Antimalware tools are an important part of ensuring your Mac is as secure as it can possibly be. Given that choosing the right one is an important decision, many Mac users take advantage of trial versions to help them decide which to buy. If you’ve done that, you may have one or more antimalware tools that you no longer use or need. If that is the case, you should uninstall them completely to free up space and prevent possible future conflicts with other software on your Mac. In this article, we’ll show you how to uninstall TotalAV from Mac.

What is TotalAV?

TotalAV is an antivirus tool that scans your Mac regularly, looking for malware and allowing you to remove it. Like many of its competitors, it also has other security tools like a password vault, ad blocker, and VPN. One of TotalAV’s key features is that it allows you to whitelist files in order to prevent them from being incorrectly identified as malware. However, TotalAV also frequently attempts to upsell additional-cost features to users, which can be annoying. That, together with the fact that there are many other antimalware tools available for Mac, has led some users to want to uninstall TotalAV.

How to uninstall TotalAV from your Mac

There are a couple of different ways to uninstall TotalAV from your Mac. One is a manual method that involves tracking down every file it has installed on your Mac. The other is much easier and quicker. We’ll show you both. It’s important to note that simply dragging the TotalAV application binary from your Applications folder to the Trash won’t uninstall it, even when you empty the Trash. We’ll also show you what to do if TotalAV doesn’t uninstall properly and an extension file remains.

Automatic removal

As you will see, manual app removal is a lot of work, and so you’ll be glad to know there is a much easier way. You can use a specialist uninstaller to do all the hard work for you.

We recommend CleanMyMac’s Applications feature. It can uninstall any app that’s not part of macOS with just a couple of clicks and even uninstall multiple apps at the same time. It can also scan your Mac and check for updates, then allow you to update every app that needs it with a click.

CleanMyMac will also highlight leftover files from applications that were not uninstalled properly and allow you to easily remove them and it will show you which apps you haven’t used in a long time so you can uninstall them to free up space, if you want to. Follow the steps below to uninstall TotalAV.

  1. Get your free CleanMyMac trial.
  2. Open CleanMyMac and click Applications > Scan > Manage My Applications.
  3. In the Uninstaller tab, locate TotalAV in the list of apps and select it.
  4. Click Uninstall.

If the Applications Manager found any leftovers while it was scanning your Mac, select Leftovers in the left-hand pane, right-click and choose Select All, and then choose Remove to get rid of them.

Manual app removal

  1. Launch TotalAV.
  2. Click the TotalAV menu in the menu bar and choose Uninstall TotalAV.
  3. Type in your Mac username and password and click OK — TotalAV should now quit and uninstall.
  4. Go to your Applications folder and check that the TotalAV application binary has been removed. If not, send it to the Trash.

Next, manually check that all the files TrashAV installed on your Mac have been removed.

  1. Click the Finder icon in the Dock and choose Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Paste each of the file paths below in turn into the text box, pressing Return after each one. At each location, look for files or folders with TotalAV in their name. If you find any, drag them to the Trash.
    ~/Library/Application Support/
    ~/Library/Containers/
    ~/Library/Caches/
    ~/Library/Preferences/
    ~/Library/Cookies/
    ~/Library/Logs/
    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
  3. Repeat step 2, but this time, remove the ‘~’ from the file paths. This will take you to your Mac’s main Library folder instead of your user Library folder:
    Library/Application Support/
    Library/Caches/
    Library/Preferences/
    Library/Cookies/
    Library/Logs/
    Library/LaunchAgents/
  4. Empty the Trash and restart your Mac.

What to do if you still see a TotalAV pop-up

In some circumstances, after following the steps above, you may still see a TotalAV pop-up or notice a TotalAV system extension on your Mac. The process for removing that leftover extension isn’t easy because orphaned extensions are protected by macOS’ System Integrity Protection (SIP), so to remove them, you need to disable SIP first. If you choose to do that, it’s important you re-enable it as soon as you have removed the extension. Otherwise, you won’t be secure. Follow the steps below to disable SIP, remove the extension, and then re-enable SIP.

  1. Restart your Mac in recovery mode. To do that on an Intel-based Mac, shut it down and press the power button along with Command-R. Hold down Command-R until you see the Apple logo. On a Mac with Apple silicon, shut it down and then press and hold the power button until you see the Startup Options screen. Choose Options and click Continue. Type in your username and password.
  2. When macOS Utilities appears, click the Utilities menu and choose Terminal.
  3. Type: csrutil disable
  4. Press Return.
  5. Reboot your Mac normally.

To delete the extension, go to System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions and look for the section with TotalAV in it under Extensions. Click on the ‘i’ next to it. Locate TotalAV, click the three dots next to it, and choose Delete Extension.

Re-enable SIP by booting into recovery mode and running this command in Terminal: csrutil enable

TotalAV is an antivirus tool that also includes a password vault, VPN, and ad blocker. While protecting your Mac from malware is important, there are lots of options available, and so some users who have tried TotalAV no longer use it. If you fall into that category, you should uninstall it to free up space, prevent possible future conflicts, and reduce the risk of falling victim to fake update scams. Follow the steps above to uninstall TotalAV from your Mac.