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how do I erase apple apps

G

galloman

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 22, 2006
62
0
Monterrey, Mexico
Hi all, it´s me again

I´ve already run the omnidisc sweeper and it tells me that my new mac is using 16.9 GB out of the 80 it has. My question is, how do I correctly erase an application from my computer in order to avoid any kind of trouble in the future. I don´t want to do a clean install but would really like to liberate at least 6 gb or more but I don´t know how this is possible.

Please help me get around my first mac,

thanks again

One thing I forgot to say is that the library has 9.2 gb and the apps. only has 4.3gb
 
For the most part, you just drag it to the trash and then empty the trash. Other than that, there are some preference files and whatnot, but they don't really take up much space at all.
 
but how

do I empty the trash?

and I´ve noticed that when I had the omnisweeper installed there were two icons on my desktop , what are these? are they like shortcuts ? can I drag those to the trash too without erasing the program?

thanks

baby duck monge said:
For the most part, you just drag it to the trash and then empty the trash. Other than that, there are some preference files and whatnot, but they don't really take up much space at all.
Click to expand...
 
There are a few ways to empty the trash can.

1. When in Finder, click on the Finder menu in the top left next to the Apple and then select Empty Trash. Also note that there's Secure Empty Trash which will empty the trash and then write misc data over it so its hard to recover. Use that when you're deleting sensitive information like tax forms or something like that.

2. You can also Right Click on the trash can (control click if you only have a single button mouse) and the select Empty Trash.

3. The keyboard command to empty the trash is Apple Shift Delete.

FYI: Its just Apple Delete on the keyboard to put something in the trash.
 
Or you can google App Zapper, download it and use it. It is a seriously awesome program that was free to download.
 
galloman said:
do I empty the trash?

and I´ve noticed that when I had the omnisweeper installed there were two icons on my desktop , what are these? are they like shortcuts ? can I drag those to the trash too without erasing the program?

thanks
Click to expand...

Follow the other directions you were given for emptying the trash. As for telling if something is a shortcut or not, look for a tiny black arrow on the bottom left of the icon. If there is an arrow it's an alias and you can safely delete it. If there is not, it is the actual application. You can move applications by simply dragging them to where you want them to end up.

It really is as simple as you would like it to be.
 
galloman said:
One thing I forgot to say is that the library has 9.2 gb and the apps. only has 4.3gb
Click to expand...

:eek: Wow, your library is huge. What have you got in there?

Actually, which library are you talking about, there are at least three library's in the MacOS. Is it the library in your home folder, or the root folder or within the System folder.

Either way, it is really huge.

If it is the one in your home folder, this could be due to a lot of mail. Do you have a lot of old mail with big attachments. They are saved within the library. It also contains caches, fonts and other things.

You could try using a cool app called what size
It will give you a rundown of what is where and how much space it is taking.

Your Application folder doesn't sound too large. Depends on what apps you have.
 
With a library that big I'm guessing the OP installed Dev tools and all the language packs.Perhaps even a bunch of added garageband loops and all the driver stuff for most printers.
 
it's the main

library, the one at the top of the left side list when you run omnisweeper.

yeah it seems like a lot. I don't know what's there, as this is a new computer and I haven't installed anything but msn messenger and the omnisweeper. How can I determine what to erase? what do you guys advice me to erase?

moot said:
:eek: Wow, your library is huge. What have you got in there?

Actually, which library are you talking about, there are at least three library's in the MacOS. Is it the library in your home folder, or the root folder or within the System folder.

Either way, it is really huge.

If it is the one in your home folder, this could be due to a lot of mail. Do you have a lot of old mail with big attachments. They are saved within the library. It also contains caches, fonts and other things.

You could try using a cool app called what size
It will give you a rundown of what is where and how much space it is taking.

Your Application folder doesn't sound too large. Depends on what apps you have.
Click to expand...
 
Why do you need to erase anything? The new Mac comes with iLife installed, which is undoubtedly where you think your space is going.

The bulk of the tutorials and samples for iDVD and GarageBand are in /Library/Application Support/. Deleting those will free up quite a bit of disk space, but why?

You have 60+GB of free disk space and a new Mac.. I wouldn't worry about it for the moment.

As for erasing things, don't erase something unless you are 100% sure of what you're erasing. There's quite a bit of stuff hidden "under the hood" that will take your Mac to the ground if you start erasing things willy-nilly.
 
I just want to erase

some stuff because I'm planning to install windows for my mec. eng. apps and I need to give it some space. But on the other hand, I'm really new to mac and fear that I may mess it up and don't really want to do this.

yellow said:
Why do you need to erase anything? The new Mac comes with iLife installed, which is undoubtedly where you think your space is going.

The bulk of the tutorials and samples for iDVD and GarageBand are in /Library/Application Support/. Deleting those will free up quite a bit of disk space, but why?

You have 60+GB of free disk space and a new Mac.. I wouldn't worry about it for the moment.

As for erasing things, don't erase something unless you are 100% sure of what you're erasing. There's quite a bit of stuff hidden "under the hood" that will take your Mac to the ground if you start erasing things willy-nilly.
Click to expand...
 
Well, you can always re-install iLife stuff from your installer DVD later.

Just do a search for delete & garabgeband on here and you should find threads on removal.

As you're new to Macs though.. I'd just play with it for the moment and become accustomed to the apps and install that you have. You can re-worry about disk space later.. besides, you shouldn't need to allocate TOO much to Windows.
 
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