What will be our options after we update to Catalina

[Howard Brazee]

After we install Catalina on our existing Macs, what will happen when we try to run an obsolete program? Will it just fail, or will we get an option to upgrade?

Then will we have good options to remove that application and free up disk space?

I've gotten notices for 32-bit applications (and other files, such as device drivers) that I can't locate on my Mac. How do I clean them up? Will they keep using up space after I upgrade?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

32-bit apps will simply not open/run. Not sure if you will get an error message or not. Since most are third-party, as Apple will be updating their own, you won't be prompted with an option to upgrade. You will need to inventory the third-party apps and device drivers before upgrading. When you update software, they usually replace the files with the 64-bit versions, so you shouldn't have to worry about stray 32-bit files being left over.

You can use  > About This Mac > System Report..., then click on Applications. There is a column that will show you if they are 64-bit (Intel) or not. Those that aren't need updating/upgrading.

This may help as well: Prepare for 64-Bit Mac Apps With Go64

If you have questions on what any applications or drivers you find are, feel free to ask.

Hope that helps,

C

 

[Howard Brazee]

I have looked at that list. One thing that I found is that I couldn't cut and paste it into a spreadsheet. I can't do it with go64 either. My list isn't nearly as big as my wife's. She has a lot of games which will be dead. Deleting the space they occupy might be harder or not after Catalina. I don't remember which compatibility notifications I got which are not in my applications folder. At least one was with a printer I no longer have. Interesting go64 shows applications that are 64-bit, but use 'Legacy Quicktime server'. Does that mean they will be broken?

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks.

-Go64 will save the results as Go64 Report.tsv file. You can right-click/Option-click on it and open it with Numbers or Excel as a spreadsheet.
-I think they will be broken, since they were written to use an old part/version of QuickTime.

C