Is there a "start" button

From the desktop select the Macintosh HD folder. [This is where all your files are stored. Its like opening C in My Computer.] Next open Applications and you can browse all the programs installed. If you download anything from the internet, program wise, or CD, usually all you have to do is drag the file you click to open the application into the Application folder. It is now installed and ready to go. To delete an app, you just need to drag it to the trash and empty it and its gone.

There is a 3ed party software that you can download called appzapper. It does have a feature to delete and list all the installed applications.

If you are looking for a way to see everything installed you can do that in system profiler.

Select the Apple Icon in the top left, and select about this mac. In the window that open select more inof... In the system profiler that opens up, on the left click software and it will list all the software programs installed as well as some additional information.

Hope that helps.

no, there is not a start button, because the start button was a bad idea to begin with.

One thing you can do that is helpful...
open finder
drag the Applications folder to the dock (it will move to the right side)
now you can right click to see all available apps

???

As mymacrules says in his reply you only need to browse your Applications Folder. In there too will be a Utilities Folder that stores all your 'system' related applications.

Once you open an application and decide you like it and may use it a lot you can keep it icon in your Dock by placing your cursor over the icon and 'control clicking' (hold down 'ctrl' and click) and then selecting 'Keep in Dock' from the contextual menu that appears. You can also delete icon by simply clicking and holding the trackpad down on them ...and then dragging them off.

no, there is not a start button, because the start button was a bad idea to begin with

Was it?

Of all the things to hate on windows the Start Button would be fairly low on the list.

Anyway like your suggestion i've dragged the Applications to dock.

3991

Hello Danny Boy,

Of course there are equivalents to this "Start button".

For example, you can:

- In System Preferences > Appearance,
set "Number of Recent Items" (Applications) to 50,
and open your applications then from the menu Apple > Recent Items.

You can also:

- Download and install XMenu or another one of the launchers you'll find at Version Tracker.

Some Finder enhancers too have handy ways to launch applications, among their numerous features.


-- Of course the traditional Mac OS X way is to simply add your most commonly used applications to the Dock.
-- You can also add the ones you always use, to
System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items.

-- Spotlight:
Usually, typing the beginning of an application's name suffices. Yet another very quick, very handy application launcher.


Enjoy your Mac!
Axl

the start button is just an action. it takes two actions to get to applications in Windows. (1) Start, (2) Programs.

OS/X also needs two actions to get to applications. (1) Finder, (2) Applications.

The Dock lets you get to the important stuff quick in one step. You can also save application alias's or shortcuts to your desktop or in a seperate folder.

I suppose the quick-task bar in Windows would be the closes equivalent to the Dock.

The side-bar and the dock are two very seperate and unique items. You can drag an app from the application folder to the Dock. The side-bar is just a quick-reference to locations on your hard-drive, such as your desktop and favourite media folders.

Yeah, but the start button brings up a menu that can keep expanding, and you can manuver through all the programs and subcategories easily by just moving the mouse around, no clicking needed until you get where you want to go (what program you want to run). Once you do that, then the Start menu goes back into hiding so you don't have to close or minimize the folder to get it to not be shown anymore. Also, shortcut icons on the desktop are much more used which act just like the dock does really, and there are also the options for the Quick Launch of programs, program icons in the system tray (where the clock is) where you can select which ones to "hide" all the time or just when inactive... etc.

There are also many programs that let you customize and configure the start menu, quick launch and system tray areas to the way you want them, as well as the right click button menu and so forth. There are also many different "dock" applications available.

And while you can say that Microsoft or the other 3rd Party companies stole those ideas from OSX (which may be true), it doesn't change the fact that Windows has tons of different options available, many with freeware even...

Personally, I really do like OSX alot, as the only thing I have always disliked and still do, is the fact that the top menu bar changes with each program and you have to go into the recent applications list to go back to another program window that is still open to access it (if you are using Full Screen sized program windows).

This above, compared to windows with the tabs for each open application (if not in the system tray as an icon), where you can easily just click on the tab you want and it takes over the current focus, or you can have all be "hidden" by being minimized and just shown by the tab in the bottom bar.

Windows also actually closes the program when you hit the "close window" button on it, instead of making it look gone but still having it's processes running (which is how the windows Mobile OS for PDAs is, and there are a million different freeware applications that have been created to use to help correct this problem by actually taking over the process and letting you always "close" with the x or letting it ask you etc. This shows that there are many others out there like me, that like to permanently close an application if we know we will not be using it again for quite a while, and do it easily.

There may be many that like OSX the way it is now, which is fine too, to each their own... But, I do like the option of being able to choose which style I would like to use (which windows does at least by having more 3rd party applications expand the OS experience) and I know I would just like to see more options available for OSX in the future.

I realize this is not your main point, but a couple of comments:

Personally, I really do like OSX alot, as the only
thing I have always disliked and still do, is the
fact that the top menu bar changes with each program
and you have to go into the recent applications list
to go back to another program window that is still
open to access it (if you are using Full Screen sized
program windows).

If you have several app windows open, you can click on the app icon in the Dock to bring its windows to the front.

Another trick you might find useful: You can create a folder containing aliases to applications, drag that folder into the Dock, and ctrl-click on the Dock folder icon to pop up a list of those aliases to choose from. I do this with a list of apps/utilities that I don't use often enough to put in the Dock individually. You might find this a bit like a non-hierarchical start menu.

Yes, thank you, your second idea does sound very appealing as I don't want to add too many items, Icon-wise, to the dock itself. I will add your little hint to my "To Do List" of things to add/install/fix in OSX...

I always welcome new ideas. If I choose to not use it at that point, it's fine, but I will have at least heard about it, maybe even bookmarked it, and then can use it easily anytime in the future.


Much appreciated. Thanks.

I have heard QuickSilver get mentioned many times in the past couple weeks now, but other than knowing it is a launcher utility? that almost everyone seems to love and say is a "must have", I don't know much about it.

Can someone explain it to me a bit, and at least tell me if it is a more simple utility (easy to use and not many features), an average one (easy to use or a easy and advanced mode option with a fair amount of features), or more complex (still possibly easy to use and understand but with a slew of features to use)? Though I don't know how complex you could get with a launcher program, especially if all it ends up doing is auto-starting certain programs/applications for you at certain times or after the boot up start of the OS....

Thanks in advance. Feel free to name off some of the other "must have" Freeware applications for OSX as well, I would love it. I have several websites bookmarked for OS X Freeware, but Individual Application Names are so much more helpful.

well im a teen and i dont use spotlight as it takes longer to search the whole system. i set it to a hot key combo(cmd and /) and it activiates it, i type what i want and it pulls it up until i press enter..
I use it becuase my screen is cracked and awaiting repair and spotlight is in the corner where its cracked...

Just so you know, you need not make aliases of application icons and put them in a separate folder before dragging it to the dock. You can simply drag your Applications folder into the right side of the dock. When you click-and-hold or right-click on it, you'll get a listing of all your programs just like you have in the Windows Start menu.

That's what I do. I also have my Home folder in the dock as well. I can get to any application or any document on my computer just by right-clicking on either of those folders in the dock.

Give it a try it a try for a couple of days. It recreates much of the Start menu functionality. It takes two seconds to set up and less the than a second to remove if you don't like it (just drag 'em out and watch 'em go poof).

I created a folder on my dock to hold apps that a frequently use together. Create the folder on your desktop and drag it to the dock next to the trash. Then, browse your HD for the apps, create an alias of the apps you want to add to the folder, and drag those aliases to the folder.

Now, when I need that app I can point my mouse at the folder on the dock and hold the button down. A menu will pop up and I can choose any app that is in that folder and launch it quickly.

and you have to go into the recent applications

list

to go back to another program window that is still
open to access it (if you are using Full Screen

sized

program windows).

Well I suppose that is one way to do it but my goodness, a bit the long way around. Just press Apple-Tab then repeatedly hit Tab to cycle through your open apps. Or select from the dock if you don't want ot use the keyboard. Set your Dock to hide itself when you don't want to have it on the display.