Uninstalling software and updating its new version is the most important task to upgrade the Mac with the new features and security purpose. Removing the old software is a necessary action required for the smooth functioning of the Mac. Installed software is always stored in Application folder with the hidden and other files. Uninstalling the software will provide the free space on the hard disk. But before uninstalling the software, it is recommended to keep the backup for the safer side to avoid any discrepancies. Now, to completely uninstall the program, you need to delete it manually by following the simple steps.
1) First delete the software using Trash
Now by default Mac OS X software is stored in the Application folder present on the hard drive. At first, login in to your administrator account. Then open the Application folder and browse for the programs that you need to uninstall. There you will see some programs are represented by a single icon while other are in folder form having multiple icons into it. And icons can be seen there with the .app extension to identify it. Also you may find some programs on desktop as well. Just select the program that you want to delete and drag it to the trash folder. Then empty the trash also to completely remove the program.
2) Removing preference files
Now after you empty the trash, still there are some files lingering on the hard drive and have to be deleted. These are called preference files, which are very small and need to be removed to ensure free space on the hard disk. If you don’t want to use the uninstall program in the future, then you need to remove these preference files permanently.
Now to delete it: Hold down the Option key and click on the Go menu. There you could see the Library option available. Choose the files that you want to remove. Also search the files in the ~/Library/, ~/Library/Preferences/ and ~/Library/Application Support/ folders. Now simply drag that files to the Trash folder.
Also you need to check for the similarly named items in the below list and remove it from there as well.
~/Library/LaunchAgents
~/Library/PreferencePanes
~/Library/StartupItems
Sometimes while deleting the files from trash, the error occurs that "an item in use and can't be deleted". In this case, just reboot the Mac and try again.
After rebooting also, if still the programs are not deleted, then the third party uninstaller will surely uninstall the programs and will definitely make sure that all the traces are deleted completely.
3) Deleting Hidden files and kernel extensions
Everything has been deleted so far to a great extent, but some instance of the software still need to be deleted. These instances include hidden files and kernel extension, which is hard to find. These items need to be specifically searched on the Google. Software that involves some background processing activities such as anti-virus and security programs. Now, kernel extensions are located in /System/Library/Extensions and end with the .kext. After moving that file to the Trash, reboot the system and see the changes. And hidden files are those files that start with a period (.). As the name concerned, these files don’t get displayed in the Finder. Mostly these files are used by the programs for the authentication purposes and located in the home folder. You can use terminal so that the contents are listed in the directory and delete the annoyed item.
But mostly in this case, user is unable to find the above files as they are hidden from the user. For this specific case, he has to go for the third party software to get rid of it completely.
Third Party software
And if somebody does not want to do the above task manually, he can surely use the third party software for this. The third party software do all the above task automatically in few minutes and remove all the junk from the system such as: Cache and leftovers, log files, language files, hidden files, extensions, large files, duplicate files, universal binaries etc. Also, provide you with the "Uninstaller" to uninstall the applications completely.
1) First delete the software using Trash
Now by default Mac OS X software is stored in the Application folder present on the hard drive. At first, login in to your administrator account. Then open the Application folder and browse for the programs that you need to uninstall. There you will see some programs are represented by a single icon while other are in folder form having multiple icons into it. And icons can be seen there with the .app extension to identify it. Also you may find some programs on desktop as well. Just select the program that you want to delete and drag it to the trash folder. Then empty the trash also to completely remove the program.
2) Removing preference files
Now after you empty the trash, still there are some files lingering on the hard drive and have to be deleted. These are called preference files, which are very small and need to be removed to ensure free space on the hard disk. If you don’t want to use the uninstall program in the future, then you need to remove these preference files permanently.
Now to delete it: Hold down the Option key and click on the Go menu. There you could see the Library option available. Choose the files that you want to remove. Also search the files in the ~/Library/, ~/Library/Preferences/ and ~/Library/Application Support/ folders. Now simply drag that files to the Trash folder.
Also you need to check for the similarly named items in the below list and remove it from there as well.
~/Library/LaunchAgents
~/Library/PreferencePanes
~/Library/StartupItems
Sometimes while deleting the files from trash, the error occurs that "an item in use and can't be deleted". In this case, just reboot the Mac and try again.
After rebooting also, if still the programs are not deleted, then the third party uninstaller will surely uninstall the programs and will definitely make sure that all the traces are deleted completely.
3) Deleting Hidden files and kernel extensions
Everything has been deleted so far to a great extent, but some instance of the software still need to be deleted. These instances include hidden files and kernel extension, which is hard to find. These items need to be specifically searched on the Google. Software that involves some background processing activities such as anti-virus and security programs. Now, kernel extensions are located in /System/Library/Extensions and end with the .kext. After moving that file to the Trash, reboot the system and see the changes. And hidden files are those files that start with a period (.). As the name concerned, these files don’t get displayed in the Finder. Mostly these files are used by the programs for the authentication purposes and located in the home folder. You can use terminal so that the contents are listed in the directory and delete the annoyed item.
But mostly in this case, user is unable to find the above files as they are hidden from the user. For this specific case, he has to go for the third party software to get rid of it completely.
Third Party software
And if somebody does not want to do the above task manually, he can surely use the third party software for this. The third party software do all the above task automatically in few minutes and remove all the junk from the system such as: Cache and leftovers, log files, language files, hidden files, extensions, large files, duplicate files, universal binaries etc. Also, provide you with the "Uninstaller" to uninstall the applications completely.