Malwaebytes - Program Uninstaller

[iTzHazZx]

Hi. 

 

Not sure if this is on your roadmap, but it would be great if you guys had an application that uninstalls applications and all their left over files on Mac OS. 

Having to revert to Clean My Mac X and Trend Micro Cleaner One Pro is annoying. I would pay good money for a decent application made by Malwarebytes. 

[alvarnell]

Actually there is one built into Malwarebytes for Mac or available as a separate download as described in https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039025233-Uninstall-Malwarebytes-for-Mac.

Since anything downloaded from an Apple App Store is self-contained, they can all be uninstalled by simply dragging them to the trash, according to Apple.

Clean My Mac X has improved to the point where I don't think anybody is classifying it as a PUP any more, but still requires care against unintentionally harming some aspect of your Mac, so use with care. I still have not come around to accepting anything from Trend Micro to run on my Mac. Their previous history with low quality apps is legendary. So a bit more than just annoying to me.

[iTzHazZx]

Sorry @alvarnell I don't mean the specific Malwarebytes uninstaller, I am aware this exists, what I mean is a dedicated Malwarebytes program that allows me to uninstall other applications on my machine. Just like how Clean My Mac X works, Zapper and a few others. 

 

I understand the App Store logic however, most applications are not on the App Store due to Apples policies. Kind of like how Malwarebytes, Kaspersky, Trend Micro ect are not on the App store. 

[iTzHazZx]

50 minutes ago, alvarnell said:

I still have not come around to accepting anything from Trend Micro to run on my Mac. Their previous history with low quality apps is legendary. So a bit more than just annoying to me.

Funny enough, this is kind of Bourne out of that fact I uninstalled Trend Micro using their own uninstaller and their com.trendmicro.icore.es process is still running on my machine. Apparently I do not have the permissions to delete their system extension from my HDD. Mental! 

[alvarnell]

18 minutes ago, iTzHazZx said:

what I mean is a dedicated Malwarebytes program that allows me to uninstall other applications on my machine.

OK, well there are several such programs that have been around probably for a over a decade that are at least adequate at doing that and probably safer than the two multi-purpose utilities you mentioned. I don't know how trustworthy the rankings on this list are, but as you can see many are free: https://www.slant.co/topics/1822/~best-app-uninstallers-for-mac-os-x#1. Most all of them simply do a search for any file containing either the name of the application/process or it's developer. That's easy enough to do manually, just takes more time, so I personally would not spend any money on those. There is some danger if several apps use common files of disabling those other apps when deleting one. When I feel the need and am in a hurry I use AppDelete which is abandon but still works for me.

There was an app that worked differently in that it would monitor the actual installation and first run of an app to store the names of all files associated with it and refer to that list if uninstalling is requested, but I forget it's name. Obviously it works best if installed and running before the target app is installed.

[Massimiliano]

@iTzHazZx

I've been using this free app for years, and continue to use it, with great satisfaction and without taking any risk (below is the link)

Freemacsoft - AppCleaner

It is now a universal binary (version 3.6 from HighSierra to Monterey - Compatibility is guaranteed every year with the new system, a few weeks after release but I've never had a problem even with betas)

It is also available for older versions of macOS (3.4 for OS X 10.10 to macOS 10.12 and 2.3 for Mac OS X 10.6 to OS X 10.9)

I hope I have been helpful to you

Have a nice Sunday

Massimiliano

[iTzHazZx]

Checked out a few applications today, none of which fully uninstall system extensions which is annoying. I resulted in backing everything up and installing a fresh copy of Mac OS which I needed to do anyway. 

Thanks for the suggestions anyways. 

[alvarnell]

Yes, nothing will be able to uninstall a system extension without disabling SIP on previous versions of macOS and even that won't help with the sealed system of Monterey. You did the right thing by reinstalling macOS.

Edited December 13, 2021 by alvarnell

[treed]

I can't say that we will never do this, but I do not have any plans to add this to the Mac roadmap, and would prefer if we didn't. In my opinion, this is exactly the wrong way to uninstall.

Part of the reason for that is simply having seen how other generic uninstall apps work (or, more appropriately, don't work) over the years. They very often leave things behind that shouldn't be left behind, and have been know to remove things they shouldn't have. The uninstaller provided by the company that makes the software should be capable of removing everything, and doing it the right way, unloading everything that needs to be unloaded. (In theory... sometimes, companies fail on this front.)

The other issue has to do with things that can't be removed by anything other than the app being uninstalled. System extensions, as pointed out by Al, are one of those things. No third-party app can remove a system extension, which causes difficulties if you remove the app.

My advice is to always find the official uninstaller for the software you're trying to uninstall. In the best software, it will be integrated into the app to make it easy. It may also be packaged along with the app, but not directly integrated. Worse is when you have to go download it from the developer's site.

In the case of apps downloaded from the App Store, dragging to the trash should be sufficient. Some non-App Store apps may also detect that you've dragged them to the trash and trigger an uninstall in such a case.

Unfortunately, there are cases where there is no uninstaller, and you have to do the job manually. That's a potential use case for these "cleaning" apps, but I'd still personally prefer to look up some manual removal instructions in such a case. When you run into one of these apps, you should let them know how you feel about their lack of an uninstaller.

[iTzHazZx]

Thanks @treed

On another note are you able to share what requirements / enhancements are Mac roadmap. It would be nice to understand what new functionality is potentially arriving?!

[treed]

On 12/13/2021 at 4:38 PM, iTzHazZx said:

Thanks @treed

On another note are you able to share what requirements / enhancements are Mac roadmap. It would be nice to understand what new functionality is potentially arriving?!

Unfortunately, no, we're not able to share. We do have some major projects going on right now, but it's early enough we don't really want to talk about them yet.