How do you Uninstall a program if there is no "uninstaller"?

pman555 · Dec 8, 2008

OK, maybe this might be a very "noob" question, but as i am a new switcher, i have no idea...

How do you uninstall something if it does not come with an uninstaller program?

I have OS 10.5 Leopard, 15" Macbook Pro Unibody.

Thanks!

JGruber · Dec 8, 2008

Most of the time, you can simply drag the application to the trash can. This isnt the most efficent way to do it, but it does work.

That's generally one of my smallest complaints about the Mac.

quicksilver · Dec 8, 2008

True. If you're paranoid about preference files, use AppZapper. It will locate any file that's linked to the app you are uninstalling and remove it.

pman555 · Dec 8, 2008

JGruber said:
Most of the time, you can simply drag the application to the trash can. This isnt the most efficent way to do it, but it does work.

That's generally one of my smallest complaints about the Mac.

Thanks for the reply, drag JUST the icon from the application folder?

Seems incredibly too simple to me...but maybe thats coming from my windows experience....

JGruber · Dec 8, 2008

Yes, just drag it from it's current location, and put it in the Trash Can.

But just like quicksilver said, you can also use the program he listed.

pman555 · Dec 8, 2008

Thanks guys, appreciate the help!

TheInvsbleMan · Dec 8, 2008

Usually if a program has an installer you will need to have some sort of uninstaller, but this is not true for everything. Like everyone else said most things are just able to be dragged to the trash and they will be uninstalled.

I personally use AppZapper like was mentioned above it just makes me feel better about it.

Just a bit of the technical side of this would be because most apps for Mac don't actually "install" persay. Apps that don't require an installer are simply self supportive apps, dragging them to the Applications folder isn't even really necessary the applications folder is just a convenient place to store all of them. If you really wanted you could scatter apps everywhere around your computer. Because the apps are designed this way simply dragging them to the trash gets rid of everything.

Hopefully that will put your mind at ease about it being too simple.

pman555 · Dec 8, 2008

TheInvsbleMan said:
Usually if a program has an installer you will need to have some sort of uninstaller, but this is not true for everything. Like everyone else said most things are just able to be dragged to the trash and they will be uninstalled.

I personally use AppZapper like was mentioned above it just makes me feel better about it.

Just a bit of the technical side of this would be because most apps for Mac don't actually "install" persay. Apps that don't require an installer are simply self supportive apps, dragging them to the Applications folder isn't even really necessary the applications folder is just a convenient place to store all of them. If you really wanted you could scatter apps everywhere around your computer. Because the apps are designed this way simply dragging them to the trash gets rid of everything.

Hopefully that will put your mind at ease about it being too simple.

thats great info to know! Thanks so much!

Luminosity · Dec 8, 2008

Yeah, think of an iphone. When you download Apps from the app store you arnt really installing them. You just "add" them to your phone. You can delete these at any time by just dragging them to the trash. You wont find an uninstaller on a mac app very often.

walkerj · Dec 8, 2008

Also note that for most apps (and this is not true for all of them, but most of them) the icon you drag to your Applications folder to 'install' or drag to the trash to 'uninstall' is usually not merely a single executable file. It is a representation of a whole collection of files, similar in concept to a folder but just hidden from the user by default. If you right click most app icons and select 'show package contents' you'll be presented with a Finder window showing what's in that package. This is where the executable and associated support files exist to allow that app to run. Hence the icon itself represents a fully self-contained 'package' that allows one to simply drag it to the trash to remove it from the system.

The more you know