One of the first questions that I get asked by new Mac users is “how do I delete unwanted programs?” The answer can be a little tricky. Most programs can be dragged to the trash can to be removed, because the Mac operating system has nothing like the windows registry to clean up; however, doing an uninstall this way can leave you with orphaned preference files.
So what is the Macintosh equivalent to the Windows Add/Remove Programs solution? The answer is there are quite a few choices. There is App Zapper at $12.95 US with free updates for life. App Zapper works very well and is fairly cheap. The next application that I tried was AppDelete. Even though the site calls it donation ware, after a fixed number of uninstalls it will force you to pay for the application. (That is shareware if you ask me.) Even though the minimum donation is $5.00 US, that is a cheap price to pay for a pretty good application. The last one that I will discuss is AppTrap. AppTrap is a free, open source application, that installs into your System Preferences tool panel, and you start the service, it is easy as that. When you delete an application by dragging it to the trash can, AppTrap checks to see if there are any files associated with it and gives you the opportunity to delete them too.
So there you have it. Three very good (yet inexpensive) applications to remove unwanted programs.
With the first day of July upon us, today seems to be the day that more info about the upcoming iPhone 3G release is surfacing. With that being said, the hype over the release has really increased. I thought I would list some of the recent news to make it easier to sort through.
AT&T posts videos on purchasing iPhone 3G. There are also other videos that show other tips like how to hand your old phone down to someone, and upgrades for existing users.
It was also announced that the iPhone 3G will be available at 8am on July 11th. Last year it was 6pm, and I can only presume this is because of the required in-store activation. As I said, the AT&T price plans are generating a lot of debate, mainly because of the dropping of included text messaging and the increased cost. What is your opinion of the plans? Will they affect your plans to purchase or upgrade to an iPhone 3G?
I work from my home office, which obviously has many advantages, but being able to connect to co-workers and others across the United States, or the world, can sometimes pose a challenge. E-mail and Instant Messaging is essential, but being able to send large documents and media has always been a bit of a catch. It’s hard to know what the attachment limit is for the e-mail provider you use, and I can’t count how many times I have e-mail rejected because of large file attachments.
There are several ways to upload files and get them to another person. The first thing that comes to mind is FTP, but not everyone has their own server, and for some FTP might be too complicated. There are also many sites you can upload files to, but I just don’t trust these services especially with sensitive information. Another issue is even if you upload the file somewhere, figuring out the exact link can also be a bit of work aadepending on which solution you use. I often have to transfer large media files via FTP to a colleague, and with all the sub-directories I have the file is usually translated into a very long url. Not real friendly.
At WWDC this year all the attention and hype was dedicated to the iPhone 3G, but think many overlookedthe announcement of MobileMe. MobileMe was announced as the replacement for .Mac and introduced many new features and labeled it as “Exchange for the rest of us”. I was never a customer of .Mac, I just personally didn’t see the value in it unless you had several Macs to keep synced, which I did not. MobileMe caught my eye mainly for the fact that it will sync my e-mail, contacts, and calendars among multiple devices, including the iPhone and my Windows PC.
Apple also showed off the new web applications that will be launched with MobileMe. This really peaked my interest as it has a unified interface so regardless of what platform I am on, I will have the same experience. At least that is what I am hoping. That pretty much convinced me that MobileMe would be worth the investment, so my step was a trip to the Apple Store.
I noticed last month that Delicious Library 2 was released by Delicious Monster, and this was anotherapplication I was anxious to try out. Delicious Library can best be described as an application that lets you easily catalog all types of items like your music collection, DVD’s, software, and more. Why is this useful you might ask? Well first off, having a complete inventory of items is very important if they were to ever be stolen or destroyed. Keeping a detailed record of your items is essential for insurance recovery. Secondly, if you are like me, you have some type of OCD where you need to keep a strict record of everything you own. Regardless of the reasons, Delicious Library is the most efficient way I have found to accomplish this task.
The UI of an application is always something I instantly scrutinize, and Delicious Library has an impressive design. The most noticeable is the bookcase-like window that not only has an attractive appearance, but makes browsing the libraries efficient. There are a few ways to add items, one of which is manually adding them. Just select the type of item, such as ’software’, and type the title in. It will then search a database and if it’s there, will present the choices from which you can select. I had no trouble finding and adding various items in several of the categories. For the few items which weren’t found, it was simple to add a blank item and enter the relevant information from there. You can also search for items and have an option to buy them from Amazon.com too.
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