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Uninstalling

I

iSpud

macrumors member
Original poster
I am a switcher (XP to 10.3) and am wondering what I need to uninstall programs. Do I just drag the application into the trash? Are there residule folders/files left over that need to be deleted?

Thanks!
 
Yep its that easy! You just drag it to the trash and its gone! There will probably be a preference file for it in a couple of different places but they will not hurt anything. They won't be used since the preference is specifically for that application.

If you want to get rid it them just look in your home folder then go into the Library folder and inside there should be a Preference folder.

ex. admin/library/preferences

look in there for it. I may be called com.nameofcomapany.nameofprogram

ex. com.apple.appleworks.plist or they may look a little different from that. Its no biggie if you accidently delete a wrong preference.
 
Duff-Man says.....the are *some* programs that put files in /system/library or /library - if the installer was created properly for these when you launch the install routine again it should show a "uninstall" option.....but for 95% of the stuff, it really is just drag it to the trash.......oh yeah!
 
Yeah, and all the installers that add stuff outside the preference folder usually say so in the readme file, or come with an uninstaller.
 
So just dragging and dropping, for instance, my Photoshop CS folder will remove/uninstall it even though it had to be installed to run it?
 
Originally posted by diavolo
So just dragging and dropping, for instance, my Photoshop CS folder will remove/uninstall it even though it had to be installed to run it?
Click to expand...
Yes, that's it. There will be a preference file left behind (because it's in a different directory). You can leave it in place or manually delete it.

To make sure you get every bit of most apps, do a search (command+f) for the name of the app and then delete from the search window.
 
reasons like this are why I love my Mac more and more every day. No more "Add/Remove Programs" that crashes half-way through an uninstall! Woo hoo!
 
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