[brauckmiller]

Ok guys, be gentle here. I'm a LONNNNNNNNNNNNNNG time PC guy and have made the leap (sorta) to a Mac Mini.

One simple question here. How in the heck do you uninstall softare from a Mac? On a PC running Windows, I just go to add/remove software and BOOM, thats it. Don't see that on the Mac. Is it as simple as dragging the application icon to the trash? But what about any support library files and junk like that?

HELP!!!!

Thanks

Craig

[Randman]

Some programs, such as M$ Office have unistallers that will get rid of everything. For most software, as long as it's not running, you can drag the offending item to the trash. If you want to get rid of all of the associated detritus, do a search (Apple F) and search for the codeword (such as Explorer if you wanted to IE). Then you can go through and junk those items as well.

[Detrius]

In general, if it was a drag-and-drop install, it's a drag-and-drop uninstall. The applications that have an installer have an uninstall option in the installer--usually.

You don't have the same overlapping stuff that you had in windows, so it's not that big of a deal--even if the stuff gets left behind.

[Brass]

Originally posted by brauckmiller:
But what about any support library files and junk like that?

A drag-and-drop-installed application, will have all such files within the application bundle itself. In Mac OS X, most applications are acutally folders, that are treated (by the Finder, and by other system services) as a single file. Any library or support resources should be within this bundle.

The only exception (for drag-and-drop-install) files would be preference files. These are not stored in the application bundle, specifically so that they are NOT removed when you delete the application. Unless you specifically delete these files they hang around so that if you ever install the application again, the preferences are just as you left them.

Preference files are generally very small, and do not cause any problems if left behind. If you really do want to get rid of them, do a search in your home directory's "Library" folder for anything that vaguely resembles the application name (usually in the "Preferences" and/or "Application Support" subfolders).