers to uninstall.
 
0dev said:
Strange that AppCleaner uses cp then. All I did was delete apps.
Click to expand...
It might use cp initially to copy the app to the trash folder but then it deletes the original.

Just type man cp in the terminal to get a more detailed explanation of what it does.
 
I know what it does, I was just interested to know why AppCleaner used it rather than a specific delete command.
 
I've just used it again and, as I type, cp is using all my CPU. I only deleted one app this time.

Does this happen to other people after using AppCleaner or does it just not like my Mac?
 
0dev said:
I've just used it again and, as I type, cp is using all my CPU. I only deleted one app this time.

Does this happen to other people after using AppCleaner or does it just not like my Mac?
Click to expand...
It's your choice, but I don't understand why anyone would bother with an app that behaves like this, when you already know it's not effective when it does work, and isn't needed at all.
 
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