In the past I wrote about a very nice uninstaller for Mac OS X called AppZapper. AppZapper is the work of Austin Sarner and Brian Ball, and is completely worth the $12.95 share fee. Not only does that $12.95 help support mac users’ independence from dye, but as an added bonus, it entitles the customer to free upgrades… not just until the next major version, as is common, but for life! I accept the license, and it is a good purchase.
But there is another thing that does the same thing.
AppCleaner, from FreeMacSoft, is a free application that does the same thing.
Now, typically when a free software option competes head-to-head with a shared or commercial application, I tend to assume that the shared or commercial option is somehow better. Why else – I ask myself – is the free version not bought with money?
In this case, however, AppCleaner not only proved the assumptions wrong, but blew it out of the water.
First, let’s see what AppCleaner does. The simplest way is to remove the application from the Mac user’s hard drive. “Wait a minute,” I hear you say. “Can’t I just drag the application to the trash to get rid of it?”
Of course, but that only removes the application file. When the application is installed and used, not only the file preferences, but the backup folders, often full of temporary files and other discord and borders, all over your iron driver You can search for these manually, but AppCleaner does it for you.
To use AppCleaner, simply drag the application onto its icon, or – if AppCleaner is already running – into its open window. AppCleaner will immediately scan your hard drive for other files sharing the same name as the application you want to remove. It then shows you a list of all these files and gives you the option to decide not to delete any of them.
When you’re ready to delete, just tap the Delete button, and everything is sent to your trash for deletion. Simple!
AppCleaner can also be used to remove all Applications, Widgets or Other files (such as Quicktime Compose, Preferences Panes and Plugins) that are scattered all over the hard drive Simply select one of those three buttons from the toolbar, and after checking your hard drive, you’ll be shown a list of items. If you want to delete some, simply press the box and hit the Search button. AppCleaner, like last time, will show you the hard drive and the results.
One other concept that I find very desirable is the concept of “stretching” applications. These applications you just don’t want to delete forever… Simply use the option in Preferences to designate certain applications, and you’ll never have to worry about accidentally deleting an application. There are some applications that are automatically protected, such as any running application, except for all your default applications. This way, if you want to delete Firefox, but Camino is taken instead (which you have set as your default web browser), AppCleaner will show you that it is trying to delete a protected application. If you want to delete it, go to your AppCleaner options and make the appropriate changes. Otherwise, hit “OK” and no changes will be made.
Already at the beginning of this review I compared AppCleaner to AppZapper – a shared product. So far both products work exactly the same. They use different transitions (AppZapper has a clear ZAPPING sound when removing a program, and AppCleaner uses 3D transition effects when moving from one screen to the next), but both work similarly and look almost the same (see screenshots for proof).
However, AppCleaner actually doesn’t have one feature of AppZapper, which is called SmartDelete. SmartDelete is very cool. It’s not necessary to turn it on (it’s on by default), but once it’s turned on, try to delete your trash monitor for any applications the “normal” way, without using AppCleaner. When it sees that done, it moves on and asks if you’d also like to remove some “extra” files that may be associated with the program.
This is very cool. I recently reviewed a program that only had this feature, and while it’s a good program, I can’t recommend it because AppCleaner does the same thing, plus much more.
So there you have it. One freeware program – AppCleaner – which has the same function as the share program I like and enjoy using – and not only does AppCleaner do the same things, just as simply and elegantly, but it does more. What’s not to like? It’s free, it works well, it fulfills the need to download it and do the experiment.
