Hello there, I don't know why it restores the previous data like signed in email id when I uninstall and reinstalling an application. Is there any way to clear full data while uninstalling an application. For example I uninstalled chrome and reinstall it now it shows all the previous data I used before uninstalling.
Anyone tell me how to resolve this issue?
MacBook Air 13″
Just dragging the app to trash might often leave traces in various ~/Library folders etc.
Using a well behaving app's uninstaller should take certain of them.
If not, dive in to user ~/Library and also system /Library etc and carefully delete the files that app might have left behind. But be careful not to overdo it in case other apps might need those files.
If you have used some old macOS like Mojave and just upgraded that to later macOS, then some 3rd party add-ons might have got trapped in the now sealed folders, and it is not possible to delete them.
The most foolproof method is to backup, erase, do a clean install and then manually restore only user data files and re-install apps you need.
p.s. instructions to completely delete Chrome:
Just dragging the app to trash might often leave traces in various ~/Library folders etc.
Using a well behaving app's uninstaller should take certain of them.
If not, dive in to user ~/Library and also system /Library etc and carefully delete the files that app might have left behind. But be careful not to overdo it in case other apps might need those files.
If you have used some old macOS like Mojave and just upgraded that to later macOS, then some 3rd party add-ons might have got trapped in the now sealed folders, and it is not possible to delete them.
The most foolproof method is to backup, erase, do a clean install and then manually restore only user data files and re-install apps you need.
p.s. instructions to completely delete Chrome:
It's not uncommon for apps and their data to be stored in different location on your drive. As you've discovered, this makes getting rid of all the pieces difficult. Some apps will have an uninstaller utility that can eliminate most of this junk, but it's not always guaranteed. Fortunately, the stuff that's left behind usually doesn't take up much storage space, but it can still be annoying to know it's still there.
This separation of app and data can be helpful when one is updating an app or troubleshooting and might need to uninstall/reinstall that app. Reinstalling an application's data can be tedious and time consuming.
There are some third party apps that can help. Find Any File (FAF) is one app available in the App Store that you can use to search for remnants of uninstalled applications. Use it to search for files based on the application name or the developer, then delete those files.
A word of caution when using these utilities. When dealing with an application like Word, which shares resources with other Microsoft apps, deleting other files might impact the performance of any of those other MS applications. The same goes for Adobe apps and many games that are a part of a suite.
Sometimes it's best to simply ignore and live with the potential clutter until you have an opportunity to wipe your drive.
Check vendor/developer support for instructions on how to remove their app.
Even when there is an uninstaller app there may be additional files (aka ghost files) left behind on the assumption you will reinstall the app. Most often the leftover files are user preferences/settings, caches or app support files. For example, Google, Microsoft, Adobe and others have these additional instructions on their support sites.
perumalnm wrote:
For example I uninstalled chrome and reinstall it now it shows all the previous data I used before uninstalling.
Anyone tell me how to resolve this issue?
Others have already posted excellent advice and suggestions (Owl-53, Matti, D.J., Martin).
Now, pertaining to Chrome specifically ... Chrome can be a problem because not only does it "hide" some of your data in multiple places within your Mac (in folders or files that are not easy to find and whose names do not indicate what they are being used for), but Chrome (Google) also stores a lot of this personal data online (in their cloud servers). It can be hard to find and remove such information, and when it is in Google's servers, it is sometimes just restored even when you cleaned it off your Mac. Google does offer some options for restricting what personal data is stored in their servers and for removing or limiting it. But for that you have to wade through various settings, which you can access from either your Google account or via GMAIL (in a web browser). But it isn't very straightforward and frankly, I'm don't really trust Google here, for all I know they still keep the info even if you restrict who they share it with. It's a problem for anyone using Chrome or other Google apps. I consider all Google apps something of a soft security risk, actually, including email (and I am a GMAIL user myself). It has been claimed that Google harvests a lot of marketing information from the contents of personal and private emails of GMAIL users, as well as information from browsing history. I don't think anywhere you go within Chrome is truly "private" even if you designate it as such.
Short and unpopular suggestion for some
Get Rid of Google Chrome for the reason outlined in links below
Chrome from Google is very good at what it was designed to do
Harvest all the user ( your ) Data unbeknownst to the user.
May consider an alternative https://brave.com which is essentially Google Chrome without the Google baggage
Refer to the Posting by Respected Contributor @ John Galt
Refer to the Posting by Respected Contributor @ Kurt Lang
etrecheck... Mac running slow - Apple Community
thanks for your response and I was ignoring this issue while reinstalling an application after sometime but i decided to ask this here so I did but anyways thanks
You're welcome.
I'll add that our friend, @Owl-53, provides good guidance above (or below) specific to Google Chrome.
How to uninstall a application with complete data deletion?
