If you plan to sell your Mac to get a brand-new one or to give it away because you've already bought a newer model, you must first erase all your personal files to avoid unpleasant surprises afterwards.
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There is a very simple procedure that you should follow if you need to remove all your personal data from your Mac, and it will require you to securely format your computer's hard drive or hard drives if it has more than one (as is the case of Mac Pros).
Apple also describes on their support website what one has to do before selling a Mac, and even though their procedure is quite simple to follow, it doesn't take into account the fact that a formatted hard drive will not prevent the buyer to recover files that you thought are lost forever.
This happens because even though you tell OS X to delete a file from the hard drive, the file will not be completely deleted since the operating system will only remove the memory reference to the file. This allows recovery software to scan hard drives and recover data, a quite helpful feat if you've accidentally deleted any of your files.
Fortunately, there is a way to protect your files from being revived when you part ways with your Mac: securely erasing the hard drive, a process that prevents third parties from recovering your personal data. When you are securely erasing the hard drive, you are telling the computer to overwrite your files with random data two to seven times (OS X supports 2-, 3- and 7-pass secure erasing).
- Check the boxes next to the app you want to remove. Press Uninstall. As you can see, CleanMyMac X shows precisely how much place each app takes, so it’s easier to detect the heaviest programs. Another benefit is that you can bulk uninstall programs on Mac without dragging each app and its files to the Trash.
- Click the Manage button and then click iOS Files in the left panel to view the local iOS backup files you have stored on your Mac. Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET If you no longer need them.
- Apple's default image manager, Photos, is provided as part of Mac OS X (and now macOS). It's a lightweight, stylish app, but not everybody likes it. Removing the Photos app from your Mac is an.
Next, I will describe the entire procedure of completely clearing personal or sensitive data from your Mac, an easy-to-follow four-step procedure that should give you peace of mind once you give away your computer.
Uninstall Mac apps using Trash. Whether you're running macOS Catalina or an earlier macOS, like. Open the Uninstaller menu and wait for the software to identify all the apps on your Mac. After a short while, you’ll see three submenus: User Apps, OS X Apps, and Leftovers. To uninstall Safari, open the OS X Apps submenu. Check the box next to the Safari icon on the list and click Remove. That’s all there is to it! Double-click on the Applications folder. There you should find a folder named Chrome Apps, containing such things as Gmail.app, Google Drive.app, Google Search.app, YouTube.app, and Google Chrome.app 5. Delete the whole Chrome Apps folder, and you're done!
Step 1 - Backup
If you decide to securely erase your Mac's hard drive(s), you will first have to back up your information. To do this, you should use the Time Machine app because it makes it very easy to keep a copy of all your important data.
Apple has its own detailed tutorial on how to use Time Machine to back up your data, and you should follow it step by step to effortlessly set up Time Machine, as well as back up and restore your data.
It is important to note that you should always use an external hard drive, a Time Capsule or an OS X Server on your network to back up your data because backing it up on the same Mac means that you will lose all of it once you format the Mac's hard drive(s).
Step 2 - Deauthorize
During this step of the procedure, you will disconnect your Mac from all Apple services you have connected it to.
First of all, you have to deauthorize the Mac from iTunes to prevent it from accessing the content you bought on the iTunes Store, iBooks Store, Mac App Store or the iOS Store in the future.
Next, log out of iMessage by launching the Messages app, going to Preferences > Accounts and clicking on 'Sign out' after selecting your iMessage account.
Afterwards, you will have to sign out of iCloud by going to the menu > System Preferences > iCloud. Here, uncheck Find My Mac and then click on the 'Sign Out' button at the bottom left side of the window. When you sign out of iCloud, all your iCloud data will be removed from your computer, but it will reappear on your new Mac once you sign in using your iCloud account.
Step 3 - Erase
The first thing you have to do is to restart your Mac and enter the Recovery system to format your Mac's hard drive(s).
You do this by going to the menu and clicking the Restart option. Next, hold down and hold down ⌘ + R on your keyboard and release the keys once the Apple logo is displayed on the screen.
After OS X Recovery loads, you have to click on the Disk Utility entry at the bottom of the window. Then, you need to first choose the startup disk to delete your OS X installation, click on Erase tab at the top, select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' as the partition format in the drop-down confirmation dialog that will appear, and then click on the 'Security Options' button.
Here you can choose the option to use when securely erasing the disk, from a 2-pass overwriting of your data, to a 7-pass US Department of Defense standard that will overwrite your data seven times. Needless to say, depending on the number of overwrites, the erasing processing will take longer.
Once you choose the secure erasing option, click OK and then on the 'Erase' button to completely delete all the files on the disk.
If your Mac has multiple hard drives with multiple partitions, you will have to repeat the procedure described above for each of the disks to avoid leaving any sensitive data on any of them.
Step 4 - Reinstall
After you've cleaned your Mac of all your personal files and data, all you have to do is to reinstall OS X by closing Disk Utility and clicking on the 'Reinstall OS X' option in the OS X Utilities window.
Reinstalling OS X is just a matter of following the on-screen directions, and you'll know you're done after the Welcome message appears.
At this stage, you can either configure the Mac and finish the setup process, or you can just power it off by pressing ⌘ + Q and leave it to the new owner to set up the Mac as he likes.
Leave a comment below if you need more information regarding any of the steps described above or if you want to share any other methods of quickly erasing all sensitive information from a Mac's hard drive with the rest of our readers.
Installing a software or app is extremely easy and so does uninstalling the software when you don't need them anymore? Many times, for some unknown reason, a Mac system denies to remove some data. If this is happening with you then the first thing you could try is to restart the computer and then try to remove it again, but still failed! Then what should you do?
On the other hand, there are many stubborn software that won't get uninstalled whatsoever. You will continuously get errors, warning and unknown issues when uninstalling them. These are usually infected with viruses or the developers don't intend to let you uninstall them. This could be really very intimidating especially when they are slowing down your computer. In this article, we will show you few simple tricks to remove unwanted apps or softwares that won't delete on Mac.
Part 1. How to Delete Apps in the Finder on Mac Manually (the Hard Way)
Unlike Windows computers, Mac works a little distinctly. All the programs and apps are stored in the Application directory. The app and software configuration settings are saved in the Library/Preferences folder and any other additional supporting data are saved in the /Library/Application_Support folder. In order to remove the Apps in Mac, you only have to open the application folder and drag the app to the Bin or Trash Can. This is rather easy if the program is uninstalled simply.
However, if the application still denies to uninstall and stays on the Mac then we need to get another solution below.
Delete the Preferences
If you can't delete the app by using the above method then the reason could be that the preferences folder of that app still exists. Let's go and delete that first.
Step 1. Open Finder then click on the Go option from the dropdown menu.
Step 2. When the menu pops down, simple press the Option key and keep holding it.
Step 3. You will now see the Library option right between the Computer and Home options. Click on it and the folder should open.
NOTE The final necessary thing to do after uninstalling a program is to empty the trash can or Bin. Dragging and dropping a software shortcut icon to the Bin will actually do nothing. It is only erasing the shortcut, this won't uninstall the program. It is still laying somewhere in your computer however, if you empty the trash then the application is truly removed.
However, there's also a chance that the software files must have stored in the computer somehow, which happens quite often. So, if you are not able to remove Apps by yourself then it's better to take help from an automatic Mac program remover like CleanGeeker in Part 2..
Part 2: Completely Remove Unwanted Apps that Won't Delete on Mac (Easy Way)
When any app is fishy enough not to get deleted from a Launchpad or Finder then you will have to use some sort of force to delete that. TunesBro CleanGeeker is one of the most powerful Mac app remover that helps to remove any app or software as well as the trace from the Mac without destroying your system. Unlike other App removers, CleanGeeker can deeply scan and remove multiple apps at once, including corresponding files and preferences. It also has other miscellaneous functions as well like cleaning junk files, clearing app caches and finding + deleting duplicate items from the computer like music, documents, pictures, videos, etc. To summarize, CleanGeeker is used to optimize and organize your Mac so that it remains clean and fast as a thunder.
CleanGeeker - Force to Delete Apps on Mac, Easy and Safe!
- Locate all the installed apps on your Mac and shows them in a list.
- Deeply scan and remove apps along with its remaining files like caches, or junk files.
- Force to remove unwanted app that won’t uninstalled, easy and safe! Never destroy your system.
- Optimize and improve your Mac’s space and performance.
Step 1Download and Install App Remover Tool on Your Mac
How Do I Remove Apps From Mac Mini Ipad
Download the App remover and install it normally on your Mac. Launch the program and enter the license code to activate the software. On the main user interface, you will be able to see multiple options on the screen. Just click on 'Uninstaller' from the mid left sidebar.
Step 2Scan All Apps that Installed On Your Mac
Let the program search all the apps installed in your computer. It may take few minutes.
Step 2 Found and Remove Unwanted Applications on Mac
Once the scanning is done, you should be able to look on all the apps that has been installed in the system. Choose the app that you want to remove and select the 'Delete' button once.
There's no software or apps that cannot be removed with CleanGeeker and that's why it's now a must have tool for everyone. Moreover, it helps to speed up your computer unbelievably fast and run it like it used to when you first bought it.
Part 3: Delete Apps Downloaded from Mac App Store
One of the best alternative to delete any app is by simply deleting it from the sales page from the App Store. Once you have done that, you will no longer be able to download it form there anymore. But, the app will remain active in the iTunes account which is associated with that. So, if you wish to download or update it later from the iTunes then you will be able to do that. But the important thing is: Once you delete any app which you have downloaded from Apple App Store, you won’t be able to recover that app or find the SKU to install it again.
So, if you want to delete any app from App Store without actually removing it then follow these steps –
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Step 1. Open the Launchpad from the Dock section. At this point you should be familiar with it if not then just find the Rocket icon.
Step 2. After the Launchpad is opened, it will replace the existing Windows with the apps that are provided by default in alphabetic order. You can obviously do many things using this tool but at this moment we are just erasing the unwanted apps.
Step 3. Just like any iPhone or Android phone, click and hold on the app that you want to delete until it starts dancing. Next, click on the 'X' mark with your mouse or touchscreen.
Step 4. Now, confirm that you want to delete by clicking on the 'Delete' button once and the system will get rid of it instantly.
How Do I Remove Apps From Mac Mini Mac
Done! Keep in mind, that you should not worry about accidentally delete the apps that you want to keep in Mac. You’re allowed to obviously re-install any app that you have deleted before without paying any extra. Simply go to the app store and it’s done.