Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03



I am not a new user but the question is so simple that I didn't know where else to post it.
I am clearing old apps, e-mail messages and anything else I can remove to keep my computer from slowing down. What I have done so far has helped.
MY QUESTION:
If I "disable" fonts, is that equal to "remove"?
I have been told that getting rid of the fonts that I don't use, such as Chinese, Hungarian,etc. means they will not load.
2nd PART:
Is it enough to disable fonts from Applications?
Are there other fonts?

I'll start the ball rolling...

You've got three default font folders, located at /System/Library/Fonts, /Library/Fonts, and /Users/Your short name/Library/Fonts.

Mac OS X 10.5: Fonts list (There doesn't appear to be a similar doc relating to OS X 10.6, but I expect that the principles remain the same.) offers some insights into what you may and may not do with fonts in the first two locations.

Also as a general rule, you can trash any font in the third location, but be certain that you know precisely what it is and why it's there before you do the dirty deed.

> If I "disable" fonts, is that equal to "remove"?

Disabling a font does not delete it.

> Is it enough to disable fonts from Applications?

Ain't no such animal...sounds like you may be talking about deleting language localizations; you'll find some discussion and suggested tools here. (Deleting localizations, both in apps and OS X, itself, can free up a nice chunk of space for you.)

Hope this helps for starters.

Do you mean that you are using Font Book, located in Applications? AFAIK, that should be enough.

james534's expressed intention is


In that context, disabling fonts is not enough, (Edit:) and, under any circumstances, It sound like james534 thinks that fonts are located in apps and that you answered a question that wasn't really asked.

Disabling fonts in FontBook will work for cocoa applications and those other applications that have been properly written for OS X compatibility, but there a number of third party apps that maintain their own font libraries. For those applications the font files need to be removed from the font libraries.