How To Get Acquainted With Your Mac

July 18, 2007 in Apple, Tips

This may not have occurred to you yet, but Apple is taking over the world. It’s not a joke, they really are.  I know a guy who knows a friend who overheard Steve Jobs talking being king of the world. It’s true.

So in an effort to make this inevitable transition easier on you, I want to give you some tips about making the switch from Microsoft to Macintosh.

Maybe you didn’t notice, but I’m a very happy Mac convert. My love for the beauty of Apple began in college when I worked in the Information Technology center; half of the main lab was iMacs, and there was a dedicated Mac lab with a couple of 30″ Cinema Screens (excuse me while I wipe up my drool). Using Macs in my graphic design classes pretty much sealed the deal.

So when it came time for my parents to buy me a graduation gift, I decided I wanted a MacBook. I went with black because it’s just so damn pimp. I’m pretty confident that I’m never going to buy (or build) another PC. I have my old box incase I need Windows ever (for gaming and stuff), but I’m probably done with Bill Gates. The next computer I get will most likely be a Mac mini or iMac.

Anyway, enough about me. This post is about you, my fellow comrade in Apple arms. Or perhaps you’ve not yet made the switch, but are planning on it. Maybe you’re not even totally convinced, in which case you should just leap blindly and without fear (I promise you will not be disappointed).

My goal is to make your transition as fearless as possible. This is by no means an extensive list of OS X’s features. It’s more of a basic jumping off point for you to get acclimated. Where you go from here is up to you.

Functions, Commands, and Usability

“Where’s my Start Menu?” That’s a pretty cliche thing to say in articles about switching from PC to Mac, but it’s a really good place to start. Windows users are used to doing things a certain way, and the first thing they need to do is get over thinking in Windows mode. You’re on a Mac now. You can do all the old stuff from Windows (and more), you just need to let go and accept new ways.

Dock – I guess you can think of the Dock as a Mac’s Start Menu, but it’s not really. The Dock is located (usually, there are lots of customization options) on the bottom of your screen, and it’s a place where you can put files, applications, folders, etc. in an easy to reach place. It also shows you what programs are currently running. It can get really cluttered if you go overboard, so try to keep it nice and neat.  Though, once you start using Quicksilver you’ll probably never use the Dock again, but we’ll get into that later.

Finder – The Finder is basically a way to see everything inside of your Mac. Finder is what you are looking at anytime you open a folder. It’s kind of like Windows Explorer, except a lot easier to use and navigate. Finder also integrates with Spotlight for quick and easy searching.

Spotlight – Spotlight is “Find” on crack. You can get to Spotlight at anytime by clicking on the magnifying glass-inside-a-blue-circle icon on the top right of your screen, by pressing Command-Space, or by opening a folder (it’s the search box on the top right).  Spotlight finds any matching document, image, program, emails, etc as fast as you can type.

System Preferences – System Preferences is like the Mac’s Control Panel. You can go in here and change anything from appearance to security and internet settings. It’s pretty straightforward.

Applications Folder – The Applications folder is where all of your programs are located. Don’t get fancy and move programs anywhere else, they belong in here. Besides, if you do move programs, they might not update correctly. Applications makes it easy for you to find all your programs in one place, so keep it that way.

Installing Programs – If there’s anything that proves Apple’s motto of “It just works,” it’s installing programs. All you need to do is drag the install icon into the Applications folder (just drag and drop it on the folder) and it’s installed. If you download a program from the internet and you double click the file, it may put a drive icon on the desktop, this is normal. Open the “drive” and the install icon will be in there.

Uninstalling Programs – This is just as easy as installing. Open the Applications folder, find the program you want to delete, drag the icon to the Trash. Viola! It’s uninstalled. Sometimes programs may leave folders and preference settings behind, so in this case you may want to download AppTrap to make sure everything goes away.

“Right Click” - If you have a MacBook or a single button mouse, you may wonder how the hell you’re supposed to right click to get those extra options. You can either touch two fingers to the scroll pad and click (on a MacBook) or Ctrl-click.

Keyboard Shortcuts – Here is a list of all the OS X keyboard shortcuts. There’s no point for me to explain them all.

Changing Icons – Apple prides itself on awesome design, but sometimes you might want to give your computer a unique look. This is ok, and in fact, it’s encouraged. This is how you change icons on a Mac.

Cool Mac Only Things

There have to be some things you can do on a Mac that you can’t do on a PC, right? Else there’d be no reason to make the switch. Well there would still be many reasons to switch, but luckily OS X has some really cool features that make it that much better.

Dashboard – You may have heard people talking about Widgets; the Dashboard is where you put them. Access the Dashboard by pressing F12 (or using an Expose gesture, keep reading). You can install lots of different widgets on the Dashboard and they range from ones that check the weather and movie times, to ones that monitor your computer’s systems. Dashboard comes with some preinstalled, and Apple has a ton that you can download from their site.

Expose – This is something I really can’t live without. I have to work during the day on a Windows machine and it kills me that I can’t use Expose. Expose allows you to see all of the programs/windows on your machine with the click of a button. F9 shows you all of your open windows, F10 shows you all of a program’s open windows (nice if you’re working in Photoshop or if you have multiple browser windows open), and F11 clears all the windows off of the screen and shows you the desktop (press F11 again to bring everything right back to how it was). It’s amazing.

iLife – One of the Mac’s biggest draws is the ease with which you can manipulate media like a pro. And it comes with these programs for free! Have tons of music you want to listen to at a moment’s notice? iTunes is where it’s at. Want to organize or edit your family photos? iPhoto is the answer. Feel like editing that old video footage to make a professional quality DVD? Look no further than iMovie and iDVD. Have the urge to express your inner musician? Rock out with GarageBand. Did I mention this is all free??

Cool Things You Can Do On Mac – Looking for more things to do with your new Mac? Check out this site for some more handy tips.

Essential (Free) Mac Apps

One of the great things about Macs is the variety of open source and free programs available. Yes, you can find many free apps for Windows as well, but they’re just not as cool.

Here are the ones that I use on a daily basis:

Camino – Mozilla’s Mac specific web browser. Some people think it’s not as good as Firefox (which also works like magic on a Mac, if you want to use it) because it has less features. But it’s perfect for me.

Adium – A versatile instant messaging client. Yeah, Macs come with iChat, but I’ve never really used it because I downloaded Adium right away. You can use AIM, MSN Messenger, Jabber, etc, and you can connect to multiple accounts at once.

Quicksilver – It’s almost impossible to describe exactly what Quicksilver is capable of and how awesome it is. Basically, it’s an application launcher. You use it to open/close/work in/edit any program or file on your machine with nothing but a few keystrokes. No need to click on the Dock or open the Applications folder and look around.

Flip4Mac – Quicktime is Apple’s video player of choice, but you’ll find that it doesn’t really play well with WMV (Windows) files right out of the box. That’s where Flip4Mac comes in. It’s a free plug-in for Quicktime that will let you watch all of your Windows-friendly movies without MediaPlayer (because Apple doesn’t support that anymore).

FrostWire – A Mac specific P2P file sharing program. You can download music, movies, and any other file. Just remember to download responsibly.

Gimp – I don’t use Gimp, because I have Photoshop, but for those of you looking for a cheap (read: FREE) alternative to a $650 program, get Gimp.

CyberDuck – For those of you who need a nice, simple FTP program, CyberDuck is for you. I know there are other ones out there, but this is the one I’ve been using for a while.

WriteRoom – WriteRoom is a very simple fullscreen text editor for those times that you need to write without distraction. It’s default setting is a green/black Matrix-like look, which is sweet. You can use it for free, but it will keep asking you for donations.

CandyBar – One of the great things about OS X is the ability to easily change every icon. However, changing system icons (folders, drives, trash, etc) requires a little more work, so that’s where CandyBar comes in. This app isn’t free, it costs $12.95 but I think it’s work it because there are so many cool icons out there. If you’re cheap, you can try LiteIcon (I haven’t) but half of it is in French, apparently. Good luck.

Resources

I haven’t told you everything you can do with your Mac. Very far from it, in fact. If you want to find out more about how awesome your Mac is, and the cool things you can do with it, look no further than Google. There are TONS of sites out there that tell you everything you could ever want to know.

I’ll give you a head start:

A Guide to OS X Software For Switchers

Open Source Mac – A simple list of free, open source software for Mac OS X.

InterfaceLift – A collection free of themes, wallpapers, and icons.

Silver Mac – A blog with a lot of helpful Mac hints and tips.

Tao of Mac – Another blog with a lot of good information.

Final Thoughts

I hope you find this stuff useful. It’s information that you can find other places on the net, but usually people tend to focus on “How to use Mac OS X” or “Top 10 Mac Applications” or “Macs are Awesome.” I tried to put together a good blend of enough to get you started.

I wish you the best of luck, you’ve made a great decision. Welcome to the Cult of Mac.