total noob question

Those are disk images (DMG) you download and mounted. Those are meant for holding the application and then you drag the application into the APPLICATIONS folder. After that you can eject the DMGs.

Also have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.

Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts

Mac Beginner's Guide

Finding Mac Software

List of Mac Software

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If you have been installing software, those are probably mount disk images (The DMG files you most likely have been downloading). If you are running a program from the image rather than dragging it to the applications folder would be a possible reason you can't eject it. Otherwise, you can eject the images by dragging them to the trash.

 

Think of them as software CD-Roms. You mount them, they appear on your desktop. You drag the app inside into the Application folder (dock). You eject the CD-ROM.

 

There isn't an installation for most apps, it just copies the files to your Application folder and it's ready to run. Isn't that great?

When you download a DMG, consider it a CD. When you double click it it "mounts" the disc to your desktop, so it's like putting the CD in the CD drive. Drag the application to the applications folder (or run the installer, if it tells you to). After this, all the files you need to run the app are copied to your Applications folder, therefore you can eject the "CD" and throw it away by throwing away the .DMG file.

 

Great post. I just made the switch from a PC and this helped me very much.

 

Its great because 98% of apps install like this. Little or no input from you, other than targeting which disk sometimes to install to.

Download Zip archive or Dmg

DMG gets mounted and onto your desktop, zips you click open and then
mount the dmg inside, then delete the zip if you wish.

Open DMG if it didn't open by itself, drag to applications folder to install program.

Done.

Unmount.



Rather than selecting a plethora of options and suicideware like on windows.