How to uninstall a mac os application. How to uninstall a program on Mac OS X. Uninstalling programs using AppCleaner

The standard process for erasing software on mac OS is different from Windows. After standard erasing of the application, its cache files, etc. are saved on the disk and load the computer. Let's look at 4 correct methods for completely removing programs from your computer.

In Mac OS, to get rid of the application, you just need to move the shortcut to the Trash. Mac OS does not have a system registry, so all relevant software files may remain on the system. To completely get rid of them, you will need to use the methods described below.

Method 1: deleting the application via FINDER

Finder is a standard application on Macs, necessary for setting up the operating system and finding documents. It runs continuously in the background. Using Finder, you can completely get rid of any installed application on the operating system. To do this, follow the following sequence of actions:

At the bottom of the start bar there is a Finder shortcut, open it.
After this, you will be taken to the control window, select the “Programs” line in the left column. A list of programs and software names will appear on the right side of the folder.
From the list, select the required file that you want to delete and right-click on it. In the menu that opens, click on “Move to Trash.”
The application will be removed from the operating system after the software name disappears from the Finder tables. There will be the same amount of free space on your computer because the software files are in the Recycle Bin.
Minimize all windows and right-click on “Trash”. In the context menu, select “Empty Trash”.
After this, the program will be erased from the computer entirely. To prevent temporary files from being created at this point, you must restart your computer.

Method 2: removal from LAUNCHPAD

Launchpad is a quick access panel in mac OS. Identical to the desktop in Windows, it contains various user files.

"Library" in mac OS is a file manager. It contains application settings, programs, files and data.

To remove the program you need to do the following:

Method 3: third-party programs

Apart from standard removal options, it is almost always possible to use external applications. System cleaning software can be easily downloaded and installed on your computer. Let's look at the operation of the most popular uninstallers.

Movavi Mac Cleaner

For this software to work, you must perform the following steps:

Thanks to Movavi Mac Cleaner, you can also remove standard applications that are not needed for everyday use of your computer, but take up a lot of space. To do this you need to do:

AppCleaner

A popular and widespread utility for working with data on Macs. For it to work, you need to perform the following sequence of actions:

There are many good uninstallers, but the most popular are Movavi Mac Cleaner, Clean MyMac and AppCleaner.

Method 4: built-in uninstaller

If you install an application from an unofficial source, it is better to uninstall it using the provided uninstaller. This file appears immediately after installing the application. It is automatically configured to completely remove the application and all its files from your computer. The sequence of actions will be as follows:

Built-in programs

There is enough unnecessary firmware in the operating system. To remove built-in (standard) software from the system, you can use the functions of special applications or the command line of the operating system. If everything is already clear with the first option, since the instructions are described above, then nothing is known about the second method. The guide will describe how to properly uninstall a program on mac OS using the “Terminal”:

Conclusion

This article describes the correct methods for removing programs from a Mac OS computer. There are several ways to uninstall: from Launchpad, through Finder, using third-party programs, the built-in uninstaller, and also the command line. Which method to use is up to you. We hope our article will help you with this.

Video on the topic

Removing unnecessary programs from a computer running the Mac OS operating system is a very simple procedure. However, it can be very confusing for those users who recently switched to Mac from Windows and do not have sufficient experience in the new system. To help novice Mac users, this article was prepared on how to remove a program from a Mac.

Unlike operating systems of the Windows family, the software package for managing a Mac OS computer has a fundamentally different architecture and does not contain a registry in which data about all installed programs is entered. Mac OS also lacks an analogue of the Windows Control Panel, through which you can manage your computer, including removing installed programs.

Any program can be removed from a Mac very elegantly and easily in a few simple steps.

Go to the programs folder ( Applications) and find the one you want to delete.
Drag the program icon with the mouse to the trash. The same can be done by right-clicking on the program icon and selecting the item in the context menu that appears Move to cart.
Empty the Recycle Bin to completely remove the program from your computer disk.

This ease of removal is due to the fact that the shortcut in Mac OS hides the entire contents of the program, including its executable files. Only user settings files and cache files used by the program may be located in a different location.

The described method of removing programs is universal for all versions of the tenth family.

Despite all its versatility, many users preferred and still prefer more interactive methods of removing programs, implemented using various special uninstaller programs. The most famous of these utilities is AppCleaner.

The main advantage of AppCleaner is that it removes not only the program itself from a special folder for applications /Applications, but also finds and deletes all files associated with the program, such as individual user settings, saving settings and current state, as well as cache files.

You can remove a program from a Mac using AppCleaner as follows.
Starting with Mac OS X 10.8 Lion, the Launchpad application appeared in the operating system, with which you can delete applications in a manner similar to that used on the iPad or iPhone. This is implemented as follows.
It should be noted that this method can only remove programs installed on your computer through the AppStore. All the rest will be without crosses and it will not be possible to remove them using the indicated method.

Care must be taken to remove large programs that are installed on a Mac through its own installer, and not simply copied to the Applications folder. As a rule, such programs have their own uninstaller and it is better to remove them through it. To check for the presence of the uninstaller, go to the Applications folder and check for its presence in the program file group.

As you can see from the picture presented, the Adobe Photoshop graphic editor has its own uninstaller, which can be used to remove this program from a Mac if necessary.

Let's look at all the existing ways to quickly uninstall a program on Mac OS.

The peculiarity of this operating system is that even after uninstallation, program files remain on the computer.

All of the methods described below will completely uninstall the software from your computer.

Mac OS does not have a registry, accordingly, the functionality of deleting a program is completely different from .

As you know, in Windows applications are uninstalled using the Control Panel window. In OS X, in order to erase software, you just need to move it to the Trash.

This method is considered standard, but as a result of its execution, programs remain on the system.

Over time, these files clutter up your Mac, so we recommend removing programs using one of the methods described below.

Contents:

Method 1 - Uninstall from Launchpad

The Launchpad (also known as Launchpad) in Mac OS is the same as . This window contains shortcuts to all applications that the user himself has added there.

With Launchpad you can very easily uninstall a program that you no longer need. Just drag its icon to the Trash.

This action conditionally deletes the application, and you can return it at any time without losing all saved game or project data.

If you want to permanently remove the utility, simply open cart and delete the program file or the contents of the entire Recycle Bin at once.

This uninstallation method is suitable for ordinary client programs, small games, etc.

Note that if the program is part of an entire software package or the game constantly works with the server, creating new files in the OS, it is better to useMac OS.

After emptying the Recycle Bin, you need to make sure that there are no more saved utility settings left in the file system.

If there are any, you just need to move them to the Trash in the same way and then empty its contents.

In OS X it is called "Library". It stores files of all installed applications, data about running processes, their settings and current configuration.

To clean up any remaining files from an app, go to Finder.

The main menu is displayed in the window header. Click on “Go” and then on “Library”, as shown in the figure below:

In the window that appears find the folder with the name of the deleted application and move it to the Trash, which you then empty.

If you can't delete a directory because a message box keeps popping up "Try again"", restart your computer and delete the folder again.

Method 2 – Using Finder

Finder is a system utility for searching files and configuring your OS X, which runs in constant mode. Can't close Finder, because it is responsible for displaying the entire computer interface.

Also, with its help you can remove installed programs.

Follow the instructions:

1 Find the Finder icon on your computer's toolbar and click on it;

3 Now select the item you want to erase from your computer, and right-click on it. In the context menu that appears, click on "Add to cart";

A program is deleted the moment its name disappears from the list in the Finder. Please note that disk space has not been freed up since the files are still in the Recycle Bin. Return to your desktop and right-click on Trash. In the list of options, click on “Clear”. Thus, the application will be completely removed from the OS. If the program creates temporary files, you just need to restart your computer to delete them.

Method 3 – Using an uninstaller

If the application was not installed from, it is not advisable to remove it using the methods described above.

After installing such software, a special uninstaller also appears on the system - a utility that correctly removes a specific program from your PC.

Follow the instructions to find and run the uninstaller:

Go to Finder and open the section "Programs";
Click on the software name. In the list of files that relate to the software that opens, click on the icon labeled Uninstall;

Run the uninstaller. Follow all instructions in the window that appears to complete the software removal.

Method 4 – Third Party Uninstallation Programs

In addition to standard uninstallation methods, you can use third-party cleaning programs. Let's look at the most popular of them.

App Cleaner

App Cleaner is the most popular utility for deleting data from your Mac.

After installing App Cleaner, open the utility window. Then click on the tab Applications:

Move the icons of the programs you want to remove into it.

Some of them you can use regularly, and some you may not open at all.

To free up space in your PC memory and remove standard software, follow the instructions:

Open a command line (Terminal);

In the window that opens, enter the command “ CD / Application " (without quotes) and press Enter;
Next, enter the command shown in the figure. In this case, this is the name of the software to be removed. Enter the desired program name yourself;
To execute the command, press Enter again.

Thematic videos:

Many novice OS X users wonder how to uninstall programs on Mac. On the one hand, this is a simple task. On the other hand, many instructions on this topic do not provide complete information, which sometimes causes difficulties when removing some very popular applications.

This guide will detail how to properly remove a program from a Mac in various situations and for different program sources, as well as how you can remove built-in OS X system programs if the need arises.

So far everything is very simple. However, you cannot remove some programs, which are quite frequently used, in this way; as a rule, these are “bulk” programs installed from third-party sites using the “Installer” (similar to that in Windows).

Some examples: Google Chrome (at a stretch), Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Creative Cloud in general, Adobe Flash Player and others.

What to do with such programs? Here are some possible options:

And how do you finally remove the program? Here the best option would be to type in Google search “How to remove Program name Mac OS" - almost all serious applications that require specific steps to remove them have official instructions in this regard on the websites of their developers, which are advisable to follow.

How to Remove Mac OS X Built-in Programs

If you try to uninstall any of the Mac's pre-installed programs, you will see a message that "The item cannot be modified or deleted because it is required by OS X."

I do not recommend touching built-in applications (this may cause the system to malfunction), however, it is possible to remove them. To do this you will need to use the Terminal. To launch it, you can use Spotlight search or the Utilities folder in Programs.

In the terminal, enter the command cd /Applications/ and press Enter.

The following command directly removes the OS X program, for example:

sudo rm -rf Safari.app/
sudo rm -rf FaceTime.app/
sudo rm -rf Photo\Booth.app/
sudo rm -rf QuickTime\Player.app/

I think the logic is clear. If you are asked to enter a password, no characters will be displayed as you type (but the password will still be entered). During uninstallation, you will not receive any confirmation of removal; the program will simply be removed from the computer.

I finish here, as you can see, in most cases, removing programs from a Mac is a fairly simple action. Less often you have to make an effort to find out how to completely clear the system of application files, but this is not very difficult.

For novice users who have only recently discovered Mac OS, some system functions may not seem obvious and will require more detailed explanation. In this article, we will learn how to remove a program from a Macintosh.

If you have previously used Windows, do not look for uninstallation in the local equivalent of “Control Panel”. Here everything is implemented completely differently, but a little simpler. If in “Windows” we right-clicked to remove a shortcut from the desktop, then on Mac machines this action applies to the entire program. Just go to “Applications”, call the shortcut context menu and select “Move to trash”. A similar method: hold down the program shortcut in “Applications” with the mouse cursor and drag it to the “Trash” Trash. Then right-click on it and select “Clear”. Hotkeys for deleting a program on a Mac are “Ctrl+Delete” after selecting the icon. All the above methods work on any version of OS X, up to “Snow Leopard”. Starting with the “Lion” version, the Mac borrowed many of the features of iOS, that is, the iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices that are familiar to us. To remove an application from Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, go to LaunchPad and press the cursor on the program shortcut. When it “vibrates” and shows us a black cross in the upper left corner, click on the mark. The system will display a warning asking if you really want to remove the program. Confirm “Yes”\”Yes” if the decision is final. The cross doesn't appear? This means that the software was installed not from the AppStore, but by a third-party method, or from a different Apple ID. To fix the problem, use the programs that we will discuss below. Or log in with your previous ID and repeat the deletion. The drag-to-trash method still works in 10.7. Which one is more convenient is up to you to decide. It is noteworthy that the LaunchPad method does not move the program to the trash, but immediately deletes the files.

Some programs are not completely removed from Mac OS, leaving behind traces of unnecessary files. They are usually stored in the directory ~/Library/Application Support/, in folders with the application name. If the software has already been uninstalled, you can safely delete the folder using any of the above methods. It also doesn't hurt to clear the cache from time to time. ~/Library/Caches/. If your OS is Russified, “Library” became “Libraries”. Can’t you uninstall the software, or do you get strange errors afterwards? Use special programs to properly clean your Mac computer. AppZapper not only does its job well, but is also free. It is able to store license data for purchased programs so as not to purchase the latter again in the future. cleanMyMac works in a similar way. The programs are also able to remove device drivers, which manual operation can significantly complicate the user's life.

Above we have listed the most popular and easiest ways to remove a program from a Mac. If you know others, share them in the comments. Finally, the author of the video will tell you how he himself copes with installing and uninstalling software on a Macintosh.