Removing the programs I never use

robotbrycerobotbryce
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'm new to Mac, and I am trying to remove all the programs that I will never use and the trial versions that came with my MacBook. Is there a Apple version of "Add and Remove Programs" like the Windows does, and sort it by 'Last Used'. Also, in your history with Apple, is there any programs that you would recommend myself removing because you've never used them. I don' t know 100% what exactly everything is on my MacBook. Basically what I'm trying to do, is maximize all the 'Used' disk space to be true space, and not wasted Hard Drive on something I would never use. Thank you.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    You can grab all the files and drag them into the trash, it works, but if you'd rather do uninstalling quickly, use AppZapper. Sure it's probably not worth $13, but you'll use the shit out of it, so you'll get values worth in the end. Try the demo, I think you get 8 goes with the demo or something.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    yep, i like appzapper too because, yes, you COULD find all of the .plist files and such associated with an app with a little work, but would you want to? now, technically, you can toss any app and just not care if you happen to catch all of its associated preference files and the like. they'll just sit there, not taking up too much room, and never really doing anything because you've cut off the head of the app by removing the main piece. but if you're a neatnik like me, appzapper is pretty nice. occasionally, it's available with a free license (like earlier this year), but if you're also a "download every beta just to see how it works... oh crap, look at all of this stuff left behind," it pays for itself quickly.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    perhaps you all could give of list of stuff to delete, i also want to debulk my macbook when itcomes, some say half of the hd is full of this Not Needed stuff. i ordered the 120gb hd and will migrate from an ibook g4 so i need all the space i can get.

    thanks
  • Reply 4 of 13
    blascockblascock Posts: 153member
    I thought Mac OSX doesnt have the terrible registry of the windows world. I realized that programs save stuff into the library which is annoying when deleting programs, you never know if you got all of them! how come no one complains about this? its completely counters the whole simple mac programs
  • Reply 5 of 13
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    1) No, MacOS X doesn't have the registry, and this is a good thing. The registry is a 'closed' database that allows anyone to screw with it. It keeps the single copy of essential information for the computer to run, period. It is prone to corruption. It is a single-point-of-failure for the entire computer. MacOS X builds a cached version of this from data in files as needed, and keeps the cache for speed of access, but always has the original data files to fall back on in case of an issue. Much better.



    2) MacOS X has the Library, which allows each user to have their own copy of things such as preferences for apps. Your apparent suggestion, that such things be stored within the app itself, would lead to problems. What about apps stored on shared networked drives? What about using load-balancing servers in an office environment? What about upgrading applications, and losing your prefs? Bah.



    3) Apps on MacOS X *are* self-contained (usually) in that they can be upgraded, deleted, installed, etc, with a drag and drop. Ancillary files that end up in your Library are those that are unique to *you*. You're responsible for them. There's no way for the system to know, when you delete an app, if it should grab those files because you're eliminating the app completely, or deleting an old version during an upgrade, and it should leave them be.



    4) The size of the files in your Library, with a few exceptions, are miniscule and irrelevant to all but the most anal-retentive users.



    5) There's no reason to complain.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    blascockblascock Posts: 153member
    lol alright makes sense
  • Reply 7 of 13
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Ask and ye shall receive.



    For the most part, the decisions in MacOS X make sense from multiple viewpoints - the biggest barriers I see to people grokking what's going on are: a) not being able to ditch 'but that's how Windows does it', and/or b) expecting it to be 100% perfect and telepathically anticipate your needs.



    While the latter isn't too far off sometimes, it seems, it's still not perfect.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    monkeyastronautmonkeyastronaut Posts: 1,343member
    just throw them to the trash, it's fine like that, really
  • Reply 9 of 13
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Note that some applications (e.g. GarageBand) store a lot of stuff inside the /Library/Application Support/ folder. If you are deleting apps to save space, have a look in the "Application Support" folder to see if the app has stuff in there.



    Printer drivers can take up a lot of space. The can be found at /library/printers/.



    You may also be interested in delocalizer, which can delete foreign-language resources from the OS. I used this and saved around 2 GB IIRC.



    Finally, you may also be interested in Disk Inventory X, which gives a graphical representation of the data on your HDD (to help identify any data taking up a lot of space).
  • Reply 10 of 13
    trobertstroberts Posts: 702member
    Look for an application that gets rid of localizations. I freed up over 1.5GB of space by getting rid of localizations. I have an iBook so I was able to use DeLocalizer, but you have a MacBook so you will have to look for one that works on your Mac. VersionTracker is a great place to find software.



    Another suggestion, though it is a bit radical, is to do a clean install of the OS and do not include the printer drivers. If I remember correctly there was between 1.1 and 1.6 GB of drivers that did not get installed onto my system. I had no problem doing this because I know what printers I will be using so I was able to just install those drivers, but you will need to think about what peripherals you will be using before going this route.



    Pacifist is a shareware app ($20.00) that is well worth the money. From the CharlesSoft web site:



    Pacifist 2.0.1 is a shareware application that opens Mac OS X .pkg package files, .dmg disk images, and .tar, .tgz, and .tar.gz file archives and allows you to extract individual files and folders out of them. This is useful, for instance, if an application which is installed by the operating system becomes damaged and needs to be reinstalled without the hassle of reinstalling all of Mac OS X. Pacifist is also able to verify existing installations and find missing or altered files*, and Pacifist can also examine the kernel extensions installed in your system to let you see what installer installed them, and whether the installer was made by Apple or a third-party.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by troberts


    I have an iBook so I was able to use DeLocalizer, but you have a MacBook so you will have to look for one that works on your Mac.



    Delocalizer works fine on Intel Macs (it did for me, anyway).
  • Reply 12 of 13
    trobertstroberts Posts: 702member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H


    Delocalizer works fine on Intel Macs (it did for me, anyway).



    I guess it should work since Rosetta runs PPC apps. What version are you using? The one I am using is 1.1f and on VersionTracker's web site it was put out in 2002.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by troberts


    I guess it should work since Rosetta runs PPC apps. What version are you using? The one I am using is 1.1f and on VersionTracker's web site it was put out in 2002.



    Yup, version 1.1. Runs under Rosetta.
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