04-21-2005, 10:22 PM

I'm new to Macs. I have an iMac running 10.3.9.

I had a program on the iMac (SecureClient made by CheckPoint), and tried to remove it. I just dragged its folder to the trash bin, emptied it, and rebooted.

I have to re-install the program for work now though. I ran its installer, but it won't install, it keeps saying it's already installed.

I did a search for visibile and invisible files with either of those 2 names, but nothing was found.

So.... is there some sort of registry or something like that, that I need to remove all references to the program from?? (Like I used to do in the PC world)

Thanks.

04-21-2005, 10:38 PM

Why don't you contact them and ask. There's a comment section on the website for checkpoint.

04-21-2005, 11:18 PM

Look in /Library/Reciepts and see if there is a reciept there for it (it looks like an installer package). If yes, trash it and reinstall.

Note: this is in the main library folder, not the one in your home folder. (although you can look there too)

04-22-2005, 11:08 PM

User > Library > Preferences. In there look for plists of the deleted app and trash them. There is no windows type registry in OS X

04-23-2005, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by witeshark

User > Library > Preferences. In there look for plists of the deleted app and trash them. There is no windows type registry in OS X

THANK (insert your personal diety here) there is no registry in OS X

04-24-2005, 04:09 AM

Yes, cradom was right. Installer receipts are saved in Library/Receipts directory. Preferences have nothing to do with them.

BTW, "PC_Puke", what is wrong with a registry? Why are we thanking our personal deity that Mac OS 10+ doesn't have one? AFAIK, Mac OS 10+ DOES have a registry. There's the IOKit registry, as well as the defaults database, both of which are similar to the Windows registry.

Is there something wrong with keeping information about an operating system in a central place? What is wrong with that? Where are we supposed to keep this information?

04-24-2005, 08:31 AM

IMO this is one of the big downfalls of OSX - not having an "uninstall" feature.

Having a registry is quite messy, and I quite like the mac way of storing preferences in \Library\Application Support and other \Library\* folders, and the plists.

However, if anything should cary over from Windows to mac I think is having a central record of all installed programs - so that you can just click uninstall when you want to completely remove the program - and it can then ask if you want to just remove the program or completely remove program + settings/preferences.

With Tiger OSX has advanced indexing system with spotlight - so I can't see why they can't further their indexing to index all files associated with an installed app - and when you click uninstall it can remove all associated files. While some programs are as simple as dragging it to the trashcan, others like firefox stores its preferences and bookmarks/cache etc in the /Library/Application Support folder. So if you want to uninstall you would need to search for all files associated and drag to trashcan.

I installed Norton Systemworks once and that was ****. I dragged the program to trash, then proceeded to do a search of all files with the words "norton" and "symantec" and also removed the pref in system preferences. But after a few days I got a norton popup about updating virus definitions confirming it wasn't completely gone. So rather than waste more time, I just reinstalled OSX from my setup disks.

So I ask myself, with an advanced OS like the Mac is, why should I do all the work of finding and removing files when I want to get rid of a program. Which can't I just do one simple click and all associated files are removed for me. It's the same thing really - just automating the search/drag to trash/delete process.

04-25-2005, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by StarDrifter

So I ask myself, with an advanced OS like the Mac is, why should I do all the work of finding and removing files when I want to get rid of a program. Which can't I just do one simple click and all associated files are removed for me. It's the same thing really - just automating the search/drag to trash/delete process.

Most well made programs only need you to drag the program app to the bin and then delete.

This is one of the reasons why a lot of Apple users hate Norton and quite frankly it's all very well saying that the registry in Windows is much more handy but with Norton you will still get the same problem when trying to delete the program on a windows system, it just doesn't get rid of it all.

This is the programmers fault not Apples.
:doctor: