In Finder, what is Library?

Neo


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I haven't poked around in there much, partly because it seems like I shouldn't be in there. Is Library like windows registry? Sort of? or not at all?
 
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Library is the home for (almost) all files that are 'behind the scenes' in Apple's OS X. The Library stores your user preferences for each application, ways for applications to communicate with one another, assets and frameworks for programs, etc.

As a general rule of thumb: If you don't know what it does, don't mess with it. :)
 
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In a sense, as you can see from snoslicer8's answer, yes Library is at least somewhat similar to registry. Lots of user preferences get stored there. There is lots of other stuff there as well, for example a lot of the stuff that Windows stashes in Application Data shows up in Library on a Mac.

So, is a happy combination of several items all in one spot.
 
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the main difference between the library and the registry is that the library does not slow down the entire computer if there is more than one version of a file in it, all that file does is take up space on your system, it does not slow down anything or interfere with the operation of any applications.
 

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