Uninstalling application in OSX

[Tex-Twil]

Hi,
I'm a fresh and happy switcher and a very happy owner of a new gen MBP. I'm getting used to OSX and I enjoy it a lot.

Even before switching, I read that in OSX :

- to install applications you click and drag it to the "Applications"
- to uninstall them, you drag them to the Trash from the "Application"

Well it works quite fine BUT ... today I wanted to uninstall Photoshop so I went to the Application and was a bit confused. There is "Photoshop", "Photoshop Bridge" .... I asked myself "Which one shall I drag to the trash ?" Well I dragged them one by one to the trash but it was too fast to be true so I new that only the shortucts from the Application folder were deleted.

So I googeled a very newbie question "OSX uninstall Photoshop" and found the support page saying the the Uninstaller which is under Applucations/Utilities/Adobe ... must be used !!

What ??!!! I thought that OSX had a very intuitive GUI. Plus I was told/I read 100 times "OSX is so simple, to install/uninstall, just drag and drop"

Well I was a bit surprised to have to look for an uninstaller.

So my question iiiiisss ... "How do I know that I can drag/drop an Application X to uninstall it, and where shall I look for an uninstaller for an Application Y ??"

From a switcher point a view, this is a biggest inconsistency of OSX I've encountered so far.

Thanks for your advices and opinions.

Tex

 

[PlaceofDis]

if a program is drag and drop to install, its the same to delete.
if a program uses an installer you usually(not always) need to use an uninstaller that they provide as well.

 

[Tex-Twil]

if a program is drag and drop to install, its the same to delete.
if a program uses an installer you usually(not always) need to use an uninstaller that they provide as well.

ok, it's a good point

 

[PlaceofDis]

ok, it's a good point

thats the general rule. and if you're ever unsure there are usually readme files that will give instructions. but the bigger and more complex the app the more likely it will use an installer and need an uninstaller which are almost always provided for as well.

can be frustrating, i know.but you'll get the hang of it.

 

[Koodauw]

you can check out applications such as App Zapper too. They clean a few extra's that are left on your hard drive, but really amount to little or nothing. There is trial version of a few of them at www.versiontracker.com but for the most part you just need to drag the application to the trash as others have stated.

 

[jnette]

So... to clarify.. if I wish to remove the Garage Band application from my system, I can jsut drag the icon from the applications folder to the trash?

That's it? No other hidden files anywhere that need to go? Do the pre-installed
mac OSX applications have uninstallers, or is it really as simple as just dragging/dropping them to the trash?

I could free up a lot of space by removing apps I know I won't use....

 

[satcomer]

I always say to switchers that want a Windows type uninstaller then download either AppDelete or AppCleaner. Either program will find all the parts of bad programing that some developers leave all over you OS X machine and move them to the Trash.

 

[Mal]

So... to clarify.. if I wish to remove the Garage Band application from my system, I can jsut drag the icon from the applications folder to the trash?

That's it? No other hidden files anywhere that need to go? Do the pre-installed
mac OSX applications have uninstallers, or is it really as simple as just dragging/dropping them to the trash?

I could free up a lot of space by removing apps I know I won't use....

For GarageBand, that's not quite true. Remember the rule mentioned earlier in the thread. GarageBand requires an installer, so it would require an uninstaller. Of course, I don't know that Apple provides one, so you'd want to know to delete the /Library/Application Support/GarageBand folder to remove the biggest space hog associated with GarageBand (the Loops and Instruments Libraries).

jW

 

[mgguy]

EasyFind is another free application that finds files, including those that are normally hidden from view when you try to find them using the Finder. This app is useful when you want to check for residual files remaining after deleting other applications. Usually these trace files have the name of the application as part of their file name. Once you find them you can just drag them to the trash. But I have found that applications like AppDelete usually removes all of the files associated with the application you want to delete.

 

[jnette]

For GarageBand, that's not quite true. Remember the rule mentioned earlier in the thread. GarageBand requires an installer, so it would require an uninstaller. Of course, I don't know that Apple provides one, so you'd want to know to delete the /Library/Application Support/GarageBand folder to remove the biggest space hog associated with GarageBand (the Loops and Instruments Libraries).

jW

Yep.. I did that yesterday..just as you described above. Worked fine. Also trashed a bunch of unneccessary fonts. Along with several desktop background pictures that I would probably never use. Amazing how much space these preinstalled background wallpaper pics use up. I went to Library/Screensavers to pic out some of the preinstalled screensavers I wouldn't use, but the folder was empty. ????

So where might THOSE be hiding? I've hunted everywhere for them, trying to find what folder/location they might be in, but just can't find it.

Anyway.. I've added a bunch of extra space now. Not that I had a boatload of stuff on it.. heck, my laptop is only two weeks old !

Thanx for the above links as well.. to AppCleaner, etc. I love this site. A real treasure trove of gems of wisdom !

 

[Mal]

Screen Savers are one of the few items tucked away a little more securely (though not much). You can find them in System/Library/Screen Savers. I just took a look, you'll save maybe 30-40 MB at the very most if you trashed all of them, but if you want, they're there to trash. Interestingly enough, some of the built in ones are Quartz Compositions (so you could use them for other things, like Terminal backgrounds or iChat/Photo Booth backdrops). I'm gonna try out Arabesque behind a Terminal window to see how it looks. EDIT: You can't do that on a regular Terminal window, it seems, but using Visor I can place it behind the HUD terminal that generates.

jW

EDIT: Screenshot attached.