[applenewbie]

Hello all,
As my name implies I am a windows user gone awry now totally new to mac's and lovin' every minute of it so far.
But, this is so simple of a question I hate to ask it. I have looked using mac help and even on line to find the answer.
How does one delete applications or programs from your harddrive?. I see no place to remove them unless you just drag to trash can. Thanks for your help in advance.

[reader50]

Just drag to the trash can.

There is likely to be a Preferences file which you can also trash. However, leaving the prefs file while the app is missing will do nothing. Just waste 4K of disk space. The prefs file (if present) well be at Macintosh HD/System Folder/Preferences/<app name> prefs

A handful of applications will have an extension (driver) in the Extensions folder, and/or a Control Panel in the Control Panels folder. Usually anything that talks to custom hardware (like a webcam utility or video control software for a 3rd party video card) will have these items. Again, leaving them when the app is gone (or custom hardware is gone) will do nothing worse than waste a little memory & HD space. Such applications usually have an uninstall option in their installer, in case you really do want to remove every remaining piece of them. The option would be under the Custom install option in the installer.

You can move applications too, by just dragging. You DO NOT have to uninstall, then reinstall just to move an app.

And welcome to the Mac, where things usually are easier.

[bradoesch]

I remember first learning that I could move the folders of apps around wherever I wanted. It was a great thing, because I could never do that with windows.

I would suggest trying to look for control panels and extensions from apps that you have deleted. If you get rid of the extensions (if there is one) after you delete the app, then there's no chance for a future extension conflict and it won't take up memory every time for no reason. Also, some installers create a log file that tells you the location of every file that it made. If you still have the log file (I ahh, err, usually delete them right away...), then you could use it and get all the files exactly.

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Why 1984, won't be
like "1984"

[Knof8]

Ahh learning all about a new system. While I do think Windows has a good idea with almost every application having an uninstall feature the mac is not hard to get rid of Apps either. Just to be on the safeside though I would also recommend that after you have emptied your trash can and deleted the files then go through and use the Sherlock (open apple+f) on the desktop and type in the name of the App you just delted. Sometimes they hide little things, and this is a good way to make sure that it is gone.