Uninstallting/Installing software on iMac?

Question

I just got a iMac from ebay. I need to uninstal some programs and install new ones. How do I go about doing this? I never used a Mac before and this item did not come with instructions. Thanks

Answer 1

Deleting the application itself (located in the Applications folder) and emptying the trash will uninstall it. The problem is in most cases, applications will also leave behind preference and support files which take up space. Preference files on OS X basically contain a list of parameters that the application and system use to define saved preferences. These files can take up anything from a few kilobytes to several megabytes of disk space dependant on the application, so it's probably a good idea to get rid of them.

AppZapper and SuperPop are two excellent shareware applications specifically designed to uninstall software and all associated files from your system. This will save you hassle of manually searching and deleting the files yourself.

AppZapper ✓
http://appzapper.com/

SuperPop
http://www.fecktory.com/SuperPop.html

Answer 2

Throw the app in the trash and empty it! Pretty simple, but not really. That deletes the application, but your preference files are in your users folder, and you may have some data files for some programs. Those are located in the main library and the user file's library, usually under Application Support. Usually they are very small files, less than 1MB in size. Use Spotlight (10.4+) or the search option in the finder to find all files with the application name you're trying to delete if you want to do that. There's also programs that do that for you, but i don't know any by name.

This may seem like a pain, but there are a lot of advantages of having the applications contained the way they are.

Answer 3

go to apple.com and you can download any directions needed. if you have an apple store near you they have great classes and even a concierge who can asnwer all your questions!!
enjoy!