am i doing it right?

[darknight*]

hi all, well after looking through other mac sites, this one seemed the most informed and friendly, soooo prepare for silly questions.
after always wanting a imac(mac in general) and the new pc breaking again, and windows continually hacking me off, a big hammer accidentally landed on my laptop. ooopsss..
now we took the plunge and bought a new imac.
WOW, i new they were good but this is definatly like a kid in a candy shop.
we allready own ipads and iphone 4, so it really was easy getting used to, and as i use photoshop, no new stuff to learn there at least.
my question is am i really deleting stuff this easy? when i download stuff it goes to the download folder on the bottom of the desktop, or sometimes as well it opens on the desktop itself, now, it shows a pic of the file and an arrow going to the applications folder, 1st question, do i drag the file to the app folder to put it there, as sometimes i just get a file with a no entry sign on?
2nd. when i delete, i just grab the files in download and app folder straight to the bin? really? that quick? no trawling through files and folder looking for all instances of it?
sorry, these are basic qs i know, but if youre new and dont ask you dont know.
thanks a lot for your time in advance

 

[lfc]

Yep it's that easy
Whenever you download an app, generally you drag it into the Applications folder even if there isn't a shortcut to do so. Really, you can have the app wherever you want, but the Applications folder is where Apple wants you to put it.

And for deleting, yep, thats it. Drag the app to the bin and thats all!
Some apps leave a folder in your ~/Library directory but you can ignore those. Theres no need to go and delete them unless your really picky about keeping your Mac as clean as possible. They usually only take up a couple of KB, so taking up space isn't an issue there either.

 

[darknight*]

cheers for the quick reply, i suppose i had to ask as it seems so quick and easy, not like a pc, thanks again

 

[arjen92]

It's funny you're talking about Photoshop. Because photoshop installs it's files everywhere. And it has an uninstaller. You could just throw the folder with photoshop away, but it's better to use the uninstaller. So yes, most programs you can just throw away. But if a program has an installer, changes are big you need an uninstaller to really uninstall it.

 

[Urusai89]

For the most part, the applications themselves are those application_name.app files. They are essentially folders with the files the app needs to run. Right click an application and select "View package contents" to see the folders and files within. Don't edit those though..

They may create and store files in the system Library folder, or within your own user's library folder (This holds settings and stuff). There may be other areas it could throw stuff, so if it has an uninstaller, use it.

I usually just use a shareware program called appzapper. I open it, drag the application in, and it finds most of those other files. I hit the button and it's all gone.

 

[GGJstudios]

2nd. when i delete, i just grab the files in download and app folder straight to the bin? really? that quick? no trawling through files and folder looking for all instances of it?

Dragging an app to the trash will uninstall it in most cases. Occasionally, an app will have a component that leaves an icon on the Menu Bar or a process that launches automatically. If the app has an uninstaller, that usually takes care of it. However, even with uninstallers, apps will leave files/folders behind. They usually only take up some drive space and won't affect your performance in any way. If you want to be thorough about eliminating everything associated with a deleted app, the only effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

Best way to FULLY DELETE a program​

App removal software like AppZapper, AppCleaner, etc. doesn't do a thorough job of deleting files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this.