About.com Rating

AppDelete 4.2 from Reggie Ashworth is a utility for deleting applications from a Mac. Of course, Mac users are pretty much used to dragging an app to the trash and being done with the deletion process. This method actually works pretty well for most apps, but there's still likely to be some debris left behind that, at best, is taking up drive space, and at worst, is left running, using computer resources even though no app will ever make use of the services that are running.

That's where AppDelete comes in handy. It scours your Mac, looking for files used by the app you wish to give the heave-ho, packs them all up, and drops them in the trash for you.

Pros

• Drag-and-drop uninstall.
• Can uninstall apps, widgets, preference panes, plugins, and screensavers.
• Can create app archives so you can reinstall the app at later date.
• Can undo an uninstall as long as the trash hasn't been emptied.
• Fast search capabilities.
• Can find orphan files from apps you've already uninstalled.
• Can monitor the trash for apps you delete, and offer to finish completing the uninstall process for you.

Cons

• Only supports OS X Lion and newer. (Older versions are available on the developer's web site.)

Uninstallers for the Mac have a mixed history. For many Mac users, especially those who have been using a Mac since the days of the original Mac OS, the idea of an uninstaller may seem a bit foreign, something that only Windows users have to put up with. But modern apps have a great many associated files that are placed in various parts of OS X, and some of these locations are hidden from public view.

Trying to find all the fragments yourself can lead to a great deal of wasted time.

While you can still just drag an app to the trash, using an uninstaller like AppDelete has the added benefit of removing all associated files, thus further freeing up drive space. It can also help reduce usage of your Mac's resources, such as CPU and memory, since many times the files left behind are small services that run on their own to assist the main app, even if the app isn't there anymore.

Using AppDelete

AppDelete has a clean and very simple user interface. It's essentially a drop zone, a small windowed app that you can drag an app, widget, preference pane, or plugin onto, which will then send AppDelete off to scour your Mac for any additional files associated with the app you're trying to uninstall.

While dragging an app from the Applications folder is simple enough, dragging a widget, preference pane, or plugin is a bit more of a challenge; most casual Mac users don't know the locations of these components. AppDelete makes it simple by showing you a list of these types of components; all you need to do is select the ones you wish to get rid of.

Once it finds all of the associated files, AppDelete will display them as a list. You can choose to delete all of the items, or pick and choose amongst them.

If you choose to delete the files, they're sent off to the trash, but AppDelete also includes an undo command, in case you change your mind. As long as you haven't emptied the trash, you can reinstall the app and its files.

Deleting files isn't your only option. AppDelete can create archives of the uninstalled app and its files. Essentially, AppDelete moves the files to a destination you select, and creates a log about the archive that says where the files were originally located; this allows you to reinstall the app at a later date. You can even choose a USB flash drive as the archive location, so you free up drive space and still retain the archives for later use.

The app has a number of other features, but the last one I'm going to mention is its ability to find orphaned files, that is, files associated with apps that you deleted before you installed AppDelete. You can use this nifty feature to clean up your Mac's startup drive, although you should be careful; AppDelete performs this magic by looking for files in common support locations that haven't been accessed recently. This means you need to carefully go through the list; many apps have startup and configuration files that are only used occasionally, but probably shouldn't be removed as long as you're still using the primary app.

Last Words

AppDelete works well. It did a great job of finding all the files used by the apps I uninstalled, ensuring a complete deletion process. It's also generally fast when searching for files. The first time I used AppDelete to uninstall a utility I no longer use, the search process took a bit of time, but all subsequent searches were performed quickly.

AppDelete 4.2 is $7.99. A demo is available.

See other software choices from Tom's Mac Software Picks.

Published: 2/7/2015