How do i uninstall programs on Mac OSX

Question

Level 3

600 points

How do i uninstall programs on Mac OSX

Just got my first mac less than 2 weeks ago and absolutely love the laptop, i did have the problem where it went to sleep instead of shutting down and wouldnt turn on, but the fixes apple care told me to do seemed to have work so far...

anyways, my question is how do i unstall programs? is there a utility like "add/remove programs" on windows or do i just delete the file from my applications list?

any help would be much appreciated

thanks
jeff

MacBook 2.0 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Aug 23, 2006 5:59 PM

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Answer 1

Shaffer22

Level 2

400 points

Aug 23, 2006 6:01 PM in response to JSwerdy

There are a few ways to go about it. Some apps that you may have downloaded also come with an uninstaller. You could use that, but what I usually do is just open a new Finder window, and then type the name of the app in the Search box. Then I just drag any files associated with that App into the trash. Empty the trash, and your done.

Jason

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Answer 2

Aug 23, 2006 6:02 PM in response to JSwerdy

Just delete the program from the Applications directory. If the program has an installer, there should be an uninstall option.

Simply trashing the application will do 90% of the job. There may be some files left in /Library/Application Support. Adobe, for example, puts lots of files there.

There may also be preferences (.plist) files left in (home)/Library/Preferences. But these are trivial and you need not find them.

There is no need to worry about a Registry needing cleanup as on Windows.

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Answer 3

Shaffer22

Level 2

400 points

Aug 23, 2006 6:08 PM in response to Rick Auricchio

You can't just delete the app from the Applications directory. That will not remove all program files. If it doesnt have an uninstaller, you have to remove the program files yourself by following the proceedure I outlined earlier.

Jason

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Answer 4

JSwerdy Author

Level 3

600 points

Aug 23, 2006 6:09 PM in response to JSwerdy

thanks alot for the help, got a second question to add to this

if i want to install an .exe program what program do i need to install these files?

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Answer 5

Shaffer22

Level 2

400 points

Aug 23, 2006 6:10 PM in response to JSwerdy

That is a file that can only be opened by Windows. You will need to either run Parallels, Virtual PC, Bootcamp etc... If you need help doing that, I would suggest starting a new post, as this is an entirely new subject.

Jason

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Answer 6

JSwerdy Author

Level 3

600 points

Aug 23, 2006 6:14 PM in response to Shaffer22

thanks, im sitting here with a friend who also recently purchased a macbook and that was his question,

thanks for the help guys,

jeff

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