Can You Uninstall Apple Software Updates?

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Apple provides an option to automatically download updates to your software in the background and install them. Unfortunately, Apple does not provide an option to revert to previous versions after this has occurred. Once an update has been installed, prior versions of the software are generally unavailable.

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Restore Applications From Backup

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The best way to revert to a prior version of an updated application is to restore it from a previous backup of your hard drive, such as the one created by Time Machine. This can also be used to reverse updates to your Mac OS X, but only if you restore your entire hard drive. You must copy any new files off of the drive before you restore it however, otherwise they will disappear.

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Prevent Future Automatic Updates

Turn off the automatic update feature for better control over future updates to your Mac. In Mac OS X Mavericks, open System Preferences from the Dock or the Apple menu, then click on the "App Store" preference pane. Uncheck the boxes next to "Download newly available updates in the background" and "Install app updates." You can also turn off "Install system data files and security updates" to keep your copy of Mavericks just the way it is.

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