06-02-2007, 01:22 PM

I love my mac. Sad thing is, I had an iMac before this and just gave up trying to fix it. Whenver I install something, the icon goes onto the desktop and I can't move it. I don't like anything on my desktop... well... as little as possible. I understand my HD icon will always be there but other than that, anything drives me insane. HOW THE HECK DO I GET THE ADIUM ICON OFF THERE! It won't let me move it. It just makes shortcuts everywhere (which also drives me insane!)...

here's a picture of what i mean



Can anyone help me out? Is there a way to change where this icon is put? Can I have it installed directly into my applications folder? Gahhh this is driving me insane!

06-02-2007, 01:28 PM

Bethany, that icon is a .dmg which is not the real program.

Double-click the .dmg and what you will see in there should be dragged into the Applications folder: that is the true program that will be copied into your hard drive.

06-02-2007, 01:38 PM

This pic shows how disk images work. Once the application is in the Application folder, you can trash the files you opened on the desktop. This is an old Firefox app, but all .dmg files work the same way.

06-02-2007, 01:45 PM

I think what happened was.... I used to drag the icon that's on my desktop into my Dock... so when I would delete it and click the icon on my dock... a question mark pops up. I just now realized if I take the useless one off my dock and replace it with the icon from my applications folder, it works. IF that made ANY sense to anyone, good job. Thanks so much for the help!

06-02-2007, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by BethanyLieb

I don't like anything on my desktop... well... as little as possible. I understand my HD icon will always be there. . . .

You can get rid of it, too. Drag it to the dock, then go under File in the menu bar to Preferences, click on General, then uncheck Hard disks.

06-02-2007, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by Brown Study

You can get rid of it, too. Drag it to the dock, then go under File in the menu bar to Preferences, click on General, then uncheck Hard disks.

haha i had a lot of trouble with this. it won't let me drag it into the dock.. well at least it won't stay. File doesn't have a "preferences" option, and when i just clicked the apple and went to general preferences it didn't say anything about the HD

06-02-2007, 03:09 PM

If you mean that you can't move the Volume (that's what it's called) to other folders, that's normal.
It's like any other volumes/drives.

It's not actually "there" on the Desktop;
Mac OS X just displays mounted volumes/drives on the Desktop.
(In Windows, they would be displayed in "My Computer.")



If you mean that you can't move the icon around on the Desktop, auto-arrange might be turned on for your Desktop.

Go to the Desktop.
View > View Options
See if "Keep Arranged by" is checked.
If so, uncheck it. Now you should be able to move it around.




Here's another series of pictures to show you how installing works, AND how to "get rid of" the volume afterwards:

Originally Posted by BethanyLieb

File doesn't have a "preferences" option, and when i just clicked the apple and went to general preferences it didn't say anything about the HD

He meant under the Finder menu.

Finder > Preferences...

In the General section, you'll see "Show these items on the Desktop"
Choose whichever ones you want.