Installing applications for ONE user only

preference panes that you want installed for only one user should just go into

Users/<username>/Library/PreferencePanes/

for applications you can just make a folder inside /Users/<username>/ called Applications and then put a link onto the dock for it.

Some programs will do (part of) this automatically.

For example, Firefox can be installed in the Applications folder, but any plugins you later install are user specific, and are installed in the users folder.

The problem you may run across is many programs want to be installed in the applications folder - if they are not in Applications, the program may fail to run properly, updates may fail, install in the 'wrong' place, or not be detected (since the primary application is in the 'wrong' place.)


In some cases, a program installed in a subfolder of applications may also not work

I tried that with several games... made a Games folder under Applications. Some worked, some complained they couldn't find support files.

As AJ says, it is not advisable to move Applications out of the Applications folder. If you create a standard user without admin privileges there's no way for that user to "pollute" the system or your user.

If the clutter in Documents bothers you, create a folder called "MyStuff" within Documents and keep all user data there to separate it from Application stuff.

All this clutter (even in Users/username/Library/Application Support is easy to delete, if necessary.



-mj

Not wanting anyone else to run any applications sounds to me as if you actually don't want anyone else using the computer at all. If you can't run any applications you can't use the computer. So why worry? Just don't tell anyone your own log-in password.

You won't hurt anything by trying to install 3rd party apps in a user's home folder. As previously recommended, it's a very good idea to name it "Applications" and directly in the home folder, not in Documents or anything else.

Also as stated, some 3rd party apps just won't be happy there, and will only run (or only run reliably) in the system-level Applications folder. Not much you can do about that.

It's not clear if you want to segregate any Apple apps this way. Apple strongly discourages this. Some may work if moved out of the system-level Applications folder, but others either won't work or will do any number of bizarre things. Also, if you ever upgrade or reload your system, you can end up with 2 possibly-different versions of the same app, perhaps with their support files mixed, overwritten, or otherwise corrupted. Many rather nasty possibilities.

well unless you give applications administrative privileges on install it can only put things into that users library folder.