When I uninstall some apps, they leave behind their install directory along with .dead file. It seems like it's specific to Electron/Squirrel applications. Slack is a prime example.
What's the point of this file? What purpose does it serve? Shouldn't an application remove itself entirely when uninstalled aside from user data?
1 Answer
.dead file seems to be created when you uninstall a squirrel app:
Update 26-06-2020. Moved from my comment to the answer, as requested. The purpose of the file as described in the link above:
7Squirrel is adding the file to indicate the app is uninstalled, but it couldn't delete the directory. The FullUninstall method will not work on a folder with .dead file and the clean algorithm (that runs on pc startup) will skip these folders. From the code: "NB: If we cannot clean up a directory, we need to make sure that anyone finding it later won't attempt to run Squirrel events on it. We'll mark it with a .dead file"
