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Adobe Reader spews files everywhere plus it hijacks Safari.

I can't believe there is no uninstaller for this app?

Google shows no good info.

4 Answers 4

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You should be able to just delete the application and its associated files. This thread has a list of things and discussion of what to delete. Make sure to remove /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/AdobePDFViewer.plugin if you've installed the Safari in-browser viewer from Adobe.

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  • Thanks. I did see that, but I wasn't sure what changed from version 8 to version 9. I imagine since it was a major revision, at least some of that list will be out of date. Aug 1, 2009 at 17:43
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    I followed these instructions with a spotlight search open looking for anything "adobe", "acrobat", or "reader". Seems to be fine. Aug 18, 2009 at 18:11
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For most applications, OS X doesn't have installers, or uninstallers, per se. Usually, you simply drag the application Icon to the Trash Can. The app icon (Something.app) is a whole directory. However, this doesn't work for every program.

To remove all traces of a program, if it littered the OS with other files, you might need a program like AppCleaner.app or you can follow this guide for more information.

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    Reader spews files everywhere plus it hijacks Safari. It also didn't come with an uninstaller. Aug 1, 2009 at 17:42
  • Also App Cleaner and App Zapper don't find all of the files. They just search the preferences folcer and application support folder. They miss everything else. Aug 1, 2009 at 18:02
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Adobe's site

To uninstall Acrobat 9 in Mac OS

  1. Double-click the Acrobat Uninstaller file, located in the Adobe Acrobat 9 folder.
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall Acrobat.
  3. In the Authenticate dialog, type the user name and password for an administrator account and click OK. Note: The uninstaller removes only Adobe Acrobat 9 and 9.1 files from the system. It does not remove Adobe Reader files, Acrobat user data, or files that are shared with other Adobe applications.
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    There is no uninstaller with Reader, which is strange. but I scoured my system for it before I posted. Aug 1, 2009 at 17:01
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    I also reinstalled reader to see if it would install the "uninstaller", but it did not, I just ended up with 2 copies of reader. Aug 1, 2009 at 18:01
  • Corey - hmm, so much for RTM, I'll see if I can contact adobe.
    – benc
    Aug 2, 2009 at 8:36
  • I created an account on their website, posted a comment (with a link to this site) and down-voted their article. Anyone else want to do the same?
    – benc
    Aug 5, 2009 at 1:23
  • Thanks, didn't know you could even do that! I will vote it down also Aug 11, 2009 at 9:02
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Easy solution. Use App Cleaner. First- Drag Adobe Reader from your applications folder into App Cleaner. Next- press "others" tab in App Cleaner- this will display Adobe Reader plug in(s). Delete any plug ins shown- then go to "applications" tab and delete all files shown.

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