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Usually, you just drag the program folder or file to the trash
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

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How to "uninstall" programs in Mac OS X


March 10, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   How do you "uninstall" a program in Mac OS X? I'm asked this often.
   In nearly every case, you only have to do one thing when you no longer want to run a program on your Mac OS X computer: You drag it to the trash.
   Notice the simplicity? When you've decided you no longer want to keep a program, you locate it and drag it to the trash can. There's nothing to uninstall. You simply get rid of it.
   Did I hear you say you're not sure where any of your programs are? Apple took pity on those of us who are too busy to locate anything in all the hiding places on our hard drives, so it added a feature that makes removing programs absurdly easy. You simply Ctrl-Click (or right click) on the alias for an application -- on the icon in the dock, for example -- and click "Show Original." A window will open showing the original application.
   Should you drag that to the trash now? Maybe. And then again maybe not. Stick with me for a while. I need to explain a dichotomy in Mac OS X.
   There are two basic kinds of programs for OS X.
   One kind is old-fashioned, consisting of a program file (or "application," as Apple calls it) and possibly a few other files. When you want to get rid of a program of this kind, you should get rid of all its files.
   The other kind represents a new program-packaging idea that surfaced with OS X. Apple liked the idea of packaging software so much that its engineers even called it a "package." To you and to me, a package looks like a single file. You see one icon.
   A good example of a package is Safari, the Apple Web browser. Look in the Applications folder and you'll see a single Safari icon. That's the Safari package. There are, incredibly, more than 150 separate files inside the Safari package, but you'd never know it from looking at the single icon.
   In most ways, a package acts like a file. The operating system hides the "folderness" of a package to discourage casual users from peeking inside and messing things up. But here's how to sneak inside a package if you want to see what's there: Ctrl-click (or right click) on the package icon and click "Show Package Contents."
   So before you drag a program to the trash, you have to make sure you're dragging the right thing. If it's a package, you're free to schlep it right into the trash.
   But if the program you want to get rid of is the old, unpackaged kind, you should drag it and any associated files into the trash. You might see the application file (or icon) along with documentation such as a "Read Me" text, for example.
   Your task is made really easy if the program you want to get rid of is located in its own folder. In that case, drag the folder into the trash.
   Don't empty the trash right away. Wait until you are sure you don't need the program.