Installing, Deleting & Formatting

[glay]

Hi guys! Well I have been recently installing and trying out programs on my mac. I am a new user to it and have been very pleased with it! I have a powerbook and I think its quite an amazing little machine.
What I was wondering was is it ok for the OS if I keep deleting and installing programs .etc like for instance if i delete a program by dragging the file or files to the trash would it mean the program has been completely erased or are other files still on my computer? Sorry, I come from a Windows background where if it seems like if i delete a program half the files and scattered all over the drive in different locations. If there are files like that on a mac where could I go to find them?
I was also wondering how often you guys format your drives?
I'm just worried about keeping the system efficient and not cogged up with usless files which may affect the system. So I was thinking after I have found the programs I like, should I format my drive and install just the programs I want or is this unecessary with a mac?
Thanks!

 

[jsw]

Well, for the most part, the only time you need to delete apps are when your drive is too full and nothing else of lesser importance can be trashed - most apps are pretty small.

Also, yes, deleting the app usually deletes all you need aside from - sometimes - small preferences files in /Library/Preferences and/or /Users/[your_account]/Library/Preferences.

Some applications have other associated files, but it's nothing - nothing - like the Windows registry.

My 2003 PowerMac G5, my 2002 iMac, and my 1999 PowerBook have been reformatted a total of once - when I went from OS 9 to OS X on the PowerBook.

Unlike Windows, the number of applications installed on your Mac will have almost no effect whatsoever on performance. In fact, even the word "installed" is a bit deceptive for most apps - you simply drag them to the Applications folder.