How to Remove CCleaner from MacOS?

[Sherlock]

Hi!

I cant remove this app. Its always open. I kill the process it restarts itself within no time and therefore i cant put it into trash. It autostarts when i reboot my Mac eventho it is neither in the launchagents folder or in the normal auutostart list. It behaves like mal/spyware. Really not cool.
 

So killing process from Terminal does not work either. The Process from which it starts is launchd, which is crucial for the OS to work.


Edit: I found a solution via Terminal ccleaner can be removed from launchd. Type this into Terminal: launchctl remove com.piriform.CCleaner

Edited March 26, 2022 by Sherlock
Thanks for the lost hour ....

[Guest MeganCCleaner]

Hi @SherlockThanks for the updates on this situation as I am delighted to hear that you were able to remove CCleaner via the terminal command, although I am terribly sorry for any trouble this may have caused to you.

I'll inform our product team of the problems you encountered when attempting to remove the app so they can investigate further as the behavior you described is not intended.

[Bionn]

Thanks for sharing this terminal trick

I was infuriated when I realised I couldn't remove CCleaner on my new Macbook because the process would not terminate and just start itself again, so I couldn't remove the software from the applications folder. I wanted to install version 1.18 again. 

This is the definition of a malicious piece of software. What the hell happened. I really miss CC v1

[Guest Ben CCleaner]

To uninstall CC Mac:

1. Open CCleaner
2. Click CCleaner in the menu bar (Top left)
3. Select "Uninstall CCleaner"

If you have any feedback on how we could make the new version better then it would be really appreciated if you could submit it here - https://ideas-mac.ccleaner.com

[Pabllo737]

On 20/06/2022 at 15:59, Ben CCleaner said:

To uninstall CC Mac:

1. Open CCleaner
2. Click CCleaner in the menu bar (Top left)
3. Select "Uninstall CCleaner"

If you have any feedback on how we could make the new version better then it would be really appreciated if you could submit it here - https://ideas-mac.ccleaner.com

bulls**t, the problem continues. Your program is some kind of crap.

[HelpToRemoveShit]

Hello guys! I've came to help you and everyone who will searching for it.
So, I've been trying to drop this piece of s**t for all day. Nice application, hackers, no way to remove it, if you are simple Mac user.

So, for remove this s**t open terminal in Mac and execute:

sudo rm -rf /applications/CCleaner.app

If you changed directory, where this s**t was installed, you should firstly locate it.
Use in your terminal:

 ps -ef | grep .app   

and find CCleaner.app 

Good Luck guys!

[tlbz]

Hi, 

after executing 

sudo rm -rf /applications/CCleaner.app

I used PKG Uninstaller app to remove all leftovers

 

Good luck!

[bzzt]

use their unistaller first. then because it leaves behind (and possibly others I did not find in /var/ root directories)..

download findanyfile.app (Mac approved developer)

search for all files on your startup drive that contain com.piriform.ccleaner  (make sure invisible items are shown)

select those and right click/contextual menu, move to trash OR delete immediately. all done. NEVER will install this app again, ever. it runs all the time in the background and auto starts without anyway to disable it. I want to use it when I choose to; also a privacy invader. bad app.

Edited October 7, 2023 by bzzt

[malware]

This app now on MacOS is officially a malware... It doesn't let the user to seamlessly get rid of it... Fix your app for crying out loud

[0rinoce]

If I do a clean reinstall of my OS, which I really need, would this solve the CCleaner uninstall issue? I am in my 90th year, so these things aren't as simple as they might be. With all the extra fuel cost increases, I really can't afford the luxury of CC.