How to uninstall trial software safely/completely on a Mac?

Question

Is there any way to safeguard your harddrive when installing trial software?

I want to make sure each and every file that was installed gets deleted, is that possible?

Solution 1

Depending on the application, you can just go to Applications, right-click on the file and click Move to Trash, and that will remove the application and all of its supporting files.

This isn't always the case, because certain applications will add configuration files or other packages that aren't actually part of the application (won't appear when you click on 'show package contents').

Best way to handle these is with another program. There are programs designed to hunt down support files for applications and remove them from your machine such as AppCleaner.

Solution 2

AppCleaner will do this for you. Drag the app onto the app and it will locate all the support files and offer to remove them along with the app itself. It's free.

Solution 3

In the case of pkg installers, you can see what files would be installed by them with something like lsbom -s ~/Desktop/Install\ USB\ Overdrive.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom.

/var/db/receipts contains bom files for previously installed packages and applications installed from the App Store.

Comments

[brevno]

Related questions about uninstalling applications in general: 1 2 3 4 5

[HikeMike]

Note that deleting the application bundle does not remove personalized files in your ~/Library, which contain e.g. preferences or supporting resources. Programs that come with an installer, especially those requiring admin privileges, are also much more difficult to remove.