How to uninstall Teams and clear its cache on Mac

Before uninstalling antivirus

Save work and make sure you have a current backup. Check the exact product and edition under its About or account screen: a home antivirus, a workplace endpoint agent and a separate VPN can share a brand while requiring different removal steps.

On a work or school Mac, ask your IT team and stop here. Tamper protection, management policies and access requirements can prevent removal by design. A Mac administrator password is not always the uninstall password, and trying to bypass the policy is not the solution.

For a personal Mac, keep the app installed until you have found its official removal route. If you already trashed it and the vendor says to reinstall before removal, use that vendor’s current installer and instructions. Do not obtain a “complete removal” script from an unrelated download site.

The table below was checked on 23 October 2026 against the vendors’ support pages. It is a removal directory, not a ranking or a review of detection quality. We did not install, remove or benchmark these products to prepare it.

Use the method for your security app

Vendor labels and permissions can change with an app update. If the named command is missing, check the version and consult the linked source; do not substitute the uninstaller from another product. A familiar logo does not make an arbitrary removal utility official.

Why extensions and network filters matter

A security app’s interface is only part of the installation. Its filtering or monitoring component can continue to run without a visible window. That is why the removal tool may ask to install a helper, remove an extension or restart the Mac. Read the prompts and complete the documented sequence.

On macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27, inspect background items and extensions under System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions. A switch there changes whether a component is enabled; it does not necessarily uninstall the product. Network controls can also appear in Network settings. Do not remove unrelated VPN or network configuration while troubleshooting antivirus removal.

Older installations may refer to kernel extensions and older Security preferences. Use the vendor’s instructions for that product and OS rather than applying legacy cleanup commands to a current Apple silicon Mac. This page provides no manual deletion from system or shared Library directories.

If removal fails

1. Record the exact error, product name, version and macOS version.
2. Quit the product’s open interface and other work as its instructions require.
3. Restart normally if the vendor requests it, then retry the official procedure.
4. If its own documentation supplies a recovery tool for that failure, obtain it only through that support page.
5. If the uninstaller asks for a management or tamper-protection password you do not have, contact the administrator or vendor support.

Malwarebytes, for example, documents a Mac uninstall tool for incomplete removal. That is evidence for that product and problem, not a reason to run one brand’s tool against another brand’s agent.

Do not repeatedly force-quit a security daemon, disable System Integrity Protection, or erase every folder containing the vendor’s name. Shared files may serve another product, and a damaged half-installation is harder to support than a recorded uninstall error.

After removal: protection, permissions and billing

Follow any requested restart, then verify the app is gone and that normal browsing and network access work. Review permissions for the removed app in System Settings, without changing permissions for other software. If a vendor entry remains, compare it with the official completion instructions or ask support before deleting it.

Removing third-party antivirus does not remove macOS’s built-in XProtect, Gatekeeper or notarization checks. Keep macOS and its security updates current. Those protections have their own limits; whether you need additional antivirus discusses the decision, while the XProtect guide explains Apple’s layer.

Uninstalling does not cancel a subscription or automatically produce a refund. Manage the plan through the vendor account or store that bills you and confirm the renewal state there. If a product bundle includes a VPN or password manager you intend to keep, preserve its data and account access before removing the bundle.

How Tend helps

Tend’s free Startup Items view can help identify remaining background entries. Pro’s Uninstaller moves a selected app and matched support files in your own Library to the macOS Trash. It does not remove system-wide antivirus services, network filters or system extensions; use the vendor’s uninstaller for those.

The free Security check reads protection settings and XProtect version information. It is not an antivirus scan and cannot certify that a removed product left the Mac clean. For unwanted-software symptoms, follow the malware investigation guide.

Questions

Related guides

Sources

• Official vendor removal pages are linked in each table row, checked 23 October 2026. McAfee’s English page rendered a loading error; its indexed official removal text supplied the product-uninstaller names.
• Malwarebytes, Incomplete removal and the official Mac uninstall tool.
• Sophos, Uninstall Sophos Endpoint.
• Apple, Login items on macOS 15, macOS 26 and macOS 27.

Sources checked 23 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.