>> I suppose no actual HARM will come to you if you put your Word >> files in the Application folder. > > Exactly. I'm not sure what point this proves, but if it makes you happy ... it's still a dumb thing to do. As much time as you spend instructing people how to properly use their computer, why you suddenly seem to want to encourage (or somehow vindicate) a bad practice like that is beyond me. >>> I find this even more intriguing. Which applications, exactly, will >>> cause problems if you move them out of the Applications folder? >> >> FAR too many to list here. > > Please list a few good examples. I'll list one that I can recall specifically: Quark Xpress. Remove the app from where the installer put it, and it fails to function. Try it yourself. Unless you're offering to pay me to test other apps for you, I would suggest that if YOU are the one who wants a list, YOU can spend the time testing apps. I'm not going to go through my application folder and test each app to find out which ones stop working FOR you. Some do, I've seen it and had to correct it with customers, but I don't recall any others specifically. You're going to have to take my word as an Apple Certified Tech that some apps stop working (and all Apple apps stop updating) when you move them from where the installer put them. It's a fact, and just because you didn't know it previously doesn't make it less factual. Test your own apps and report back -- maybe others can compare notes! But again, I think you're really missing the point -- the point being that messing with where the application's installer put things is generally a bad idea, and absolutely a bad practice. Would you put your system folder in the trash, EVEN if you could , and it continued to work from there? > And I would still love to hear how doing so will "Play havoc with the > directory." I would have thought this one was rather obvious, but I'll explain in more detail. NORMAL USE causes directory corruption. Every time you do ANYTHING on the computer, the computer keeps logs, makes temp space, and alters the directory a bit. So the directory (along with other files) is rewritten almost constantly. Sooner or later, a byte is miswritten, then read back in, then perhaps another one and another. Over time, your directory WILL become corrupt. It's the entire reason Disk Warrior EXISTS. This is perfectly normal behaviour. Cars don't run indefinitely without maintenance, boats don't sail indefinitely without barnacles and bilgewater, and computers don't always rewrite files 100% perfectly every single time. If they did, there would be no need to "repair permissions," as an example. Thus, ANYTHING that makes the computer work harder than it needs to leads to an increased risk of directory corruption. Files that are left out on the desktop are "refreshed" far more often than files put elsewhere. That's making the computer work harder than it has to. It's not the only way to make the computer do more work than necessary, but it's one way. I'm sure you get the point from here. Cheers Chas