4 Application Removers for OS X
In general, just moving an application to the Trash will only leave behind a few preference files that only take up kilobytes of space on your hard disk. For those of you want don’t even want these files, you’ll need to use a specialized application to find and remove them. Here are 4 applications that find the files associated with an application and move them to the Trash.
Note: If the application you want to remove comes with its own uninstaller, I always recommend using that first- especially for large, commercial programs like those in the Microsoft Office Suite or in the Adobe Creative Suite.
AppTrap
AppTrap is a preference pane that asks you if you want to remove associated files when you drag an application to the Trash. Upon installing the preference pane, you have to go into the panel and Activate it if you want it to search for associated files. You can also set AppTrap to start up upon login.
In general AppTrap does fine, my reservations about it are more about the UI. I tend to like stand-alone applications better, as I am not frequently deleting entire applications. I also don’t like how it only searches for associated files after you’ve moved the application itself to the Trash. The reason I don’t like this is because the other three programs reviewed give you the option to cancel the action before anything is done, which helps if you’ve selected the wrong thing to delete by accident.
AppTrap is Free.
AppDelete is a stand-alone, drag-and-drop application by Reggie Ashworth. It’s UI is spartan but functional. Upon dragging an application to the AppDelete window, a new window appears prompting you to select the files you want to remove (all are selected by default). In my tests, AppDelete removed more items than the competitors. If AppDelete is in your Dock, you can also drag apps to the dock icon and the program will launch and automatically search for the associated files. It gives you a log, and immediately after moving the files to the Trash there is an “Undo” button to put everything back.
One problem I had with AppDelete is that it seems to be slower than the rest, although this could be due to a more thorough search. The UI, while functional, is not particularly pleasant looking if that’s important to you.
AppDelete costs $5.
AppZapper by Austin Sarner and Brian Ball has, in my opinion, the most functional UI of the four. Upon dragging an application to AppZapper’s window, a list of files the program finds to move to the Trash are presented with the file names, type, path, size, and an option to show in the Finder. You can cancel the action before anything is done. There’s a button you can press to list all the apps on your computer, and you can also remove Widgets, Preference Panes, Screensavers, and plugins. There are preferences to turn off the annoying Zap sound and a “Safe List” you can customize.
On the downside, AppZapper is the most expensive of the 4 applications reviewed at $12.95 for a single user license.
AppCleaner is almost the same thing as AppZapper. It can remove Widgets/Plugins/Screensavers and has almost the same drag-and-drop functionality as AppZapper. It does not show the file size or type in the confirmation window, but does show the path and has a view in Finder option. The zapping sound is replaced with a 3D animation you can turn off, and there is a customizable safe list. It can be set to automatically search for associated files upon dragging an app to the Trash, much like AppTrap. AppCleaner also has more selection options, the most important being Select/Deselect All.
There aren’t many downsides to AppCleaner. It seems to find the same number of files as AppZapper in more or less the same amount of time. The animations are annoying, but can be turned off.
AppCleaner is free.
Conclusion: For the best combination of price and functionality, go with AppCleaner.
Are there any that I missed? Leave me a note in the comments and I’ll check it out.
Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, application, AppZapper, AppCleaner, AppDelete, AppTrap, freeware, shareware, delete, uninstall
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