program drive image icon on desktop

how come when i launch an app like firefox, an icon of a white HDD shows up on my desktop which says "firefox"?

i am coming from xp, so i'm not sure if that is normal OSX behavior or not.

thats a .dmg file originally, double clicking mounts a virtual cd kinda, with files on it, just drop that white disks contents into applications, after it copies, eject it and delete the .dmg.

yeah, i did that. but when i launch firefox, the white HDD icon shows up on my desktop again.

ok, take the icon you dragged into applications and put it in the dock. delete the .dmg file and click what you just put in the dock. drag the other firefox icon out of the dock.

I swear, this topic comes up way too often. I think its probably the most confusing thing about owning a Mac.

A mod should type up a really good description and make it a sticky topic.

got it, thanks. yeah, it IS a bit confusing. coming from the xp world, i'm not used to having virtual drives (unless you use a program like alcohol 120 or something like that).

technologist said:

I swear, this topic comes up way too often. I think its probably the most confusing thing about owning a Mac.

A mod should type up a really good description and make it a sticky topic.

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I agree, this is a good idea. This is my first day with a mac and it took me a little while to figure out what was going on. It was only when I followed the instructions included with Cocktail that I learned how to do it.

-Chris