Mac Uninstall Help Needed

[Neezer]

Hello,

Up until today I have been using AppCleaner and have been perfectly happy with it. Then, this morning, I installed Canon's 'Digital Photo Professional' from a disk, and upgraded it to the next version using an application I downloaded from Canon's website.

I did not try the earlier version, so I do not know if it worked ok or not before I upgraded. Unfortunately, the upgraded version did not work well at all (it froze and I had to repeatedly Force Quit the program).

It occurred to me that the earlier version might work better. So, I uninstalled the program using AppCleaner. When I attempted to reinstall the program from my disk, I got a message stating a newer version was already installed and it cancelled the installation.

I have spent HOURS trying to figure this out. I have reinstalled the newer version, restarted my computer, uninstalled it, restarted my computer, and tried to install the earlier version, but keep getting the "already installed' message.

Programs I have downloaded and tried to uninstall with include:

- AppCleaner
- AppZapper
- CleanApp
- CleanMyApp (I can't even figure this one out, so I didn't actually uninstall with it)
- AppTrap

What can I do to remove ALL traces of the Canon program so I can reinstall the earlier version? This is driving me nuts!

Thank you for any help.

[derFunkenstein]

have you just tried installing the older version over the top of the newer one? The only thing that would prevent you from doing that is a Canon-related .pkg file in /Library/Receipts

[Neezer]

No, I hadn't thought of that. I will try it now... Be back shortly.

[Neezer]

Nope, didn't work.

[SNM]

I don't suppose you have backups from before you attempted to uninstall?

Anyway, my guess is that this is a more complicated program than the kinds AppCleaner is designed to remove. In general, a good OS X application installs by putting the application package in the Applications folder, and then leaving a few preference settings and other things in fairly well-defined places. Some kinds of software do a lot more and aren't such good neighbors, though, especially the kinds that install background processes and such. You might need to do a proper uninstall using their installer tool to remove them; is there an uninstaller included in the package? Or do you get the option to uninstall (or repair) if you try to run the original installer again?

[Neezer]

Re: I don't suppose you have backups from before you attempted to uninstall?

Of course not! I even have a hard drive that I recently bought sitting right next to me, just waiting for me to create a backup of my hard drive.

As to an uninstaller, no, it does not have that option. I tried running the installation app again, and it just reinstalls. No repair or uninstall options.

I am new to Macs. I used Windows for 25+ years. The Mac is just four months old (and I love it! This is the first issue I have run across.). I was very knowledgeable about digging around the registry of my Windows and could usually find stray code that needed to be deleted. The Mac, though, has me stumped. I am comfortable digging into code, but I just need instructions on exactly what to do and where to go.

[derFunkenstein]

Seems like you're not alone. (kind of an old thread though...lots of similar threads found on Google) It could be that Canon hasn't managed to actually get it working on Leopard yet. is this the app in question?

[Neezer]

Yep, that's the one. I suspect the fact that it was downloaded from Canon's European site may be part of the problem, as I am in the US. That's why I decided to go back to the older version on the disk I have.

It never occurred to me to search for this particular software and how it relates to a Mac. I figured it must be a problem on my end. I feel a bit better knowing that it isn't me.

So, does this mean I am out of luck? Or, is there someway I can look through hidden files and get rid of this program entirely? I do have Windows installed on this computer, and can install it there. I just prefer to do as much as possible within the Mac platform (otherwise, why switch, right?).

[SNM]

So, does this mean I am out of luck? Or, is there someway I can look through hidden files and get rid of this program entirely? I do have Windows installed on this computer, and can install it there. I just prefer to do as much as possible within the Mac platform (otherwise, why switch, right?).

It's probably not in hidden files at all, but just some unusual ones. I'm not about to install it and go looking, though ( ). You could try making a smart folder of recently-modified files and running the installer and seeing what changes, then remove all of those. Plus of course look through your library (system and personal) for anything from Canon, and check your running processes for something.

[Fighterpilot]

Doesn't Apple/OSX have something called Time Machine...like System Restore which you could use to revert it back to yesterday before you installed either version of the software giving you problems?

[derFunkenstein]

Of course, Fighterpilot, you read where Neezer said he hadn't created a backup yet.

[Neezer]

I actually do have The Time Machine set up and have been using it since day one of having my Mac. Perhaps I misunderstood what it can do. I thought The Time Machine was a way to go back and get files, folders, and so on, that I may have changed or deleted at the current time. Is it possible to restore my entire computer to an earlier time using The Time Machine? If so, how do I do that? (And, I'm a 'she' - not that you can tell from my username )

When I was asked if I have a backup to restore to, I thought I needed to have already created a copy of my hard drive, such as is done with Acronis True Image (which I so loved with Windows and wish they made for the Mac).

[Fighterpilot]

System Restore does it all automatically so you can go back up to a few weeks worth to fix such problems.
There's no way (after all the raving here about OSX) that you 'd have to manually make an image you can restore to.
It doesn't have to backup all your data but should at least return you to a previous image for files and settings that oughta fix your problem.
No Apple fan here is going to chime in and say Windows handles such a situation much better than OSX so perhaps you need to just find out the right way to use Time machine.

[Neezer]

Ok, it sounds like I'm thinking correctly about The Time Machine. That's why I have an external hard drive that I will use as the hard drive backup. I hated Window's 'Restore.' It NEVER worked for me the way I wanted. That's why I loved Acronis True Image. Looks like I need to get on the ball with making a hard drive copy of my Mac!

I want to thank every one who gave me information, insight, and advice. I'm very impressed with the courtesy and spped of answers I got here.

[SNM]

It's definitely possible to do a "restore from this date" in Time Machine — I'm just not sure how as I've never needed to! I know you can do it if you reinstall the OS and elect to restore from a backup, but it may be possible without that hassle.

[derFunkenstein]

1.) Tell Fighterpilot to troll elsewhere
2.) Launch Time Machine from the dock or the menu bar
3.) navigate using the up and down arrows to the date/time you want to restore to
4.) Select the folder you want to restore
5.) restore.

What happens is it puts the folder right back how it was and removes any files that weren't there prior to the selected backup date - just like Windows system restore, with the exception of not wasting all that drive space on your install partition. You can restore those files individually, but if we're talking about restoring the /Library or /System folders, there's no real need to.

Well-written apps don't litter the hard drive; they use OS X's bundling ability to put everything you need in one location, with prefs stored in ~/Library/Preferences or ~/Library/Application Support. Just like Windows developers are expected to follow Microsoft's guidelines for system folders and whatnot, Apple expects developers to do as they should. Unfortunately, not everybody does.

[Fighterpilot]

A few posts back you'd given up on the guy because he hadn't backed up any images.
As I suspected...Time machine has the goods to get him where he wants to be.
Try not to take any criticism of Apple so personally Derfunk.....it just makes you look more and more like....


Adi

[derFunkenstein]

I gave up because he said he had no backup. But he's got time machine running, and if he left it at default, it backs up the /System and /Library folders. It's brain-dead easy to put things back the way they were. Try to read, Fighterpilot. With all the love Apple shows Intel's CPUs and ATi's graphics, I'd think you'd be drinking the kool-aid yourself, being such a devotee with a penchant for rampant, blind fanboyism. You're a perfect match.