Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

jptelthorst

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 9, 2008
48
0
Are apps such as appdelete, appzapper, or appcleaner worth the money, or is it almost as easy or better to just to delete the files yourself?
 
I guess it depends on what sort of person you are. There's no real need for an application deleter when running OS X, but some people like to have total control and prefer that every last bit of a program is gone and that nothing remains.

I personally use AppZapper because I tend to be neurotic about my system. I don't like residual files hanging around. AppZapper gets all those plist and other settings files when it 'Zapz' the program.

If you're like me then get it....if not.... ;)
 
AppTrap is free too and it works almost transparently, a dialog pops up automatically whenever you drag an app to the Trash asking whether you want to delete the other files too.
 
AppCleaner seems to work as well as AppZapper, and it's free, so I think I found my app. I'm pretty neurotic about my system as well, so I hope it works as well as AppZapper.
 
I've tested all of them, and they all inevitably leave behind traces. So what I've done now is use a great Spotlight alternative called EasyFind. It finds all application related files, visible or invisible. I can't live without it. And it's free!
 
I've tested all of them, and they all inevitably leave behind traces. So what I've done now is use a great Spotlight alternative called EasyFind. It finds all application related files, visible or invisible. I can't live without it. And it's free!

What traces are left behind? I did download EasyFind, and ran some searches and AppCleaner seems to do what it's supposed to.
 
What traces are left behind? I did download EasyFind, and ran some searches and AppCleaner seems to do what it's supposed to.

Many apps leave behind invisible files at the root level. None of the "application deleting" apps listed above will delete them. If there's one thing I hate, it's when an application leaves behind invisible crap!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.