Friday, May 30, 2008

Uninstall Palm Desktop for OS X - Of course Palm's directions are wrong.

I'm continuing my post 10.5.3 house cleaning. This evening I noticed my login items list still included 'transport manager', which is part of the Palm HotSync framework for OS X.

I've probably bought at least a dozen PalmOS devices for Emily and I, but the platform died years ago. I've been keeping my personal Palm environment on life support pending iPhone 2.0, but there's no need for any remnants outside of my XP box.

Time for the rebranded version of Claris Organizer, better known as Palm Desktop for OS X to go.

My search for information on uninstalling Palm Desktop for OS X immediately turned up this Palm kb article.
...In the top left corner of the window, click on the dropdown menu and select UNINSTALL. Directly beneath this menu, place a check to select Palm Desktop software...
I went through that procedure, and, surprise, there's no uninstaller.

So I went back and looked for the 2nd result in the search:
Palm Desktop 4.2.1 Rev D for Mac - Download

...Uninstalling Palm Desktop

The installer for Palm Desktop 4.2.1 Rev D does not include an uninstall function. To uninstall Palm Desktop, open your Mac's Applications folder, and drag and drop the Palm folder to the trash. If Palm Desktop is in the Dock, drag its icon off the Dock...
Of course they couldn't have updated their support article -- there's probably nobody left with the password to their kb server.

I deleted the folder. Transport Manager remained as a 'ghost' in one user's login, but there was no file; it was a dangling reference. I removed it. Aside from the Hot Sync conduits, perhaps left deliberately, there wasn't a lot to clean up.

One more step towards extubation ...

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