[CKr]

I found an interesting use for Spotlight tonight. I downloaded Limewire to see how well it worked compared to other P2P applications on the Mac only to find out I didn't want to keep it on my drive. No uninstaller came with the application so I fired up spotlight and ran a query for "Limewire". Anything under Applications, Folders, and Documents is what I focused on, deleting any remnants of Limewire from my drive. I know this could be done before spotlight but it's so much quicker now. I guess this could be one of those, doh, I never thought of that moments.

[yticolev]

Thanks for posting that hint.

I'm still learning how to use Spotlight and one of the things I would like to do is delete files and programs. On almost any random search, I find really old stuff that I would like to delete. How can you do this easily from Spotlight? Particularly from the menu item, there does not seem to be a direct way of deleting the offending item, or even opening the enclosing folder (which can be really inefficient with large numbers of items in that enclosing folder).

On a related note, I understand that Spotlight does not search everything. And some installed program files may not follow by the name of the program - perhaps preference files and logs? How do you uninstall all traces of a program?

[Big Mac]

It would be nice if developers of custom installation type apps would place a custom string in the spotlight comments field of each file they install so that all the files could be taken out quickly and accurately.

[CharlesS]

It never was a good idea to uninstall software by searching for its name and deleting everything, and it still isn't now.

[Big Mac]

I can understand your point from the theoretical perspective, but can you provide some concrete examples illustrating precisely why the practice should be avoided? In my experience, what is installed by installers does not modify other files or create system dependencies.

[CKr]

Originally Posted by yticolev

Thanks for posting that hint.

I'm still learning how to use Spotlight and one of the things I would like to do is delete files and programs. On almost any random search, I find really old stuff that I would like to delete. How can you do this easily from Spotlight? Particularly from the menu item, there does not seem to be a direct way of deleting the offending item, or even opening the enclosing folder (which can be really inefficient with large numbers of items in that enclosing folder).

On a related note, I understand that Spotlight does not search everything. And some installed program files may not follow by the name of the program - perhaps preference files and logs? How do you uninstall all traces of a program?

I can't answer your question completely but I'll try to clear up some stuff I left out. It was late when I posted. After I did my search I clicked "Show All" to get the full Spotlight window. After that I could right click on each file and click "Reveal in Finder" I could then delete each item I knew was associated with that particular application.

In reply to the other posters: Yes I realize this isn't a foolproof method and no you shouldn't go deleting everything. You just want to delete files you know are associated with the particular application you are after. Like preference files, plists, etc.

I think my blog entry was a bit clearer.

[Briareus]

Technically you don't even have to reveal in Finder - standard keyboard shortcuts apply. cmd-A, shift-click or cmd-click to select and then cmd-delete to move the selected items to the trash.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Big Mac

I can understand your point from the theoretical perspective, but can you provide some concrete examples illustrating precisely why the practice should be avoided? In my experience, what is installed by installers does not modify other files or create system dependencies.

Well, dangerous things can happen if some completely unrelated file has a name similar enough to the name of the app you're deleting. The classic example is on Windows, where some non-technical user wants to delete the app "Command and Conquer", so he does a search for everything with "Command" in its name - and deletes COMMAND.COM. Whoops, now it won't boot!

Sure, that's a little extreme, but you should still be able to see the point. Seriously, to uninstall something, if it has an uninstaller, run it. If it doesn't, drag the app to the Trash. It's not necessary to delete the preference files (although you can go into ~/Library/Preferences if you absolutely must).

[yticolev]

Originally Posted by Briareus

Technically you don't even have to reveal in Finder - standard keyboard shortcuts apply. cmd-A, shift-click or cmd-click to select and then cmd-delete to move the selected items to the trash.

cmd-delete is interesting but does not appear to work in Spotlight on my computer.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Well, dangerous things can happen if some completely unrelated file has a name similar enough to the name of the app you're deleting. The classic example is on Windows, where some non-technical user wants to delete the app "Command and Conquer", so he does a search for everything with "Command" in its name - and deletes COMMAND.COM. Whoops, now it won't boot!

Sure, that's a little extreme, but you should still be able to see the point. Seriously, to uninstall something, if it has an uninstaller, run it. If it doesn't, drag the app to the Trash. It's not necessary to delete the preference files (although you can go into ~/Library/Preferences if you absolutely must).

What about applications that install kernel extensions and provide no uninstaller?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Person Man

What about applications that install kernel extensions and provide no uninstaller?

Those apps should at least provide an installer log file giving you a list of paths where you will find the stuff you want to delete.

If they don't, you should either use another product or at least contact the author and let him know that his installer sucks. In my experience most freeware/shareware developers are quite reasonable when it comes to these matters. Commercial developers can be a PITA OTOH. Let them know by not giving them your money.

[Briareus]

yticolev: to clarify, keyboard shortcuts don't work in the Spotlight dropdown/results on the right side of your screen, but will work in the cmd-F "Find File" window's results. Same search technology, different window. Sorry for the confusion.