App remover??

[The_Prodigy1982]

As most of us probably know, when we delete apps... there are always some leftovers (files associated with the app that you just uninstalled).
I remember from my Windows days, there were certain apps, designed to delete these leftovers.

Are there any of these apps for OS X??
Which one does this job best?

 

[anon(9602380)]

As most of us probably know, when we delete apps... there are always some leftovers (files associated with the app that you just uninstalled).
I remember from my Windows days, there were certain apps, designed to delete these leftovers.

Are there any of these apps for OS X??
Which one does this job best?

I use AppCleaner by freemacsoft. Does a pretty good job. But there are times and app can be stubborn and leave things behind, I will then remove it manually. I have supplied instructions below on how to do it.

To manually remove an application and all associated files:

1. Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then make sure the app you want to remove is not running. If it is, quit the process before proceeding.
   
   In some cases, when you try to quit a process, it automatically relaunches. If that is the case, you can check the following locations for apps that automatically launch on startup and delete any you don't need/want, including the app you want to delete:
   • System Preferences > Users & Groups > yourusername > Login Items (SL and older: System Preferences > Accounts > yourusername > Login Items)
   • In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > /Library/LaunchAgents
   • In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > ~/Library/LaunchAgents
   • In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > /Library/StartupItems
   
   Once you've removed the app from the startup list, restart your Mac and proceed with the uninstall process below.
   
   
2. Launch Finder (see image below) and search your entire hard drive for the app name (hopefully unique, such as Skype)
3. In Finder, select View > "as List", if you haven't already done so. Do not use "as Icons" for this procedure.
4. You can narrow the search to specific folders or search your whole Mac, which is preferred
5. In Snow Leopard and earlier, click "File Name" instead of "Contents" for better results.
   In Lion and later, click the + button below the search term, then select "Name" "Contains" and enter the app name. (see image)
   ​
   
6. Click the + button below the search term to add criteria, then click the search criteria drop-down and select "Other...", then "System files"
7. Click the "aren't included" and change to "are included"
8. Sort by name, kind, date, etc. to identify components of the app, such as folders, .plist files, cache files. etc.
9. Delete all files and folders related to the app.
10. Don't empty your Trash until you've determined that everything is working OK, in case you need to restore something you deleted by accident.
11. A reboot might be necessary to completely remove some apps.

​