Uninstall programs on Windows and Mac, step by step

Uninstalling programs you no longer use frees space and makes the computer calmer, because fewer things start in the background. It takes ten minutes and needs no extra tool. The rule is simple: only remove things you recognise and know you do not need.

A program being uninstalled often takes what you saved inside it along with it. If you have documents, accounts or saved games living inside an app, copy them out to another folder or a USB stick first.

Try this first

On Windows 11:

1. Click Start and choose Settings, the cog in the list.
2. Go to Apps, then Installed apps. Everything on the computer is listed here.
3. Sort by Size using the menu above the list, so you can see at a glance what takes the most room. To find one program, type its name in the search box at the top.
4. Click the three dots to the right of the program and choose Uninstall. Confirm once more in the box that appears.
5. Some programs open a window of their own. Follow it, and answer no if it asks to keep settings or to install something else in exchange.
6. Restart the computer once you have removed several programs in one go.

On Mac:

1. Open Finder and click Applications in the list on the left.
2. Drag the app's icon to the bin at the end of the Dock, or hold your finger on the icon and choose Move to Bin.
3. Type your Mac password in yourself if it is asked for. Never hand it to anyone else.
4. Empty the bin. The space is only released at that point.
5. Apps from the App Store come off most easily in Launchpad: hold your finger on the icon until it wobbles and press the minus button.
6. Larger programs such as Microsoft Office and the Adobe apps have their own uninstaller inside their folder under Applications. Use that instead of dragging the icon.

If that did not help

1. The program is still in the list after uninstalling. Restart the computer and look again. The list often only refreshes then.
2. The program comes back on its own. It belongs to something else that is still installed. Look through the list for anything you installed at around the same time.
3. You cannot find the program in the list. On Windows, search for the name in the box beside Start and see whether it opens. If it exists only as a shortcut on the desktop, it was never installed, and the shortcut can simply be deleted.
4. You do not recognise a name. Search for it in your browser before doing anything. Delete nothing from the System or Library folders on a Mac, or from the Windows folder on a PC.

What not to remove

On Windows: anything called Microsoft Visual C++, .NET, Windows Runtime, Microsoft Edge WebView or similar. They look redundant but other programs are built on them, and removing them stops those programs working. Leave drivers from Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Realtek and your computer maker alone as well.

On Mac: touch nothing in the System or Library folders unless you know exactly what it is.

Do feel free to remove old browser toolbars and anything sold as a cleaner or optimiser. They are not needed, and several of them run background services that leave the computer slower. Never pay for one, and do not install one because an advert or a box on a web page recommends it.