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TICKET ARCHIVE -> uninstalling software
barnabystewart - Dec 22, 2005 - 6:03 am
I'm a new mac user and have only a week's experience with OS X.
I'm having difficulty uninstalling two programs that I downloaded off the internet. The first is Windows Media Player. And the second is Stuffit - some sort of expander. My understanding is that all I have to do is drag the icons to trash and then empty trash. But when I do this it says that it cannot delete file XYZ. How can I uninstall these programs? Alternatively, does OSX have any equivalent to windows system restore whereby I can restore to an earlier point in time without completely reinstalling the operating system?
Thanks in advance.
I'm having difficulty uninstalling two programs that I downloaded off the internet. The first is Windows Media Player. And the second is Stuffit - some sort of expander. My understanding is that all I have to do is drag the icons to trash and then empty trash. But when I do this it says that it cannot delete file XYZ. How can I uninstall these programs? Alternatively, does OSX have any equivalent to windows system restore whereby I can restore to an earlier point in time without completely reinstalling the operating system?
Thanks in advance.
philippe99 - Dec 22, 2005 - 7:34 am
Barnaby, welcome to macosx.com
(1) No, there is no restauration point as in Windows; it is your own duty to make bootable backup of your system on an external drive in order to come back to a previous state; for instance using CarbonCopyCloner; this process creates a "clone" which respect Unix rights and permissions; simply copying the whole drive to an other one is not enough as far as Unix is concerned
On the other hand, there is a good freeware Uninstaller (http://macmagna.free.fr/): runs after an install of a software, it is able to compare your system to a previously saved state in order to you to visually see what have been added. So with a search,you can locate all the files related to an application
(2) some installer have in their main menu or toolbar, an unistall option..so yes, to unistall you have to launch the installer a second time; Stuffit has this tool;
Run the installer for StuffIt. After you enter your registration number, the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner of the 'Install' screen contains "Uninstall", select it. Select the parts of StuffIt Deluxe that you wish to uninstall, making sure that the "Remove System items on the following disk:" selector is set properly for the copy of Stuffit Deluxe you wish to uninstall.
(3) Stuffit launches daemons at statup of session, so that can explain that the trash refuses to be emptied; go to SystemPreferences/Accounts -> select your account -> Login items tab: check all the Stuffit daemons to prevent them to be launched at startup; in the SystemPreferences main window, at the bottom, there is a zone where external programs install their preferences pane; Stuffit may have installed a pane there: right click on it and choose "remove"
Restarts, you should be allowed to delete Stuffit programs
(4) about WMP: I already trashed all versions a dozen time without any problem, so I do not see what's the problem with this software
(5) Batchmod is a freeware which has a usefull "force empty trash" facility: very important when you have locked documents in the trash
Regards
Philippe
(1) No, there is no restauration point as in Windows; it is your own duty to make bootable backup of your system on an external drive in order to come back to a previous state; for instance using CarbonCopyCloner; this process creates a "clone" which respect Unix rights and permissions; simply copying the whole drive to an other one is not enough as far as Unix is concerned
On the other hand, there is a good freeware Uninstaller (http://macmagna.free.fr/): runs after an install of a software, it is able to compare your system to a previously saved state in order to you to visually see what have been added. So with a search,you can locate all the files related to an application
(2) some installer have in their main menu or toolbar, an unistall option..so yes, to unistall you have to launch the installer a second time; Stuffit has this tool;
Run the installer for StuffIt. After you enter your registration number, the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner of the 'Install' screen contains "Uninstall", select it. Select the parts of StuffIt Deluxe that you wish to uninstall, making sure that the "Remove System items on the following disk:" selector is set properly for the copy of Stuffit Deluxe you wish to uninstall.
(3) Stuffit launches daemons at statup of session, so that can explain that the trash refuses to be emptied; go to SystemPreferences/Accounts -> select your account -> Login items tab: check all the Stuffit daemons to prevent them to be launched at startup; in the SystemPreferences main window, at the bottom, there is a zone where external programs install their preferences pane; Stuffit may have installed a pane there: right click on it and choose "remove"
Restarts, you should be allowed to delete Stuffit programs
(4) about WMP: I already trashed all versions a dozen time without any problem, so I do not see what's the problem with this software
(5) Batchmod is a freeware which has a usefull "force empty trash" facility: very important when you have locked documents in the trash
Regards
Philippe
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