Welcome to the first article in myMacBUZZ’s Switch to Mac series. Installing applications in Mac OS X is a piece of cake. The same goes for uninstalling them. What’s slightly less intuitive is finding the application to install because of the different ways software is distributed in. This article will show you how to install and uninstall OS X software and you’ll be on your way to filling up your Applications folder in no time.

Common packages Mac software is distributed in. The application you want to install is hidden within.

Unpacking software packages

Right now we’ll take a look at the different ways OS X applications are distributed in. Software that you download from the internet typically comes in 3 types of packages: disk images (.dmg), zip archives (.zip) or the more obscure Stuffit archive (.sit). You will need to unpack these files before you can install the software contained within it.

Disk images

Disk images (.dmg files) are the most common method of distributing Mac software, with the majority of OS X applications distributed this way. To unpack the software inside, you must first mount the disk image by double-clicking it.

Mounted disk images have the same icons as external portable drives

Occasionally, you may need to acknowledge a license agreement before the disk image mounts. Once mounted, a new Finder window should appear revealing the contents of the mounted disk image.

Zip and Stuffit archives

Mac software is sometimes also distributed in compressed archives. Two popular formats are zip archives (.zip) and Stuffit archives (.sit). Zip archives is a popular cross platform format that OS X can unzip natively. Although quite rare now, you will still stumble across the occasional Stuffit archives due to its popularity in the past.

Uncompressing these archives are a simple matter of double-clicking the file. However, in the case of Stuffit archives, you will need to install the free Stuffit Expander first.

Installing Mac OS X applications

So now you know how to unpack software which you’ve downloaded. Depending on that software, you will find one of three items inside.

Application Bundle

An application bundle is the total software programme contained within a single file. To install this application, simply drag its icon to your Applications folder. Voila! Your application is installed. Most Mac software is distributed in this format and this is what you’ll need to do to install OS X applications 90% of the time.

Install by dragging to Applications folder

While you can run application bundles from most directories on your Mac, it is best to keep all your applications in the Applications folder. This is because software updates will automatically look there for the original application and because it’s safer from a security standpoint.

Installers

Software installer and uninstaller

Some software are more complex and require an installer to properly install the application. Run the installer by double-clicking its icon. You will need to agree to the license agreement and may probably need to enter your administrator password to install the application.

Preference Pane

Preference panes have .prefPane extensions

Certain applications don’t even come with an application bundle. Instead, they install themselves as a preference pane in your System Preferences. You can identify preference pane files by their .prefPane file extension. To install preference panes, simply double-click its icon.

Uninstalling Mac OS X applications

Uninstalling applications in OS X works pretty much the same way as installing them—through drag and drop or with an uninstaller.

Drag and drop an application to the Trash to uninstall it

For most applications, simply drag its icon out of the Application folder and into the Trash. That’s kind of like the reverse of installing an application. This is how you will uninstall most software, but some applications come with uninstallers. To uninstall these applications, just double-click to run the uninstaller. (Gee that was easy!)

Removing support files

There’s just one more thing. By default, applications you use on your Mac will create support files to store caches and support files and to keep track of your preferences. When you trash your applications, these support files still stay behind.

Generally, the support files are out of your way and don’t bother you much. Plus if you install the application you trashed earlier, you’ll have the same preferences, user accounts, recent files list, etc because the support files are still on your Mac.

Everyday applications like your browser can take up to 200MB+ of space on your hard drive

However these support files can take up an significant amount of disk space on your hard drive and that’s why you may want to consider using third party uninstaller. Two options you can use are AppZapper (USD12.95, reviewed previously on myMacBUZZ) or the free AppDelete.

So there you have it! Everything you ever wanted to know about installing and uninstalling Mac OS X applications. I hope you found this article helpful if you’re a recent switcher. If you already know this, do me a favour and tell a Mac newbie you know about this article. Cheers!