This was a great thread for me since I plan to buy an ibook or powerbook this summer.
Has MAC OS always had such an easy way to uninstall? My first home computer was a Mac (I don't even know what it was-back in 96), but I was always deleting stuff by just dragging it to the trash.
I often think how stupid I must have been to get rid of programs that way, but maybe it wasn't so stupid. ha-ha.
I can't wait to play with the MAC OS. Of course, I'm also learning a couple distros of linux right now, and I think windows install/uninstall is easy compared to what I had to go through learning to install in linux the first few times. ha-ha.
I'm anxiously looking forward to my first real mac.
Sorry guys, I think XP has the upper hand in removing programs. The add/remove programs feature erases everything, even aliases that the installer makes. In one click of the mouse. OS X has no uninstaller making you "find" everything and then moving it to the trash.
Sorry guys, I think XP has the upper hand in removing programs. The add/remove programs feature erases everything, even aliases that the installer makes. In one click of the mouse. OS X has no uninstaller making you "find" everything and then moving it to the trash.
Sorry, but XP has a better way of doing it.
No, it doesn't, it NEEDS to do it. OSX just doesn't have that need.
It has nothing to do with OSX, but with the software written for it. In the Wintel world they're used to uninstallers, because they really need it (and far from every program includes it, wich can be a drag ...).
There are a few softs for OSX who do have an uninstaller however, Microsoft Office for example. So it's not Apple, but They Who Write the Programs.
Ofcourse, the add/remove feature is in the OS itself and is based, I believe, on the info of the registry. And you don't want that in OSX
Wow... that's the first time I heard someone say that... well... seriously anyway. Try "removing" something from say....Symantec via XP's "Add/Remove"... and you'll find a plethora of registry entries, hidden files, regular files, etc... all left all over the place. OS X is infinately better at removing programs than XP... you just have to understand how XP works. If you just go to "Add/Remove" programs in XP to remove something... and see it's gone... yeah... it "looks" pretty easy.... the truth of it is there is so much crap left behind that over time your registry grows to enormous sizes, you'll try to install newer versions of programs that won't be happy with left over registry entries from older versions... Ugg!!! I get frustrated just typing about it!
Sorry guys, I think XP has the upper hand in removing programs. The add/remove programs feature erases everything, even aliases that the installer makes. In one click of the mouse. OS X has no uninstaller making you "find" everything and then moving it to the trash.
Sorry, but XP has a better way of doing it.
Ummmm, no, thanks for playing anyway though.
Windows includes many tools that Windows users look at the Mac and say "You don't get that for free? How ridiculous!" not realizing that the tools are *kludges* to cover up *problems*.
Disk defrag? Problem is a poor filesystem design leading to horrendous and continual fragmentation.
Anti-virus? Problem is a poor security model that makes it an easy target.
Uninstall? Problem is that programs are required to be installed by jumping through hoops and setting all sorts of invisible things that the user can't see or get to.
Guess what... no problem, no tool needed. That's why the Mac doesn't ship with those tools, and why they simply aren't needed by 99% of the Mac users out there.
As for the apps that do run Installers on the Mac, most of them are doing it utterly wrong. There's no need for an Installer to spew crap all over the hard drive anymore, and no need therefore to keep track of where everything is and go find it to delete it. But some developers (MS anyone?) *INSIST* on doing it that way because they simply can't believe, or don't get, that it simply isn't needed anymore. It really is that easy. And they really are doing it incorrectly in most cases that use an installer.
Drag, drop, done. That's the way it should be. Thankfully, that's the way it is in most cases.
I thought defragmentation was done on macs, but behind the scenes during the night.
Actually, it's on going, and so the fragging never really hits the levels you see on Windows machines.
Ie, they take care of it at the filesystem level, automatically, so you don't have to manually run a defrag tool. I mean, that's just stupid to have to make the user do.
It's pretty simple, really. If you installed it by dragging a folder somewhere, drag that folder to the trash. Done. If you installed it by running an installer, rerun that installer, and there will (should) be an Uninstaller option. Done.
There really isn't anything more to it in 99.9% of the cases out there. Every so often a developer will screw things up, but gosh darnit, they have to try hard to do so.
Yes, you can drag 99.99% applications on Mac into trash. It's easy and efficient. However, I do have two questions.
First, I tried to delete an old version of Firefox. Yet, I couldn't delete them completely because some files inside default.pib is always in use, even though I tried restart my Mac many times. How could you find out which specific file is in use and delete it?
Second, I tried to delete Windows Media Player 9.0 for Mac (my son use it for awhile). However, some files are always in lock, even though I changed file ownership and permission. How can you completely delete Windows program for Mac?
The basic rule is: if you used an Installer to install it, you're going to want to use an Uninstaller to remove it.
As for WMP, I'm not surprised... you may want to find out specifically what is locked, and report back, but if it's inside the application, you should be able to just ctrl-click on the icon, and select Show Package Contents, then dive through to find the offending tidbit(s), select it, and do a Get Info (Cmd-I). You can then unlock the file manually. (Bottom of the General pane, at the top.)
Ditto for Firefox.
If all else fails, there are ways you can terminate with extreme prejudice at the command line.
Ok. Regarding default.pib, I could delete everything visible. Yet, I suspect there're some .* files (files begin with a .) still running and I couldn't delete.
My question is: How can I delete a .* file if it resides in the trash folder?
Ok. Regarding default.pib, I could delete everything visible. Yet, I suspect there're some .* files (files begin with a .) still running and I couldn't delete.
My question is: How can I delete a .* file if it resides in the trash folder?
open up terminal, cd to the trash folder, type ls -la, delete all files using rm,
try a 'sudo rm' on the files if you get a permission error,
type ls -la again to check if you've deleted all files you wanted to delete,
done.
or get a program called onyx at macupdate which lets you force empty the trash with a single click
Comments
I to am a very recent convert to Mac. 12" power book 1.33
I have been a windows user for years, and found this reply helpful. Been wondering how the whole file stucture works. Thanks.
my wife has an iMac and i would like my next computer to be a Mac too. So I have been reading up on things etc
very helpfull! Thanks
Has MAC OS always had such an easy way to uninstall? My first home computer was a Mac (I don't even know what it was-back in 96), but I was always deleting stuff by just dragging it to the trash.
I often think how stupid I must have been to get rid of programs that way, but maybe it wasn't so stupid. ha-ha.
I can't wait to play with the MAC OS. Of course, I'm also learning a couple distros of linux right now, and I think windows install/uninstall is easy compared to what I had to go through learning to install in linux the first few times. ha-ha.
I'm anxiously looking forward to my first real mac.
Sorry, but XP has a better way of doing it.
Originally posted by His Dudeness
Sorry guys, I think XP has the upper hand in removing programs. The add/remove programs feature erases everything, even aliases that the installer makes. In one click of the mouse. OS X has no uninstaller making you "find" everything and then moving it to the trash.
Sorry, but XP has a better way of doing it.
No, it doesn't, it NEEDS to do it. OSX just doesn't have that need.
It has nothing to do with OSX, but with the software written for it. In the Wintel world they're used to uninstallers, because they really need it (and far from every program includes it, wich can be a drag ...).
There are a few softs for OSX who do have an uninstaller however, Microsoft Office for example. So it's not Apple, but They Who Write the Programs.
Ofcourse, the add/remove feature is in the OS itself and is based, I believe, on the info of the registry. And you don't want that in OSX
Originally posted by His Dudeness
Sorry guys, I think XP has the upper hand in removing programs. The add/remove programs feature erases everything, even aliases that the installer makes. In one click of the mouse. OS X has no uninstaller making you "find" everything and then moving it to the trash.
Sorry, but XP has a better way of doing it.
Ummmm, no, thanks for playing anyway though.
Windows includes many tools that Windows users look at the Mac and say "You don't get that for free? How ridiculous!" not realizing that the tools are *kludges* to cover up *problems*.
Disk defrag? Problem is a poor filesystem design leading to horrendous and continual fragmentation.
Anti-virus? Problem is a poor security model that makes it an easy target.
Uninstall? Problem is that programs are required to be installed by jumping through hoops and setting all sorts of invisible things that the user can't see or get to.
Guess what... no problem, no tool needed. That's why the Mac doesn't ship with those tools, and why they simply aren't needed by 99% of the Mac users out there.
As for the apps that do run Installers on the Mac, most of them are doing it utterly wrong. There's no need for an Installer to spew crap all over the hard drive anymore, and no need therefore to keep track of where everything is and go find it to delete it. But some developers (MS anyone?) *INSIST* on doing it that way because they simply can't believe, or don't get, that it simply isn't needed anymore. It really is that easy. And they really are doing it incorrectly in most cases that use an installer.
Drag, drop, done. That's the way it should be. Thankfully, that's the way it is in most cases.
Originally posted by ibook911
I thought defragmentation was done on macs, but behind the scenes during the night.
Actually, it's on going, and so the fragging never really hits the levels you see on Windows machines.
Ie, they take care of it at the filesystem level, automatically, so you don't have to manually run a defrag tool. I mean, that's just stupid to have to make the user do.
It's pretty simple, really. If you installed it by dragging a folder somewhere, drag that folder to the trash. Done. If you installed it by running an installer, rerun that installer, and there will (should) be an Uninstaller option. Done.
There really isn't anything more to it in 99.9% of the cases out there. Every so often a developer will screw things up, but gosh darnit, they have to try hard to do so.
First, I tried to delete an old version of Firefox. Yet, I couldn't delete them completely because some files inside default.pib is always in use, even though I tried restart my Mac many times. How could you find out which specific file is in use and delete it?
Second, I tried to delete Windows Media Player 9.0 for Mac (my son use it for awhile). However, some files are always in lock, even though I changed file ownership and permission. How can you completely delete Windows program for Mac?
As for WMP, I'm not surprised... you may want to find out specifically what is locked, and report back, but if it's inside the application, you should be able to just ctrl-click on the icon, and select Show Package Contents, then dive through to find the offending tidbit(s), select it, and do a Get Info (Cmd-I). You can then unlock the file manually. (Bottom of the General pane, at the top.)
Ditto for Firefox.
If all else fails, there are ways you can terminate with extreme prejudice at the command line.
My question is: How can I delete a .* file if it resides in the trash folder?
Originally posted by coelho
Ok. Regarding default.pib, I could delete everything visible. Yet, I suspect there're some .* files (files begin with a .) still running and I couldn't delete.
My question is: How can I delete a .* file if it resides in the trash folder?
open up terminal, cd to the trash folder, type ls -la, delete all files using rm,
try a 'sudo rm' on the files if you get a permission error,
type ls -la again to check if you've deleted all files you wanted to delete,
done.
or get a program called onyx at macupdate which lets you force empty the trash with a single click
Mod note: edited to remove hilarious but potentially catastrophic instructions
Bad Relic. No biscuit.