newbie questions

[sophisaur]

Hi! I just got my white macbook for college today; I've always been a Windows user, and after a day of playing with it, I still had some questions..

1. How would one get rid of the desktop icons for installed programs?
2. How would one get rid of installed programs? Simply highlight the folder and move to trash? Would that leave orphan files everywhere?
3. The macbook i bought was 80GB, and I've already used up 30 gigs..since I've yet to install mac office and photoshop, is there anyway to free up more memory?
4. besides softpedia.com, what's a good site for mac programs?

That's it for now. Thank you so much <3

 

[Killyp]

1. What do you mean desktop icons? Most apps don't install desktop shortcuts, but they do put things on the dock at the bottom. To remove them just drag them off the dock. To remove anything from a folder or from the desktop, drag it to the bin on the dock. This is like the recycling bin for Windows.

2. Yes!

3. I have the same problem. I'm thinking that once I have around 5 gb free on the 80 gb hard disk in my MBP, I'll bump it up to a 120 Gb or something. You can do this very easily on the MacBook/MacBook Pro.

4. Google is your friend! There are quite a few sites out there, but the Apple website seems to be the best for me.

 

[j26]

1. Drop 'em in the trash
2. Drop the app in the trash. Do a search for the app name and delete any orphans, but you don't really need to do that unless you really want to.
3. Monolingual or Delocaliser can get rid of languages. Delete the trial versions of Office and/or iWorkand the full versions of GarageBand, iMovie, iDVD if you're not using them. A fresh install will seriously reduce usage if you cut out languages, printer drivers etc.
4. MacUpdate

 

[robbieduncan]

4. In addition to the sites above:
www.versiontracker.com
and
Apple's own downloads section

 

[sophisaur]

When i dropped the gmailnotifier icon into the trash, it changed to "eject" and wouldn't let me because it was in use.

 

[wxboss]

All those "disk images" of programs you downloaded can be "ejected". After installation, you can eject them by dragging them to the trash (like you did) or clicking on the Eject button by the Apps name in the Finder window.

 

[robbieduncan]

All those "disk images" of programs you downloaded can be "ejected". After installation, you can eject them by dragging them to the trash (like you did) or clicking on the Eject button by the Apps name in the Finder window.

Note that you can only eject a disk image if you are not running any programs that are on that image (copy them from the image to /Applications first). If you have any Terminal windows open whos path ins in that image that can prevent eject as well.

 

[fatties]

yeh i didn't understand that when i switched too. this is what i think you need to do... (i hope its right, please correct me!) what you are doing nwo is runnging from the file you downloaded... so if you open that (like firefox straight from the net opens a window with a firefox picture in it when you click on the thing you downloaded) you need to drag the icon into your application folder. then the thing will run from there (or rather run the thing from there ) and you can delete the disk file on the desk to after quiting the app running from there... it did take me a few redowload trys to get it right the first time.

i only really understood when i downloaded amsn so i can video my msn mates. although it is simple program, it is dead useful if you have isight on your computer and worth it for the 'drag into your application file' instruction!

hope it helps.

 

[sophisaur]

Nevermind, gmail problem solved. you guys are amazing.

erm..you can't get rid of the hard drive icon, can you?

 

[wxboss]

Note that you can only eject a disk image if you are not running any programs that are on that image (copy them from the image to /Applications first). If you have any Terminal windows open whos path ins in that image that can prevent eject as well.

Good point.

It takes a time or two before you get used to installing programs in OS X, but it's really simple and becomes second nature after you get the hang of it.
1. Download App
2. Double click (unwrap App)
3. Drag App folder or icon to your Application Folder (this is where it installs the program).
4. Eject any disk image left over from the process
5. You can then launch the App from you Application folder or drag it to the dock and launch it from there.

 

[PatrickF]

wow, thank you. that worked with limewire and onyx, but when i quit gmail notifier, deleted the icon, then started it from applications, the icon popped back on desktop.

ay. i'm sorry, i know this is incredibly nitpicky, but it'd help me gain a little bit more understanding about my macbook.

You're not starting gmail notifier from the dock are you? If you dragged the icon from the disk image to the dock it will still mount the disk image every time you use the icon on the dock.

To remedy this just drag the icon off the dock and then drag the icon from the Applications folder onto the dock.

One thing you just need to get used to is to copy any application from a disk image into your Applications folder. Simple as that once you get used to it.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

4. I use these three, in this order:

1. HyperJeff
2. VersionTracker
3. Mac OS X downloads (accessible from your Apple menu -> Mac OS X Software...)

 

[iBrow]

Nevermind, gmail problem solved. you guys are amazing.

erm..you can't get rid of the hard drive icon, can you?

Yes you can.

Finder >> Preferences >> General >> Untick the "Hard disks"