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Is there a "start" button

How do I browse installed software? Do Macs have a "start" button similar to Windows or do I just go to "applications" in my hard drive?

Posted on Dec 26, 2006 5:12 PM

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25 replies

Dec 26, 2006 5:57 PM in response to Danny Boy®

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.

Dec 26, 2006 6:03 PM in response to Danny Boy®

???

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.

Dec 26, 2006 6:51 PM in response to Danny Boy®

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

Dec 27, 2006 6:09 AM in response to Kebabselector

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.

Jan 2, 2007 3:08 PM in response to distro_1

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.

Jan 2, 2007 3:52 PM in response to poisongirl

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.

Jan 2, 2007 6:45 PM in response to Plecostomus

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.

Is there a "start" button

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