Quick question – how do you remove an app on your Mac?
If your answer is to drag the app to the Trash, we’re sorry to say that you’ve been doing it wrong.
- But the fact is you still need Flash Player on your Mac. The reason is some websites do not support HTML5 and still rely on the Flash Player. Many websites work on HTML5, but they will not work if you will completely uninstall Adobe Flash Player. So, you still need to install Flash Player on your Mac and if it is there you need to update it as well.
- MacOS Sierra will snub Adobe's Flash Player I guess that by now everybody knows how much of a security threat Adobe's Flash Player is to any Mac or Windows PC that uses it. After thousands of patches and security fixes, it's still the most accessible point of entry for hackers, so it's no surprise that more and more companies have decided to.
- Having trouble installing Adobe Flash Player? Identify your issue and try the corresponding solution. For Firefox on any OS, see Enable Flash Player for Firefox. For Safari on Mac OS, see Enable Flash Player for Safari. For Google Chrome, see Enable Flash Player for Chrome. For Opera, see Enable.
How Flash works in Safari on macOS High Sierra Since macOS Sierra, Adobe's Flash plug-in has been turned off in Safari by default to encourage users — and websites — to use HTML5 for features like video, and this remains true in macOS High Sierra.
You probably know or guess that you can remove apps by dragging them to the Trash bin, but it is not quite so. Dragging normal files like documents and movies to the Trash works fine. But doing the same for apps leaves gigabytes of leftover junk files on your hard drive. We’re going to show you what gets left behind and what you can do to completely uninstall apps from here on out.
How to completely uninstall software on Mac
Removing apps is more than just moving them to the Trash — it’s completely uninstalling them. If you are trying to delete an old application, reinstall a corrupted software or just free up disk space on your Mac, removing all components of the program is important. These include the app, its preferences and support files, and sometimes other hidden files.
To completely uninstall a program on Mac you have to choose one of three options:
- Using Trash.
- Using Launchpad.
- Using CleanMyMac X (the easy way).
We’re going to show you how to manually uninstall a program on Mac and then we’ll also show you the easy way. The easy way to remove apps involves a Mac uninstaller app, which will remove any app you want while also cleaning up the associated files spread across your hard drive and system. How to force delete an app on a Mac? That’s another problem that a quality uninstaller can solve.
We’ll show you how to use the Uninstaller module in CleanMyMac X. Microsoft office 2003 bittorrent. It’s the safest option because it guarantees that the right files are deleted every time, so you never have a problem down the line.
As a bonus, we’ll also show you how to uninstall the apps that you’ve forgotten are even there. Things like Java, Flash, and other extensions that are hard to find.
Are you ready to uninstall Mac apps for good and clean up your system?
Then let’s go!
1. Delete apps using the Trash
https://brownpromotions299.weebly.com/blog/how-to-get-adobe-flash-player-for-mac. Whether you're running macOS Mojave or an earlier OS X, like El Capitan or Yosemite, the process of manually uninstalling remains relatively similar. Even uninstalling apps on macOS Mojave requires getting rid of leftovers, despite the fact that it's the latest and the most sophisticated system for Mac. Apple has done such a good job on macOS 10.14 but left this unfortunate issue unresolved for another year.
To completely remove programs from Mac manually, you have to find all the associated files that come along with the app. That means not just dragging the app icon to the Trash from your Applications folder, but searching the depths of the system files in your Mac.
We’re going to reveal the locations of the most common files that are associated with apps. To remove the app leftovers from your Mac just navigate to each of these folders and hunt for the app you want to remove. If you find files with the app name you can send them to the Trash.
So, when uninstalling any software, you have to go over each of these folders one by one and remove the following:
- Binary and dock icons are located in /Applications/
- Application support files are located in ~/Library/Application
- Support Caches can be found in /Library/Caches/ and ~/Library/Caches
- Plugins are located in ~/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/
- Library can be found in ~/Library/
- App preferences are located in ~/Library/Preferences/
- Crashes are found in ~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/
- App saved states are located in ~/Library/Saved Application State/
There are many more hidden files, some of which cannot be accessed by the user. And macOS/OS X will prevent you from deleting some app files.
As you can see, it's not that easy to remove apps from Mac manually, even when you know what to do. By the way, be sure to look for the name of the app in the file names of the files you remove. Don’t remove anything you don’t know! Do your due diligence before removing something from your system.
When you delete software on Mac manually, be sure only to remove an app file or folder when you’re sure of what it is. Look at the name very carefully before you nuke it. Removing the wrong files could cause problems with your system.
Remember, please be careful when deleting system files — you never know how it will affect your Mac if you remove the wrong ones (or the right ones for that matter!).
2. Remove apps using Launchpad
Another manual way to delete unneeded apps from your Mac is using the Launchpad. Here's how it works:
- Click Launchpad icon in your Mac's Dock.
- Find the app you want to delete.
- Click and hold the app until it starts shaking.
- Click X in the top-left corner of the app icon.
- Click Delete.
This will uninstall the app from your Mac. However, keep in mind that after the removing the program, you should also delete its leftovers like we've described above. Philips smart tv apps download.
Can't uninstall an app on Mac? Adobe flash player for mac upgrade.
Unfortunately manual methods won’t get everything. Some apps are pre-installed macOS components and protected by the system while others will refuse to delete because they are already open (even though that’s often not true).
So, how to delete the apps on Mac that won't delete? You can try the manual removal after force quitting the app in question (press Command-Option-Esc and if the app is on the list shut it down) or rebooting your Mac.
If you're still unable to delete apps on Mac or if you’re worried you won't do it correctly and want a safer alternative, there’s the easy method of uninstalling apps from your Mac so you don't have to force delete applications. It actually does a better (and safer) job and in a fraction of the time. Read on to learn how.
Download Adobe Flash Player For Mac
3. Delete Mac apps with CleanMyMac X
Adobe Flash Player For Mac
Now it’s time for the safe and quick app uninstalling option. There’s a safest way to uninstall software on Mac without searching all over your Mac, and that’s by using CleanMyMac X. It knows what to clean and what to leave be.
CleanMyMac X’s Uninstaller module scans your entire system and compiles all installed applications and the files associated with them. Plus, it can also identify broken and outdated apps to help keep your Mac up to date. As if that wasn’t enough it will also remove all the little leftovers that Trash’ing an app misses.
Pro tip: to quickly uninstall applications, follow these four steps or simply watch the tutorial below:
- Launch CleanMyMac X and click on Uninstaller in the left menu.
- Select the app you want to remove from the list in the center.
Once you’ve selected an application, you can either uninstall it or, if it’s not acting as it should, you can perform an Application Reset. - Click on Uninstall or choose Application Reset at the top.
- Now that the application cleanup is complete, you can view a log of the removed items, or go back to your app list to uninstall more.
And you’re done!
As you can see, CleanMyMac X is intuitive and beautifully designed. It finds all the little parts and pieces you’re likely to leave behind on your Mac if you delete the app normally. Plus, CleanMyMac X is Mojave-compatible, so if you were looking for a macOS uninstaller, there you have it. With CleanMyMac you get a cleaner, faster, leftover-free Mac.
Want to try it before buy? Download CleanMyMac X for free here. The trial version scans your Mac entirely, but only allows you to clean up to 500 MB of unnecessary files on your Mac.
How to delete hidden apps
![Adobe flash for mac safari Adobe flash for mac safari](/uploads/1/3/3/8/133897154/560345353.jpg)
So you now know how to get rid of apps the manual way and the easy way. But what about hidden apps and extensions that can be hard to find, let alone remove. Well, we’ve got you covered.
Below we have easy to follow methods for removing Java, Flash, and other stubborn processes and extensions.
How to uninstall Java on Mac
Once upon a time, Java was an important component. But now it’s just unnecessary and a security risk that’s not worth taking. Apple agrees, which is why it stopped supporting Java in macOS. If you have Java on your system and want it removed, once again there’s a hands-on manual way and an automatic easy way.
The manual way to remove Java from Mac:
- Open Finder and click on Applications tab
- Enter JavaAppletPlugin.plugin into the search field
- Right click on the JavaAppletPlugin.plugin and Move to Trash
The easier way to remove Java and other plugins would be to use CleanMyMac X's Extensions utility. It’s a free option in the trial version of the app so you can get rid of Java and manage all of your plugins, widgets, and extensions in a matter of seconds.
To delete Java on Mac quickly, follow these steps:
- Open CleanMyMac and go to Extensions > Preferences Panes.
- Choose Java and everything related to it.
- Check it and hit Remove.
Congrats, you completely removed Java off your Mac!
How to uninstall Flash Player and other extensions
Adobe Flash Player is an extension that, like Java, has become infamous for security and privacy problems. Steve Jobs even called the extension “buggy,” and blamed it for a range of issues.
To remove Flash manually you can download the uninstaller from Adobe, but the process of finding the right version and the steps needed to do a proper removal of Flash is tiresome. Head over to get the full set of Adobe's Flash removal instructions.
Alternatively, you could just use CleanMyMac to remove Flash in a few quick steps.
The easy way to uninstall Flash on Mac is to:
- Open CleanMyMac X.
- Click on Extensions > Preference Panes.
- Select Flash Player from the list.
- Click Remove at the bottom.
Browser extensions can offer significant benefits but they are often the first culprit when your browser starts misbehaving. If you have a problem extension or you just want to remove it to free up Mac resources, you can do so directly from your browser.
In Chrome: go to More Tools > Extensions
In Safari: go to Preferences and click on the Extensions tab
In Firefox: go to Add-Ons > Extensions and Plugins
In Safari: go to Preferences and click on the Extensions tab
In Firefox: go to Add-Ons > Extensions and Plugins
Once you find the right section it’s easy to disable or remove whatever extension you want. Of course you can do the same with CleanMyMac, where all your browser extensions are clearly grouped into one clear section.
Follow these steps to disable or remove any extensions on Mac in a second:
- Open CleanMyMac X.
- Click on the Extensions tab and check View all extensions
- (Extensions are easily grouped into categories for easier navigation.)
- Click Remove.
As we already noted, CleanMyMac is free to download and try. It’s a handy and efficient way to deal with unwanted apps on your Mac if you don’t feel like spending hours on manual uninstallation.
How to uninstall CleanMyMac
If you’ve cleaned up the system with CleanMyMac X and have decided not to use the application further, you can easily uninstall CleanMyMac from your Mac. And we’ll show you the right way to do it.
Probably you guess that you can remove CleanMyMac by simply dragging it to the Trash. However, by doing this, it will leave its parts and leftovers on your Mac (as it happens when removing any other software). Therefore, the easiest way to completely uninstall CleanMyMac is by using CleanMyMac on itself.
Follow these steps to uninstall CleanMyMac completely:
- Open CleanMyMac X.
- Proceed to the Uninstaller module.
- Find CleanMyMac in the list of found apps.
- Click Complete Removal in the Smart Selector panel to tick the application file and its related items for removal.
- Click Uninstall.
- Confirm the removal in the following dialogue window.
That’s it! After doing this, CleanMyMac X will be safely uninstalled from your Mac.
Say goodbye to unwanted apps on your Mac
Whether you used the manual methods or let CleanMyMac do the job for you, the important thing is that your unwanted apps are now completely removed. Your Mac thanks you for it.
Enjoy your extra storage space. Enjoy your new efficient Mac. Enjoy the feeling of blasting apps into dust with a couple of clicks!
These might also interest you:
Now that macOS 10.12 Sierra is available from the Mac App Store, you’re probably wondering whether your Adobe software will work in the new Mac operating system.
With every Mac system upgrade, information about compatibility is often not available on the first day the new system is available, and emerges over time. If you use your Mac to run a business or as a serious hobby, do not upgrade to Sierra until you’re prepared to recover if things don’t work out. (That applies to any operating system upgrade on any device.) Wait until you are confident that all of your software and hardware is compatible, then back up everything, then upgrade. With that in mind, here’s what I know so far about the state of Adobe software in Sierra.
Spire vst download free. The next section is about the Creative Cloud versions. If you’re looking for information about older versions, jump to:
Official statements and verified reports
The short answer is that the latest updates are the most compatible with Sierra. In most cases that means the CC 2017 versions, which are now available. Install them using the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application.
Adobe posted a general statement about application compatibility (macOS Sierra (10.12) compatibility FAQ | Creative Cloud), but for now it links to the Photoshop and Lightroom statements below. It also claims that other most Adobe applications do not require updates to be compatible, and that any problems can be reported using the Adobe bug reporting form.
This section is updated as new information becomes available.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
According to the system requirements for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC, it requires “macOS 10.12, 10.11, or 10.10” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra. This applies to the most recent version only, which at this time is Lightroom CC 2015.7/6.7 or later.
The Lightroom team posted a more specific Sierra statement (Lightroom and Sierra | macOS 10.12). It says “Adobe recommends that customers update Lightroom to the current version prior to updating macOS 10.12 (Sierra).” It lists a number of compatibility issues, especially with Lightroom 5 and earlier, saying:
To avoid these compatibility issues on macOS 10.12 (Sierra):
- Update to Lightroom 2015.7/Lightroom 6.7, or
- Remain on your current Mac OS X version and do NOT update to macOS 10.12 (Sierra) if you are running Lightroom 5 or earlier.
Earlier, “Lightroom Queen” Victoria Bampton published a blog post with similar findings about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom in Sierra (Lightroom and macOS Sierra Compatibility).
The Tone Curve may be difficult to control in Sierra. (Lightroom 6: Tone curve is Insensitive to MacBook Pro Touch Pad). Adobe said this was fixed in Lightroom 6.8 / CC 2015.8, but there are reports that variations on the problem still exist.
The panel and filmstrip areas may black out at times. This is apparently related to macOS graphics issues. macOS 10.13.2 should fix most of the occurrences, and for other versions the Lightroom team has attempted to work around the problem as much as possible. To best avoid the problem, Adobe says:
…make sure your macOS is updated to at least macOS Sierra 10.12 and at least Lightroom Classic 7.0 or Lightroom 6.13. The best combo to avoid this issue is being on macOS High Sierra 10.13 and Lightroom Classic 7.1 or Lightroom 6.13. The team has worked pretty hard with Apple to get this issue to stop appearing with macOS Sierra 10.12 and macOS High Sierra 10.13. Improvements were made in 10.12 and iterated upon for 10.13.
Adobe Photoshop CC
According to the system requirements for Adobe Photoshop CC 2017, it requires “macOS version 10.12 (Sierra), Mac OS X version 10.11 (El Capitan), or Mac OS X version 10.10 (Yosemite)” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
For Adobe Photoshop CC 2015, the Photoshop team posted a document (Photoshop and Sierra | macOS 10.12) which they update with known issues. Most are minor, except that some users have encountered a crash when printing. (Update: Adobe says the Sierra print crash is resolved for some users in macOS 10.12.1, and resolved for all users in Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.)
If you find a problem with Lightroom or Photoshop in Sierra, report it at the Photoshop Feedback site. If you run into a problem with other software such as Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, or After Effects, try posting about it in the Adobe Forums.
Adobe InDesign CC
According to the system requirements for Adobe InDesign CC 2017, it requires “Mac OS X 10.10, 10.11 or 10.12” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
There is apparently an InDesign CC 2015 startup crash on Sierra when using a RAID with Adobe InDesign CC 2015 (11.4.1). The solution is to roll back to 11.4. The details are in an Adobe Forums post (InDesign crashes after start since Sierra update).
Adobe Illustrator
According to the system requirements for Adobe Illustrator CC 2017, it requires “Mac OS X versions 10.12 (Sierra), 10.11 (El Capitan), or 10.10 (Yosemite)” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
Adobe Premiere Pro CC
According to the system requirements for Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017, it requires “Mac OS X v10.10, v10.11 or v10.12” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra. If you’ve been having problems with Apple Metal GPU acceleration, some were resolved in the Premiere Pro CC 2017.0.2 (11.0.2) update.
There have been some long discussion threads about Premiere Pro issues in Sierra on the Adobe Premiere Pro user forum. Probably the biggest verified problem is an issue related to automatic graphics switching in Premiere Pro on the 2016 MacBook Pro, which runs only Sierra or later. That specific issue turned out to be a macOS bug, fixed by Apple as mentioned in their release notes for macOS Sierra 10.12.3. If you still experience GPU-related problems, Adobe is asking users to report them so that they can be fixed.
I haven’t seen an Adobe statement about Sierra compatibility for Premiere Pro CC 2015.
Adobe After Effects
According to the system requirements for Adobe After Effects CC 2017, it requires “macOS X versions 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.11 (El Capitan), or 10.12 (Sierra)” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
According to the system requirements for Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, it requires “Mac OS X v10.9, 10.10, 10.11, or 10.12” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
Adobe PDF
Many Mac users prefer to view PDF files in Apple Preview instead of Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. However, in macOS Sierra, Apple rewrote the PDFKit framework and this rewrite is apparently very buggy. Apple has been fixing these bugs, but some remain in macOS Sierra 10.12. An article by Mac veteran Adam Engst at TidBITS (Sierra PDF Problems Get Worse in 10.12.2) describes some of these bugs, which can result in data loss in some cases. In the article, developer Christian Grunenberg says makes a statement that has always been true to some extent, but even more so in Sierra:
Apple supports only a subset of the PDF specification, and that support has always been buggy.
For maximum compatibility and reliability with all PDF versions and features, you’ll want to work with PDF files in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat Pro, or a third-party application that does not rely on Apple PDFKit.
Update: Apparently the macOS 10.12.3 and 10.12.4 updates fix many, but not all, of the bugs mentioned in the TidBITS article. TidBITS has published an updated article, PDF Problems Continue in 10.12.4, but Primarily Affect Developers.
Older versions of Adobe software (CS3–CS6)
I have upgraded my test Mac to the release version of Sierra. So far, various versions of Adobe Creative Suite (CS) applications I tried (the oldest being Photoshop CS3) are at least able to launch in the Sierra beta. As in El Capitan and earlier, older Adobe applications are able to launch after you run the Apple installer for Java for OS X 2015-001. If you see the alert below, clicking More Info takes you directly to the Apple download page for Java for OS X.
Adobe software older than the Creative Cloud (CC) versions are not officially supported on macOS 10.12 Sierra. That doesn’t mean they won’t work; it just means that if those old versions have any new issues related to macOS 10.12 Sierra, there won’t be any updates to address them (that is, you’re on your own). After doing some quick tests, Adobe application compatibility with Sierra appears to be comparable to their compatibility with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, with very similar limitations and conditions to those we’ve seen with the past few OS X releases. If Adobe does what they’ve done in the past, they will not be testing most older (pre-Creative Cloud) software at a level that can confirm which specific features do and don’t work; you’ll have to do that testing yourself (see “How to test macOS 10.12 Sierra yourself” below).
Photoshop CS3 and up will run in macOS 10.12 Sierra after Java is installed.
With that in mind, here are a few things I’ve seen since trying out some older versions in Sierra.
Be prepared to uninstall and reinstall if needed. Adobe applications were already installed when I upgraded my test Mac to Sierra. After the upgrade, some older Adobe applications had licensing errors. I was able to fix these by uninstalling and reinstalling those applications, and the lesson here is to always make sure you have all of the information you need (such as license keys or registration numbers) to reinstall any of your key software.
“Installer Failed to Initialize” error. Some Adobe installers may fail to launch with the error “We’ve encountered the following issue. Installer failed to initialize. This could be due to a missing file. Please download Adobe Support Advisor to detect the problem.”
Unfortunately, Adobe Support Advisor no longer exists, but there is an immediate workaround that should get the installer going:
- Right-click (or Control-click) the installer and choose Show Package Contents.
- In the Install window that opens in the Finder, go to the Contents/MacOS folder, and in there, double-click Install. That will open the Terminal application, some lines of code will automatically run, and the actual Installer should successfully launch.
Make a note of this workaround, because any pre-CC installers are unlikely to be updated.
[Update: A few days after I posted this, Adobe published a help document that confirms this workaround: Installing Creative Suite on macOS 10.12 (Sierra)]
Adobe Illustrator CS4. When starting the application, you may see an “Error loading plugins” alert which mentions PhotoshopExport.aip and PhotoshopImport.aip. This has been a problem for several OS X versions, and there is no fix that I know of. You can only work around it by clicking “Don’t show again” in the alert.
Adobe Illustrator CS5. Illustrator CS5 may crash on quit; this problem also existed in El Capitan so try the solution offered at the Adobe forums (Illustrator CS5 crashing on exit), specifically the part about renaming
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager
to
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager.bak
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager
to
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager.bak
Registration servers, update servers, and activation servers. If you get a message saying that a registration or update server is not available in an old Adobe application, that won’t stop the application itself from working so it’s not much of a concern. A missing activation server may keep an application in trial mode, but I had no problems maintaining activation in the Adobe CS3 through CS6 applications I tried.
Adobe Creative Suite 2 (CS2) compatibility
This question comes up during every recent OS X upgrade: Some users moving up from older Macs running 10.6.8 or earlier to new Macs with the latest OS version may still be using the Creative Suite 2 (CS2) version of Adobe software, such as Adobe Photoshop CS2. As with the last several major Mac OS X upgrades, macOS 10.12 Sierra requires that software be written for the Intel processors that have been running Macs for over 10 years. CS2 applications were written for the PowerPC processors that ran older Macs. The last version of Mac OS X to run PowerPC software was OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.
There is no way to run Adobe CS2 software on macOS 10.12 Sierra. The only option is to use a newer version of the software.
How to test macOS 10.12 Sierra yourself
While online compatibility lists are useful, the advice of others can only go so far because it may not reveal problems related to the specific combination of applications and hardware you use. A better way is to test the new macOS upgrade yourself. But be careful: You want to test the new OS without compromising your current working production system, and you have to pay attention to licensing and activation issues. To understand how to do that, read another article I’ve written: How to test a macOS upgrade with your Adobe software
Other aspects of Sierra that may affect Adobe software
Flash
Flash Player For High Sierra
One upcoming change affecting Adobe software is that Safari 10 will disable the Adobe Flash plug-in by default. You can still enable it if you want.
APFS
Sierra will be able to use the newly announced Apple File System (APFS), which is being designed around security, reliability, and the ability to work across macOS, iOS, tvOS and watchOS. APFS will replace HFS+. From an Adobe user point of view, an interesting thing about APFS is that it is case-sensitive only. Currently, Adobe Creative Cloud applications cannot be installed on case-sensitive file systems on the Mac. It’s not yet clear how much of an issue this will be, because APFS cannot be used on the startup disk in the currently available build of Sierra. Apple says APFS will not become the default for Apple products until some time in 2017. Presumably, by the time APFS becomes the standard, Adobe will have ensured compatibility…at least for the latest versions of its installers. Whether older versions of Adobe software can be installed on an APFS volume will be a question until it can be tested.
Wondering what Sierra is all about?
For the most in-depth Sierra review you’ll probably find anywhere, read the macOS 10.12 Sierra review at Ars Technica. As with every major release of the Mac operating system, the Ars Technica review not only evaluates the visible features that Apple promotes, but goes under the surface to explain changes to some of the underlying technologies in macOS and how they affect your Mac experience.
This article was originally posted on June 16, 2016 but has been updated throughout the macOS 10.12 Sierra public beta and final release.