Installing Applications on Your Mac
If you just got your shiny new Mac and you’re clueless as to how to install your favorite applications, then look no further. Here’s the Mac Dummy guide to installing and managing installed applications on Mac OS X.
The majority of the latest Mac OS X compatible applications are distributed as .dmg files; dmg (abbreviation for disk image) files are compressed archives that can be “mounted” under the Mac OS X Finder. The process of “mounting” a .dmg file involves making the contents of that file available to the user as a regular storage device like a CD, DVD or a hard drive volume.
The first step to install a new application is to download and save the application’s .dmg installation file to a temporary location in your home directory. Simply double click on the .dmg file and the Finder will automatically open, mount the image file and create a shortcut to the image disk on your desktop.
At the same time, a new Finder window will be displayed allowing you to view the contents of the disk image.
In order to complete the installation, simply drag the application icon to the location where you want the application to be installed, usually the Application folder on your Mac. A link to the Application folder is located on the left side of the Finder window (the sidebar), along with links to Documents, Movies, Music and Pictures.
At this point you can unmount the disk image file by dragging the desktop icon to the trash bin or by choosing “Eject” from the properties context menu (Ctrl Click) of the desktop shortcut.
When you get tired of that application and you want to uninstall it, simply navigate to the Applications folder and drag the application’s icon to the Trash on the Mac OS X Dock. Most of the time, this will complete the uninstall process but some applications will leave behind some of their configuration and user preferences files under the /Library folder on the file system. I’m not usually very concerned about it but sometimes will take a look under the /Library folder and do a little house cleaning.
If you really want to remove 100% of all application files you can use 3rd party software like AppZapper and AppDelete that will locate and delete all preference files left behind after the application was uninstalled.
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