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follicle
08-31-2007, 07:37 PM
I just got my first MAC. I've worked with them before, but there's still a lot I have to learn. I think I did something bad...

I wanted to create an Alias on my desktop that would take me straight to my applications. So I went into my finder and dragged the applications folder to the desktop thinking that I would create an Alias. Bad idea. Apparently, it moved the actual applications folder onto my desktop. I went into all of my design programs (Adobe CS3) and I got a message telling me that the program's contents were moved and prompted me to click "repair" to repair the problem. I've done this on all of my CS3 applications and everything seems to be functioning okay now. I went to open Safari and it told me that it couldn't be found. I tried to open it again and now it works fine.

So tell me, was that really bad or should I be okay? I mean, everything seems to be functioning okay, but I'm still a little shook up.

Should I try to put the applications folder back where it was originally? If so, were does it go? I wasn't even paying attention when I moved it to my desktop.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
DesignVHL
08-31-2007, 07:40 PM
you can move your apps back to your startup disk / hd - it should go into the root directory...
follicle
08-31-2007, 07:55 PM
Okay... I moved the Apps folder back to the Macintosh HD and after repairing all of the Adobe programs, everything seemed to work okay.

Wow... that was scary.

Thanks for the help.
doubting_thomas
08-31-2007, 07:58 PM
Wow... that was scary.
Hehe... You're not in Kansas anymore! :D
Craig B
08-31-2007, 07:59 PM
If you want to create an alias to anything (files or folders) on a Mac ... cmnd + option drag it somewhere. Not only that, but you could drag it to the dock where it will essentially be an alias.
SurfPark
08-31-2007, 08:01 PM
Dragging anything out of your applications folder will uninstall the program. Be careful!
Craig B
08-31-2007, 08:03 PM
??? It doesn't uninstall it. It just moves it.

You can run apps from pretty much anywhere on your computer.
follicle
08-31-2007, 08:10 PM
??? It doesn't uninstall it. It just moves it.

You can run apps from pretty much anywhere on your computer.

That's what I was thinking...
SurfPark
08-31-2007, 08:10 PM
My mistake. I figured it out. Read this...

http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/mac031004.html
follicle
08-31-2007, 08:20 PM
Good read. Thanks for the info!
mojoprime
08-31-2007, 08:55 PM
but be careful with installing programs anywhere, and be particularly careful when moving apple apps from the applications folder. system and security updates look for a particular path on the apple applications and if the apps are moved, typically not only will the app not be patched but often the entire update will fail or have errors.

it's often the advice of support folks to leave the applications in the apps folder, and since harddrives are so cheap or since it's fairly easy to partition your harddrive -- if you feel like you're running out of space -- you can save your actual working files to another drive. it's particularly helpful when doing backups. back up the files drives often, and the apps drives once a week or so, for example.