Uninstaller question

[Graham Samuel]

Thanks Rick for replying. I’m sticking to the original thread here.

The thing is, there are different classes of users: developers / nerds (I guess many on this list count as some species of those - I know I do); people who want to “just do it”; and a lot of categories in between. In  my experience, teachers, even science teachers, don’t want to know anything about such details as how to install, uninstall or update a program - they just want to use it. So the kind of thing you’re suggesting, while making perfect sense to you and me, will not work for the “just do it” brigade, who are not even be likely to read any helpful text with ‘clear instructions’ unless they’re truly desperate. I concede that most Mac users know about putting applications in the trash, but if the app they’ve just binned leaves behind preferences, application support files and the like, they will neither know nor care.

So it’s for these kinds of users that I want create an uninstaller - and, presuming the uninstaller has the sense to notice when there’s nothing to uninstall, I will even attach it to the installation process of my app, so at least there will only be one version in the user’s machine at a time. There will also of course have to be a standalone version, for those that really want the app to vanish without trace rather than be reinstalled.

The truth is I don’t exactly know what happens when you put an app in the trash, but I can’t believe all traces of the program are gone in all circumstances. I know even less about how well a PC’s Control Panel uninstall works, but I suppose I will eventually have to find out.

Cheers

Graham

PS Mac Keeper and Mac Cleaner are indeed at the very least annoying (but probably much worse than that). CleanMyMac however, seems to be to have an honourable history and has never caused me any problems: but YMMV.

> On 2 Jan 2018, at 16:38, Rick Harrison via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> 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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