Hello guys, so i just got my new 13inch macbook pro today, and i love it, but being a PC user my whole life im kind of confused. When i download an application for example firefox, i get a .dmg and a disk appears in my desktop, usually in windows you run a setup and it installs, when i try to remove the icon from the mac desktop it tells me it cannot do so since its being used by firefox, i thought that when you install an application on the mac, its similar to windows in which you run the setup and thats it, im confused, can someone please explain to me how this works?
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Confused about applications - New Mac User
- Thread starter Radiosuit
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For firefox what happens is your DL the dmg file, open it, move that FF icon to your applications folder, unmount (eject) the DMG file (open finder and you'll see the universal eject symbol) and then trash the dmg.
Basically the dmg is a container and usually you're only having to drag and drop the application icon into your application folder. There are fewer instances when something "installs" as you know it within OSX.
Basically the dmg is a container and usually you're only having to drag and drop the application icon into your application folder. There are fewer instances when something "installs" as you know it within OSX.
Drag the Firefox app that's located in the .DMG to your Applications folder. Say goodbye to installer's on Mac OS X
Yes, this situation leads to much confusion for many new Mac users. Generally when a download is a DMG all you have to do to install the application is drag it to your applications folder. Thats it! Then eject the DMG (disk image) and you can throw that away. Run the application from your applications folder, no setup or install needed.
Now if you ever download a DMG that contains a Package file, then that is an installer that you run from the DMG. You'll know its a package file because the icon looks like a brown box (i.e. package).
Now if you ever download a DMG that contains a Package file, then that is an installer that you run from the DMG. You'll know its a package file because the icon looks like a brown box (i.e. package).