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DESCRIPTION
Amnesia...Many software titles on Mac OS come with the uninstall directions of simply "Drag the application to the Trash and empty it". In reality, this often leaves many related files on the computer taking up valuable hard drive space. Amnesia performs a smart scan to determine all related files to be removed.

Easily uninstall not just applications, but also Screen Savers, Dashboard Widgets, and Preference Panes. Amnesia will remove logs, caches, application support files, preferences, crash reports, and other application specific files. Take the frustration and time out of searching for all of these files manually. In addition, turn on a secure deletion option to prevent recovery of the removed files.

Scared to accidentally remove something you may need later? Amnesia comes with a built-in backup function which creates an archive of related files in case you wish to restore them at a later time. It will reinstall the pieces of the product exactly where they came from - even if you choose to restore to a different machine!

Another powerful feature Amnesia has to offer is the ability to create a list of Untouchables (in addition to the ones built-in). Untouchables are software products which Amnesia will warn you about incase a remove is attempted. This is handy incase a particular software product should be removed using a manufacturer-provided uninstaller instead.

WHAT'S NEW
Version 1.1.4:
  • New Feature: Updated the scanning methods to include more advanced scanning for items in directories based on the application name.
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

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SCREENSHOT

Developer:Koingo Software
Downloads:8,133
  - Version d/l:166
Utilities:System
License:Shareware
Date:26 Nov 2009
Platform:PPC/Intel
Price:$19.95
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Amnesia User Reviews (8 posts)Write A Review
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Oct 10 2009

XENOPHILE  I used Amnesia for the full trial period, and for the last week compared it directly to CleanApp. I've also tried a few other uninstallers over the past year or so. While I like Amnesia's interface and design, functionally it falls short of these other uninstallers, particularly CleanApp.

Note that my comparisons are made using CleanApp without the logging agent installed. I prefer to keep as few background processes running as possible, and IMO a logging agent is too much overhead for an uninstaller app.

On my Powermac G4 FW800 system, Amnesia is significantly slower than CleanApp, churning the HD for several seconds after dropping an app on its window before listing associated files, compared to CleanApp's nearly instantaneous listing. Surprisingly, the files that each uninstaller identifies are not always the same; out of perhaps 20 "uninstallation," CleanApp found extra files in two instances. The other side of this coin is that CleanApp tends to list false positives, files unrelated to an application, while Amnesia never does. I prefer getting false positive hits, but for users less familiar with Mac OS X, Amnesia is the clear choice. Blindly accepting all of CleanApp's hits for deletion would soon cripple other applications.

My main issue with Amnesia are its quirks. If an app's purpose is to delete files, then it should never flake-out, yet Amnesia did this several times over it's trial period. Twice I dropped apps on Amnesia only to have Amnesia endlessly thrash my HD until I force-quit it. After a system reboot, dropping the same apps on Amnesia worked fine. And once after clicking "uninstall," Amnesia began churning and thrashing for several minutes. I checked the trash to see if Amnesia had deleted anything, and discovered that it had moved 2/3rds of my "Applications" folder to the trash. I suppose this could have been user error, but shouldn't an app designed to uninstall individual applications and their associated files give a warning of some sort before trashing the entire "Applications" folder?

Ultimately, I see little need for uninstallers like Amnesia. 90% of the time, the files left after dragging an app to the trash are harmless. For the other 10%, the files are always in a handful of locations where they are easily found. I also use the freeware app "Find Any File" which will search the entire HD. Just run a search with the app's name, and the developer or software company name.

If I'm really serious about removing an application entirely, I use "Uninstaller". For example, I tried out a humongous set of HP scanner drivers, and wanted to be able to remove them if they didn't work. Uninstaller scans the entire HD and saves its state, after which you install the software, then Uninstaller scans the entire HD again and reports exactly what files were installed. This is a brute strength approach but it is 100% effective, and the only approach worth paying for IMO.   
(Version 1.1.1)

praisebury
0
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Jun 5 2009

CTKMND  Really wish this would work like it says but seems it's just another Koingo software with weird problems...

This one totally ignores anything I put in the Untouchables-panel. I don't want it scanning and showing apps that belong to the system itself which in worst case would require a reinstall of OS X i.e. those in /System/Library/CoreServices.

Tried any combinations I could think of, "/System/*", "/System*" or even the exact path "/System/Library/CoreServices" - with or without trailing slash and/or wildcard. Nothing works, it totally disregards any input. So much for "Untouchables". Do you only test your software on american localization or what? How about at least give me an error dialog box...

STILL it shows the applications located in CoreServices and I am also able to select them for removal... This seems rather dangerous don't you think?

My main reason for using a program like this would be to ease up on the manual bit. If I have to re-read every line manually I might as well use the built-in spotlight from the start.

Thank you for reading.  
(Version 1.0.7)

praisebury
0
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Jun 5 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  Untouchables will warn you when you try and remove them; however, there is no feature that hides untouchables after scanning. This is a good idea, and it appears there is already a registered feature request for this with a priority flag on it. It will be added in a future version.  
(Version 1.0.7)

praisebury
+3

Jun 3 2009
*....

BOB T  I purchased Amnesia 2 months ago through MUD Promo, so, it was reasonable in price.

The documentation is almost non-existent.

However, I can not get it to do it's thing on my iMac with Leopard 10.5.

I get a (-50) error saying there is a problem with authentication. The program fails to do an uninstall!

I redid all my "permissions". Made sure I was running as an Admin".

This makes me go back to good old AppZapper.

I have un/reinstalled Amnesia w/o any change.

My communications with Koingo support ledto a bunch of nonsense on the part of their techs. After 3 unanswered replies, I finally got this from them (by re-opening the case and requesting a reply):

"Hi,

The -50 error is on our list of rogue bugs. We're sorry for the inconvenience at this time - we're continuing to look for a solution to this problem. If you find a workaround in the meantime, please contact us."

They closed the case after this reply!!!

I certainly can not recommend Amnesia at this point.  
(Version 1.0.6)

praisebury
0
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Replies:
Jun 4 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  Error -50 has been fixed today.  
(Version 1.0.6)

praisebury
+3
Jun 5 2009

BOB T  To their credit, the Koingo techs finally paid attention to my later posts which localizaed my problem for them, allowing it to be fixed.

I installed the latest update and it allowed me to delete an unwanted program with Amnesia!

I will award them another star at this point, hoping they fix the comments above about "unwanted programs".  
(Version 1.0.7)

praisebury
0

Apr 8 2009
****.

WALRUSCP  Amnesia is another foray into the application uninstaller realm, and I have to say it's off to a solid start. While AppCleaner (freeware) is probably a little better right now, Koingo is obviously working hard to make Amnesia one of (if not) the best uninstaller out there.

It seems to find all the pertinent files for the apps I have tried it out on, though I am sure like other uninstallers it misses some files for various apps that install files in odd places. Koingo has improved the scanning function considerably in just the first week, and I can only assume they will continue to do so.

Amnesia does find a bunch of apps that I cannot imagine anyone would seriously uninstall via this app (printer utilities, System Alerts and other assorted buried system apps) - it would be nice if Koingo could at least grant users the option to filter those apps out. Drag and dropping an app onto Amnesia for removal like you can with AppCleaner would also be a nice feature to add as would be adding auto scanning when deleting an app by dragging it to the trash (like Hazel).

All in all, it's at least as good as everything else out there. If Koingo can keep tweaking it as they have been, it could be the best.  
(Version 1.0.3)

praisebury
0
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Apr 9 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  Thank you. In version 1.0.3 we added the ability to drag and drop applications onto Amnesia's application icon. In addition, in version 1.0.4 we will add the ability to scan custom locations for files and hide Apple software from the scan results list. Thanks for the suggestions!  
(Version 1.0.3)

praisebury
+1

Apr 3 2009

CYBORG9  Amnesia does as poor a job of locating and deleting files as any of the others . After I used Amnesia, I ran EasyFind and discovered that often loads of files belonging to the software that I wanted deleted remained on my hard drive. Don't believe me? Then scan for leftover files using EasyFind after using any of the software deleters.

Appzapper, CleanApp, AppClean, AppDelete, Amnesia,.....non of them are totally reliable, in my experience.

If I want all files of an app located and deleted, I use EasyFind to do it. It may take a bit longer, but it works reliably.  
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
+7
[ 9 Replies - Reply ]
Replies:
Apr 3 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  We're happy to add special conditions for applications like this one, and will have it in for the next version. It would be possible to create a comprehensive solution for every single application in the world, and will add special cases on an as-requested basis. As it stands, every remover app out there uses a set of logic to determine the most probable locations for installed files and goes from there.  
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
+3
Apr 3 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  In addition, could you please let us know the set of applications that were not reporting their files in Amnesia? Thanks.  
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
+2
Apr 3 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  * would not be possible  
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
0
Apr 3 2009

CYBORG9  OK, "Grammarian".....30 files remained after using Amnesia which Easy Find located.

"MUlab".....4 files remained, and "Just Translate".....6 files left behind.

I can come up with others, too.

Note, I'm not singling out Amnesia for being remiss. The other deletion apps have such shortcomings as well.  
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
+4
Apr 3 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  Please continue reporting applications which are not listing all the files, and we'll add them into future versions. However, if possible, please submit a ticket to our support form on our web site (koingosw.com/support) with the paths to all the files. This will benefit users in the future wishing to remove those programs.  
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
+2
Apr 4 2009

DOOBIEXX  You will never EVER be able to get rid of every file by every app. If you want to do that, get fseventer and watch what files an installed app makes in real time and then record those so if you want to delete the app, you can do it manually. Most of us are not going to spend days using easy find to find 4kb files ALL uninstaller's miss. Can't be perfect everytime but this app needs much improvement to even compete.  
(Version 1.0.2)

praisebury
+1
Apr 4 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  DOOBIEXX, what files are you finding Amnesia is *not* picking up on that its competitors are?  
(Version 1.0.2)

praisebury
+1
Apr 5 2009

CYBORG9  DOOBIEXX-"EasyFind" takes days to find all 4kb files ? Cut the gross hyperbole!

It takes just several minutes to run an accurate scan.

There's also "Find any File" which is also very good.

If "fseventer" does it for you, then fine, use that. Whatever works.

The point is, NONE of the deletion apps are really reliable. They ALL perform mediocrely.

  
(Version 1.0.2)

praisebury
+4
Apr 7 2009

KOINGO SOFTWARE  We've improved the logic in Amnesia 1.0.3 to handle the applications as requested, in addition, the change we made will improve the overall ability to find related files and folders for other applications as well.  
(Version 1.0.2)

praisebury
+2

Apr 3 2009

DOOBIEXX  Love the company but a lot of the apps developed recently look and are a lot "lighter" in features and ease. Cleanapp is by far the best in this department. There are numerous apps that can do all of this. New ideas = new apps, not just new app = more money so develop a project to bare essential performance and then make a new one. I rather 1 great app than 5 okay apps.  
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
+2
[ Reply ]
Apr 2 2009
***..

SURFSPIRIT  Actually lots of good apps do the same and even better, and even for free, the best in my opinion is AppCleaner, free and fast, and you donĀ“t even have to open it, because it can work quite well with the garbage, when your send an app to the trash it will appear an window asking if you want to delete similiar named files in preferences and so on. It's better to get your developer efforts in other kind of stuff or offer some unseen feature!   
(Version 1.0)

praisebury
+3
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Apr 3 2009

ROBOTANK  Actually, I prefer something that doesn't work by dragging to the trash. The only other app deleter I've seen (except CleanApp) that has a real edge on Amnesia is AppDelete--it has the ability to scan for invisible files (i.e. the caches that some apps bury inside the /usr directory). However, AppDelete costs money, even if it is only 5 bucks, and since I own the Koingo Utility Bundle, Amnesia costs me nothing additionally. Really, it's a matter of personal preference with these utilities. The only one I recommend against is AppZapper.  
(Version 1.0)

praisebury
0

Apr 2 2009

ROBOTANK  Looks good so far. I gave this a shot, and it seems to be more thorough than most other uninstaller apps I've tried (except for CleanApp, which logs installed files so it catches everything, but has been more trouble to me than it's worth). I also like the ability to directly delete files rather than moving them to the trash. The backup and restore options look nice too, though I haven't tested them yet.  
(Version 1.0)

praisebury
+5
[ Reply ]