I am really starting to hate my Mac

I haven't had it for long and I'm finding it so hard because the mac help program is just crap and like spotlight never shows me what i want.

But whatever.

I don't now about macs so i figured i'd come on a forum because spotlight and help don't help at all.

How the heck do i uninstall programs from a mac? I have a bunch of programs like crypt and adobe I dont want anymore but how do I get rid of them?

Also, can I not create a password protected file without creating a new disk image?

There are so many more questions but I cant think of them now.

Well, first off, I would highly recommend the following book:

Amazon.com: Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual: David Pogue: Books

It's an easy read and covers everything that comes with your Mac, including the iLife suite. Highly recommended.

Most programs can be uninstalled by simply dragging and dropping them into the trash.

The best way to password protect a file is to put it in a password protected Disk Image (DMG file). This is no different on Windows or any other major operating system. Security is usually done at the filesystem level, but if you insist on having password protected, you'll need to rely on the application to provide that authentication mechanism or use an archive utility like ZIP or the built-in disk imagine functionality of OS X.

We're here to help - no need to get frustrated.

Just move the application to the trash by dragging or right clicking and sending to trash. There is no add/remove like is used in the dark side. More times than not this is all that is necessary to remove applications. There will be at times files that hold the application preferences, but those are no biggie and can be left behind in the event you want to re-install, or they can be safely deleted.

Also, spotlight is a pretty good tool if used correctly. I know that there is a podcast in iTunes that is labeled Apple Quick Tips that usually has some good bits every week or so. Give that I try as I remember seeing one specifically about spotlight.

Don't give up yet.

About 90% of Mac programs you'll just drag the app to the trash can. Poof - all gone.

The other 10%, the ones that had an actual installer, some of those will have an uninstaller. Check the folder where it installed the app for an uninstaller. If there isn't one, you can try the installer again, see if there is an option there to uninstall. If not, drag it to the trash and poof - it's history.

There really shouldn't be the need to create password protected files on a Mac. That's why there are password protected user accounts. "Assuming" you are the admin of your computer, don't let anyone use your computer logged in under your user account. Create separate accounts or a guest account with out admin privileges for them.

If you really need to, then yes, to create a password protected folder, it's done by creating a disk image in OS X.

The first place to go looking for help and some general understanding is in the Switcher's Hangout. Explore the stickies there. eric's faq will give you a lot of quick tips and a wealth of info for those new to OS X.

edit: an old timer, takes me longer to type than these young whipper snappers up above me.

There really isn't any need to get upset and frustrated with your mac. I understand that somethings are infact a little bit different, but there are hundreds or guides all over the internet that really teach you the difference between the mac and a PC. Also, Apple has a great Collection of videos on there website that show you the anatomy of a mac as well as the differences between your old PC and your new Mac.

Below is the link and at the bottomish part of the page you will find the list of videos that you need.
Apple - Mac

Hope that I could have helped you. Mac isnt something to get frustrated over, It's just different and takes some getting used to.

Lol thanks, Yeah i should of probably taken a deep breath before i started rambling

Yeah the whole thing that confused me with removing programs was some had uninstallers and i was trippin like "well what about the rest!?"

But yah thanks everyone

I forgot to add this, but if you do need further assistance when it comes to deleting programs, there is a program for that. The Program that I have in mind is called "AppZapper." It goes ahead and deletes the program itself and it also finds other program files associated with it and will delete those files aswell. This is a really useful utility to me.
Hope this helped

Ok some apps that I would suggest to you is AppCleaner : drag the app into there and it traces all files of the app and deletes them for you.
Onyx: Think it of your weekly and month checkup for you mac
Truecrypt: for password protected files in a way. (What it does, is create a file that is a virtual hard drive so you put your files into there and mount and un mount it as needed. But make sure that you write down your password, cause the one I use for mine is about 25 charatcers long plus a another type of password thing called keyfiles.)

is there an e-book for this?

cwa107 said:

Well, first off, I would highly recommend the following book:

Amazon.com: Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual: David Pogue: Books

It's an easy read and covers everything that comes with your Mac, including the iLife suite. Highly recommended.

Most programs can be uninstalled by simply dragging and dropping them into the trash.

The best way to password protect a file is to put it in a password protected Disk Image (DMG file). This is no different on Windows or any other major operating system. Security is usually done at the filesystem level, but if you insist on having password protected, you'll need to rely on the application to provide that authentication mechanism or use an archive utility like ZIP or the built-in disk imagine functionality of OS X.

We're here to help - no need to get frustrated.

Click to expand...

I'm still a Mac "newbie" and it is AMAZING all of the helps out there....along with freebie software.

I use the AppCleaner as well because it deletes ALL of the related files, not just the application itself.

Forums are helpful, along with the Apple website. Lots of great video tutorials there along with the "Apple Quick Tips" video podcasts you can download free via iTunes.

Enjoy!

gagnerants said:

Ok some apps that I would suggest to you is AppCleaner : drag the app into there and it traces all files of the app and deletes them for you.
Onyx: Think it of your weekly and month checkup for you mac
Truecrypt: for password protected files in a way. (What it does, is create a file that is a virtual hard drive so you put your files into there and mount and un mount it as needed. But make sure that you write down your password, cause the one I use for mine is about 25 charatcers long plus a another type of password thing called keyfiles.)

Click to expand...

Shaf said:

is there an e-book for this?

Click to expand...

Not that I know of.

I love my mac

alicemac said:

I haven't had it for long and I'm finding it so hard because the mac help program is just crap and like spotlight never shows me what i want.

Click to expand...

maybe I just understood it wrong, but it seems you are confusing spotlight for help

Spotlight (in the top right corner, or cmd+space) is primarily a search utility, it searches for whatever you type (uses indexes, but that's not important for you) However, it searches for applications, documents, webpages in your history or bookmarks etc. ... it is mostly used as a application launcher, since you can just type "iT" and it will give you iTunes ... hopefully it's clear

to get help files, there is a Help menu in every application, it's in the top main menu about in the middle, the last drop down to be exact ... there if you're in Finder, it will search (like spotlight) through the help files of the operating system, of you're in iTunes it will primarily search through help files of iTunes.
A cool feature I really liked here is that in an applications if a menu item corresponds to what you type in help, it will take you straight to the menu with a big arrow pointing to it


maybe I understood your post wrong, but in any case, might be helpful to point out