Application Support FilesĪfter removing an application on OS X, the support and preference files created by the program will remain on your computer unless manually removed. If it does, single click the icon and drag off of the dock to remove. Step 7 – Verify that the application icon does not appear on the computer’s dock. Step 6 – Empty the trash on your computer by selecting the icon and choosing the option to remove all files mark for deletion to complete the uninstallation process. Alternatively, you can drag the application icon to the trash. Step 5 – Choose the “Move to Trash” menu option. Step 4 – Depress the “Ctrl” key and click on the application icon. Step 3 – Open the “Applications” folder on your computer. Step 2 – Exit from all applications open on your computer. Select “Get Info” and clear the checkbox next to the “Locked” menu label. Step 1 – Unlock the application by depressing “Ctrl” and clicking the program icon. If a subsequent dialogue box stating “Show Package Contents” appears then the application is a program bundle. If you want to verify that the application is a bundle, select “Ctrl” and the mouse button on the program icon. OS X is designed to support double clicking this folder to run the application.
When you view the program icon on the OS X “Finder” it will refer to the top level directory that the program is stored vice being a direct pointer to the single executable file on Windows machines.
The majority of programs installed on Mac OS X computers come in the form of an application bundle. Instead, Macs are designed to permit users with the appropriate permissions the ability to move programs to the computer’s trash to delete. Mac computers come with OS X installed as their primary operating system and do not have an equivalent to the Windows registry nor the “Add/Remove Programs” helper application found in the Control Panel area of the Windows operating system. A common task that arises for converted Mac users (those who have switched from Windows computing) is uninstalling programs on their computer.