Does Onyx clean up after trashed apps?

After decades with Windows and Registry issues, now I have a MacBook Pro (about three weeks). Reading this forum, Onyx seems to be a popular, even the most popular, maintenance utility. My question: Does dragging a 3rd party app into the trash actually get rid of all the files associated with it (unlike Windows, where Uninstall rarely removes ALL the files associated with an app)? If not, does Onyx perform that task? If not, does it matter with a Mac; I mean is this an issue on a Mac? Thank you. (I wish I had switched years ago.)

stefanmaine said:

After decades with Windows and Registry issues, now I have a MacBook Pro (about three weeks). Reading this forum, Onyx seems to be a popular, even the most popular, maintenance utility. My question: Does dragging a 3rd party app into the trash actually get rid of all the files associated with it (unlike Windows, where Uninstall rarely removes ALL the files associated with an app)? If not, does Onyx perform that task? If not, does it matter with a Mac; I mean is this an issue on a Mac? Thank you. (I wish I had switched years ago.)

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Most 3rd party apps have at least a preference file that gets left behind in your user Library. These are no big deal, take up little space, and can be safely ignored. Many have other helper files and such elsewhere that may be in the user or root Library, and may or may not impact your system by being there. There are several apps, free and not free, that purport to help uninstall and root out files that get left behind. Onyx is not one of them, though it is excellent for what it does do. There are a few uninstaller helpers to recommend, though I will say in advance that NONE are absolutely thorough.

AppTrap sits in the background and watches for any apps that are dragged into the trash. It will then prompt you to move the associated files as well. It's free and relatively effortless.

TrashMe is an app that you have to open first, then drag an app you want to delete onto its window and have associated files scrubbed. It's free and while it takes a little more work to use than AppTrap does, you won't be pestered by pop-up dialogues when you might not want to delete the support files (say, in the case of upgrading an app).

There are a number of other for-pay apps that do the identical function to TrashMe (AppZapper, AppDelete, to name a couple). The last time I evaluated all these, none of them do anything different.

One key limitation to the above mentioned apps is that they only seek files for the user you are logged into. If you have multiple users using the apps, their support files will NOT get deleted. Not last I looked anyway. The only one I know of that does a more thorough job is TinkerTool System. Its Uninstallation Assistant is the best I've seen, though it too is not absolutely perfect. It also does a lot of the things Onyx does and has a couple tricks up its sleeve that I've not seen elsewhere. It's not free, but pretty reasonably priced.

Also worth mentioning now… a couple apps often brought up here are CleanMyMac and MacKeeper. Most the regulars here, myself included, recommend avoiding these like the plague.

Thank you for your thorough response! ... particularly the warning about Cleanmymac and Mackeeper. I have seen them mentioned here and there. I will download Onyx, although I am still learning the Mac, so it will probably be a while before I understand what Onyx can do for me.

Re uninstalling apps, I think that I will rely on the Trash basket alone. It sounds like that will be okay, for now at least. What I am doing is trying a couple of "personal finance" apps (I am used to Windows Quicken but here or in another forum I read that Quicken Essentials for Mac is disappointing), specifically iBank and Moneywell, because they seem to get good grades here, and also will be testing some graphics apps (I used Paint Shop Pro in Windows, and can't afford Photoshop).

If an application comes with an uninstaller, use that. Some, such as AV, download managers and Office software will cause problems if simply dragged to the trash. And whatever you read online you will find stacks of negative reports.

Very broadly speaking, "Pro level" apps and apps that mess with the system itself (the latter being quite rare on a Mac) tend to have uninstallers, and as harryb said the uninstaller is THE BEST way to remove an app if it has one.

Ninety percent of the time for non-pro apps, simply trashing and deleting the program itself is entirely sufficient. YES, a tiny (12K) preference file might get left behind. So what? It's inert without the host program. We don't have a registry, so we don't get those kinds of conflicts. Give up the Windows thinking.

App Trap (App Zapper, et al) do help make for a tidier uninstall, but are mainly superfluous and intended for those who can't stand the thought of even 1K of wasted space. I own App Zapper myself, but honestly I change out computers often enough (about every three to four years) that the "cruft" of old pref files (et al) aren't really an issue I need concern myself with, I just like the ZAP! noise App Zapper makes.

Also, for the benefit of other readers I should point out that it is only uber-geeks like us forum regulars who routinely download, install and then uninstall stuff. NORMAL people choose their software more carefully and tend to stick with it, thus not requiring any uninstalling ever.

stefanmaine said:

What I am doing is trying a couple of "personal finance" apps (I am used to Windows Quicken but here or in another forum I read that Quicken Essentials for Mac is disappointing), specifically iBank and Moneywell, because they seem to get good grades here, and also will be testing some graphics apps (I used Paint Shop Pro in Windows, and can't afford Photoshop).

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I use iBank myself, but am looking to migrate from it. This last update they did is a step backwards in many ways; syncing with the desktop app and multiple iPhone versions of their app is… an adventure; and they have yet to do an iPad app, or even indicate that they will. I'm truly just disgusted with them. /rant

As for graphics editing, Pixelmator is a very popular image editor that is very affordable.

BTW… I probably wasn't clear enough about the "need" to uninstall, but I agree with the others that generally speaking, there's no need to worry about leftover files. There are exceptions, notably with apps that use an actual installer and come with an uninstaller. In those cases, you are best off using their uninstaller, though I have seen instances where the uninstaller that an app came with wasn't thorough enough. If yer like me, well I tend to delete the installer, and (heh heh) the uninstaller and forget what came with one. Still, I tend to have a good idea of what may be more deeply installed than others.

Clean App seems to do a good job of removing all files but you still have to search you're HD fro leftover files.

No application remover is perfect. If files are buried in sub folders the application remover will likely overlook them. Larger complicated applications usually provide an uninstaller which should always be used first.

Thank you all!

"Give up the Windows thinking." Wow! That's it, isn't it? After living for decades with an endless stream of anti-virus, anti-spyware, assorted utility and registry apps from Norton, Macecraft, SpyBot, and on and on, it takes some getting used to a computer that ... just works.

As for personal finance, I tried iBank and Moneywell, and much prefer the latter. It is very nice.

I have been playing with Pixelmator ("30 day trial"), and I agree, it looks good. Thanks for the suggestion.

I have not installed Onyx yet, but will do so.

So, again thank you. You have all helped ... with advice and confidence building!