Uninstaller question

[Rick Harrison]

Hi Graham,

Most applications on the Mac do not have uninstaller as
they are usually very easy to uninstall by deleting the
application.  Most users are smart enough to know they
have to delete any aliases in the dock.  They usually know
that the prefs file for the application should be deleted
as well if they run into problems.

Many times a good support webpage with clear instructions
on how to completely delete the app and how to install
the new version correctly is all that is needed.  You can
also remind users how to use the “Find” File menu option
in the Finder to look for your rogue versions if you feel
it is necessary. 

You can always tag your files with some information which
will always be unique to your program.  If you use the
“Find” File menu option, and then click on options you
will find a whole list of potential meta-data fields you
could exploit to create your unique program profile.

Never recommend Mac Keeper or Mac Cleaner as they
are considered to be Malware/Spyware/Annoyance-ware
and are difficult for some users to eradicate.

Good luck!

Rick






> On Jan 2, 2018, at 6:00 AM, Graham Samuel via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> I’m developing a very simple uninstaller for a Mac app. I have an installer, thanks to DropDMG. 
> 
> The uninstallation process isn’t difficult - it’s just a matter of deleting all the involved files (some are slightly tricky to find, like dock aliases, but I guess there’s a way around that). But there’s one issue that I’m unsure about: what to do if the user has not obeyed the installer's instructions to place the app in the Applications folder, or has maybe got a beta copy that wasn’t installed using the installer, or has made a ‘spare’ copy somewhere on their hard disk which I don’t know about. I can’t see any way to detect these ‘rogue’ copies - can anyone else think of one? I know there are some big hitters in this area like CleanMyMac that claim to be able to find everything to do with an installed app, but I am not that ambitious - I just don’t want to miss anything obvious.
> 
> Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Graham
> 
> PS When I crack this, I’ll have to do the same thing for a PC version of the app. But first things first.
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