Installing applications on Mac OS X
One thing that new switchers from Windows often find confusing when first using the operating system is installing an application. This guide shall explain the simple stages involved in installing the popular instant messaging application, Microsoft Messenger.
1. Download your DMG file and open it. Rather than using Windows executable files Mac OS X uses DMG files to store a directory of files for using when running and installing your applications.
2. Upon opening the DMG file a mountable drive shall appear on your desktop and in your Finder window, and upon opening the mountable drive the program icon will usually appear. Rather than this icon being the installation wizard, this is actually the program itself.
3. Open up a new Finder window and navigate to your Applications folder. Simply drag across the program icon from the mountable drive into your Applications folder, and from there open the program icon.
4. The program has now been installed. If you wish for the icon to appear in your dock, simply drag the program icon from your Application folder into the dock and a shortcut will now appear within the dock, as well as the actual program icon that will still remain within the Application folder.
5. Close the mountable drive window and drag the mountable drive icon on your desktop towards the trash can. As you drag the icon across the desktop the trash can will change to an eject symbol and allow you to drag the mountable drive onto it. After the mountable drive has been successfully ejected proceed to either deleting the DMG file or transferring it to a safe location for future use.
Tip: Rather than opening up a new Finder window to navigate to your Applications folder, simply click the horizontal icon at the top right of the mountable drive window. This will open up the window you are in fully, allowing you to see a full Finder window thus showing your Applications folder.