Installing and uninstalling applications

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Excellent

I too was also a puzzled windows person. I also found app zapper to be what i think is pretty helpful as I just drag the app on to app zapper icon and it does everything automatically.

Is this app really doing what I hope its doing?
 

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Is this app really doing what I hope its doing?

The answer to that is "sometimes". The reason is AppZapper and other utilities which claim to be able to remove or uninstall an application only work well on those apps which are easily removed. Most OS X applications fall into that category, however, there are apps which use an uninstaller or come with uninstall instructions. Always use those first.
 
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I tested it once, and I liked it but couldn't make myself pony up the $ to get it.
Now I use TrashMe, and it's "- Automatically detect an application moved to the Trash, and remove it's associated files" feature.
However, I see he too wants money now, so I'll just stick to the old version ;P
 
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love this post....very informative. i actually went through some youtube tutorials when i first did my switch over
 
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installing pkg apps

I appreciate this post, but have some confusion about installing a pkg on my mac. I go through all of the steps listed and give it my master password, and then it tells me my package is installed, but it does not show up anywhere in my apps or my downloads. Where is it going? i try to find it doing a search and it doesn't show up. is there another step that I need to take/

Installation Method Two - Installer

Some applications are not simple drag and drop. Fortunately, these are pretty limited to some major applications such as MS Office, a few of the System tweaking type applications and a few of the apps that pretty much everyone here would recommend never touch your Mac such as MacKeeper. They'll download the same and the dmg file will open up the same. But, in the window will be a .pkg file instead of the app itself. This is a package file and it is similar to the .exe installation files in Windows. They'll typically look like this one:

20110924-gxj2yxrdiyyrqmtm1jheqxbi11.jpg


With these pkg files, you'll double click on them and it will open up and run through an installer program similar to what you're use to in Windows.
Most of these are going to ask you for your master password. If you've purposely downloaded a specific app that you know what it is, then you're safe giving it your password. NOTE: If you ever have something open up on your dekstop and you are not sure what it is - do not give it your password.

Once you have it installed, sadly, you are not done yet.
Before you eject the dmg and delete the download you really need to find out, how do you uninstall this app.
Please read on in the Now for those apps that had their own installer, section below.
 

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How about telling what it is you're trying to install? Also, which Mac do you have and what version of OS X is it running?
 
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Im trying to install an app called "Lightscribe" which is a disc labeling program that I want to run through an external burner. I am using a MacBook Pro and am running Lion 10.7.2
 
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Game Folder Without Installer

Hi, I am a new to mac too, (got it two days ago) so exuse my ingorance ;)

I have this game called Urban Terror that basically needs no install. So I downloaded the game, unzipped it and now I have a folder on my Desktop containing several files, including the main executable. When I click the main executable, the game runs, everything is fine. But now my question:

Where do I put this folder? I don't want to leave it on my desktop forever. On Windows I'd just put it under C: \ Program Files. So is there a recommended location for my game folder?
 
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chscag

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Put the folder with the game in "Applications". The first time you run the game it will appear in the "Dock" (Large menu bar at bottom of the screen). When it appears there, right click on it and select "Keep in Dock". Now you'll have a large icon you can click on whenever you wish to start up the game.

And welcome to our forums.
 
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*Doh* thanks, that's what I was looking for. Now I have the icon in Launchpad, too :D
 
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Fay

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Hi there,

I finally decided to go with the iMac. Now - how do I get my apps from my MBP onto my iMac?

I don't want to remove them, I just want to copy them.

Thanks
 
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Thanks for the instructional posts bobtomay. They go a long way towards helping newbies begin to understand our new OS.

Thanks
 
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Very informative. New mac user for about a month. Had to intuit a lot of things on my own but this filled in a lot of gaps I had left. Thank you!
 

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I personally use CleanMyMac which does have a drag an drop feature but gets rid of all those associated files from installed apps as well as the original installer.
 
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Appcleaner is a good program to use to uninstall programs. I use that one currently.
 
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Thanks @ bobtomay for the guide!

Anyway, I read the guide but I'm still not sure how to uninstall the Tor browser (installed using a dmg file iirc). I cannot remember how I installed it though and the instructions on Tor's website does not seem to work.
sudo port uninstall tor

Do I just delete it from the Applications list?
 
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If you forget or are not easily finding uninstall instructions for a specific app, the easy way can sometimes be:

a) look up the installation guide instead of trying to find out how to uninstall it

(In the case of the Tor Browser, it's install directions state "Drag the included file into your Applications folder". This indicates you will simply drag the app to the trash to get rid of it.)

b) For those without an installation guide, just download the app again and start the install process. When you get to the install, it will either be a drag and drop or it will have an installer - you don't need to actually install it - but, you will now know the method of uninstalling you need to use.
 
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