how do I delete programs I will never ever use?

[hempomatic]

LOL !!! That's ME !

As far as a spreadsheet, I know that it has columns for sorting data, but I've never used one, nor would even know where to begin. I have NO idea what the difference between a spreadsheet and a database is, I thought they did the same thing. So, yeah, from the picture, that's pretty accurate, the only difference, is my hair is shorter these days, with a LOT more gray.


ken

 

[Slydude]

You guys crack me up. You are all DETERMINED to drag me kicking and screaming into the 21st century. LOL ;D
ken

Relax and be assimilated. The kicking and screaming will stop shortly.

I can think of tons of ways those programs could be useful.

 

[RadDave]

LOL !!! That's ME !

As far as a spreadsheet, I know that it has columns for sorting data, but I've never used one, nor would even know where to begin. I have NO idea what the difference between a spreadsheet and a database is, I thought they did the same thing. So, yeah, from the picture, that's pretty accurate, the only difference, is my hair is shorter these days, with a LOT more gray.

Yep, me too, i.e. hair is gray and disappearing; when I was on the U. of Michigan campus (1964-1971), my brown hair covered my ears - did not carry a club, but had a slide rule in a nice leather case hanging from my belt (kind of requisite apparel for a pre-med student!).

BUT, you're right - there is a lot of overlap between a database & spreadsheet - in fact, when I switched from PC to Apple 18 months ago in retirement, I had over a have dozen 'databases' on MS Office's Access w/ beautiful printouts; well, I used Numbers (Apple's equivalent of the MS Excel spreadsheet) for all but two of those Access files. Dave

 

[toMACsh]

I'm quite sure you could employ spreadsheets in your music and engine endeavors to useful advantage. That's a small box you're in; shouldn't take much effort to step outside of it to think.

We have a few Harley's around here, especially at "significant" anniversaries. Counted over 100 on the road one time while driving about 10 miles through town. Well, I was driving, the passengers were counting. They came so frequently, one could not possibly do both without crashing, probably into a Harley.

 

[Peterlux]

I don't play any games. But you would not find me a dull person. When confronted with the need to make a slide presentation, I find Keynote such a pleasure to use that it is fun. Even more so when sliding on over to using it on iPad. If you have images loaded on your iPad you can create great side shows in record time while traveling....with your finger tips. Export as PDF for more flexibility. Keynote in my opinion is one of Apple's best inventions.

As for the main thrust of the discussion, I lean towards leaving things alone that are not a significant problem.

 

[BudVitoff]

I've had so much fun reading this thread I was envious of the other contributors, so I thought I'd add my own coup de grace.

I don't know how big your hard disk is, but if you have 500 GB, you're talking about .025% of it. If you have 250 GB, it's still only .05%, and I did that without using a spreadsheet. It's not practical to be concerned about something that small, or in other words, don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[toMACsh]

I see from your edit note that you should have used a spreadsheet!

 

[BudVitoff]

LOL! Right on!

 

[Khandakulu]

For example you might try GRAB -one of the programs you listed as never to use. it's a very handy screen dump that allows you several ways of selecting what you want - a photo, block of text , or full screen, etc. Often it's the easiest way to download something you find on a web page.

 

[hempomatic]

For example you might try GRAB -one of the programs you listed as never to use. it's a very handy screen dump that allows you several ways of selecting what you want ....... .

This is what I'm talking about. I don't know why I would EVER want to DO that. I've never needed to before, why would I need to NOW all of a sudden. It's sort of like the commercials on TV to cure diseases you never knew you even had, creating a market where none previously existed. Sure, I can take a drug that MAY cause cancer, liver failure, heart disease and pick eye because I have JUMPY LEGS? Let's go to spreadsheets again, I can honestly say, there is no chance on God's green earth that I would EVER need to sort columns of numbers. It just seems to me that the whole thing would be WAY less cluttered AND there would be fewer things to go wrong IF they would allow you to OPT-IN to a program you THINK you may need one day and let you download it. That would serve two purposes really, save space on your drive (not the small programs but rather all the crap you would accumulate BECAUSE of them) and just keep it simple. Can I actually be the only one here that feels this way? Just give me the **** OPERATING SYSTEM and let ME decide what I need.

I see so many people here saying that THEIR minimum requirement for these operating systems is 8 or even 16 gig. It will run with less, but NEVER well. That's fascinating to me. I have a 4 gig machine that runs great. Of course, I RARELY multitask because I never do more than 1 thing at a time. I can easily wait the 2 or 3 SECONDS it would take to open another program, maybe that's the key.

MAYBE my machine runs so well because it isn't weighted down with dozens of other EXTRA programs. Imagine how much BETTER it would run with even FEWER programs.

I know, I'm beating a dead horse here. I'm convinced that trying to delete these programs is both futile and dangerous, so I'll live with them just fine, but ........... I'll NEVER use them.

ken

 

[MacInWin]

So let's clear some air here. Having programs installed on your disk does not affect the speed of your machine unless the drive is getting pretty full. So those programs you don't want/don't use aren't really doing any harm being there. Your statement,

MAYBE my machine runs so well because it isn't weighted down with dozens of other EXTRA programs. Imagine how much BETTER it would run with even FEWER programs.

isn't really valid because having them gone won't improve performance just like having them there doesn't impact performance. What is more key to speed of performance is the fact you only run ONE program at a time, which significantly reduces the demand on your memory (not disk, RAM). So you get by at Apple's recommended minimum of 4GB. But you are also using your Mac in a significantly diminished way, basically riding your Harley at 15 mph everywhere you go. Yes, you can do that, but the machine was designed to do SO much more! I'm sitting here, posting on this website while I'm also streaming music from the Internet, have a mail window open to monitor incoming email and Messages running to mirror anything that comes in on my iPhone. I also have three tabs open for other websites I monitor. And I just ran Parallels to open my Win7 virtual machine to print some labels for my wife's business through Photoshop. To do all that, I need more than the minimum. And I'm not driving my MBP hard, according to Activity Monitor (which also runs continuously so I can see if any problems develop). I do like multiprocessing, even if I multitask poorly myself!

 

[hempomatic]

you are also using your Mac in a significantly diminished way, basically riding your Harley at 15 mph everywhere you go.

Dude, I live in New Jersey, 15 is cruising speed 18 hours a day ;D

I understand your point however. I KNOW there are folks out there that actually use a computer to it's potential. The only reason I have a Mac is because I got tired of updating my security settings for 15 minutes every time I started my windoze machine. If my pictures weren't digital, I could EASILY live without a computer at all.

I do find this site fascinating though, and I HAVE learned quite a bit about my Mac, so thanks for that.

 

[pigoo3]

Dude, I live in New Jersey, 15 is cruising speed 18 hours a day ;D

I hear ya…I used to live in the Northern, NJ area. Garden State, Palisades Parkway, 95, 80, 78…you name it…slow slow slow!! Let's not even start about the tunnel's & bridges into NY!

- Nick

 

[MacInWin]

Dude, you gotta get that Harley out on the open road! 15 all day is torture!

 

[hempomatic]

Dude, you gotta get that Harley out on the open road! 15 all day is torture!

TELL ME ABOUT IT !! Hence the road trips to PA and NY State as well as trailering it all over the country. I know, the die hard bikers get angry that I'm not riding it cross country, but after 1 back surgery and my 62 year old mechanic's knees and shoulders, I'm happy I can still balance a 950 lb scooter on two wheels for a few hours at a time.

But back on topic, I'm surprised that no one else sees the logic of opting IN to this stuff. Do most people use a computer like YOU do? I don't know, maybe it's an age thing. I wasn't weened on computers, never even played a computer game, and I can't imagine trying to effectively shuffle all of those tasks. Every day I look around and see how connected everyone is. It weirds me out a bit.

How many of the programs I listed do YOU actually use?

ken

 

[MacInWin]

How many of the programs I listed do YOU actually use?

Excellent question! First the demographics--I'm 69 years old, been using personal computers since the first Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1. (Actually before that, I was building them from components.) I also used computers in my work from 1968 on.

So, I used Color Sync Utility once, to sync two monitors I use with the MBP so that they appeared the same. Don't need to use it more than that, unless something changes on one or the other.

Used Script Editor, BT File exchange and X11 (as part of an old Linux program I ported to OS X). Used Automator to automate some routine tasks, played Chess once, use Font Book about once a quarter because I like to play with fonts, Messages every day, Photo Booth occasionally, maybe once a year, Reminders at least weekly and Stickies about the same. I have NOT used Audio Midi setup, Digital Color meter, grab, Grapher or Voice over.

But here's the thing: People who use those tools, want them THERE, not have to download them somewhere, and they don't take much space. The total for all of them on my MBP si 187.7MBytes, or about 0.04% of a 500GB drive. Hardly worth worrying about for users who don't want them, and very handy for those who do. For the most part, you DO get to opt in for software--you buy it when and if you want it. But some tools are needed for folks who do system setup and support multiple machines so why not include it as long as it takes so little space?

It's a little like Harley putting a metallic medallion on your bike. It adds weight, cuts down on your gasoline mileage, adds drag for high speed riders, and costs something to make which adds to the overall price of the bike. If you don't want it, you can remove it, but 99.9% won't (if any). So why not make the medallion "opt-in?"

 

[hempomatic]

I SUBMIT !

My first computer was a Tandy something or other. 100 meg hard drive, 256K of Ram. Upgraded to TWO meg of ram. Built a couple of computers, upgraded to windoze 3.0, then 3.1. Decided then that computers were a complete waste of time and didn't touch another one for 15 years. Pretty much the polar opposite of your experience. Even in my job as an HVAC tech, I avoided computerized building management systems like the plague, however I can troubleshoot and repair anything with moving parts. ****, I don't even have a smart phone, doubt I ever will.

So ........... I see your points, all certainly valid.

 

[MacInWin]

Hard drive? Hard drive?! We don' need no steenkin' hard drive!!! My first TRS-80 had 16 Kilobytes of memory, a cassette tape interface and no lower case letters. I built an add on box to hold 48K more memory and included a floppy disk drive interface for the 5 1/4" floppy that held 128K of data on each side. Those were the good ol' days when men were men...or something like that, I think. My memory fades....

 

[p_rod]

Hempomatic:

I, too, agree with you that there are sometimes more programs on a computer than many of us would ever use....but I was surprised at really how little the programs you mentioned take up on a hard drive. Heck, a 5 minute Go Pro video of me slicing through the curved roads around here on my V-Strom or a 5 min video shot from my quadcopter takes 10 times the room all of the aforementioned proggies/apps do. Amazing. So just leave them be.

Great topic though....I learned a lot. But I always do when I come here to this forum...the best of the best IMHO.

One more thing....if you ever get down to North GA, (ATL area) I'd be more than glad to show you some of the best riding on the planet, and guaranteed to be faster than 15 mph!

I did recently crank up my Pages program (the first time I ever had to use it) in order to write a resignation from my last job. Document came out beautifully too! My gummint checks start arriving next month and I am planning on learning much more about video editing, creating podcasts and using Photoshop than I have had the time to do the last couple of years. Oh yeah, not to mention the novel about my last job..that has to be told.

Consider this. Your computer is like a fine motorcycle....learn a bit more about it. It's like the difference between being a motorcycle 'driver' and a motorcycle "rider". A driver just gets from point A to point B in one piece. A rider does the same but it's an adventure/ballet/major rush every time you throw a leg over. That machine on your desk needs to be ridden, just not 'driven'.

Only 64, with only 400+K two wheeled miles, and many more to come.

Cheers!

Pat

PS- I mean it...drop me a line if you and your HD ever head south. We've had over 80 riders come and visit over the years...and still counting. North GA is just eaten up with superbly fine roads.

 

[hempomatic]

Well Pat, careful what you suggest ! We have an RV, we're going down to New Orleans either the week BEFORE Mardi Gras, or the week after Easter, then on to Az via Rt10, then up through Cali, and the northern route home. May even swing through Sturgis, just to say I've been there LOL. Gonna need a stop or two on my way down south, I may take you up on your offer.

Well, in case everyone hasn't figured it out yet, I'm decidedly low tech almost to the point of being phobic, so not much chance of my needing any of the programs I listed. I have figured out however that it isn't wise to even attempt to remove any of those programs, so they will remain in their pristine unused beauty for the life of this computer. ;-) I have absolutely NO need to ride the computer as hard as I ride my bike.

I agree with your assessment of this forum as well. Nice friendly, knowledgable indulgent group.

ken