So I installed a game demo, but now I want it gone. Seems there are files that I cannot find that it is using. Is there a way to search for everything hidden little file it has installed / uses ?

I can't seem to find an install log file.

[appzapper.com]

I second AppZapper. It ain't perfect, but it's about the best program deinstaller I've found. (Unless the program itself has a de-installer element.)

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well I gave the demo a try, it only found the 3 most obvious elements- the application, the installer disk image, and a preference file. I know there are more files than that.

I guess what I am really looking for is an answer to 'how does a game demo file know how many times you have used it'? There must be some invisible reference file hidden on the drive that it uses to keep track. I want to know where that file(s) is/are as well.

This is "not" the definitive answer, but, sometimes the game saves this info in the preference file. So by deleting the preference file the game resets how many times it was run.

Sometimes you can start up the game, play it briefly, and shut it down. Then look for visible or invisible files that were modified during the uptime period. One of these files may be where this info is stored. Deleting it may reset the game to zero uses.

Because some applications are actually folders - do a Control-Click on the application and select "Show Package Contents". You can inspect all the files contained within that "app". Not sure what good this will do you, but it might be interesting, especially if you look for files that were modified in the time frame the game was used.

But, naturally, they make it difficult to find this info.

LyleH

^click^

OK, I did a bunch of searching around and finally figured this one out.

I used TinkerTool (get it from VersionTracker) to make so I could see all the normally hidden or invisible files in the Finder. Navigate to my User folder/Library/Preferences/ and there were some files with the name I was looking for, but they were not .plist or .rsrc, in fact they had no extension or icon. I just deleted them and my problem was thusly solved.

Thanks for your ideas.