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When I hit that 'show appolcations' icon on the lower left of the screen, the programs come up. But I have double icons for a few of them. I have 2 'audacity' icons and also two 'VLC' icons.How did I get 2 and is there a way to get rid of one of each? Thanks

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    It is possible that you have both a snap version and a .deb version of each of those installed. snap list will show you all the installed snaps you have, and dpkg -l | grep <appname> will show you if the .deb version is installed via an ii at the first part of the line.
    – Terrance
    Sep 4, 2022 at 16:51

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The reason you may have double programs in your application overview is that you may have installed the same program from different sources. Current versions of Ubuntu support the snap format, in addition to the traditional APT package management (.deb installation packages).

Thus, check the Snap store, aka "Ubuntu Software". If you select the tab "Installed software", then click on an entry, you see details about the program. In the top bar, you see the source. "ubuntu-jammy-main" ("or ...universe", "...restricted") indicates the software comes from the main Ubuntu repositories. "Snap store (Snap)" shows you it is installed as a snap.

For your double applications, you will find two different entries. Keep the one you prefer:

  • Snap programs
    • are containerized, i.e., run in a sandbox
    • they tend to be more recent and more regularly updated versions
    • they tend to start up a little slower initially
    • they may not be as well integrated into the desktop in some aspects
  • APT programs
    • have full access to the user folders
    • may be less up to date, because the distribution will only provide security updates, not feature updates
    • they start as fast as possible determined by your hardware
    • they are better integrated in the desktop environment.
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  • OK, I looked in Ubuntu Software and it had 2 entries and one was the snap and one the APT. The APT was a lot smaller than the other. I uninstalled the snap. But while there are 2 icons for VLC in the 'programs' , there is only one entry listed in the Ubuntu Software.
    – P Simdars
    Sep 4, 2022 at 23:14
  • Still, vlc is also available as an APT and can be removed with sudo apt remove vlc.
    – vanadium
    Sep 5, 2022 at 7:28
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I can only point to a clue, because I am a Linux Mint Cinnamon user which is Ubuntu's very close cousin.

This problem was caused by their Xapps that manages the apps on their panel and often displayed multiple icons. I disabled it and it no longer shows duplicates. Perhaps Ubuntu uses something similar.

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