Deleting files/apps

faceman

im having trouble removing application etc from my OS X. Im not really sure how to do it and sometimes i seem to be deleting the wrong files.

if i want to uninstall something how do i do it?
When i install something, can i delete files on teh desktop without affecting the application?
Is it just a case of trash something?
what does eject mean?

sorry for my ignorance, still in my first week!

triple h

I know how you feel. i am new too. i will answer some of your questions in the best way i can. Some i am not sure about. but i am glad you asked those questions, i can learn too..

1) NOT 100% SURE HERE--- Well if a application has no uninstall, then i think you can drag it to trash

2) SURE OF THIS----yes, if it is on your desktop, you can drag it to trash and it will not affect the app.

3)yes, I bring the mouse over to trash i hold down the ctrl button, click my mouse and empty trash. yes you can trash what is on your desktop from an app. the only 2 things you dont trash is the mac hd icon and the windows icon ( thats if you have windows on it)

4) this is something i still find hard to get use to --- if you have a real cd or dvd in your computer you eject it. if you have an app and you see eject it seems strange to see eject ( well to former windows people) and there is no cd or dvd. but press eject, i do.

that Q4 interests me---I downloaded google earth and i have to keep the GoogleEarthMac.dmg thing on my desktop because when i am finished playing with google earth i have to press eject. Why?????
Every time i have to press the .dmg thing to get into it. it does not seem right and i think this is what faceman could be worried about too, like me.

faceman

yeah i had pretty much the same probs with google earth but had deleted the stuff on my desktop after install thinking that the master application file was stored somewhere safely on the hard disk. Guess i was wrong!

Gordon

Why have you got stuff on your desktop? Your apps should be in your Applications folder.

I think that maybe you have been installing programs via a disk image. Usually applications will be downloaded as a disk image (googlearth.dmg for example). This disk image, when double clicked, will open up a virtual disk like this . You will either drag the application to your appications folder or you will install the program from the disk. Read the README!

Once you have installed/copied you can 'eject' the disk and delete the .dmg file if you so wish. Personally I keep all .dmg installer/items/programs on an external firewire drive in case I need to reinstall programs or pass them on to friends (providing I am allowed to with the license of course).

You can't delete the originally downloaded .dmg file without ejecting the disk first as the disk is reading off the .dmg file afaiu.

If you want to uninstall the app that you have simply copied over from the .dmg then just delete the app from your applications folder. Otherwise you may need to use the installer to uninstall the application. (another reason to keep all your installers).

HTH.

A common mistake that people make is by opening the .dmg and running the application from there. This is not the way to do it. People that do this will usually put the icon into their dock and run the program that way. The problem is that virtual disks (correct term?) get ejected when you shutdown so if you reboot your dock may not be able to find the program that is contained within the disk. It may open the .dmg again, or it simply won't find it and give you a question mark icon on your dock.

eirlink

Gordon wrote:

Why have you got stuff on your desktop? Your apps should be in your Applications folder.

I think that maybe you have been installing programs via a disk image. Usually applications will be downloaded as a disk image (googlearth.dmg for example). This disk image, when double clicked, will open up a virtual disk like this . You will either drag the application to your appications folder or you will install the program from the disk. Read the README!

Once you have installed/copied you can 'eject' the disk and delete the .dmg file if you so wish. Personally I keep all .dmg installer/items/programs on an external firewire drive in case I need to reinstall programs or pass them on to friends (providing I am allowed to with the license of course).

You can't delete the originally downloaded .dmg file without ejecting the disk first as the disk is reading off the .dmg file afaiu.

If you want to uninstall the app that you have simply copied over from the .dmg then just delete the app from your applications folder. Otherwise you may need to use the installer to uninstall the application. (another reason to keep all your installers).

HTH.

A common mistake that people make is by opening the .dmg and running the application from there. This is not the way to do it. People that do this will usually put the icon into their dock and run the program that way. The problem is that virtual disks (correct term?) get ejected when you shutdown so if you reboot your dock may not be able to find the program that is contained within the disk. It may open the .dmg again, or it simply won't find it and give you a question mark icon on your dock.

Good advice from gordon. The key thing to remember is to always drag your applications to the applications folder on the main Macintosh HD.
The apple way of doing things is different to windows so always try to forget windose and dont try to compare, you will only confuse things.you are learning a new OS.

TIP: apple love "drag and drop" and thus have incorporated this feature across the platform. Imagine all you files as actual real life files / folders on a desk. then just drag and drop these wherever they should be. likewise if you were to dump / get rid of anything in real life you would throw it in the trash bin...same with apple. to delete an application just drag it to the trash bin and drop it.

dont be too keen to empty the trash either. once a month is fine. why not place a reminder in iCal and repeat it with an alarm.

Gordon gives good advice re storing the .Dmg files on an external drive. The dmg file is a bit like a photographic negative. it holds all the data you need for the program. only when you extact the program from the dmg( disk image ) do you get the program itself. similar to developing a negative.
When you extract from a disk image ( dmg) the OS " mounts " it on your desktop. We call this a " virtual drive " . click on this to launch the program.

Keeping the original .dmg file on an external protects you if anything goes wrong.

enjoy the learning curve. I only use windose at work because i have to..mac all the way.

uncle_sam_ie

This is a helpful app for uninstalling your applications. http://appzapper.com/

faceman

Thanks eirlink and gordon, thats quite useful.

uncle_sam_ie thanks for the link. only allows 5 unintalls before you have to register.

eirlink

www.screencastsonline.com is a great resource for you if youre into macs. It has video tutorials in most mac related topics. A new screencast is released every week and they are well presented. coincidently,someone has requested a show today on this very topic, installing and removing applications...so one might appear online soon.

check it out for yourself

big_moe

i second bedlams reccommendation! appdelete is a great program! i only have the mac since xmas and im a wizz on it already! keyboard shortcuts are great once you get used to the main ones!

anyway.. yeah download appdelete then put the icon in the dock.. so when ever u want to uninstall a program, just drag it from the applications folder to the icon of appdelete in the dock...and its done! maaaaaaad simple!

moe

ZENER

Having always been a Mac or Amiga user I find it strange that people have problems understanding the concepts of MacOS. Things like .dmg always seemed pretty logical to me but I can see where a new user might get confused with the whole thing. The add/remove programs control panel in Windows is not that great in most cases - it leaves most registry entries and the original install folders intact.

Applications on a mac are not the same as their windows counterparts, for example lets take Google Earth. The download comes in the form of a virtual disk image, doubleclicking it mounts the disk image on the desktop. Inside this newly mounted disk is the Google Earth icon and instructions to drag it to the Applications folder. (After this the disk image can be ejected just like a windows machine would eject the install CD. After this the downloaded .dmg file can be discarded or saved elsewhere for future use.)

Once there a windows user would be forgiven that the icon represents the equivelant of a .exe file. On the windows platform files associated with an application would be installed in various places like ~/system32 or ~/program files etc. This is not usually the case on the Mac.

On the mac what appears to be a single file is in fact a folder containing all the files required by the application. If you Right-Click on the Google earth icon in the Apps folder you will see the option - Show Package Contents - in the drop down menu, once clicked the OS will display the contents of the Application. This is why it's possible to drag and drop an app to the trash aor anywhere else for that matter and it will still work. The Mac OS doesn't use a registry like windows does so it's possible to simply drag the app to the trashcan without effecting the OS something that's not recommended in Windows.

After doing this you can also use Spotlight to find any other files related to the deleted app, preferences for a particular app are stored in each users /home/library folder.

Welcome to Mac OS !!

ZEN

triple h

thanks zen, that was great help.

When i was a windows user i could not understand why we had to do what we had to do, go to control panel and all that crap. It just seems too easy now, you say to yourself ' i must be doing something wrong'

faceman

Wow that Appdelete program is great!

eirlink

CleanApp 1.6.4 is available on the cover disk with the march edition of MacFormat magazine available now in all good bookshops.. free key once you register.