How to delete applications completely on mac?

If an uninstaller app is not available from the vendor you can download and install AppCleaner to do a complete removal.

Sometimes just dragging an app to Trash doesn’t cut it, especially with apps that come with background components, daemons, or are tied into system services. Your NTFS driver sounds like it’s sneaky that way—reinstalling or popping up again even after deletion.

Here’s what you wanna do to totally delete applications on Mac, especially those stubborn ones:

1. Before deleting applications on Mac, make sure the app isn’t running. Use Activity Monitor (found in Applications > Utilities) to find and force quit any processes related to that app.

2. Drag the app to Trash as usual.

3. Apps often leave behind support files, caches, preferences, and launch agents. To find and remove these:

Open Finder, then press Shift + Command + G to open "Go to Folder."

4. Your app might have installed launch agents or daemons that auto-start on boot. To disable:

5. Your app pops up again on reboot because it’s probably set to run at startup. Check Login Items:

6. After all this, reboot and see if the app still appears or pops up. If it does, you might want to run a dedicated cleanup tool like AppCleaner (free) or CleanMyMac (paid, more thorough), which scans for leftovers.

When you deleting applications on Mac. Some apps install helper tools or components elsewhere. Deleting just the main app can leave behind files that take up space or mess with other apps. If an app was installed with admin rights, make sure you’re logged in as an admin when deleting. Otherwise, you might hit permission errors or leave stuff half-deleted.

If you delete applications on Mac that installed through Homebrew or similar, use those package managers’ commands (brew uninstall) instead of just dragging files around. Otherwise, you might mess up your package manager’s database. Some apps save settings or support files in ~/Library or /Library. Use a tool like AppCleaner or a dedicated app removal tool if you want a cleaner uninstall.

Hey there! It sounds like the app is still being launched at startup even though you have deleted it from the Applications folder. To completely remove applications on a Mac, you usually need to do a bit more than just deleting the app from the Applications folder.

Here are some steps you can follow to remove the app completely from your Mac:

1. Check for any related files: Sometimes applications create preference files or other related files outside of the Applications folder. These files can cause the app to persist even after you delete the main application. Look for files related to the NTFS driver app in the following locations:
2. - ~/Library/Application Support/
3. - ~/Library/Preferences/
4. - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
5. - ~/Library/LaunchDaemons/
6. Remove startup item: Since the app is launching at startup, there may be a startup item associated with it. You can check and remove startup items by going to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items.
7. Use a third-party uninstaller: If you're having trouble locating all the related files, you can use a third-party uninstaller tool that can help you completely remove applications and their associated files. There are many uninstaller apps available for macOS that can assist with this task.

By following these steps and ensuring that all related files and startup items are removed, you should be able to completely uninstall the NTFS driver app from your Mac. Let me know if you need further assistance!

One additional thing be aware of that some apps that install stuff all over the place may not always have the app's name or some related form of the name in the name of the files. Some will add stuff with the name of the vendor, especially if things are installed in a folder, or even some other obscure name and even app helpers that are from different apps that are needed to make the desired app one want's to remove work.

Ronasara wrote:

If an uninstaller app is not available from the vendor you can download and install AppCleaner to do a complete removal.

WARNING: If you use AppCleaner on an app that you have other apps from the same developer, like Adobe, you must be extremely careful checking all checkboxes and deleting.  Some for those files may support other apps from the same developer and deleting them can mess them up.  Adobe apps is a primary example. I know from experience.  For singular apps from a developer it's safe.

Also you can check to see if you've removed all of the supporting files by downloading and running the shareware app Find Any File to search for any files with the application's or the developer's name in the file name.  For XXXX software you'd do the following search(es): 

1 - Name contains XXXX (app name)

Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop or Trash bin in the Dock for deletion.

FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.  

If you get warnings that the file can't be deleted because it is in use or used by another app boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and delete from there.

Note:  if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode.  This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will assure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

I kind of suspect that AppCleaner does the same search that a file finding tool would in terms of looking for the app name and developer name. ;-) I've used AppCleaner then also tried a file fining too and the latter came up with nothing that AppCleaner didn't already find. However, as observed earlier, the tools aren't 100% effective. I had an app that I deleted that way and did a fruitless search. A few days later I was poking around my Library and save a folder there with a person's name I did not recognize. It turned out it was the developer of the app I deleted. The tools didn't find it because there was no direct association between the app name and that person.

Any program that installs more than a single app in an Applications folder (either the global /Applications or the local ~/Applications) should provide an uninstaller program or instructions.

Launchpad, already on your Mac, will completely remove apps you downloaded from the Mac App Store. See:

Uninstall apps on your Mac - Apple Support

+1

That’s a good point. Furthermore, you need to be careful about removing those if you have any other applications from that vendor (unless you are removing all of them).