Desk pins

In Windows I made a lot of use of a little free programme called Desk Pins (Elias Fotinis). I see that there is no Mac equivalent except for 'Afloat'. I have therefore downloaded it and see that it is a .dmg file. I opened it and dragged the icon into the Applications folder but it cannot be opened:

“Afloat 2 Installer” can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.

Click to expand...

Please can someone tell me how to deal with this? Also, on the dock the Applications folder takes the first icon which is App Store but if I put one in (like Afloat) it takes that icon instead. I want it to remain on the blue 'A' for the App Store. Is there anyway that I can do this please?

pbd said:

In Windows I made a lot of use of a little free programme called Desk Pins (Elias Fotinis). I see that there is no Mac equivalent except for 'Afloat'. I have therefore downloaded it and see that it is a .dmg file. I opened it and dragged the icon into the Applications folder but it cannot be opened:

Click to expand...

Either right-click it and select open or go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > change the "Allow apps downloaded from" to "Anywhere" (and then change it back once you're done if you want to keep this setting in place).

pbd said:

Please can someone tell me how to deal with this? Also, on the dock the Applications folder takes the first icon which is App Store but if I put one in (like Afloat) it takes that icon instead. I want it to remain on the blue 'A' for the App Store. Is there anyway that I can do this please?

Click to expand...

As far as I know, if you want an application shown, it has to be the first one alphabetically. You could change it to view as a folder (right click > Display As > Folder).

You may want to read through the sticky on installing applications:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/251468-installing-uninstalling-applications.html

Thank you for that. I could not find the second instruction so I right clicked and it worked. Also changed to folder view and that is better.
I did read through the installing and uninstalling but just got lost on the security thing. However, I will have another go. TBH I am struggling a bit. I like the laptop but it is when I come across little things like Desk Pins that I wonder if I have done the right thing by switching. It might seem irrelevant to some but not to me. The other thing that puzzles me is why you cannot delete things one at a time when it is in trash. All you can do is empty the lot. Again, to many it may seem irrelevant but not to others. It is early days though so I will keep trying to learn. I am a senior citizen so it takes a bit longer.
Thank you for helping and not judging.

pbd said:

The other thing that puzzles me is why you cannot delete things one at a time when it is in trash. All you can do is empty the lot.

Click to expand...

Things are different, and it will take time to get used to, but after a short while you will be genuinely puzzled, as to why don't everyone uses that particular algorithm, to complete this particular task. If anything, Unix, and OS X in particular, are very logical systems, so once you know your way around a bit, it will all make sense.

As far as emptying Trash is concerned - think of it as just a basic maintenance procedure, and NOT file management: if there are certain files you feel you might not want to get rid of permanently just yet, create a folder, say Redundant Stuff and move these there... Moving to Trash really should be the final step (well, before emptying it ;D ).

Thank you for that alternative view of the use of Trash - I can see your point. Worth thinking about changing habits. I have some experience of installing and using Linux (Debian distros) but oddly enough I found it easier than this Mac. The repository was full of apps, so easy to use and (of course) all free. Removing unwanted programmes was also very easy via the Software Centre. I expect I'll get used to the Mac in time.

There is a little bit of a learning curve when changing over to a Mac.

The secret I found, and it helped me a lot, was to stop thinking Microsoft and Windows.

pbd said:

Thank you for that alternative view of the use of Trash - I can see your point. Worth thinking about changing habits. I have some experience of installing and using Linux (Debian distros) but oddly enough I found it easier than this Mac. The repository was full of apps, so easy to use and (of course) all free. Removing unwanted programmes was also very easy via the Software Centre. I expect I'll get used to the Mac in time.

Click to expand...

Removing unwanted apps is even easier in OS X. With only a few exceptions, you simply put it in the Trash. Done. If you are inclined to obsess over the preference files that get left behind, use one of the many "uninstaller" apps out there that can root out any leftover files. There are a handful of apps that are best removed with their own uninstaller, usually bundled with those apps.

Gandalph - yes, there is a learning curve but I will get better with time and patience. The problem with forgetting Windows is that this is my point of reference, after all I have been using it for fourteen years. Microsoft is how I learned to use a computer (self taught) so where I am now is down to that experience. Hopefully, one day I will be just as comfortable with the Mac as I am with Windows.

Lifeisabeach - yes, I am a bit obsessive about file remnants. Shame that doesn't transfer to housework! LOL Anyway, I have decided to do as has been suggested and will make a folder for stuff I am not sure about, only tranferring it to the bin when sure and immediately deleting it. As has been said, I have been using it incorrectly i.e. as a file store. My little basket is now empty.

pbd said:

Gandalph - yes, there is a learning curve but I will get better with time and patience. The problem with forgetting Windows is that this is my point of reference, after all I have been using it for fourteen years. Microsoft is how I learned to use a computer (self taught) so where I am now is down to that experience. Hopefully, one day I will be just as comfortable with the Mac as I am with Windows.

Lifeisabeach - yes, I am a bit obsessive about file remnants. Shame that doesn't transfer to housework! LOL Anyway, I have decided to do as has been suggested and will make a folder for stuff I am not sure about, only tranferring it to the bin when sure and immediately deleting it. As has been said, I have been using it incorrectly i.e. as a file store. My little basket is now empty.

Click to expand...

Allow me to recommend an app: Hazel. I recently started trying it after another member recommended here and it is fantastic! It has options to auto-empty anything in the trash after it has sat there for a set number of hours/days/weeks. It can immediately delete anything over a certain size (I've found that actually takes about a minute before it does so). It also has a feature to let it screen for apps dropped in the Trash, at which point it will offer to look for any leftover preferences and other "helper" files that may be left behind. Unlike most others, it will also offer to do the same for other user accounts when logged into those. Most "uninstallers" only look for those files in the user account you are logged into. It has a handful of other features, but these might be of the most interest to you.

Thank you for that recommendation. Will take a look. Meanwhile, I was struggling a bit (no, a lot) with installing Afloat. I thought I had it OK yesterday and that I had managed to delete it. Anyway, had another go and the install procedure was not the same as the instructions on the Internet. Have therefore used another download source and it says it is now installed. Not sure why - might be something to do with SIMBL or whatever. Anyway, it doesn't appear in the applications folder but when you click on 'Window' it is there and you just click 'Keep Afloat' so it seems pretty much the same as Desk Pins except that it doesn't work on all applications - Firefox being one. It does work on Safari though.

pbd said:

Thank you for that recommendation. Will take a look. Meanwhile, I was struggling a bit (no, a lot) with installing Afloat. I thought I had it OK yesterday and that I had managed to delete it. Anyway, had another go and the install procedure was not the same as the instructions on the Internet. Have therefore used another download source and it says it is now installed. Not sure why - might be something to do with SIMBL or whatever. Anyway, it doesn't appear in the applications folder but when you click on 'Window' it is there and you just click 'Keep Afloat' so it seems pretty much the same as Desk Pins except that it doesn't work on all applications - Firefox being one. It does work on Safari though.

Click to expand...

Yeah, Afloat relies on SIMBL to inject code into the system to make it do things it wasn't designed to do (that's the best way I can think to describe it, anyway). The problem with SIMBL is that it has the potential to destabilize the system, although in practice I think that mostly depends on what 3rd party apps are actually doing through SIMBL. Another problem with SIMBL is that it hasn't been updated since 2011 and doesn't really work well with OS 10.7 and later. What you should use is EasySIMBL, which is more up to date. I would uninstall the original SIMBL, then install EasySIMBL and see if that helps. The download includes an uninstaller.

As for Firefox, it may not be working with Afloat because Firefox isn't actually a native Mac app. It was compiled with cross-platform tools and while it mimics being a Mac-native app, it actually can't access some of the features in OS X, like setting custom keyboard shortcuts via the System Preferences. I suppose what Afloat does only works for "proper" Mac-native apps.

Thank you for that information. All is working well at the moment - not too concerned that it doesn't work with some apps. Another lesson learned.