Desktop files

Hi, Andrew - When you open a .dmg file containing an application you'd like to install, you should double-click on the .dmg file and when the window containing the application's icon opens, you should drag the icon, along with any documentation you'd like to keep, into your Applications folder. This will install the application.

When you've installed the application, eject the white drive icon and drag the .dmg file to the trash (unless you have some reason to keep it).

Do not launch the application you've just installed at this point. Instead, restart your computer and repair disk permissions, and when that is done, launch your newly installed application.

Good luck!

Tuttle



1668/8366

Not entirely sure why you should have program folders/white boxes on the desktop.

I think I have an idea what's happened. You download a program for you mac - lets call it X. You click it, and it unpacks to create X.dmg. You click X.dmg and that opens a folder and in the folder an icon for Application X you drag the icon to the dock? (Sometimes you start with X.dmg) and use it.

If that is correct, then you have a dock icon which is referring itself to the program in the folder which in turn is locked up in the .dmg folder. The problem is that you haven't installed the software the best way. The program comes in a packaged file. The packaged file is then opened up as a .dmg file - which is a "virtual disk" or "disk image" - this disk image then "mounts" on the desktop - creating a pretend "drive" in which is the program you want.
Your computer has to keep mounting this drive so that you can use the dock icon, so you can't delete the folder, .dmg or the original file without "orphaning" the dock icon.

If I'm correct so far - then you need to change the way you install applications to this;

1) Delete the dock icons for those applications.
2) For each application, start with the original file. Click it,
3)Extract the .dmg (you probably have this done already) and then
4)double click the .dmg to "mount" the virtual drive.
5) Open the virtual drive, find the application and drag it to your applications folder - it will be copied there.
6)Then, from the Applications folder, double click the Application icon to start the app.
7)When the app starts, click and hold the icon in the dock and select "keep in dock" if you want it there.

As the dock icon is now related to the application in the apps folder, you may now go back to your desktop and clean up.

i) Eject the virtual drive
ii) Delete the .dmg file
iii) Delete the original file.
(If you want to keep the .dmgs or the original files then put them in a separate folder.)

That's it.

I hope that is the answer to your query - if I am incorrect,I'm only trying to assist and don't mean in any way whatsoever to question your understanding of how to operate the computer.

It's generally a good idea to install applications to the applications folder for tidyness' sake, and then copy aliases from there to the dock. The beauty of os X is that for many apps you can just move the folder/application over to the apps folder without causing probs.

Best of luck.