In a recent conversation with another mac user, the subject came up about the simplicity of deleting apps whereby an app can be simply moved to the trash and poof! it is gone.  Although the app may be gone, there still may be some lingering files and junk elswhere or so I was led to believe.  So my question is as follows; where is or are the remainder of the deleted app related files and or junk that would no longer be needed and can be deleted? 

In advance, I thank you for any and all feedback…

Depends on the app, but usually prefs files in the preferences folder. They usually amount to a few K bytes.

I use AppZapper to remove apps and all related files.  Works great !

BudMeister

Some apps have an uninstaller, but I don’t know if they clean out all of the files.

Also look in /Library/Application Support for a folder the application may have installed and remove it.

Really the only way to find everything is to do a search, and remember to add “System files”, “are included” in your Finder Search window (click on the plus sign to add this option).

I’ve never understood why Apple doesn’t include some kind of uninstaller in OS X. Dragging and dropping an app to install it is great, but games in particular create folders for saved games, screenshots, etc., but it’s never clear where they might be hiding. Yeah, Windows is obnoxious, but uninstalling apps in that OS is usually a breeze. We shouldn’t have to buy something separate just to get rid of the stuff that apps leave behind.

I use App Cleaner which is easy to use, shows the extra files that are being deleted.

Brad Cook - 18 February 2010 11:36 AM

I’ve never understood why Apple doesn’t include some kind of uninstaller in OS X. Yeah, Windows is obnoxious, but uninstalling apps in that OS is usually a breeze. We shouldn’t have to buy something separate just to get rid of the stuff that apps leave behind.

Brad,
adding something like an Uninstaller to OX would require a centralized database were the installer puts iits file data. Having this database would make uninstalling much easier but would also make an installation process mandatory. Windows Users know this database, btw - it’s called Registry
As you might know, it is this registry witch is causing much of the problems in Windows OS - folks need cleener-apps and so on. A faulty registry might leave the hole system unusable.

Thank god, Unix is not using this approach, it is completely decentralized. This means configuration data might be anywhere. This is sometimes a pain in the ass if you work at system level like I do often. But for most users it is the way they want to: Just double click the App and it runs from anywhere and don’t need to be installed.

On Topic: Apps on OSX witch come with an installer mostly have an uninstaller script. Just download the App again ang you have it. Otherwise it leaves some preferences witch might come in handy when you reinstall. Package receipts are another thing. But these are so small and do not compromise your system. So leave them be! Better a running system with a few more receipts needed then a faulty one with some accidentally deleted in the process.

Application support files where already mentioned. Delete these. They might amount to some data.

Cheers,
Helge

PS: Some advise to all you guys messing around with their system: If it’s running, never touch it! Only when problems arise then start doing something! (This is common knowledge, but believe me, its so so true)

Koingo Software’s “Amnesia” is a pretty good application for catching those little hidden files that apps toss all around your hard drive that aren’t installed… like caches, logs, preferences files, application support files, that sort of thing…

The easiest to use is AppTrap, an add-on System Pref.  Drag an app to the trash, and it immediately pops up an asks if you want to remove all of those other files as well, and it shows you a list of them, just in case.