Complete Uninstall?

[typecase]

I apologize if this has been covered before but as a new switcher to the Mac I was wondering if simply dragging a folder from Applications and deleting the preferences are enough for a complete uninstall. From years of working with Windows I've come to expect that programs cannot completely be removed even with uninstallers unless a manual search and destroy is initiated or a cleaner is used. Either the program would leave .dll files in the /system directory or there would be long-lived entries in the windows registry. Do any of these situations exist on the mac or have my years as a Windows user corrupted my thinking? Is there something akin to the registry on OS X?

 

[jackieonasses]

I apologize if this has been covered before but as a new switcher to the Mac I was wondering if simply dragging a folder from Applications and deleting the preferences are enough for a complete uninstall. From years of working with Windows I've come to expect that programs cannot completely be removed even with uninstallers unless a manual search and destroy is initiated or a cleaner is used. Either the program would leave .dll files in the /system directory or there would be long-lived entries in the windows registry. Do any of these situations exist on the mac or have my years as a Windows user corrupted my thinking? Is there something akin to the registry on OS X?

If the program comes with an un-installer, use it. If not Just drag it to the trash. It is done.

kyle

 

[abhishekit]

On Macs the whole application is contained in that application icon that you see. Most of the cases there are no support files, there would be one small preference file (about 4kb, to store your user settings for that app) in ~/library/preferences. You can delete that or keep it if you think you would download the same app again sometime.
Sometimes, there would be an additional folder with the name of the app containing a small file (4 kb), in your ~/library/application support. So you can check there too.

cheers