There are tons of apps online and available in the App Store that will remove/clean/uninstall individual applications as well as all of their various and sundry files scattered all over /Library and ~/Library. I’m curious if anyone uses any of them, or the “speed up your Mac” tools? I used to use Onyx and several other tools of the like, many, many years ago, but got away from them as I didn’t find there was much of a need.
Anyone ever heard of or used MacCleaner Pro by Nektony?
Hazel will do this when you delete an application. Since I have it installed for other reasons, I don’t really feel the need to seek out a more specialized app.
I’ve stopped using uninstallers and cleaners – including what Hazel does. Data can be lost. It’s best to use the developer’s advice for installing their software, or using their uninstaller if one is provided. At least Hazel presents the list of files it proposes deleting before it deletes them, and I often found it wanted to delete files that should not.
The universal app cleaners that I’ve seen, do actually present a list of files to be moved to the Trash for your approval, prior to moving. I do like that they find the various plist and other files, that even app’s own uninstallers have left.
CleanMyMac X is good. There uninstalled cleans out all the clutter when you uninstall an app. And it’s made my MacPaw, which is reputable.
CleanMyMac can be good, but it can also be disastrous.
For example, a few years ago it would delete all of your 1Password data if you uninstalled 1Password which meant that if you re-installed it later, all your passwords were gone.
Apps like these show their “worth” by finding stuff to remove, so they err on the side of removing more rather than less.
With any of these apps: if you don’t know that these apps should be removing what they are offering to remove, don’t let them remove it.
That actually sounds like the desired behaviour for me when I uninstall an app, to remove all its data as well. Have there been (not isolated/single user) examples when CleanMyMac or others have overshot and affected other software or the OS, do you know?
This has been my experience as well, and won’t uninstall anything unless I have Hazel running in the background. You only have to lose an important file once to convince you to do this, lol
Even if you had cloud sync on?
I always use free AppCleaner by freemacsoft.
The app has always been reliable and I think secure. One of the apps that:
Do One Thing and Do It Well.
- Unix philosophy
Seconded for AppCleaner!
third for appcleaner. after 1password, Alfred and KM it’s the 4th app I install on a new mac
My guess is that tjluoma was talking about before their cloud sync existed, though I had mine syncing to Dropbox, so that I could use it on multiple computers and iOS devices.
I’ve been using App Cleaner & Uninstaller by Nektony for a few years, and haven’t had any issues whatsoever. However, I was curious if others were using any App Cleaner/Delete/Removers/Uninstallers, and what your experiences were. Nektony recently released an upgrade to their products, to support Big Sur, and I wasn’t even sure if apps of this kind were still necessary. Especially apps that claim to “tune” your Mac, like Onyx (and others).
I have also been using appcleaner for a long time.