how to uninstall apps

[bobw]

they are placed all in one folder

Not true.

Depending on the application, it may put files in the Application Support folder, Documents folder, etc.

[Lt Major Burns]

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

generally

most apps respect this. as a learning tool, it's a nice paradigm, i think. also, this is why i mentioned the .plists the other files in application support etc.

and it only seems to be shoddy MS apps that use the documents folder. Halo does as well (ah, MS)

[bobw]

A good number of apps, not MS, place folders in the Documents folder.

Appleworks, Eudora, Chronosync, Quicken, Roxio, to mention a few.

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If the software you installed uses Apple’s standard Installer application, then there’s an easy way to see where it installed its files. First, find out the name of the installer. For example, the installer might be named “WireTap Pro 1.1.1 Installer.pkg”.

Now, open the folder located at /Library/Receipts/ , and find the installer in there. Strictly speaking, these aren’t copies of the installers, but just receipts telling you where it installed its stuff. To open these, you’ll need a fantastic piece of shareware software called Pacifist. Opening it with Pacifist will tell you exactly where it installed its files.

If the installer you used does not use Apple’s standard Installer application, then it’s a bit trickier to find the files. However, almost all Mac applications are good citizens, and place their support files in strict locations.

Applications that you install by drag-and-drop are the easiest to uninstall. First, delete the app, wherever you installed it by dragging. Then, go open up ~/Library/ (where ~ is your home folder), and look for any folder with the name of the application. For example, if there’s a folder located at ~/Library/iComic/ , you can safely assume that this folder is used by the iComic application, and can safely be deleted without adverse affects to other applications.

You should also look inside the folder located at ~/Library/Application Support/ . If applications are friendlier, they’ll place many of the preference files they create in this folder. Again, look for a folder with the application’s name.

The other place you need to look is in ~/Library/Preferences/ . Usually, applications will have a preference file whose name is of the form “com.companyname.productname.plist”. Occasionally, you’ll have preference files whose names start with “org” or “net” instead of “com” — this depends on the company’s URL. For example, Mozilla comes from the Mozilla.org domain, and therefore it’s preference file will be named “org.mozilla.mozilla.plist”. Sometimes applications don’t follow this standard, though, and they sometimes even put folders inside ~/Library/Preferences/ . It’s probably just easiest to do a search for the application’s name while limiting your search to inside ~/Library/Preferences/ .

If applications are meant to be accessed by all users, you’ll find their files in /Library/ instead of ~/Library/ . The difference is that the /Library/ folder, located at the top level of your hard drive, is accessible to all users. ~/Library/ is only accessible to the current user, with each user having its separate Library folder inside the home folder.

(Just to make it clear, ~/Library/ is shorthand for a user-specific library folder. For a user named “simmy”, ~/Library/ is the same as /Users/simmy/Library/ . For a user named “sarah” on the same computer, ~/Library/ is the same as /Users/sarah/Library/ . So ~/Library/ is not in the same location for each user. /Library/ refers to the folder named “Library” at the top level of your hard drive. /Users/simmy/ refers to the folder named “simmy” inside the folder “Users” which is at the top level of your hard drive.)

Installers can also install other plugins or files in specific places so that is accessible to Mac OS X. The location of where these things are installed depends on what the plugin or file is. If it’s a contextual menu, then you should look in ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items/ or /Library/Contextual Menu Items/ . If it’s a screen saver, look in ~/Library/Screen Savers/ or /Library/Screen Savers/ . If it’s a preference pane, look in ~/Library/PreferencePanes/ or /Library/PreferencePanes/ . You get the idea. Basically, you want to look in one of two places for files: first, look in the current user’s Library folder, and then look in the general Library folder.

There’s one other location of which you need to be aware. This is /System/Library/Extensions/ . Yes, this folder is located inside the “System” folder which third-party applications shouldn’t touch (and you usually shouldn’t either), but the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder is the sole exception to the rule (and this is actually the Apple-sanctioned place to put third-party system extensions). Since both Apple-created extensions AND third party-extensions go in this folder, you’ll need to be extra careful that you aren’t deleting required system resources.

Unless it’s obvious that the extension you’re deleting is not Apple-created (for example, WireTap Pro from Ambrosia software installs an extension into /System/Library/Extensions/ called “AmbrosiaAudioSupport.kext”), I’d suggest contacting the developer or looking for information on the developer’s website about the name of any extensions it installs. That way you can be absolutely sure you’re not deleting an essential system component.

In general, when deleting files you’re not sure about, it’s prudent to be safe. If you don’t know whether you can safely delete a file or folder, just move it to your desktop, and restart your computer. If everything works fine for a few days or so and you haven’t noticed any adverse side effects, then you can probably delete the file. Again, however, if you’re deleting something from /System/Library/Extensions/ , I’d suggest getting info straight from the developer about what extension it installed.