New to Mac? Simple Guide ~ James aka Cheese Penguins.

Ok so you are new to a Mac, where to start? Confused? Windows convert?

It is daunting to start using a new OS so here are a few tips on how to get your mac fully set up and functioning as you want it.

You have just started OSX for the first time, what to do first? Set the clock!!

So far this guide only deals with the Personal & Hardware & Network sections of system preferences and a little extra about the dock. But it will be updated to include the rest of the “System Preferences” options, and then some handy tips and tricks. Any specific questions about topics not covered (or “badly” covered here are welcome”).

Clock:
The clock is located in the top right hand corner of the screen, click on the clock, then click on “Open date and time” (or open system preferences and choose “Data and Time”). Now we have Date and time open, set your timezone by clicking on the
“Time Zone” tab, set the clock to update time automatically from the “Date and Time” tab, Then customise your clocks appearance in the “clock” Tab.

Now that the clock is set we can focus on other issues, i will follow the order of items in the “System Preferences” from now on.

PERSONAL:

Appearance:
This component is simple, just choose the options you want to change how the toolbars and buttons are displayed. This component also lets you choose options for how the scroll bar works, and how many recent items to have. (Recent items are controlled seperately from each other, e.g. 3 Recent Applications, 10 Recent Documents and 0 Recent Servers).

Dashboard:
A very handy part of OSX, this allows you to set what happens when you move your cursor to the corners of the screen, and what shortcut keys to apply to each setting (All windows, Application windows, Desktop, Dashboard), default is “F9-F11″ and “F1″.

Desktop & Screensaver:
The first tab in this dialog allows you to change the wallpaper, or desktop background. The default pictures are nice, but nothing beats applying your own picture of your trainers, to add your own file(s) Click on “choose folder” from the left menu. This will bring up a prompt to choose a folder. There are settings here to allow the wallpaper to rotate at a fixed time setting, also in order or random.

The Screensaver tab, this again allows you to select the screensaver you would like, there are plenty of built in screensavers to choose from most with options to change how they appear etc, this is done by selecting the screensaver then clicking on “options”, you can click on “Test” to see what the screensaver is like in fullscreen. Again there is a random function so a random screensaver comes on each time, and then you have the option to select how long the computer is to be idle before the screensaver comes on this is done by moving the slider at the bottom of the dialog.

These settings can also be reached by right clicking on the desktop and selecting “Change Desktop Background”.

Dock:
The dock appears by default at the bottom of the screen and is where shortcuts to applications are held. You can change the size and magnification of the dock using the two sliders in the dialog, and the position of the screen (Left, Bottom, or Right). You can select effects to have for minimizing windows to the Dock (Genie or Scale), and then you have two more options “Animate opening applications” which is purely a pretty feature, and “Automatically hide and show the dock” this will make the dock disappear into whichever part of the screen it is against, you then go against that side of the screen to make the Dock appear again.
To add a shortcut to the Dock drag a application onto the Dock itself. To remove an item from the Dock “right click” on it and select “Remove from Dock”.

International:
The international dialog offers ways to change the system language, the first tab “Language” requires you to drag and drop the languages into the order you would prefer items to use them, e.g. The top item being “English” then the next “French”, English then being the primary lanuage used, if the system can’t use the English language it would then use French. You are also given the option to change the way lists are ordered, and change the “word break” type.
The next tab “Formats” allows you to change how the “Date”, “Times” and “Numbers” are displayed, it allows you to change the type of currency, and the measurement units too, these are all changed by clicking “Customize” beside the corresponding part of the dialog.
The final tab is “Input Menu” this allows you to change the input type, e.g. Unicode, Japanese, Korean.

Security:
Filevault, a useful feature, this encrypts the users “Home” folder, then it decrypts the files when they are in use, then encrypts again when they are no longer being used. This settings requires a password, there is a master password that allows the “Filevault” settings to be changed on any account. To turn on “FileVault” click on “Turn On Filevault”.
The other parts of this dialog include, “Require password to wake computer”, useful in an office environment (tick the box to apply the setting). Then there is a section for all the user accounts, Global settings so to speak, “Disable Automatic Login”, i advise this is checked as it stops people being able to access a user account without the password. “Require password to unlock secure system preference” Again i advise this is checked as without a password people then can’t change the settings in “System Preferences”. “Log out after minutes Activity”, Not recomended if the computer is used overnight for downloading, or encoding etc, as it will stop these processes when logging off.
“Use secure VM”, Ticked by default, upto the user wether or not to use this function.
for Macbooks, or Macbook pros, “Disable remote control infrared reciever”, Unless you don’t use the remote, keep this setting unticked.

Spotlight:
Spotlight is a very quick search tool, you use it from the top toolbar on the screen. The first tab in this dialog allows the user to select what order the search results will be in “Applications, Documents, Preferences” etc. Tick the boxes to choose what results will appear (Tick means it will appear). Then at the bottom of the tab you have the option of enabling or disabling the keyboard shortcuts to use the “spotlight” search, you also have the option to change the shortcut, again tick the box to enable or disable, and use the drop down menu to choose the shortcut.
The privacy tab allows you to add locations that will not be searched, e.g. Personal messenger logs. Either click on the “+” button, or drag a folder into the list. Click the “-” To remove the currently selected folder/disc.

Hardware:

Bluetooth:
If your mac is Bluetooth capable then there are many things you can setup to use Bluetooth. The first thing you should realize is if you not using Bluetooth turn it off, it is the first setting under the “settings” tab in the Bluetooth dialog. Other options you get on this tab are “Open Setup Assistant when there is no device on startup”, “Allow Bluetooth devices to wake computer” and “Show Bluetooth status in the menu bar”. All these settings are dependant on how you want your Bluetooth adapter to be displayed etc. Under the devices tab you have options to add Bluetooth peripherals, the first option you would have to use is “Set up new device”, after that you can then configure your devices by choosing the device from the left hand list box and then click on “configure”. There are a few other buttons here but they are more than self explanatory. Under the sharing tab are settings to enable Bluetooth file sharing, i recomend these all be disabled unless you need to use the Bluetooth file transfers, it is dangerous to leave Bluetooth on, when in public.

CDs & DVDs:
This is essentially the Autoplay setup for your Mac, use the drop down menu to decide the action for each scenario.

Displays:
This dialog lets you set up the screen(s) resolution, amount of colours to display (Hundreds, Thousands and Millions), and the refresh rate (if using a CRT). You also have a slider to control the brightness, and a option box “Show displays in menu bar”, tick this if using more than one screen as it allows options on the menu bar to configure the screens etc.
There is a second tab to the “Displays” it is labelled “Color” this lets you choose the colour profile your monitor/screen will use. You also have an option to calibrate the settings yourself, by clicking on “calibrate”.

Energy Saver:
Settings in this dialog depend on what you use your Mac for, so i wont recommend settings, you get two sliders that control how your Mac behaves, “Put computer to sleep when it is inactive for” and “Put the display to sleep when the computer is idle for”, if on a notebook you get the option of battery powered or mains. There is also an option box labelled “Put the hard discs to sleep when possible”, ticking this box will save power. There is a second tab labelled “Options” there are three option boxes found here; “Reduce the brightness…”, “Automatically reduce… before sleep”, and “Show battery status in the menu bar”, All these options should be ticked, in my opinion.

Keyboard & Mouse:
The first tab here allows you to control the keystroke repeat rate, and the delay until repeat, there is also a text box to test the settings in. Both these options are controlled using sliders. Also there is an option on this tab to control whether or not the function key is to be active. Trackpad/Mouse tab, again speed settings; “tracking speed”, “Double click speed”. Then the gestures, all these settings are easy to follow as the labels describe them. “Bluetooth” Shows battery meters for Bluetooth connected mouse/keyboard. “Keyboard Shortcuts”, shows the full list of shortcuts found using the keyboard, you can change them by clicking on the shorcut column and pressing the new shortcut keys, you can also add and remove shorcuts using the “+” & “-”. There is a button to “Restore Defaults” if needed.

Print & Fax:
Allows you to see the installed printers, to setup the installed printers and to set default paper size. You can use your Mac as a fax machine, the “Faxing” tab allows you to set this up, it requires that you fill in your fax number, and to tick the “Recieve faxes on this computer checkbox”. You can decide to save the faxes, email them on to an account, or to print, or a mixture of the three, all are simple to set up. Again you get a “show status in the menu bar” option, and a button to “set up a fax modem” clicking this button opens the printer setup utility. There is a final tab listed as “sharing” under this tab you can set printers to share over your network, by clicking on “Share these printers with other computers” and ticking the corresponding printer. There is a final option titled “Let others send faxes…”, unless you want other people to send faxes through your computer disable this.

Sound:
First tab is “sound effects” this is essentially the same as in Windows, you choose your sounds for each event, how loud the sounds will be, and whether the sound icon will be displayed in the menu bar. The second tab “output” allows you to control to speakers you have setup, generally this just involves a slider to choose the balance “Left, Right”. If you have input ports etc you configure them under the “input” tab, this allows you to configure the microphone, how loud it should be and wether or not there should be “Ambient noise reduction”.

Internet & Network

Well first off here i have written a small guide before about how to network OSX to Windows xp and Vista, it was a late beta build, but im guessing it will be the same This guide can be found here: Network Mac to Windows Guide – No pics

Ok now onto the item in System preferences.

.Mac:
One feature i never use on my Mac, I believe this is a membership deal with Apple to get extra internet software. I’m not sure and won’t touch this.

Network:
This is one of the most useful parts of OSX for me as i have many different networks configs saved on my Mac for when I’m at university, home, cafe’s or at friends houses. So the dialog is pretty simple, you get two drop down boxes at the top that are for; First one is the location, this is useful for if you use your Mac in many different network setups, e.g. Work, then home. The second is the “Show” menu, this shows what part of the networking status to show to you the user. The rest of the dialog is a big list box, showing the hardware connections and their status, and then a configure and connect button, connect does what it says on it As for configure this opens up the options for the chosen connection, for simplicity here I’m showing the Ethernet port as all Macs ship with one by default. This opens up the full settings for the connection, you get five tabs, “TCP/IP”, “PPPoE”, “AppleTalk”, “Proxies” and “Ethernet”. The first tab allows you to set up how the connection gets its IP address, Either assigned DHCP or manually. When set to manual you need to fill out all the boxes minus the “Search Domains”, if you are future tech and using IPv6 for any reason you can configure this by clicking on “Configure IPv6″. The other four tabs are similar and just require the network details, you click “Apply now” to save the settings for the connection and the location chosen. When the location is set to Automatic your Mac will use this connection by default.

Sharing:
Sharing files and hardware on a network is the main reason for them existing so of course you have to set this up :hap: Again a simple dialog that allows you to share files, printers, FTP access etc. Just tick the boxes you would like and voila. The “Firewall” tab here is useful as it allows each service to be controlled, you can allow certain parts of OSX access on the network and restrict others, again this is just a tick the box option. Finally internet connection sharing, this is again simple all you have to do is state where the connection is to be shared from (Drop down menu), then where the connection si shared to, tickable options. There is also an option to setup Airport options if you have a wireless enabled Mac, this is to provide security settings for a wireless network, again simple just type in the information, the boxes are clearly labeled.

Woaaaaaah Something else!!

I have a MAC but i need to use Windows (XP SP2 or above)
Well you have got your Mac it is shiny, it works beautifully and then someone asks you to make a database is MS access. Damn. You need Bootcamp, download it here: Bootcamp (Apple) Bootcamp is simple to use, just mount the image and follow the instructions.

Ok, so now you have Windows on an NTFS partition on your Mac, suddenly you have lost 20Gbs (Or whatever you set the partition too), of space that OSX could need, oh and to top it off you can’t use the drive from OSX, you need a few handy tools to allow you to use this “free” space between both operating systems, I was going to right a guide for this, but someone has done it already ;D So here is the link: Read and Write NTFS from OSX.

I have licenses for MS office Windows edition (2003 or above).
So you have bought your mac and you have destroyed your PC (this is a perfect world situation ), so you have a Office license for windows with no way of using it. So download Crossover Mac, this program lets you run windows programs on your Mac. No not all programs will run, e.g. MS Access, but many will. Link: Crossover Mac.

This guide doesn’t tell you everything there is to know about Macs and was created when I used OSX Tiger, so a version out of date. However it has served people well in the past and hopefully serves you well too.