Getting Rid of Preference Files of Unused Software

I have some files in HD/Library/Preference of programs I don't use anymore like World Book, and TechTool Deluxe Prefs. Some of these end in .plist. It would seem to me if I don't have World Book of Tech Tool Deluxe anymore, I should have no problems after trashing and getting rid of any files connected with these or any other programs that I no longer use and have gotten rid of.

Plist's are OK to delete...they don't take much room though and if the app still exists on your drive it will be recreated next time you start the app...I started using AppDelete for removing apps and all the associated files that go with them..
Saw this one at MacUpdate today....the price is right...but I have not tried it...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/25323/apptrap
Good to see your name around again...

Similar Messages

  • How can I get rid of other files on my mac ?

    how can I get rid of other files on my mac ?

    Hope this helps.
    1. Empty Trash.
        http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10677
    2. Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
        Hold the option key down and click "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.
        Select "Library" from the dropdown.
        Library > Mail > V2 > Mailboxes
        Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
        Empty Trash. Restart.
    3. Repair Disk
        Steps 1 through 7
        http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
    4. For more on this and very helpful tips:
        http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
        http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html
    5. Disk space / Time Machine ?/ Local Snapshots
       http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
    6 Re-index Macintosh HD
       System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
       http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409

  • How do I get rid of 'orphaned' files

    Hi,
    What is a good software (free preferably) to use in order to get rid of 'orphaned' files I seem to have migrated over from my old iMac? For example, I have Virtual PC, Print Explosion, Otto game, etc. in there as well as many other orphaned files/folders like this that I won't be using on my Macbook Pro. Is there a software that will detect these so I can SAFELY get rid of all these unnecessary files? Please advise.

    This isn't an endorsement since I haven't used it.
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/21471/superpop
    Also get EasyFind and search manually (excellent, I have used it.)
    http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/freeware/index.html

  • How to get rid of duplicate files in Windows Media Player 11, I am seeking an answer if at all possible.

    I don't know if this is the appropriate forum to ask this question....if it is not please guide me to the correct support forum. I am just trying to find out if there is an easier way of getting rid of duplicate files in my Windows Media Player 11.
    Also how do I prevent my Media player from obtaining all these duplicate files from other libraries.  I have iTunes installed and my home network has four other computers belonging in the home group that have all their own respective music libraries. 
    I guess I was naïve but I thought that when Windows Media Player is out searching other libraries it would know not to take duplicates of songs that it has already.  Enough said .....if anyone out there can help me that would be great.  I have in
    the past spent many hours manually deleting songs from my music files and it really got old.

    Unfortunately your post is off topic here, in the TechNet Site Feedback forum, because it is not Feedback about the TechNet Website or Subscription.  This is a standard response I’ve written up in advance to help many people (thousands, really.)
    who post their question in this forum in error, but please don’t ignore it.  The links I share below I’ve collected to help you get right where you need to go with your issue.
    For technical issues with Microsoft products that you would run into as an
    end user of those products, one great source of info and help is
    http://answers.microsoft.com, which has sections for Windows, Hotmail, Office, IE, and other products. Office related forums are also here:
    http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/contact-us-FX103894077.aspx
    For Technical issues with Microsoft products that you might have as an
    IT professional (like technical installation issues, or other IT issues), you should head to the TechNet Discussion forums at
    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-us, and search for your product name.
    For issues with products you might have as a Developer (like how to talk to APIs, what version of software do what, or other developer issues), you should head to the MSDN discussion forums at
    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-us, and search for your product or issue.
    If you’re asking a question particularly about one of the Microsoft Dynamics products, a great place to start is here:
    http://community.dynamics.com/
    If you really think your issue is related to the subscription or the TechNet Website, and I screwed up, I apologize!  Please repost your question to the discussion forum and include much more detail about your problem, that could include screenshots
    of the issue (do not include subscription information or product keys in your screenshots!), and/or links to the problem you’re seeing. 
    If you really had no idea where to post this question but you still posted it here, you still shouldn’t have because we have a forum just for you!  It’s called the Where is the forum for…? forum and it’s here:
    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-us/whatforum/
    Moving to off topic. 
    Thanks, Mike
    MSDN and TechNet Subscriptions Support

  • How to get rid of large files generated by Final Cut X ?

    My hard drives are getting increasingly full and I think its Final Cut render files or something similar.
    How do I get rid of the files Final Cut creates for old projects without hurting those projects (in case I want to resurrect them) ?
    Are the rider files stored within the huge library file, or in a certain location?
    I have my settings as "in library" for Media and Cache.
    (If I cmd-click (or right click) the library, show contents it does show a folder with a date, in my case 2-24-15, then a subfolder called Render Files.   Can I just trash all of these within the library?)

    Select  library and go to "File->Delete Library Generated Files" (or similarly select just an event or project, the wording of the menu will change accordingly).
    You can then elect to delete render files (all or just the unused ones), proxy media and optimized media.
    None of this will prevent you from working on your projects. Probably you don't need them anyway, and if you do you can always regenerate them later.
    (It seems that many people check to create proxy and optimized media on import - this is usually unnecessary and especially optimized media can take a LOT of disk space, often ten times as much as the original)

  • HT1660 i have two independent itunes libraries on my computer right now. how do i consolidate them into one library? how do i get rid of duplicate files?

    i have two independent itunes libraries on my computer right now. how do i consolidate them into one library? how do i get rid of duplicate files?

    Hello rmunsey,
    Thank you for the question.  It sounds like you have two separate iTunes Libraries but would like to add the music from one to the other to have one consolidated library.
    If you know where the files are for each library, I recommend opening one iTunes Library in iTunes and importing the files from the other library using the following steps:
    Open iTunes
    From the File menu, choose one of the following choices:
    MacAdd to Library
    Windows
    Add File to Library
    Add Folder to Library
    Navigate to and select the file or folder that you want to add
    Adding music and other content to iTunes
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1473
    Next, you can search for duplicates:
    Choose View > Show Duplicate Items to show duplicate items (matches are based on the song name and artist). If you have multiple versions of the same song (for example, live and studio versions, or versions from different albums) you can hold the Alt or Option key (for Mac OS X) or the Shift key (for Windows) and choose View > Show Exact Duplicate Items. This will show only duplicate songs having the same name, artist, and album.
    How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2905
    This should help you identify the duplicates all at one time so that you can delete the extra versions of songs.
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
    Best,
    Sheila M.

  • Can't get rid of a file

    I have been trying to get rid of a file for a couple of weeks now. It's a very strange looking file that starts out with a bunch of symbols that I thought at first looked like Japanese but when I looked closer it seems like some sort of hieroglyphics or something. The file is dated December 1903. I've tried renaming it and I get error. I've tried dragging it out of the trash only to have it disappear and reappear later. I've tried many of the force empty trash techniques like holding down option and doing it. I even looked up some terminal commands. No luck. I've tried to use some of the disk utility programs available as well as the native Mac utilities but they don't work either. Can anyone offer me some help as to how to get rid of this file? It seems to be causing some problems when opening folders that are in my dock now and I'm starting to worry other things will start happening too. Thanks so much.

    nerowolfe wrote:
    Can you drag the file out of the trash?
    If so, create a new folder on your desktop and name it junk, and put the strange file in the new folder.
    Now, in a terminal, enter
    cd Desktop
    ls
    and you should see the folder you just created named junk
    now enter the command
    cd junk
    if you now do
    ls
    you will see the strange file.
    enter the following command
    sudo rm *
    and enter password when prompted.
    This should remove the file.
    If not, post back.
    please don't do anything suggested in this post. none of this has any chance of helping and will potentially hurt as the offending file will be copied from the external drive to your desktop and might become undeletable there too.
    nerowolfe, please read the thread. the file in question in Trash on an external drive. it can't be deleted because of strange symbols in its name. the unix rm has been tried already and didn't work because of those characters.
    Message was edited by: V.K.
    Message was edited by: V.K.

  • I am getting an error "The older version of Bonjour cannot be removed" I am trying to get rid of all of my Apple Software. What can I do? Because it will not let me uninstall iTunes either.

    I am getting an error "The older version of Bonjour cannot be removed" I am trying to get rid of all of my Apple Software. What can I do? Because it will not let me uninstall iTunes either.

    Akeenleyside,
    Are you removing your Apple software in an attempt to update to iTunes 10.5?  I ask this because I am getting the same message when trying to install iTunes 10.5.

  • How do I get rid of a file that is still stuck in the trash can

    How do I get rid of a file that is still stuck in the trash can

    Hold the option key when emptying the trash
    Jerry

  • HT2487 how do I clean my mac mini and get rid of old files and clutter please

    how do I clean my mac mini and get rid of old files and clutter lease

    Try using one of these applications to see what is taking up your hard drive space.
    File Scanner - OmniDiskSweeper  Requires 10.8 or better
    File Scanner – Whatsize

  • How to get rid of ios6 file downloaded to my iphone?

    My iphone4 downloaded ios6 two days ago, as far as I know without my intervention (I may have accidentally given order for that...). I've noticed an icon badge with '1' on settings and with surprise I found ios6 had been downloaded and was ready to install!!! I don't want in any way to install by now, but the problem is the huge space occupied by the file - more than 2 GB. So I'd like to know how to get rid of the file. I didn't find anything about...

    Same question ! 2 GB of space is waisted 4 the moment ...

  • How do I know if I can get rid of a file I don't recognize?

    My macbook got quiet full & I just installed "Disk Inventory X" which shows me where is my memory going to. I discovered many memory consuming files which I can't recognize like: sleepimage which takes 2 GB & is located in private/var/vm/textedit
    How can I know if I am allowed to get rid of that file, If it's necessary for my computer etc? I have many more enormous files like this one & afraid to throw them... Thanks for any advise

    When you put your computer to sleep the contents of your RAM are written to the sleepimage file. This way, if there is a power failure or your machine shuts down unexpectedly in some other way, the data you had in RAM when you put the machine to sleep won't be lost.
    You can disable this process through Terminal (see this topic), but simply deleting the file won't save the hard drive space because the file will be recreated the next time you log in or restart.

  • How do I get rid of "unreadable files" when I am importing from my camera?

    How do I get rid of "unreadable files" when I am importing from my camera?

    Are all images unreadable? What is the exact error message you are getting?
    If only a few images are unreadable, try to import not all photos at once, but in smaller batches, until you know, which photo it is that cannot be read. Import all photos that can be read and reformat your card in the camera to remove the unreadable files.
    But if all photos are unreadable, try, if Image Capture can read your card.
    Is it a new camera? Have you been able to import from that camera before?

  • How to clean or get rid of duplicate files or pictures?

    How to clean or get rid of duplicate files or pictures mac osx mountain lion? Many pictures do not open and show alias. I have too many of each.        Thank you
    Barbara

    The only real and safe way to do this is to do it manually  looking through each folder individually.
    Many third party utilities claim to clean out a hard drive of various detritus, but some times will deleted data that it shouldn't  and delete important data and that it shouldn't have.
    The only "safe" way to accomplish what you need to accomplish is to do this manually.
    Stay away from the OS X system folder!!!!!
    If you had a duplicate system install and had duplicate system files, your iMac would not be running right now.
    Hard drive getting full?
    You can download an app called OmniDiskSweeper.
    This app will allow you to see where files maybe able to be delete are located.
    If your Mac is running a fairly recent version of OS X, here are some general guidelines.
    Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
    Have you emptied your iMac's Trash icon in the Dock?
    If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
    If you have images stored in iPhoto,,the only way to weed out duplicates is to do this manually.
    When you delete them, they go to iPhoto's Trash. Remember to empty this when you are done.
    If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what are duplicates and what isn't
    If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
    Other things you can do to gain space.
    Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive to disc, flash drives or external hard drive, older emails you want to save.
    Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
    Again, archive to disc, flash drives, ext. hard drives or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
    Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.
    Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
    When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
    Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
    move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.
    If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be archived or moved, also, to the optical discs, flash drives or external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
    Good Luck!

  • A .pdf file is causing my notebook to freeze up. When I highlight it to delete, it will also freeze up the notebook. How else can I get rid of the file?

    A .pdf file is causing my notebook to freeze up. When I highlight it to delete, it will also freeze up the notebook. How else can I get rid of the file?

    Back up all data, then boot from your recovery partition (command-R at startup), launch Disk Utility, select your startup volume, and run Repair Disk (not Repair Permissions.) If any problems are found, repeat. Then reboot as usual.

Maybe you are looking for