In the past, I’ve written about a very nice uninstaller for Mac OS X called AppZapper. AppZapper is the work of Austin Sarner and Brian Ball, and is absolutely worth the $12.95 shareware fee. Not only does that $12.95 help to support independent Mac shareware developers, but as an added bonus, it entitles the purchaser to free upgrades… not just until the next major version, as is common, but for life! I own a license, and it has definitely been a good purchase.
But there’s another application – called AppCleaner – that does the same thing.
AppCleaner, from FreeMacSoft, is a freeware application that does the same thing.
Now, typically when I see a free software option competing head to head with a shareware or commercial application, I tend to assume that the shareware or commercial option might be better in some way. Why else – I ask myself – wouldn’t the freeware version cost money?
In this case, however, AppCleaner not only proved those assumptions to be incorrect, it blew them out of the water.
First, let’s look at what AppCleaner does. It’s simplest use is to remove an application from a Mac user’s hard drive. “Wait a minute,” I hear you saying. “Can’t I just drag an application to the Trash to get rid of it?”
Of course, but doing so only removes the application bundle. When an application is installed, and as it is used, it creates not only preference files, but support folders, often full of temporary files and other odds and ends, all over your hard drive. You can search for these by hand, but AppCleaner does it for you.
To use AppCleaner, just drag an application onto its icon, or – if AppCleaner is already running – onto its open window. AppCleaner will immediately search your hard drive for other files sharing the same name as the application you wish to remove. It then shows you a list of all these files, and gives you the option of deciding not to delete some of them.
When you’re ready to delete, just hit the Delete button, and everything is sent to your Trash for deletion. Simple!
AppCleaner can also be used to display all the Applications, Widgets or Other files (such as Quicktime components, Preference Panes and Plugins) that may be scattered all over your hard drive. Simply select one of those three buttons from the toolbar, and after scanning the hard drive, you’ll be shown a list of items. If you see some you want to delete, simply click the check box and hit the Search button. AppCleaner, just like last time, will scan your hard drive and show you the results.
One other feature I find highly desirable is the idea of “protected” applications. These are applications you just don’t want to delete… ever. Simply use the option in the Preferences to designate certain applications, and you’ll never need to worry about an application accidentally being deleted. There are some applications automatically protected, such as any running application, in addition to all your default applications. This way, if you mean to delete Firefox but instead grab Camino (which you have set as your default Web Browser), AppCleaner will tell you that your attempting to delete a protected application. If you’re sure you want to delete it, go to your AppCleaner preferences and make the appropriate changes. Otherwise hit “OK,” and no changes will be made.
Now, at the beginning of this review I compared AppCleaner to AppZapper – a shareware product. So far, both products work exactly the same. They use different transitions (AppZapper has a neat little ZAPPING noise when it gets rid of a program, and AppCleaner uses 3D transition effects when moving from one screen to the next), but both work alike, and look nearly identical (see the screen shots for proof).
However, AppCleaner actually has one feature AppZapper doesn’t, which is called SmartDelete. SmartDelete is very cool. It needs to be turned on (it’s off by default), but once turned on, it will monitor your Trash for any applications you attempt to delete the “normal” way, without using AppCleaner. When it sees this happen, it launches itself and asks if you’d also like to get rid of any “extra” files that may be associated with the program.
This is very cool. A while ago I reviewed a program that existed just for this feature, and while that is a good program, I can’t recommend it, since AppCleaner does the exact same thing, plus a whole lot more.
So, there you have it. One freeware program – AppCleaner – that takes on the exact same tasks as a shareware program I like and enjoy using – and not only does AppCleaner do the same tasks, in just as simple and elegant a manner, but it does more. What’s not to like? It’s free, it works well, it fills a need, so download it and give it a try.
