title: How do I remove old versions of node/npm?
body: <p>I've been playing around with node a couple of months ago, as it's a fast evolving project, I thought I'd need to update it when I picked it up recently, not knowing how and having read about <a href="https://github.com/visionmedia/n" rel="noreferrer">n</a>, I installed that, installed the latest version.</p>
  
  <p>Everything was OK until I tried to use <code>npm</code>, which wouldnt work, see <a href="https://github.com/visionmedia/n/issues/63" rel="noreferrer">this issue</a>.</p>
  
  <p>So I needed to remove n, I didn't know how so instead removed all the versions of node I had installed using <code>n - {version}</code> for each version I had.</p>
  
  <p>I then ran the installer straight off the node.js website, hoping it would fix all the issues I'm having.</p>
  
  <p>Node now works as expected, but <code>npm</code> is <em>still</em> not working.</p>
  
  <p>The error that is shown in <code>npm-debug.log</code> when trying <code>npm install {package}</code> is : </p>
  
  <pre><code>ERR! Error: EISDIR, mkdir '/'
  ERR! You may report this log at:
  ERR!     &lt;http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues&gt;
  ERR! or email it to:
  ERR!     &lt;npm-@googlegroups.com&gt;
  ERR!
  ERR! System Darwin 11.3.0
  ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm"
  ERR! cwd /
  ERR! node -v v0.6.15
  ERR! npm -v 1.1.16
  ERR! path /
  ERR! code EISDIR
  ERR! message EISDIR, mkdir '/'
  ERR! errno {}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What I'm trying to do is re-install node + npm and start all over again.</p>
  
  <p>I'm using a Mac, and have little experience with the commandline + file system in general with  OS X, still trying to adjust from the Windows way.. (Control panel -> Uninstall -> ....).</p>
  
  <p>Any help with this would be appreciated.</p>