Uninstalling software under Mac OS X is generally a straightforward procedure — just delete the program from the Applications folder. Few vendors offer uninstallers on the Mac, and generally they’re not necessary. Most programs don’t run background components or alter system settings files (like the Registry on Windows), and leaving old preferences and support files on the hard drive generally doesn’t do much harm.

1. Uninstalling Programs To Trash Trash is one of the common thing which every Mac user knows about. Well, uninstalling program to trash is just like when you are dropping something inside a folder.Mac OS not Windows OS. The Windows OS is very simple to use and even easy to get apps off from the system.
2. As Mac uninstall software, EaseUS CleanGenius can safely and completely remove the unwanted and useless applications, clean the Mac junk files for system cleaning and optimization. Mac OS doesn't provide the specialized tool to uninstall the applications, but you can remove an application by dragging it to the Trash.

What’s Slack program for Mac? How do uninstall Slack carefully when it’s useless using the pc? When you have such questions, you will see the solution and solution from below.

But if you are trying to remove an old or corrupt component, reinstall software to change a serial number, or just free up disk space, removing all components of the old application can be important. These components include the application itself, preferences and support items, and sometimes hidden files or kernel extensions. Anyone who’s had problems installing an Adobe CS application or removing Symantec AntiVirus will appreciate how hard it can be to fully remove old software.

Speed up your Mac with a few clicks

You can do it the easy way or the hard way. In this post you will find detailed information on how to speed up your Mac. You can do all these steps on your own. Or you can save yourself some time and some headaches by downloading a free trial of CleanMyMac. The software offers “all the tools to optimize your Mac, in one app.”

Applications

Be default, Mac OS X software is stored in the Applications folder on your hard drive. Most programs are single icons (iTunes, Firefox), while others contain one or more folders full of items (Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office). You can also occasionally find applications on the desktop, if dragged there during installation or moved from the Applications folder.

Drag the program’s icon or folder to the Trash to begin the uninstall process. If you are not the user who originally installed the software, or your are not an admin user on your Macintosh, you will need to enter an administrator’s name and password to continue.

Note: the icon for most programs is actually a bit of an illusion. What you’re seeing on the hard drive is an application package, a folder full of items including the executable program code and supporting files. When a package is labelled with the .app extension, it appears as a single, launchable icon in the Finder. If you’re curious whats inside, right-click (or control-click) on the icon and select Show Package Contents.

Preferences and Application Support Files

There are two locations on your hard drive, both named Library, where programs store their preferences and supporting files. The first Library is at the top level of your hard drive, the second is inside your Home Folder. Removing items from both these locations is necessary to completely uninstall software.

Start with the Top Level Library on your hard drive /Library. You are looking to remove any files or folders which contain the name of the program (Acrobat, Word) or the vendor (Adobe, Microsoft) in their names. Search the following locations:

• /Library
• /Library/Application Support

  In these two locations you’re looking for non-Apple folders full of items: Adobe, Microsoft, etc.

• /Library/Preferences

  Inside Preferences you may find single files, folders full of items – Adobe, Microsoft – along with .plist documents usually starting with com – com.Adobe.Acrobat.plist, com.microsoft.Word.plist

• /Library/LaunchAgents
• /Library/LaunchDaemons
• /Library/PreferencePanes
• /Library/StartupItems

  Most software does not use LaunchAgents, Preference Panes or Startup Items, but some things do, particularly items which control system behavior or keep background processes running

Next, remove any similarly named items you find inside the User Library inside your Home Folder ~/Library in the same set of folders:

• ~/Library
• ~/Library/Application Support
• ~/Library/LaunchAgents
• ~/Library/Preferences
• ~/Library/PreferencePanes
• ~/Library/StartupItems

For the vast majority of applications that’s all you need to remove. Empty the Trash to complete the process. If you get a message that an item is “in use and can’t be deleted” reboot the Mac, then try again.

Kernel Extensions and Hidden Files

If you’ve deleted everything from the Applications and Library folders and some vestiges of old software still remain, you may be dealing with a kernel extension or hidden file. These items will not be obvious to find, doing a Google search about the components for your specific software situation is highly recommended.

Software that uses background processing – anti-virus and security programs, printers, device sync software – often install one or more kernel extensions. If your old installation of Symantec Utilities keeps telling you it’s out of date six years after you’ve deleted the program, chances are there’s still an old kernel extension loading up.

Warning: kernel extensions are necessary for correct operation of your system. Do not move or delete any items unless you have the ability to redo changes made by booting from a second Macintosh or drive and restoring changes made to the first hard drive.

Kernel extensions are located in /System/Library/Extensions and end with the extension .kext. Again you are looking for items with the name of the program or vendor in the name. For example, with old copies of troublesome Symantec software you might find SymEvent.kext and SymOSXKernelUtilities.kext lurking on your system.

Drag any probable items to the desktop first to make a copy, then move the original to the trash. Don’t empty the trash yet – reboot and see if the issue is fixed. If not, restore the item and try another.

Hidden files are items whose name starts with a period (.) They don’t display in the Finder by default. Programs sometimes use hidden files for authentication purposes, many are located in your home folder. You can use Terminal (inside Applications/Utilities) to list the contents of the directory in question and delete the offending item.

For example, the following set of commands will navigate to the home folder (~), list all contents, then delete a hidden file named .parallels_settings:

%> cd ~
%> ls -al
%> sudo rm .parallels_settings

Using sudo to do the deletion will require you to enter an admin password when prompted.

—
Updated April 2014: added info about LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons

Uninstalling an app on a Mac is so easy, you might not even realize how to do it: just drag the app’s icon from the Applications folder into the trash. But what about applications that don’t have shortcuts, built-in system apps, and other corner cases?

This will cover most situations, but not all of them. This method leaves some junk behind, for example, but it’s mostly okay to leave it there. Some other apps may have different uninstall processes, too. So let’s look at all the different things you need to know when it comes to uninstalling applications.

How to Uninstall Most Mac Applications

RELATED:How to Install Applications On a Mac: Everything You Need to Know

Most Mac applications are self-contained items that don’t mess with the rest of your system. Uninstalling an application is as simple as opening a Finder window, clicking “Applications” in the sidebar, Control-clicking or right-clicking the application’s icon, and selecting “Move to Trash.”

You can also drag-and-drop an application’s icon to the trash can icon on your dock. Or, open the Launchpad interface and drag-and-drop an application’s icon to the trash can from there.

Most applications will go straight to your trash, and you can then Control-click or right-click the trash can icon on your dock and select “Empty Trash” to get rid of that application and all the other files you’ve deleted.

However, some applications will prompt you for a password when you try to move them to the trash. These applications were installed using the Mac package installer. Uninstalling them will remove whatever system-wide changes they made.

Note that you can’t remove built-in applications by doing this. For example, try to move the Chess app to the trash and you’ll see a message saying, “Chess can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X.”

How to Remove Left Behind Files

The above method doesn’t actually erase an application’s preferences. Erase an application and it will leave preference files left over in your Library folders. Most of the time, these files will use very little space and won’t cause a problem. The preferences will still be available on your Mac, too — this is convenient if you’re uninstalling an app only to replace it with a newer version of the same app, or if you reinstall the app later down the line. It’ll keep all your preferences from when you had it installed before.

RELATED:How to Reset Any Mac App to Its Default Settings

If you absolutely must remove those files (say, if you want to reset an app to its default settings), you can use a handy app called AppCleaner to fully uninstall an app, along with all its extra files. Just launch AppCleaner, search for an application in its main window, and click on it, then click the “Remove” button in the popup window that appears.

How to Uninstall Apps That Don’t Appear in Your Applications Folder

But what about applications that don’t appear here? For example, install the Flash plug-in for Mac OS X, or the Java runtime and browser plug-in for Mac, and neither will appear in your Applications folder.

On Windows, that’s no problem — the Control Panel shows a list of all your installed programs, even ones without shortcuts. On a Mac, there’s no interface that lists all your installed software so it’s tough to even notice if you have this stuff installed.

Some applications must be removed in other ways, and you’ll generally find instructions by simply performing a web search for “uninstall [program name] mac”. For example, Adobe offers a separate uninstaller app you need to download and run to uninstall Flash on a Mac.

RELATED:How to Uninstall Java on Mac OS X

Oracle is even worse and doesn’t provide an easy app that will uninstall Java from Mac OS X for you. Instead, Oracle instructs you to run several terminal commands to uninstall Java after installing it. Here’s how to uninstall the Java runtime and development kit.

Come on, Oracle — at least provide a downloadable uninstaller like Adobe does.

Other software applications may provide their own downloadable uninstallers or uninstallation instructions, so perform a web search if you’re not sure how to uninstall something and you’ll find instructions.

How to Uninstall Adware and Other Crapware

RELATED:How to Remove Malware and Adware From Your Mac

Macs are now falling prey to the same epidemic of crapware Windows PCs have to deal with. The same free application download websites that serve this junk up to Windows users are serving similar junk to Mac users.

Safer Browser Uninstall For Mac

On a Windows PC, most “reputable” adware provides an uninstaller that sits in the Programs and Features list, allowing users to easily uninstall it for legal reasons. On a Mac, adware programs don’t have a similar place to list themselves in. They may want you to download and run an uninstaller app to remove them, if you can even figure out which ones you have installed.

We recommend the completely free Malwarebytes for Mac if you need to purge your Mac of crapware and even Mac malware. It’ll scan your Mac for junk applications and remove them for you.

Android Studio Uninstall For Mac

How to Remove Built-in System Apps

Macs also have no way to uninstall or install operating system features, so there’s no way to easily remove the many applications Apple included with your Mac.

On OS X 10.10 Yosemite and earlier, it was possible to open a terminal window and issue commands to delete these system apps, which are located in the /Applications folder. For example, running the following command in a terminal window would delete the built-in Chess app. Be very careful when typing the following command:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/Chess.app

As of Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, System Integrity Protection protects these applications and other system files from being modified. This prevents you from deleting them, and it also ensures malware can’t modify these applications and infect them.

RELATED:How to Disable System Integrity Protection on a Mac (and Why You Shouldn’t)

If you actually did want to remove any of these built-in apps from your Mac, you’d have to disable System Integrity Protection first. We don’t recommend that. However, you can re-enable SIP after and your Mac won’t mind that you’ve deleted Chess.app and other built-in system apps.

Really, we recommend you don’t do this. Mac OS X may automatically reinstall these applications in the future when you update the system, anyway. They don’t take up much space, and Apple provides no way to get them back beyond reinstalling OS X on your Mac.

Image Credit: Daniel Dudek-Corrigan on Flickr

Remove Program For Mac

READ NEXT

Kaspersky Uninstall For Mac

• › Free Download: Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows 10
• › How to Overclock Your Computer’s RAM
• › What’s New in Chrome 77, Arriving September 10
• › How to Use Pipes on Linux
• › Why Does USB Have to Be So Complicated?