Legacy Paranoia

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Day two with the new MBP. Loving it. I do have worries. The following applies to my history using Windows:

I typically install a bunch of programs. Over time I uninstall them. Windows eventually get slower and slower. Dangling DLLs, bloated registry. I'm sure you are familiar with this. Sooner or later I reinstall Windows.

I'm worried the same thing will happen in my Mac. I DON"T want to mess it up.

Here is a list of programs I have installed:
1. Google Chrome (sorry, I love Chrome)
2. Adobe Lightroom
3. Adobe Photoshop
4. Photomatix HDR photo software & plugin for Lightroom, Aperture & Photoshop - Tone Mapping, Exposure Fusion & High Dynamic Range Imaging for photography

I will be installing the following:
1. Parallels
a. Autocad 2004
b. Training Peaks Free Training Log, Training Plans and Food Diary | TrainingPeaks

I may install the following:
1. Onyx
2. Flip for Mac
3. 1Password ( I am going to try to get by with LastPass)

I expect there will me more, but that is it for now. Is this typical? Too Much?

Worry... worry... worry...

Thanks
Monty
 

robduckyworth


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nope, that is normal, and it wont slow your mac down over time. :)
 
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No registry, no problem!
What he said. You'll be totally fine with your Mac. Most of us have a lot more Apps installed. Just try to keep them all organised on your Mac and you're good to go.
 

bobtomay

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I installed over 200 apps during the first year on my Mac. At least 150 of them were consequently also uninstalled. We both know what that would do in Windows. I had no resulting slow down on my Mac from that practice.

If you are one, like myself, that is highly conscious of your system slowing down, I recommend you maintain at least 30-40% free space on your drive. I typically start noticing it on my system at around 30%.

And don't put a bunch of stuff in your Startup - OS X apps in general do not do this by themselves as they all seem to do in the Windows world.
 
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MontyMo
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THanks all!
I suspect my paranoia will slowly disappear. I like what you have had to say, bobtomay. On my Win computers I was always installing and uninstalling software. I have to remember I am running (some type of) Unix not Windows!

Right now I couldn't be happier, I just figured out how to resize the dock! :) Its the little things!

Monty
 
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My I suggest an app called AppTrap. So that when you eventually uninstall one and drag it to your trash can, this app will also ask if all associated files should be moved there as well. Unless of cource the uninstalling app has an uninstaller.
 
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My I suggest an app called AppTrap. So that when you eventually uninstall one and drag it to your trash can, this app will also ask if all associated files should be moved there as well. Unless of cource the uninstalling app has an uninstaller.

CleanApp
Synium - CleanApp

AppDelete
AppDelete by Reggie Ashworth

AppZapper
AppZapper - The uninstaller Apple forgot.

3 more apps that do the same thing. Deleting all the leftover associated files then you delete an app.
 

bobtomay

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THanks all!
I suspect my paranoia will slowly disappear. I like what you have had to say, bobtomay. On my Win computers I was always installing and uninstalling software. I have to remember I am running (some type of) Unix not Windows!

Right now I couldn't be happier, I just figured out how to resize the dock! :) Its the little things!

Monty

It'll take awhile to get rid of all that Windows baggage. It took me a good year or two.

I was pretty anal about it though - my gaming rigs got a fresh install just about every 6 months (for at least 10 years) whether they needed it or not and spent 4 hrs or more at least once a week doing maintenance on them to make sure my games would run at top speed.


I did check out most of those app cleaning utilities and ultimately paid for a license for Clean App as the best of the lot. Must say, I never did like or use any of them. The problem with Clean App, is that if you are not aware of the workings, folder structure and all the files on your Machine, it comes back with a bunch of false positives, recommending you delete stuff that has nothing to do with the app you're actually deleting. It lets it's users rate and state whether they deleted all the files it comes up with. You should be careful following some of that advice when using these things. I definitely cannot recommend this app to the new switcher.

Today, I do not recommend any of these things. At least, not until you've been using OS X for a year or so and become pretty familiar with it. Some users never. I would not dream of putting one of these apps on my wife's machine and she's been using a Mac for 4 years now also.

The advice of the long time users of OS X when I got my first Mac were right. The apps that are installed via drag and drop - just drag 'em to the trash. The apps you install that had their own installer - use their uninstaller. Keep a list if you have to, to know which ones those are. The miniscule file sizes of preference files these things leave behind are not worth the hassle of even worrying about.

Every once in awhile - maybe every 3-6 months, I'll head into the preference folder and just manually delete the remnants of stuff that is sitting there that I know I deleted. Cleaning out the remnants of 50 deleted apps - I might free up 1MB additional space on my 500GB drive - whoop de doo!!!
 
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I would recommend AppZapper of the 3 as CleanApp for me gives too many false positives as stated above. But it's a lot of hassle for what at max 10MB-20MB. That's nothing these days. And because OS X does not have the fragmentation issue on the whole there's no real need for these apps most times.

But . . . in saying that I did find a good use for them.
Once I was upgrading to a newer version of Photoshop and it would not install properly. And I could not find the old little files I needed to delete. AppZapper found these little files just fine. Deleted them so I could cleanly install the new Photoshop.

But these issues happen in far less then 1% of cases. it's like a lot of things on OS X. These little apps exist to calm the mind of the paranoid out there. But OS X does a good enough job that if you don't use the apps you will be just as fine too.
 

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