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uninstallers??

T

topspin98

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 30, 2004
38
0
How do you totally delete apps of ur Mac???

Hey,

I just purchased a iBook G4 and i have some programs i downloaded that i dont want, and i dont kno how to permanently delete apps.

Another question, how do u totally delete history so it cant be found again?

Thanks, jake
 
topspin98 said:
And how do u totally delete history so that it couldnt be found everno matter what?
Click to expand...

No matter what? What on earth did you download? :p I guess the only way no one would ever know is to take the hard drive out and incinerate it and replace it. ;) I guess one step down from that would be reformatting the hard drive and over-writing it with zeros. I guess one step down from that would be just reformatting and doing a clean install with the system disks.

As for deleting software, principally you just trash the folder / directory that it put in the apps folder. It probably also left items in the Library folder of whichever users ran it -- you should be careful in there, but I guess you can try searching for the app name using the find bar in the Finder window from inside the Library directory. You should check /Library and the one in your user directory.
 
To delete a program just grab it from the applications folder and drop it into the trash.

When you say history I am going to guess you me the history in Safari. To clear out Safari use the "Reset Safari" option in the Safari menu. That cleans everything out.
 
no no no no

to clear history from safari go to the history menu in safari and at the bottom it says clear history...they say to do it twice if your surfing porn....or ehem want to make sure its gone.

also, go to the safari menu and select empty cash...do it twice.


also, to remove apps, you need to do a search for the app. that way you can delete all associated files like the preference file and any application support files. the only thing is, some apps will have files for other apps in them...for instance adobe illustrator might have a few files with the name photoshop in them...even though you want to delete photoshop you probably dont want to delete any photoshop files that show up in the illustrator folder.

so what you do is after you search for photoshop, just click on each file you want to trash and just make sure it doesnt reside in another applications folder. make sense?

but really, all you need to do is drag the app to the trash. however in the photoshop instance, you would leave at least 50MB of undeleted files in the system application support folder...thats why i do the search method.

but before all that...check and see if the app has an uninstaller in the app folder. sometimes if you click on the installer it will have an uninstall option.
 
And if you're really paranoid you can put it in your trash and click File->Secure Empty Trash to overwrite the old location with random bits.
 
You don't need to reformat, just use the secure empty trash. That will delete it as perminatly as just about anything else you could do.
 
topspin98 said:
Hey,

I just purchased a iBook G4 and i downloaded sum apps nd i dont want them anymore.... how do i totally delete it???

And how do u totally delete history so that it couldnt be found everno matter what?

thanks
Click to expand...

For most apps, deleting the program or folder in OS X is the same as running the uninstall in Windows. You only need uninstallers on Macs for some big programs.
 
Just drag the app to the Trash Can, then empty it.

To go one step down from burning your iBook, do a search for part of the app's name. If they are in the prefrence folder in your library, delete 'em. If not, I'd hesitate a second before you did.
 
topspin98 said:
is there a free program you can dowload that can uninstall any programs??Because i'm concerned its still on my hard drive when i delete using Trash.

Any suggestions??


Jake
Click to expand...
Um, this is how the Mac works, you drag it to the trash to uninstall. If you are worried about the small preference files, that literally take up no room at all, then look for them in the library folder.
 
For most things just drag the folder or application to the trash and thats it. :)

If the application you installed uses and actual installation program, you could try using that installation program to uninstall it if they offer that feature.

Of course there's always the .plist file in the ~/Library/Preferences but that doesn't really matter.
 
Unless the program comes with an uninstaller it should all be with the icon in your app folder. (want proof? right click or ctrl click app and hit show package contents.)
 
Just to clarify what everyone else said, if you compare back to Windows, uninstallation is a nuisance because programs add files to the Windows system folder, and they add content to the central registry.... MacOS doesn't really exactly have something like the central registry, and relatively few programs put files in system directories. So the need for uninstallation help is less, because even if files are left in the library folder, they are files that are only accessed by that program, and not by the system, and so they cause relatively little trouble.

I think that's basically correct -- any backup? The one part of that I don't completely understand is what files (and where) in MacOS are responsible for file associations (what program runs and what icon shows for different kinds of files). This *is* centrally located, but I don't know where.
 
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