The Dennis Deschamps Blog

What made you smile today?

2012-01-11T11:17:00.001-08:00

I am accomplishing what I am setting out to do

I would like to find out from the vast intellegent audience how to brand myself so that I can get a job.

formspring.me

2012-01-11T11:15:00.003-08:00

I would like to find out from the vast intellegent audience how to brand myself so that I can get a job. http://www.formspring.me/DrMac

What do you do to stay fit?

2012-01-11T11:15:00.001-08:00

Walk around Griffith Park

I would like to find out from the vast intellegent audience how to brand myself so that I can get a job.

formspring.me

2012-01-11T11:14:00.001-08:00

I would like to find out from the vast intellegent audience how to brand myself so that I can get a job. http://www.formspring.me/DrMac

iTunes

2010-10-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Summary

With iTunes, you can play your audio CDs, listen to digital music, tune in to Internet radio, watch TV shows, movies and more. You can play music in a variety of different formats, create playlists of your favorite songs, burn CDs and print CD labels, browse and buy music from the iTunes Store, and be mesmerized by the iTunes Visualizer. And if you have an iPod, iTunes is your command post for your digital jukebox.

Products Affected

iTunes

iTunes Featured Tutorials

Here's a look at some of the things you can do with iTunes.

Tip: Want to learn more about iTunes? Check out the built-in iTunes Help guide on your Mac (in iTunes, choose iTunes Help from the Helpmenu).

iSync

2010-10-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

Summary

The iSync application lets you automatically transfer information from iCal calendars and Address Book contacts on a Mac to your third-party mobile device. For example, your third-party mobile phone device can be synchronized using iSync to display your latest events, and your contact list can always be up-to-date with your Mac.

Note: iPhone and iPods use iTunes to synchronize information and digital content from your Mac or PC computer (running Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later). To learn more, click here.

Products Affected

iSync 2.x, iSync 1.x, Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS and Software, iSync 3.x

Using iSync is a great way to make sure the information on your Macs and third-party mobile devices is always up-to-date

To sync your devices to your Mac, you need to add them to iSync first. Connect your device to your computer as you normally would (via USB or Bluetooth, for example).
Tip: Choose iSync Help from the Help menu to get specific device set-up instructions from the iSync Help guide.
Open iSync (find it in Applications folder in your hard drive). The iSync window displays.
Click Sync Devices and your Mac will automatically try to scan for a device nearby.
Your connected device should appear in the Add Device window. Double-click its icon to add it to the iSync window.
If you can't add a device, make sure that it's iSync compatible—click here to view the list of compatible devices.
The iSync window displays a pane that lets you choose what information to sync to your device. If you'd like to have iSync automatically sync information whenever you connect your device, select the "Automatically synchronize when device is connected" checkbox.
Choose which group of Address Book contacts to sync, and select which iCal calendars you want in the appropriate sections.
Click Sync Devices.

iPhoto

2010-10-09T18:18:00.001-07:00

Summary

If you've got a digital camera, iPhoto is the perfect companion. It enables you to import your pictures into your Mac, view them, edit them, and share them with ease. You can make good photos look stellar and turn your not-so-good ones into something better. Here are some of the cool things you can do with iPhoto.

Products Affected

iPhoto

Once you connect your camera to your Mac, click Import in iPhoto to download your pictures.

Import Photos

Connect your camera to your Mac. See "Connect Your Camera" if you need help doing this.
Open iPhoto; the application switches to Import mode.
Type a name and description for your import in the Roll Name and Description fields, respectively.
Click Import.

After importing your pictures, watch these tutorial videos to learn how to get the most out of iPhoto!

Tip: Use the built-in iPhoto Help guide on your Mac (in iPhoto, choose Help and then iPhoto Help) to get more in depth and use iPhoto like a pro! Visit the iPhoto Support page and the Discussion Forums where you can get more help from other iPhoto users.

iMovie

2010-10-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Summary

If you want to quickly assemble a few video clips or fine-tune your masterpiece, iMovie is the perfect place to do it all. Plug in virtually any digital camcorder and iMovie starts importing your video. Drag and drop to create sophisticated edits, dazzling special effects, and smooth transitions. Integrate cool sound effects or add your own rocking soundtrack made with GarageBand, then share your movie with the world. Here's an introduction to movie-making the iMovie way.

Products Affected

iMovie

iMovie makes it easy and simple for you to polish up your movies and add in songs or pictures.

Watch these tutorial videos to get started creating your movie!

Tip: Use the built-in iMovie Help guide on your Mac (in iMovie, choose Help and then iMovie Help) to get more in depth and use iMovie like a pro! Visit the iMovie Support page and the Discussion Forums where you can get more help from other iMovie users.

iDVD

2010-10-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Summary

If your Mac has a SuperDrive, you can create professional quality DVDs that rival the movie discs that Hollywood offers. iDVD comes with several templates that let you design multimedia DVDs showcasing your movies, photos, and music. It integrates seamlessly with iMovie, iPhoto, and iTunes to give you access to all your media as you put together your DVD. Here's how to use it to create your own multimedia DVD.

iDVD lets you create visually compelling DVDs, just drag and drop content and off you go!

Products Affected

iDVD

Watch these tutorial videos to get started creating your own DVD!

Tip: Use the built-in iDVD Help guide on your Mac (in iDVD, choose Help and then iDVD Help) to get more in depth and use iDVD like a pro! Visit the iDVD Support page and the Discussion Forums where you can get more help from other iDVD users.

iChat

2010-10-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Summary

This article explains how to use iChat to text chat, audio chat, or video chat over the Internet.

Products Affected

Mac OS and Software, iChat

If you're looking for a more personal way to stay in touch, iChat enables you to see and hear your friends, family, and coworkers no matter how far away they are. It lets you text chat, audio chat, or video chat over the Internet without accruing any text messaging, long distance, or video streaming charges. Not only can you chat one-on-one, you can also set up a multiperson chat for work or play.

To use iChat, all you need is access to the Internet and one of the following accounts: MobileMe, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), Google Talk, or Jabber. Here's how to set up and use iChat.

First timers, start here

Open iChat from the Dock or the Applications folder. A dialog opens to help you set up your account. Follow the instructions on the screen to configure iChat. If you don't have an account yet, click "Get an iChat Account" to sign up for a free one. This account will have an account name that ends with @mac.com and will work within the AIM network so you can use iChat to chat with your AIM buddies.
Once everything's configured, iChat opens and displays the Buddy List window. This is where you'll be able to see who is available to chat once you add people to your Buddy List. Your account appears at the top; your current status should show you as being "Available." Other iChat and AIM users who've added your account to their buddy list can view your name and status in their window.
If you want to change your status, click your status and choose a new one from the menu. You can choose one like Away or choose Custom and type your own customized status message for special occasions.
You may also see a green "phone" icon () next to your iChat picture. If your computer has a built-in mic, or you have an external one plugged in, you may see a phone icon, which lets your fellow iChat buddies know that you're available to audio chat. If you have a built-in camera or compatible USB camera connected to your computer, or a FireWire one such as an iSight or DV camera, a movie camera icon () displays to let other iChat users know that you're available to video chat. Visit the iChat Support page for information about iChat system requirements.

Adding a buddy

To add a buddy, simply choose the type of account he or she has, and type the account name.

To add someone to your Buddy List, choose Buddies > Add Buddy.
In the dialog that appears, type the account name, iChat will help by searching through your Address Book, and then choose the account type from the menu. You can also type your buddy's first and last name.
Click Add when finished. Your new buddy should appear in your Buddy List. If he or she is online, a status indicator appears next to the name. If a buddy's name appears dimmed, he or she isn't currently available to chat.

Text chat with a buddy

To ensure that your words convey the right emotion, pick a smiley to send along with your message.

To start a text conversation with an available buddy, just double-click on a name in the Buddy List.
A chat window opens. Type a message in the text box at the bottom of the window and press Return to send the message. Your buddy will receive a chat invite. If he or she wishes to chat with you, you'll receive a reply back in your chat window.
Once you get a response, just carry on a conversation through the written word. You can send a smiley face emoticon with your message: just click the smiley face icon in the bottom-right corner and choose an icon from the pop-up menu. You can also drag or paste images into the text box to send them directly to your buddy.
To end the chat, close the chat window.

Audio chat with a buddy

If you and your buddy have a built-in or external microphone and have it enabled (in the Video menu, make sure that Microphone Enabled is checkmarked), you can talk to each other over iChat just like you would on the phone. To initiate an audio chat, select your buddy in the Buddy List and click the phone button at the bottom of the window.
An audio chat window opens on your end, and an invitation gets sent to your buddy (he or she will hear a ringing phone sound if using iChat). When he or she accepts, your Audio Chat window will show a "connecting" message, and then display a levels meter when you're connected. You're now free to gab away.
To end the chat, close the audio chat window.

Video chat with a buddy

If you and your buddy have FireWire or compatible USB video cameras, you can see and hear each other over a video chat.

If you and your iChat buddy both have built-in cameras or compatible USB cameras connected to your computers, or FireWire camera, you can video chat with each other (be sure that Camera Enabled is checkmarked in the Video menu). To initiate a video chat, select your buddy in the Buddy List window and click the movie camera button at the bottom of the window.
A video chat window opens on your end and a video chat invitation gets sent to your buddy. When he or she accepts, you'll see his or her face in the video chat window next to yours.
To end the chat, close the video chat window.

You can even transform your video chats using new Photo Booth effects. Add some fun to your video chat with video effects. Add some adventure to your chat with a backdrop. Just chose Show Video Effects from the Videomenu to choose an effect and your video changes instantly.

iChat Theater

With iChat Theater, you can put on a photo slideshow, click through a Keynote presentation, or play a movie while your buddy looks on.

From the File menu select "Share a File with iChat Theater…".
Navigate to the file you would like to share, it can be a QuickTime movie, picture, Keynote document, or any other document that can be opened by Quick Look.
Click "Share." Note: You can also select "Share iPhoto with iChat Theater…" after navigating to the photo or photo album you would like to share in a photo slide show.
You will then see a dialog box instructing you to "Invite a buddy to a video chat."
Highlight the buddies you would like to send the iChat Theater to and then choose Buddies > Invite to Video Chat.
Once the invite is accepted, your buddies will be able to enjoy your content and talk to you about it. This easily enables collaboration on projects.
You control the show: You can scroll up and down through a document or go to the next page. With movies, you can control the volume, click play or pause as well as where in the movie you want to play.
Just close the Video Chat window to end the session.

Multiperson iChat

iChat allows you to multiperson chat with video and even share your computer screen!

Select the buddies that you want to participate in your multiperson chat (hold down the Command key to select more than one buddy).
Click the A button at the bottom of the buddy list window to start a text chat, the phone button to start an audio chat, or the movie camera button to start a video chat.
As your participants accept your invitation, they will be able to send text, talk, or visually interact with everyone who joins.
Anyone can leave the chat at anytime by closing the chat window. The chat will continue as long as the person who initiated the multiperson chat keeps his or her chat window open.

Screen Sharing

You and your buddy can observe and control a single desktop with iChat, making it a cinch to collaborate with a colleague, browse the web with a friend, or pick plane seats with your spouse. Share your own desktop or your buddy’s — you both have control at all times. And iChat automatically initiates an audio chat when you start a screen sharing session, so you can talk things through while you’re at it.

Select the buddy with which you want to share your screen.
Choose Buddies > Share my screen with… to enable your buddy to observe and control your screen or Choose Buddies > Ask to share… to have your buddy receive a screen sharing invite.
On the controlled system, once the invite is accepted a screen-wide banner will briefly show. You will also see the iChat status menu bar item alternating to a red screen sharing icon. Tip: Click Text Reply on your invite notifier to cancel the screen sharing invite, but then send a text chat to explain why you declined the invitation.
On the controlling system, once you have control of the other system, your desktop will be minimized into a picture-in-picture frame. Click this frame to roll your desktop back into the foreground. Repeat this process as needed to change the screen in the foreground.
To end the screen sharing, hit control-escape or click the x icon in the upper left-hand side of the picture-in-picture window or select End Screen Sharing from the iChat status menu bar item.

Tip: Want to learn more about iChat? Check out the built-in iChat Help guide on your Mac (in iChat, choose iChat Help from the Help menu).

For troubleshooting multiperson chats, check out iChat: About joining or hosting group video chats.

iCal

2010-09-30T20:49:00.001-07:00

Summary

If you need help managing your life and time more wisely, iCal provides all the tools you need to keep track of schedules, appointments, birthdays, to-do lists, and other important events—not just yours, but anyone else's iCal calendar too. Your calendars and others that you subscribe to all cohabitate with each other in your iCal view pane, allowing you to see where potential scheduling conflicts may occur. Here's how to set up various events in iCal, and subscribe to other calendars.

iCal will give you a good look at how much (or how little) free time you really have.

Products Affected

Mac OS and Software, iCal

Open iCal from the Dock or the Applications folder. The default interface displays a Calendars column on the left that lists your calendars (it starts you with two—Work and Home), a monthly calendar pane below that, a week view in the main pane, which displays days in time blocks, and an Info sidebar on the right, which displays details of a selected item.
To schedule something, select a calendar from the Calendars column, then drag across the date and time field that corresponds with your agenda to add an event, don't worry about being perfect. If the date is more than a week away, use the calendar pane to advance the week view.
In the Info sidebar, click the New Event text to display the text box and type a name for your event, like dentist appointment, band practice, or a birthday party.
To set the location, click the Location text and type where you need to be.
Click the hour, minute, and time of day fields next to "from" and "to," and schedule the times that the event starts and ends.
If you're scheduling a recurring event, choose an interval from the repeat pop-up menu.
If you'd like to list who's attending, click None next to "attendees" and type out the guest list.
If you accidentally chose the wrong calendar, choose the right one from the calendar pop-up menu.
If you want to be reminded of your upcoming event, choose the type of notification you want from the alarm pop-up menu, then set your preferences from the menus that appear.

Once you decide how you'd like to be notified about an upcoming event, such as getting an email
or hearing an alert sound, choose the time period in the resulting options.
To create a to-do list, click the thumb tack button to open the To Do's pane. From the File menu, choose New To Do, and type your task.
If you want to create a new calendar (for example, if you have kids, you can create a separate calendar for each one), choose New Calendar from the File menu. Then type a name for your calendar in the text field.
To make your calendar available to others, choose Publish from the Calendar menu. In the resulting dialog, type a name for your calendar in the top field, choose where to publish it (.Mac or your own server) from the Publish on pop-up menu, select any of the other options you want, and click Publish. When iCal finishes publishing it, a dialog opens and displays the URL for your calendar—be sure to jot this down.
To subscribe to a published calendar, such as your significant other's, your work team's, or a publicly available iCal schedule—learn to subscribe here.

Tip: Want to learn more about iCal? Check out the built-in iCal Help guide on your Mac (in iCal, choose iCal Help from the Help menu).

GarageBand

2010-09-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

Summary

Apple computers have long been the tool of choice for recording professionals around the world, but you don't need thousands of dollars worth of gear and a record producer to make professional-sounding recordings. With GarageBand, all you need is an appreciation for music.

Whether you want to record your musical performances or build up a song using loops, anyone can create a masterpiece with GarageBand.

GarageBand is a multitrack recording application that contains a complete collection of audio tools for experienced recording veterans and novices alike. You can record real audio pieces, play with software instruments, create parts using Apple Loops, add effects, mix your music and play it all back with iTunes or include in your iMovies. Watch these tutorial videos to get started with your own song!

Products Affected

GarageBand

Tip: Use the built-in GarageBand Help guide on your Mac (in GarageBand, choose Help and then GarageBand Help) to get more in depth and use GarageBand like a pro! Visit the GarageBand Support page and the Discussion Forums where you can get more help from other GarageBand users.

Font Book

2010-09-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

Summary

Your Mac comes with many preinstalled fonts, styles of type that your computer uses to display and print text. Use Font Book to sort and preview your font collections to find the right one to use for your project.

Font Book allows you to easily take a peek at what all your installed fonts look like.

Font Book also lets you install, search, organize, activate, and deactivate fonts too. When you open it, the interface displays a Collection column on the left that sorts fonts by category, a Font column in the middle that displays all fonts in the selected collection, and a preview pane on the right, which displays a sample of the characters in the selected font. Here are a few ways that you can use Font Book.

Products Affected

Font Book

To see what some of your installed fonts look like, select All Fonts in the Collection column. Then click any font's disclosure triangle in the Font column to view its typefaces and select one to view it in the preview pane.
To install a font from a disc or downloaded file, double-click the font file in the Finder. Font Book opens and shows you what the font looks like. If you like it, click Install Font.
If a font doesn't seem to be displaying properly, it may be corrupt. To check it for possible corruption, select it in the Font column and choose Validate Font from the File menu. The Font Validation window opens, telling you if the font passed or shows problems.
If you have a lot of fonts installed on your computer, you can better manage them by organizing them into groups. From the File menu, choose New Collection. Type a name for your collection in the Collection column. Then select All Fonts and drag fonts from the Font column to your new collection to group them.
If you've got a lot of fonts installed, you can organize them into your own collections.

Tip: Want to learn more about Font Book? Check out the built-in Font Book Help guide on your Mac (in Font Book, chooseFont Book Help from the Help menu).

Exposé

2010-09-24T10:24:00.001-07:00

Summary

When you're heavily involved in your tasks, it's easy to clutter your Desktop with an array of Finder and application windows. Rather than hunt and click through the pile to find the one you're looking for, use Exposé instead.

Exposé allows you to easily navigate through your window clutter by highlighting certain windows,
giving you an overview of all open windows (shown above), or clearing everything away.

Exposé is a built-in feature that can give you fast access to any open window with a few keystrokes, temporarily hide all open windows, or scale all windows down so you can get an overview of all of them. Here's how to use Exposé.

Products Affected

Mac OS Components

If you currently don't have any windows open, other than your web browser window, open a few so you can see Exposé in action.
To show windows by application, press F10; Exposé highlights one application's open window(s) while dimming everything behind it. To toggle through other application windows, press the Tab key. Click a window to select it, or press F10 to return everything back as it was.
To view all your open windows, press F9. To select a window, click it. To return your view back to normal, press F9 again.
To hide all windows so you can see your Desktop, press F11. Press the key again to display the clutter.

Now that you know how to use Exposé, you're probably wondering why would you want to use it? Here are a few reasons.

Need to temporarily clear the clutter? Press F11 and watch all your windows scamper away.

When you want to drag something from a Finder window into a folder on your Desktop but can't see that folder, start dragging the item, press F11 to hide all windows, and drop the item in the folder.
If you need to drag a file from one window to another, start dragging the item, press F9 to see all windows, drag the item over the target window until the window becomes active, or press F9 again, and drop in your item.
When you need to access something on your Desktop, press F11 to hide all windows for an unobstructed view.
If you need to copy elements between two windows in the same application, start dragging the item you wish to copy, press F10 to display all open windows for that application, drag the item over the target window until it becomes active or press F10 again, and drop it.

Tip: Want to learn more about Exposé? Check out the built-in Help guide on your Mac in the Finder, choose Mac Help from the Help menu and type expose in the search field.

DVD Player

2010-09-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Summary

When you're ready to relax and be entertained, DVD Player takes you from work mode to play mode instantly. Many current Apple computers come equipped with an optical drive that can read DVD-ROM discs, including DVD-Video discs, to watch movies right on your desktop.

DVD Player not only lets you watch movies on your Mac, it includes a controller
that functions just like your regular remote control

With DVD Player, you get the same controls you'd find on a DVD player remote control, including standard playback controls, navigational buttons, volume, chapter skip, menu, slow motion, subtitles, audio, camera angle, and more. You can also choose to view a movie in one of three window sizes, or view it in full screen. Here's how to use DVD Player to access and play content on a DVD movie disc.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6

Insert a DVD-Video disc in your computer's optical drive.
DVD Player automatically opens and displays the disc's DVD menu screen.
To access the menu items, you can either use your mouse to select things, or use the navigational buttons on the DVD Player Controller.
If DVD Player is set to Full Screen mode, you won't see your screen's menu bar, but you can easily access it by moving the arrow to the top of the screen.
To change the size of the window, choose a size from the Video menu.
If you'd like to turn on closed captioning, which displays all dialog in text captions, from the Controls menu, choose Closed Captioning, then Turn On.
To play the movie, click Play Movie in the DVD menu. During play, you can use the DVD Player Controller to pause, stop, fast forward or rewind, skip chapters, turn on subtitles, and more.
If you'd like to change the look of the controller, choose Use Vertical Controller from the Controls menu.
When you're done watching, click the "eject" button on the controller, or drag the DVD icon on your Desktop to the Trash to eject it.

Dictionary

2010-09-22T08:10:00.001-07:00

Summary

Your Mac also comes with a versatile Dictionary application. It also includes to other reference libraries such as thesaurus, Apple glossary, and Wikipedia. With it, you can find definitions, learn of the word's origin, find synonyms and antonyms, or get encyclopedic knowledge about any subject. Here's how to use Dictionary.

Dictionary provides definitions for just about any English language word.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6

Open Dictionary in the Applications folder.
Select which reference library to use, then type a word or subject in the search box.
A list of matching words appear in the pane below. Select the word you want and press Return or select a different reference library.
If you're having a hard time reading the text, you can click the "Increase font size" button (the bigger "A") or "Decrease font size" button (the smaller "A") to change the font size.

Tip: Want to learn more about Dictionary? Check out the built-in Dictionary Help guide on your Mac (in Dictionary, choose Dictionary Helpfrom the Help menu).

Dashboard

2010-09-19T22:49:00.001-07:00

Summary

Not everything you do on your Mac requires a heavy-duty application. For those smaller tasks, Mac OS X features Dashboard, a semi-transparent layer that floats above your desktop at the press of a key, and provides access to several fun and functional, mini applications called widgets.

Dashboard even includes widgets for some of your Mac applications, including Address Book and iTunes, which allow you to access your contacts and music, respectively, without having to switch over to the full application. But it doesn't end there, you can add more widgets to Dashboard and, if you're feeling really ambitious, you can even create your own widgets.

By default, Dashboard starts up when you first turn on your Mac, but you won't actually see it until you open it by either clicking its icon in the Dock, pressing the F12 key or the Dashboard key (F4 on the aluminum keyboards). To hide Dashboard, click on any Dashboard area that doesn't contain a widget or press the F12 key again. Here's a quick start guide to Dashboard and the included widgets.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.6

Working with Dashboard

Make Dashboard active by clicking the icon in the Dock, or pressing F12.
A default set of widgets appears. You can move the widgets anywhere you want by simply dragging them, click and hold your mouse button on a widget and move your mouse—or finger, if you're using a trackpad.
To see all the widgets on your Mac, click the open (+) button in the lower-left corner of the screen.
The Widget Bar, which displays all widgets on your Mac, slides into view at the bottom of the screen. Click the arrow buttons on either side of the bar to display more widgets.
To add a widget to Dashboard, simply click an icon in the Widget Bar.
If you want to download more widgets, click the More Widgets button to go to the Apple Dashboard download webpage.
To remove a widget from Dashboard, be sure that the Widget Bar is displayed, then click the unwanted widget's close button (the round, black button with a white X).
To close the Widget Bar, click the close button on the lower-left part of the screen right above the Widget Bar.
To use a widget, just select it and do your thing. In other words, if you click the Dictionary widget, type a word in its search field. If you click the Stickies widget, type a note or two. If you click the Tile Game widget, start playing.

Widgets

Here's a closer look at the widgets you'll find preinstalled in Dashboard, and how to use them.

Many widgets feature user options on their backsides so you can select the information to
display, such as the time in a chosen city in this World Clock widget.

Widget Manager—This widget manages other widgets. Uncheck Widgets that you don't want to use anymore and it will hide and disable them. You can keep check of all your available widgets from here.

Address Book—This widget feeds off Address Book proper, enabling you to look up a person's email address, phone number, and mailing address quickly. Just start typing a name in the search field, or click the arrow buttons to step through all entries.

Business—The Business widget is a great directory of local businesses and substitute for your yellow pages. Just type a business name or category (like "pizza") in the search field, and view your results in the expanded window. To change the local city, click the "i" button; enter a city, state, or zip code; and click Done.

Calculator—This electronic version works just like its real-world counterpart, letting you add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers without thought. You can enter numbers by clicking the buttons or pressing the numeric keys on your keyboard.

Dictionary—Get word definitions, synonyms, and antonyms for any English language word you type in the search field. And because the dictionary is built into Leopard, you don't need an Internet connection to get this information.

ESPN—For sports fans, this widget displays the latest scores and news for your favorite baseball, basketball, football, and hockey teams. Just click the "i" button in the upper-right corner and choose a sport from the pop-up menu. When finished, click "News" to view the latest news feeds from ESPN or "Scores" to see how well your team is faring.

Flight Tracker—View the flight paths of practically any upcoming or in-progress flight around the world. Just choose an airline, departure city, and arrival city from the pop-up menus (or enter the information in the fields), click Find Flights, select the flight in the results, and click Track Flight.

Google—When you need information fast, just type what you're looking for into this widget to make Google scour the Internet on your command. Your default web browser will automatically open to display the search results.

iCal—This widget allows you to view the current day and date in a small calendar, as well as view days and dates in the future and past. Just click the up or down arrow buttons to jump through the calendar by month.

iTunes—This widget allows you to control iTunes playback (iTunes must be open for this to work). You can use the widget controls to play, pause, and skip forward and backward through songs in your iTunes Library or a playlist, or listen to Internet radio. You can even control volume with a twist of the outer dial.

Movies—Heading out to enjoy a movie? Use this widget to look up information about the latest releases and find show times at local theaters. Not sure if you would enjoy the movie? Watch movie trailers right in Dashboard, then click to buy tickets.

People—Feeling out of touch with friends and family? Don't use that old excuse of losing their phone numbers. Look them up with this widget, which can look up residential phone numbers by area. Just enter a first name, last name, and a city and state or zip code.

Ski Report—Find out the current weather and snow conditions at popular skiing locations across the country and head for the hills. Just click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner and type the name of a resort to get the current conditions, including the new snowfall, base depth, and temperature.

Stickies—Just like the paper version but for your Mac. Just type notes right on the Stickies pad. To change the paper color and font, click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner. Then select a paper color, choose a font from the Font pop-up menu, choose a font size from the other pop-up menu, and click Done.

Stocks—This widget lets you track your favorite stocks (with up to a 20-minute delay). To enter a company, click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner, type the company's name or ticker symbol in the field, and click Done. To get an overview of your stock's performance, click the company symbol to view a graph that shows the highs and lows over a user-selectable timeframe.

Tile Game—You probably remember this one as a kid; the goal of the game is to rearrange all the tiles so that they form a picture. Just click the widget to make it start scrambling the tiles. Click it again to make it stop. To rearrange tiles, click a tile that borders the empty space to move it in its place, and continue in this manner until you see the picture again.

Translation—For those times when you can't decipher a foreign language phrase, or you need to translate one of your own into another language, this widget comes in handy. Just choose the language that you want to translate from and to using the pop-up menus, and type the word or phrase in the text box below "Translate from." C'est facile!

Unit Converter—If you need to convert weights, measurements, temperatures, speeds, currency, volume, and other items, this widget will do the job. Just choose a unit category from the Convert pop-up menu, choose a unit that you want converted from the bottom-left pop-up menu, choose the unit that you want it converted to in the bottom-right pop-up menu, and enter a value in the left field to view the conversion to its right.

Weather—Be prepared wherever you may roam. The Weather widget displays the current weather conditions for the city of your choice in thermal terms (high, low, and current temperatures) and in current graphical conditions too. Click on the widget for a 5-day forecast. To change the city, click the "i" button; enter a city, state, or zip code; and click Done.

Web Clip—Say you check part of a particular website pretty often. Why not turn it into a widget? In Safari, click the Web Clip icon and select the part of the page you want to turn into a widget. Click Add and Safari launches your brand-new widget in Dashboard. From there you can customize it with a selection of themes. Your new web clip widget is always live, acting just like the website it was clipped from.

World Clock—The World Clock widget displays the local time for many cities around the world. Open multiple windows to keep track of different time zones. To change the city, click the "i" button, choose a continent from the Continent pop-up menu, choose a city from the City pop-up menu, and click Done.

Tip: Want to learn more about Dashboard? Check out the built-in Help guide on your Mac (in the Finder, choose Mac Helpfrom the Help menu, and type dashboard in the search field).

Important: Information about products not manufactured by Apple is provided for information purposes only, and does not constitute Apple's recommendation or endorsement. Please contact the vendor for additional information.

Using Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp

2010-09-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Summary

Mac OS X v10.5 and later includes Boot Camp that lets you run Microsoft Windows. If there’s a PC application you need to use, get a copy of Windows and start up Boot Camp.

Products Affected

Boot Camp, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X v10.5, Mac OS X v10.6

Run Windows at native speed

You can run the Windows operating system on your Mac at native speed--without the performance penalty that comes with software emulation or "virtual machines." Windows applications have full access to multiple processors and multiple cores, accelerated 3D graphics, and high-speed ports and networking such as USB, FireWire, Wi-Fi, AirPort, and Gigabit Ethernet. Boot Camp drivers for Windows that let you use these features are on the Mac OS X installation DVD, as well as drivers for audio and Bluetooth. The drivers are automatically installed when you insert the disc into your Mac after installing Windows.

Boot Camp supports Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (requires Mac OS X v10.6 or later and Boot Camp 3.1 or later). For more details, see Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows. For information about using 64-bit editions of Windows Vista or Windows 7, see Boot Camp: Macs that work with 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Boot Camp Assistant creates a partition just for Windows without erasing your existing Mac OS X volume.

After running Boot Camp and installing Windows, you can switch between Windows and Mac OS X by holding the Option (Alt) key at start up. Or, use the Startup Disk control panel in Windows (installed with Boot Camp drivers from the Mac OS X installation disc) or Mac OS X Startup Disk preferences to set the default operating system to use each time the computer starts up.

Requirements

To use Boot Camp, you need:

An Intel-based Macintosh computer with a built-in or USB keyboard and a built-in trackpad or USB mouse.
Mac OS X v10.5 or later.
The latest firmware updates available for your Intel-based Mac.
At least 10 GB of free space on your startup disk (single partition).
A full, single-disc version of Windows 7 (Mac OS X v10.6 or later only), Windows Vista, Windows XP Home Edition or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later. Boot Camp does not include Windows. You must provide your own properly licensed installation disc. Important: A Windows XP installation disc must include Service Pack 2 (SP2). You cannot install an earlier version of Windows and upgrade to Windows XP, nor install an earlier version of Windows XP and update it to SP2. Media Center, OEM, and upgrade versions of Windows XP are not recommended.
Boot Camp Assistant (find it installed in /Applications/Utilities/).

For more details, see Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows.

Before installing Boot Camp

Before you install, follow these steps:

Always back up important data before any software installation.
Print the "Boot Camp Installation & Setup Guide" (Mac OS X v10.6 version or Mac OS X v10.5 version) PDF document.
Update your Intel-based Mac to the latest version of Mac OS X. Use Software Update, in the Apple menu to check for the latest software.
Download and install the latest firmware updates available for your Mac. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the firmware installation. See Firmware updates for Intel-based Macs for more information.

Installing Boot Camp

For specific installation steps, refer to the "Boot Camp Installation & Setup Guide" PDF document that you printed, starting with Step 2 in the PDF, "Open Boot Camp Assistant". For Windows 7, you may wish to also read theWindows 7 installation frequently asked questions.

Additional Information

Important: Apple does not provide technical phone support for installing, using, or recovering Microsoft Windows. Support is available for using Boot Camp Setup Assistant, as well as installing or restoring Boot Camp software while booted into Windows. Support articles and discussions may also be available on Apple's support website.

Automator

2010-09-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Summary

Doing small tasks over and over again can really bog down your productivity. Luckily for you, Mac OS X comes with Automator, your own personal robotic assistant that will take care of whatever task you give it.

You can tell it to rename a large group of files, have it resize a batch of photos to fit in your iPhoto slideshow, automatically create iCal events, and do other things that can simplify your workflow. And you don't need to know a thing about programming to control Automator—just drag and drop commands in the interface to create your own Automator Workflows. To give you an example of how it works, here's how we created a workflow in Automator to resize our most recent batch of iPhoto pictures for the web.

To make your Mac do your dirty work, just drag any of the actions to the workflow pane.

Products Affected

Automator

Open Automator in the Applications folder. The interface opens with a Library column on the left for selecting applications or other items to use, an Action column in the middle containing the available actions, or commands, for your selected item, a workflow pane on the right that you drag actions here to build your Workflow, and an information box on the bottom-left to provide helpful guidance.
Select iPhoto in the Library column.
Drag Find iPhoto Items from the Action column to the workflow pane to add it.
In the resulting workflow item in the workflow pane, choose Photos from the Find pop-up menu.
In the criteria section, choose Date from the left pop-up menu, and choose This week from the right pop-up menu, this selects all images in our last iPhoto import—assuming that we run Automator in the same week that we import our pictures into iPhoto.
Select Finder in the Library column.
Drag the Copy Finder Items action to the workflow.
In the resulting workflow item, choose Other from the pop-up menu and in the resulting dialog, select Desktop, click New Folder, enter a name for the folder, for example we named ours "New Web Pics", and click Create. Then click Open, this creates copies of our photos in a folder called "New Web Pics" on our Desktop to preserve the originals.
Select Preview in the Library.
Drag the Change Type of Images action to the workflow.
In the resulting workflow item, choose JPEG from the To Type pop-up menu, this converts all image formats to JPEG.
Drag the Scale Images action to the workflow.
In the resulting workflow item, choose To Size (pixels) from the pop-up menu, and type a preferred size in the field, this resizes the longer side of all images to your specified size, while retaining the proportions.
When finished, save your work, from the File menu, choose Save—or press Command-S.

Create a workflow to help speed up your tasks.

To run your new workflow, just click the Run button at the top-right corner of the Automator window. If you prefer, you can save your workflow as an application (from the File menu, choose Save As, and be sure to choose Application from the File Format pop-up menu), which allows you to run your workflow by simply double-clicking the new application.

Tip: Want to learn more about Automator? Check out the built-in Automator Help guide on your Mac (in Automator, choose Automator Helpfrom the Help menu).

Address Book

2010-09-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

Summary

Whether you've got all your contacts stored neatly in an electronic device or are still hanging on to your tattered address book, personal organizer, or business card collection, Address Book makes it simple to manage your contacts.

Address Book keeps all your VIPs right at your fingertips.

Address Book allows you to enter all sorts of information about a person, including his or her email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, websites, chat names, names of the important people in his or her life (including spouse, partner, mom, dad, siblings, and assistant), and more. And because it's a system-wide application, you can email, chat, or visit a contact's website directly from an Address Book card. You can even print address labels.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.6

Create a new contact

If you want to add someone to Address Book, here's how to create a new card.

Enter as much or as little contact information as you wish; if you leave a field blank, it won't appear in the final card.

Open Address Book from the Dock. The interface displays a Group column on the left (for grouping contacts), a Name column in the middle (that displays all contact names in your selected group), and a card pane on the right (for viewing a selected contact's information).
Click the plus sign (+) button below the Name column to create a new contact card.
Enter the person's name and contact information in the designated fields, just click a field and type away. Note that each type of contact (Phone, Email, Names, addresses, and so on) is grouped in sections on the card.
Some of the fields display a pop-up menu to their left, allowing you to choose a label for that field. For example, if you want to enter someone's cell phone number, click the pop-up menu next to any Phone field and choose mobile.
If you have more contact information than the allotted fields, click the green plus sign (+) that appears in that category section to add another field.
To add additional fields, from the Card menu, choose Add Field, then choose a category from the submenu (such as URL, Birthday, or Job Title).
If you want to add any extra information, type it in the Note section.
You can have Address Book display a picture of the person or any image that you want. To add a picture, just drag any image file onto the square next to the person's name at the top of the card.
When finished, choose Save from the File menu (or press Command-S).

Using Address Book

Here are some of the things you can do in Address Book.

To send an email to one of your contacts, select the person's name in the Name column, click the label to the left of the email address to open the pop-up menu, and choose Send Email.
If you prefer to see only contact cards instead of the three-pane display, click the "View card only" button in the toolbar in the upper-left corner. To pull up someone's contact information, either type his or her name in the search field or use the arrow buttons on the bottom-right corner to scroll through your contacts.
If you want to be able to address a group of people in an email instead of entering all their email addresses, create a group. Click the plus sign (+) button below the Group column, type a name for your group, select All in the Group column, and then drag names from the Name column onto your new group in the Group column to add them.
You can also create a Smart Group, a group that automatically updates itself if any contact fits the same search criteria you set for a Smart Group. To create a Smart Group, choose New Smart Group from the File menu, type a name in the Smart Group Name field, set your search criteria using the pop-up menus and fields, for example, choose Company from the first pop-up menu and type a company name in the field to create a Smart Group of people at that company, and click OK. Any contacts that match your search criteria will become part of this Smart Group.

If you frequently send email to a group of people, like all your coworkers,
create a Smart Group, which automatically updates on its own.
If you miss having a tangible address book, print out a pocket-sized version of Address Book. Select the names that you want to include from the Names column, or select a group, and choose Print from the File menu. In the resulting dialog, choose Pocket Address Book from the Style pop-up menu, select any other options you want, and click Print.
It’s also a good idea to back up your Address Book.

Tip: Want to learn more about Address Book? Check out the built-in Address Book Help guide on your Mac (in Address Book, choose Address Book Help from the Help menu).

Mac essentials

2010-09-14T16:23:00.001-07:00

Summary

If you're brand new to the world of computers and are just starting to get up and running, relax—using a Mac is simple. This lesson introduces you to the basic principles of interacting with your computer's interface, and teaches you how to do basic tasks on your Mac.

New to the Mac? Then start with this lesson to learn the basics.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.6

Pointing, clicking, and getting around

If you haven't quite got the hang of getting around the Mac desktop and Finder windows, start here; otherwise feel free to skip ahead to "Setting Up Accounts." Let's talk about the basic principles of using your computer.

When you move your mouse or finger on a trackpad, it controls a pointer (also known as a cursor) that moves across your screen. The pointer allows you to select and interact with the various items on your screen, including selecting files, clicking buttons, dragging sliders, and so on. Sometimes the pointer may look like a hand, a crosshair, an I-beam, or some other icon, depending on what you're doing and the application you're using.

For example, if you're using Safari to view this webpage and move the pointer across it, notice that it turns into an I-beam when you move it over text or a text field. When you see this, you can usually interact with the text or field below it. When you move the pointer over a button or link, the pointer turns into a hand, letting you know that you can click on the item. Sometimes when your Mac is hard at work, your pointer may temporarily turn into a colorful spinning disc, which generally indicates that a task is in progress.

Depending on what you're doing and what application you're using,
your pointer (far left) may take on a new appearance

Clicking your mouse button or trackpad button once allows you to select the item that your pointer is on. In other words, if your pointer is on a file's icon, clicking once will select it. If the pointer is on a button or link, clicking once will activate it. If your pointer is on a text field, clicking once highlights the field and allows you to start typing text in it. If you see a blue button in a dialog, such as in a Print or Save dialog, you can press the Return key to select it instead of using your mouse.

If you want to open a file, folder, or application, click your mouse button twice. This is known as double-clicking. In general, you'll need to double-click items if you want to open them from a Finder window or the desktop. The exception to this is opening stuff from the Dock—just click once on an icon in the Dock to open it.

Move your mouse to move the pointer over a file, folder, or application icon
and click once to select it, or double-click to open it.

Working with applications

You don't have to quit an application before opening a new one. In fact, you can open and use several applications at the same time, depending on how much memory you have installed in your computer. For example, when you open Mail, you can have it run in the background (meaning, it's not the current active application) to check email as you work in, say, iPhoto. And while you're editing your pictures, you might also want to open iTunes to listen to some music.

Most applications share common menu commands and keyboard shortcuts, key combinations (such as Command-C) that are pressed together to perform a certain menu command. For example, in any application's File menu, you'll find commands to Open (Command-O) and Save (Command-S) files. Likewise, you'll find Copy (Command-C), Paste (Command-V), and Undo (Command-Z) commands in the Edit menu in most applications. Whenever you use an application, be sure to scope out its preferences from the application menu, choose Preferences) to set it up to your liking.

When you open an application, closing the window doesn't necessarily quit the application, if you see a blue light below the application icon in the Dock, the application is still running. To quit an application, either choose Quit Application Name from the application menu, or press Command-Q.

About user accounts

When you get a brand new Mac, the first thing you do when you start it up for the first time is create a user account. Maybe you did this on your Mac or someone did the deed for you. Regardless, your Mac currently has a user account set up on it. If your Mac only has one user account, that account is an administrator account.

An administrator account allows you to have access to all areas of the computer, install and update software, create and maintain other user accounts, and more. If a Mac-savvy friend set up your computer, he or she may have created a non-administrative account for you. If you set up your computer, you are the administrator. If you're unsure of what type of account you have, do this:

Open Accounts preferences to determine the types of accounts for each user on your computer.

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences to open the window.
Click Accounts to display the Accounts preferences.
Your account is listed under the My Account header in the left pane.

Below your account name, if you see the word "Admin," you have an administrator account and all the privileges that go with it. If you see the word "Standard" or "Managed," someone else who either shares or set up your computer has administrative access. You will not be able to install software or create user accounts. If you want this power, you will need to convince the person who has administrator access to your computer, but before you do, you might want to read through all the Mac 101 lessons first.

If you have a "standard" account, you have limitless access to all the applications on your Mac, and can configure them for your user account. If you have a "managed" account, the person who has administrative access has put limitations on what you can and can't access. If this is the case, talk with your administrator to find out the scope of your access.

No matter how many accounts your computer has, each user's files, media libraries, preferences, and other information is kept separate from other users, so you don't have to worry about your housemates ransacking your private files—unless they figure out your password.

Changing account passwords

Speaking of passwords, make sure that you use a good one. Don't choose your name (or someone else's), your birthday, a pet's name, or any other easy-to-guess word. Choose something that uses a combination of letters, numbers, and punctuation characters for better security.

Here's how to change your user account password.

If you need help creating a good password, click the key button to open the
Password Assistant window and let your Mac generate password candidates for you.

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
Click Accounts to display its preferences.
Click the Password tab to display its pane, then click Change Password.
In the resulting dialog, type your current password in the Old Password field.
Type a new, hard-to-guess password in the New Password and Verify fields, then click Change Password.

So what happens when you forget your user account password? You can workaround this issue quite easily. Just insert the Mac OS X Software Install disc that came with your Mac, then restart the computer while holding down the C key to start up from the disc. When the Installer appears, choose Reset Password from the Installer menu, and follow the onscreen instructions to change your password.

For added security, don't have your Mac automatically log you in when you start up your computer; this function is enabled by default. To disable it, click Login Options in Accounts preferences, and deselect the "Automatically log in as..." checkbox. Please note that each time you start up your computer, you'll need to log in with your user account password.

Creating and managing user accounts

If you have administrative access, here's how to create a new user account.

In Accounts preferences, if the lock icon in the bottom-left corner is locked, click it and type your administrator password in the resulting dialog to unlock it.
Click the plus sign (+) button at the bottom to create a new account.
In the resulting dialog, type the person's name in the Name field, type a one-word name in the Short Name field this is the name that gets attached to a user's files—don't use spaces or punctuation marks, and type a password in the Password and Verify fields.
Click Create Account or press Return.
If you want this person to have administrator access (think hard about this), click the Security tab and select the "Allow user to administer this computer" checkbox.

If you don't make this user an administrator, he or she can access all applications on the computer as a Standard account. If you want to enforce stricter access control, select the user account, select the Enable Parental Controls checkbox and then click the Open Parental Controls button. You've now created a Managed account with various options, such as what applications can open, content filters, mail and chat limitations, logs of sites visited or applications opened and even time limits.

If you have administrative access, you can create user accounts to allow friends and family
to use your computer with parental control.

Many kids would sit at the computer for days if you let them. Fortunately, Leopard makes it easier to set the rules. Just enter bedtime and time limits for using the Mac, specifying different times for weekdays and weekends if you wish. Parents happy, kids happy (relatively).

Storing passwords in Keychain

Getting email, visiting certain websites, accessing servers, and opening password-protected files and applications on your Mac require passwords. But you don't have to keep track of every password you have; instead, keep your passwords in Keychain, a utility that lets you create one or more keychains to store your sensitive passwords.

Your Mac starts you out with a single keychain that gets created when you first log in to your user account. By default, it has the same password as your user account, and automatically unlocks whenever you log in to your account.

When you access a site, application, or other item that asks for your password, a dialog may open after you type it, asking if you want to add the password to your keychain. Click Add to add it. The next time you access that item, Keychain fills in the password for you. You can also add passwords manually: Open Keychain Access in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder, choose New Password Item from the File menu, and enter the information and password for the item.

Keychain Access allows you to see all the password items that are currently stored on the selected keychain.

If you ever forget a password that's stored in Keychain, do this:

Open Keychain Access.
From the list, double-click the item whose password you can't remember.
In the resulting window, click the Attributes tab, then select the "Show password" checkbox.
In the resulting dialog, type your keychain password. If you're using the default keychain, the password is the same as your user account. Click Allow Once to display your password once, or click Always Allow to always display your password in Keychain.

For added protection, you may want to create another "more personal" keychain that doesn't automatically unlock each time you log in to your user account. To create a keychain:

Open Keychain Access
From the File menu, choose New Keychain.
In the resulting dialog, type a name for your keychain in the Save As field, choose where you want to store it from theWhere pop-up menu, and click Create.
In the resulting dialog, type a good password for this keychain in the Password and Verify fields, then click OK. Click the key button if you need help choosing a good password.

Tip: For more information on using Keychain, choose Mac Help from the Help menu and type "keychain" in the Search field.

Working with discs and volumes

Many Apple computers come with an optical drive that allows it to read and play CDs and DVDs. If your Mac has a combo drive, you can burn CDs too. If you have a SuperDrive, you can burn CDs and DVDs. If you have a slot-loading optical drive, just insert a CD or DVD into the slot and your Mac will suck the rest in. If you have a drive that has a door, press the Eject key on your keyboard (the triangle with the line underneath) to open the disc tray, insert your disc, and press the Eject key again to close the tray.

To eject a disc or volume, drag its icon to the Eject icon in the Dock, or click its Eject button in a Finder window.

Your disc will appear on your desktop in icon form. Depending on what type of disc it is (audio CD, picture CD, blank recordable CD, DVD-Video, etc.), your Mac may automatically open an application that can be used with the disc. When you are done with a disc, you can either drag the disc icon to the Trash to eject it or click the Eject icon next to the disc in any Finder window.

These same principles apply to volumes, including external FireWire or USB hard drives, iPods, digital cameras, USB flash drives, and servers on a network. When you connect these types of devices to your Mac or connect to a server from your Mac, an icon for the volume appears on your desktop. When you're done with it, drag the icon to the Trash or eject it in a Finder window.

Update and install software

Your Mac has a built-in feature called Software Update that allows it to automatically check for available updates from Apple daily, weekly, or monthly when your computer is connected to the Internet. It takes into account the software you have installed on your computer, and new updates released by Apple so that it only shows you the relevant updates.

You can also download software from Apple Downloads and install the software yourself. To install software, just double-click the installer file and follow the onscreen instructions. Here's how to have Software Update update software for you.

Software Update can automatically check the Apple website for updates that are relevant to your installed software.

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then click Software Update to display its preferences.
To enable automatic checking, select the "Check for updates" checkbox, then choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly from the pop-up menu to set the frequency.
To have Software Update automatically download important updates in the background, meaning, it does this while you work on other things on your Mac, select the "Download important updates in the background" checkbox.
Click Check Now to have Software Update check for updates. If it finds any, it'll display the available software in the Software Update window.
To install the software it finds, select only the items you want by selecting the checkboxes, then click Install Items to download and install all selected items.
Next time, Software Update will automatically launch at your set frequency to show you the latest updates.

All Work and Play: Introduction

2010-09-10T17:52:00.001-07:00

Once you've become familiar with the interface, you're ready to start using your Mac. But before you get started on the software, you need to master the basics of using your Mac. We're talking about creating user accounts, installing and upgrading software, ejecting media, saving files... the little things we call Mac essentials.

Then it's on to some of the great goodies that came with your computer. Each lesson introduces you to a different application or Mac OS feature, and gives you a quick run-through on how to use it effectively. Feel free to pick and choose the lessons you want to learn in this section. The only "required" reading is Lesson 1: Mac Essentials if you're not yet up to speed on how to use a Mac.

Ready to really use your Mac? This section will show you the basics of using your Mac, and
then get you started on the applications and features you'll find on your computer.

Lesson 1: Mac Essentials—Did you know that your Mac is smart enough to update its own software? Or that dragging a CD or DVD to the Trash is an absolute necessity? Or that your Mac can store all your passwords on a Keychain? Or that everyone who shares your Mac can have his or her own user account? No? Then start here.

Lesson 2: Address Book—Keep your friends, family, and foes close by preserving and managing their contact details in Address Book.

Lesson 3: Automator—Wouldn't it be nice to have your own personal robot that could take care of all the nitty-gritty, repetitive tasks you do each day? Meet Automator.

Lesson 4: Boot Camp—Run Windows XP and Vista at native speed on your Mac! Boot Camp Assistant automatically sets up your hard drive, leaving all your Mac data in place, while creating a separate partition for Windows. Boot Camp even burns a disc of all the drivers you’ll need and automatically installs them as part of the Windows installation.

Lesson 5: Dashboard—Like desktop toys and tools? Dashboard is a cool feature of Mac OS X 10.4 or later that lets you get quick access to a world of widgets at the press of a key.

Lesson 6: Dictionary—Need to find the meaning of life? Look it up in Dictionary! Whether you seek word spellings, meanings, or synonyms, knowledge is right at your fingertips.

Lesson 7: DVD Player—You know what they say about all work and no play. For those times when you feel like being a couch (or office chair) potato, DVD Player gives you a front row seat to the movies.

Lesson 8: Exposé—If you find yourself buried in windows and application interfaces, Exposé is a nifty tool that can help you access windows instantly and effortlessly.

Lesson 9: Font Book—Got fonts? Font Book makes it easy to manage your font collection, and provides tools that take the pain out of working with them.

Lesson 10: GarageBand—Whether you're a musical virtuoso or don't know a quarter note from a keynote, GarageBand enables you to make music—with or without real instruments.

Lesson 11: iCal—Forget jotting down appointments and to-do lists on sticky notes and calendars. iCal can help you get a handle on everything in your—and anyone else's—life.

Lesson 12: iChat—Long distance phone bills and text messaging charges can be a thing of the past. With iChat, you can text, audio, and video chat with others using your Internet connection.

Lesson 13: iDVD—Ready to share your movie masterpiece? iDVD features all the tools you need to create professional-looking DVDs that rival movie studio releases and play in any DVD player.

Lesson 14: iMovie—If you've got a DV camera or digital still camera that can capture movies, iMovie lets you don the director's cap and edit movies like a pro—even high-definition video.

Lesson 15: iPhoto—For the shutterbug in all of us, iPhoto allows you to easily view, edit, and share your digital photos. You can even create slideshows and your own photo books.

Lesson 16: iSync—If you're an on-the-go, gadget-toting individual, iSync enables you to sync contacts, schedules, and other data on your Mac across your collection of cell phones, iPods, and Palm devices.

Lesson 17: iTunes—If you like music, you'll love iTunes—a fully integrated music playing, buying, burning, converting, streaming, and so-much-more application.

Lesson 18: iWeb—Build a beautiful website in minutes. Use iWeb to create websites and blogs - complete with podcasts, photos, and movies - and get them online, fast.

Lesson 19: Mail—Get smart about your email. Mail not only lets you send and receive email, it can track and manage your messages, and eliminate junk mail too.

Lesson 20: Preview—PDF viewing got a whole lot better with Preview, a PDF viewer that does more than simply show you the document. You can search for and copy text, view photo and fax files, play slideshows, and more.

Lesson 21: QuickTime Player—QuickTime is the digital media standard when it comes to playing just about every flavor of audio, video, and image file format. If accessing online multimedia is your goal, QuickTime Player will get you there.

Lesson 22: Safari—Get the most out of your web experience with Safari. This web browser offers plenty of features to make your Internet activity more efficient, including fast page loads, built-in Google search, pop-up window blocker, and AutoFill automation.

Lesson 23: Spaces—With Spaces you can group your application windows and banish the clutter from your desktop. Create custom spaces for work, play, or your creative muse. Switch between spaces with just a click or keypress.

Lesson 24: Spotlight—If you're searching for stuff on your Mac, look no further than Spotlight, an incredible search technology that can search for anything that you type and return results at blazing speeds.

Lesson 25: TextEdit—You don't necessarily need a pricey word-processing application to take care of your text needs. TextEdit provides text and formatting tools, graphics and movie handling, spell check, and can even speak your text back to you.

Lesson 26: Time Machine—Lost a file, or saved over that really important presentation? Wish you could go back in time to retrieve it? Use Time Machine to restore files from automatic backups.

Lesson 27: VoiceOver—For those with visual or learning disabilities, VoiceOver provides a spoken English interface that makes it easier to get around the Mac.

Applications, files, and folders

2010-09-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

Summary
All those little icons that you see on your Finder windows, desktop, and Dock all mean something, but what? What's the difference between a file and an application? What's the difference between a photo file and a music file, or a text file?
Products Affected
Mac OS X 10.6
Applications
An application is basically a computer program (that is, software) that gives users the tools to accomplish specific tasks. For example, you're probably using Safari right now to read this webpage (Safari is a web-browsing application). If you want to send and get email, you need an email application such as Mail. Want to type up a resume? Use a word-processing application, such as Pages (part of Apple iWork) or even TextEdit (part of Mac OS X).

Your Mac's applications are stored in the Applications folder. Here's a look at some.
To open an application, either double-click its icon in a Finder window (applications are normally installed in the Applications folder), or click it in the Dock (if it's there). Depending on the application, it may display an interface window, palettes, tool bar, or other interface components, or it could display nothing at all until you open a file or create a new one.
To quit an application, choose Quit from its application menu (for example, choose Quit iTunes from the iTunes menu if you want to quit iTunes). Keep in mind that closing a window (by clicking the round, red button) will typically not quit the application. Either choose Quit from the application menu or use the keyboard shortcut: Press the Command key (the one with the Apple logo) and the Q key simultaneously (Command-Q).
Files and file formats
A file is an electronic collection of information that requires an application to use. For example, if you write a resume in TextEdit and save it, you'll create a text file. When you use iTunes to download music from the iTunes Store, you get audio files. When you download photos from a digital camera to your Mac, you're copying over image files.

Files come in many types and formats. Here's a small sample of some of the files you'll find on your Mac.
Each type of file (whether it's text, audio, image, movie, HTML, project code, zip compressed, or something else) can come in a different file format. For example, music that you download from the web could be MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, AIFF, WAV, or other audio file format; most music-playing applications will support multiple audio file formats for compatibility. That way, you don't have to pay close attention to the types of files you're downloading.
Files require an application to use. If you want to read someone's resume, you need an application that understands the type of file at hand (if the file is a Microsoft Word document, you can use Word or Apple Pages; if it's a PDF document, you can use Preview). If you want to look at your photos, you need an application that can display them (such as iPhoto or Preview). If you want to read this webpage (which is an HTML file that's stored on our servers), you need Safari or some other web-browsing application to interpret the HTML code into familiar language.
When you double-click a file, an application opens along with it to support the file. You can also open a file by dragging its icon onto an application's icon on the Dock. It doesn't have to be the application that created the file; it just needs to be one that understands the file type and format. For example, if you download a movie file from the Internet and double-click it, QuickTime will open and display the movie in its QuickTime Player window. More than likely, QuickTime was not the application that created this file, but it is one that can play it.
More than one application can support any given file. For example, if you downloaded an MP3 music file, you can probably play the file in iTunes, QuickTime Player, in a Finder window, or a TextEdit document.
To close a file, just click the round, red button in the upper-left corner of its window. Keep in mind that closing a file will not necessarily quit the application too. To quit an application, choose Quit from the application menu or press Command-Q.
Folders
Folders on your Mac function just like tangible folders in the real world without the wear and tear. Basically, you use them to organize your applications and files.

Folders' appearances may differ a little from each other
depending on what they contain.
Your Home folder (the house icon named after your user account name) contains several subfolders, such as Music, Pictures, and Movies, to help keep all your files organized by type. The Applications folder contains all your applications, the System folder contains all the files that makes your Mac a Mac, and the Desktop folder contains all the stuff that's currently on your desktop.
If you want to add more folders to set up an organizational scheme, here's how to create a new folder:
Make the Finder active (click the desktop, click inside any Finder window, double-click the hard drive, or click the Finder icon in the Dock).
From the File menu, choose New Folder; a new "untitled folder" icon appears on the desktop.
Name your folder by simply typing a name in the highlighted text box below the folder icon.
You can now drag any files, folders, and applications that you want into your new folder, or drag the folder into any other folder to establish a hierarchy. Or, you can simply press the Shift-Command-N key combination.
Get Info
If you're interested in finding out some information about any particular file, application, or folder, command your Mac to Get Info. Here's how.

The Get Info command lets you view more information about a selected file, folder, or application.
Select any file, folder, or application by clicking once on its icon.
From the File menu, choose Get Info (or press Command-I). An Info window opens.
The window lists several info categories (such as General, More Info, Preview, and Ownership & Permissions); these items are marked with a disclosure triangle.
If a category has its information displayed, the triangle will be facing downwards. If the disclosure triangle is pointing to the right, click it to display the information. Click the General disclosure triangle to see its contents.
The General pane displays some file type information for your chosen item, including its kind, size, where it's located, the date it was first created, and the last date it was modified.
When you're done scoping things out, close the window (click the round, red button in the upper-left corner).

The Dock, Dock Exposé, and Stacks

2010-09-09T13:57:00.001-07:00

Summary

Learn about The Dock, Dock Exposé, Dock menus, and Stacks in Mac OS X v10.6 and later.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.6

The Dock

The Dock is at the bottom of the screen (by default) and gives you quick access to your applications and files. When you click an icon on the Dock, the associated application, file, or folder opens. Open (running) applications are indicated with a bright dot that appears below the icon. To use an item in the Dock, just click its icon. For example, if you want to listen to some music, click the iTunes icon (the disc icon with musical notes) to open iTunes.

Dock elements

The Application icons - Finder is always leftmost. All the other icons are Application icons of your choice.
Bright dot - Indicates open (running) applications.
Dock size adjuster - Click and dragging up to grow the Dock or dragging down to shrink the Dock. Tip: Control-click or right-click it to bring up its Dock menu, where you can adjust or open Dock Preferences.
Folders, minimized windows, documents and Trash - Clicking a folder will expand it to the stack of your choice (a fan stack in this example). See the stacks section below for details. By default you have a stack for your Application, Documents and Downloads folders.

To bring any currently running application to the foreground, click its icon in the Dock (the active application's name appears in the menu bar to the right of the Apple logo).

If you minimize a Finder or application window (by pressing Command-M, for example), the window gets minimized to the right side of the Dock. Click the window's icon to make it appear again.

The Dock keeps applications on its left side with the Finder always being leftmost, while to the right side are folders, documents, minimized windows and the Trash is always rightmost. If you look closely, you'll see the Dock size adjuster that separates them. (If you've moved your Dock to the side of the screen, Finder is always the top icon and Trash is always the lowest icon.)

If you want to rearrange where the icons appear, just drag a icon to another location on the Dock and drop it.

When you quit an application whose icon resides in the Dock (such as Safari or Mail), the dot disappears, but the icon remains. When you quit an application whose icon doesn't reside in the Dock (for example, if you just finished playing Chess but don't keep a Chess icon in the Dock), its icon disappears from the Dock.

Adding and removing items from the Dock

If you want to add an application, file, or folder to the Dock, just drag its icon from any Finder window (or the desktop) and drop it on the Dock; the icons in the Dock will move over to make room for their new neighbor. The resulting icon that appears in the Dock is an alias that points to the original item. If you drag an application or file onto the Dock, you'll be able to open it anytime by simply clicking its docked icon.

To remove an item from the Dock, drag its icon off the dock. The Finder and Trash icons cannot be removed. The original item that the Dock icon pointed to is not deleted when you do this.

If you drag a folder onto the Dock, a Stack will show the folder's contents when you click the folder icon in the Dock. See the below section's Stacks information for details.

Exposé

Exposé lets you view all open windows with a single keystroke. Exposé unshuffles overlapping windows on your desktop into an organized tile view, so you can quickly locate and switch to any window or get to any file on the desktop.

If you like to work with many applications and documents at the same time, you probably spend time each day poking through your open windows just to uncover the one you need at the moment. With one keystroke, Exposé instantly tiles all your open windows, scales them down, and neatly arranges them, so you can see what’s in each one.

You can navigate from one tiled window to the next, and you’ll see its title displayed in the bottom center of the window. When you find the window you need, simply click it. Every window then returns to full size, and the window you clicked--whether it’s a folder, a PDF, a QuickTime movie, a Pages document, or anything else--becomes the active window.

Exposé key

F3 - With recent Apple Exernal USB keyboards and built-in portable keyboards (such as on MacBook Pro computers), the F3 key activates Exposé (with earlier keyboards, the F9 key does this by default). Tip: When viewing tiled windows, hit command 1 to view the tiles in alphabetical order or hit command 2 to view the tiles in application order.

Here are some other Exposé key commands:

Control-F3 - Shows all windows of the Application you are in, regardless of what space it resides in. This is the same as Dock Exposé (see below). (Use the F10 key on earlier keyboards.)
Command-F3 - Hide all windows and show your desktop. (Use the F11 key with earlier keyboards.)

Dock Exposé

New in Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard is Dock Exposé--a quick and intuitive way of seeing all of the windows for an application.

When you click and hold an active application icon on the Dock, Dock Exposé shows you a thumbnail of every open window for an application, regardless of the Space your application windows reside in or minimized application windows. Just click the Window tile you would like to work on and it will instantly appear.

Dock Exposé elements

Application window that is highlighted - To select it as the active window, click it or press the return key. Tip: Press the Spacebar to zoom in and out of a full size preview of the window.
Source application icon for Dock Exposé - Highlighted with a "spotlight" effect to let you know which application's windows are being shown. Tip: If this is not the application you want in Dock Exposé, simply click the dock icon of the open application you do want or use command tab to rotate to your desired application and Snow Leopard will instantly shift Dock Exposé's focus to that application.
There is also a dock menu from the open application, where you can Quit or Hide the application. Hovering your pointer over the Options choice will show these three options:
- Keep in Dock - When selected, the icon will remain in the Dock when the application has quit. Click it to cycle this on/off.
- Open at Login - When selected, the application is added to your Login Items list. When you log in to your account (or when Mac OS X automatically logs in), the application will automatically open. Click it to cycle this on/off. (You can also adjust Login Items in Users preferences, in System Preferences.)
- Show in Finder - This will open the folder where the application resides on your Mac and select the application.
Application window that is minimized.
Minimized window divider line - Present only if your application has minimized windows; above the line are windows that are not minimized, below are minimized windows.

Tip: You can use spring-loaded Dock Exposé to copy files in Finder or attach a file to a application document. For example, to attach a file to your email message: Drag the file you would like to attach, to your Mail icon on the Dock and hover it until Dock Exposé is activated, then drag your file to the tiled window of the email message you would like to attach and hold until the window moves to the foreground. Drag the file to where you would like to attach it in your message and release the mouse button.

Here is a movie that demonstrates how to use Dock Exposé to attach a file to an email message:

Dock Menus

Dock menus appear when you Control-click or right-click an icon in the Dock.

All application, folder, and file Dock menus have an "Options" sub-menu containing these options:

Keep in Dock / Remove from Dock
1. Keep in Dock - When checked, the icon will remain in the Dock when the Application has quit. Clicking it cycles the check status on and off.
2. Remove from Dock appears in the Dock Menu of an inactive application that is set to "Keep in Dock" or on a folder / file.
Open at Login - When checked, the Application is added to your Login Items list found in your user account system preference. When you log into your account, the application will automatically open. Clicking on it will cycle it being on or off your Login Items list.
Show in Finder - This will open the folder where the Application resides on your Mac and highlight the Application.

Stacks

A stack is a Dock item that gives you fast access to a folder. When you click a Stack, the files within spring from the Dock in a fan or a grid, depending on the number of items (or the preference you set). Snow Leopard starts you off with three default Stacks: one for Applications, one for downloads, and the other for documents. The Applications stack will show all of your Applications and the Utilities folder, so you can quickly open apps or utilities. The Downloads Stack contains files you download from Safari, Mail, and iChat, and the Documents Stack is a great place to keep things such as presentations, spreadsheets, and word processing files. You can create as many Stacks as you wish simply by dragging folders to the right side of your Dock.

Tip: Within the Stack, you can click and drag on the icons in your fan or grid stack to another folder, the Trash, an external disc icon, your desktop, or other locations.

Fan

Fan Stacks shows a portion your folder content and arrange the icons so that the closest icon to the Dock is based on the order of the "Sort by" option you have selected.

For example, if you select the "Sort by" option of "Date Added", the Fan Stack will expand showing the icons of the most recently added items closest to the Dock. This is the default setting of your Downloads folder, making it easy to open, copy or move your latest download.

Grid

Grid Stacks will show the folder content as a matrix of icons arranged by your "Sort by" option.

In Snow Leopard, Gird Stacks are now scrollable and allow you to navigate folders. You can click a folder in the Stack to open that folder. An arrow button will appear in the upper left of the Stack you just opened. Click it to go back to the folder you came from. If there are more icons that can be shown, a scroll bar will appear.

Grid Stack elements

Return to parent folder arrow. Click it to return to the parent folder.
Scrollbar - Present only when there are more icons to show.

You can customize a Stack by right-clicking or control-clicking on the stack. The customize menu will include the following options:

Sort by - You can select to have items sorted by Name, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, or Kind.
Display as - Displays the icon in the Dock as the folder's actual icon or as a stack of icons of the folder contents.
View content as - Determines what Stack type is used when you click the icon (see the below section about Stacks for details):
- Fan - Shows folder content in the Fan stack, organized by your sort option.
- Grid - Shows folder content in the Grid stack, organized by your sort option.
- List - Shows the folder contents as a list, organized by your sort option. Each sub-folder will open another list and so on, until you reach the end of the directory structure. To open an application or document, simply click it.
- Automatic - This lets Snow Leopard determine the best view content option. When there are a few items, the Fan stack is used. Once you have loaded your folder with enough items, Snow Leopard will change your view content type to the Grid stack.

Finder and the desktop

2010-09-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Summary

The Finder lets you organize, view, and access practically everything on your Mac, including applications, files, folders, discs, SD memory cards, and shared drives on your network. The desktop is the space where you see file, folder, and volume icons.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.6

The Finder is represented by a blue smiling face icon on the Dock, as shown below (clicking the Finder icon in the Dock brings the Finder to the foreground). When you connect a hard disk, DVD or SD memory card to your Mac, its icon shows up on the desktop and Finder window sidebars.

Summary of improvements in Snow Leopard

The Finder has been completely rewritten using the modern Cocoa framework in Mac OS X, taking advantage of the new technologies in Snow Leopard--including 64-bit support and Grand Central Dispatch. The familiar Finder interface is unchanged, but you will discover the Finder is faster and more responsive. It also includes an enhanced icon view with live file previews, so you can thumb through a multipage document or even watch a QuickTime movie.
Snow Leopard improves the reliability of ejecting discs and external drives. Sometimes when an application or process is using the files on a drive, Mac OS X prevents you from ejecting it, but you might not know why. In Snow Leopard, you should see fewer of those situations, and when you do get them, you’ll be told exactly what is using the drive, so you can quit it and eject the drive properly.

Elements of the Finder

This is a sample of what a Finder window looks like (in Cover Flow view mode):

Apple Menu - Access items such as Software Update, System Preferences, Sleep, and Shut Down.
Menu bar - Contains the Apple menu, active application menu, menu bar extras and the Spotlight icon. The Finder menu has items such as Finder Preferences, Services, and Secure Empty Trash.
Finder window close, minimize and zoom buttons.
Finder window View buttons:
- Icon view - Used to display the contents of your folder as a series of icons. Snow Leopard introduces live icon previews that you can use to thumb through a multipage document or watch a QuickTime movie.
- List view - Used to display your folder in a spreadsheet-style manner. Each folder can be expanded by clicking on the disclosure triangle just to the left of the folder. You can easily sort by file name, date modified, and so forth. Choose Show View Options from the View menu to add / remove attribute columns. You can change the sorting from ascending order to descending order and back again by clicking on the attribute column title.
- Column view - Used to display the hierarchy of your hard disk where each column represents a folder.
- Cover Flow view - Used to display the contents of your folder just like the Cover Flow used in iTunes. You can see live previews of images, documents and movies, and can thumb through documents and movies.
Quick Look button - Click it to bring up a Quick Look preview of the file you have selected. See the Quick Look section below for more details.
Action Menu - Quick access to Finder functions for highlighted items, such as Get Info, Move to Trash, and Services.
Search Field - Start typing a word or phrase and Spotlight will search your Mac for any matches. See the Finder Preferences section below for information about how to set your default search.
Hide / Show Finder window toolbar & sidebar - Click it to hide or show the Finder window toolbar and sidebar.
Spotlight icon - Click it to bring up the Spotlight search field, where you can search for anything on your Mac.
Back / Forward buttons - As you move to different places in the Finder window, you can use the back button to return one step back and the forward button to go forward.
Sidebar - Items are grouped into categories: Devices, Shared, Places, and Search For — The top portion has Devices and Shared which contains whatever is connected to your Mac, such as a hard disk, iDisk, network share points, SD memory card, or DVDs. The middle portion has Places which contains quick access to your Desktop, Home folder—the folder named after your user account name, Applications and Documents. The bottom portion has Search For which contains quick access to Smart Folders that will find any file on your Mac that was used Today, Yesterday, Past Week and document types like All Images, All Movies, All Documents.
Cover Flow content- Showing you a live preview of your files, where you can page through a document or watch a QuickTime movie.
The Finder application icon - Click it to bring the Finder to the foreground and open a Finder window if none are already opened.
The Dock - Quick access to the Finder and your most frequently used applications, folders, and files. With a single click the application, folder, or file opens..
Trash - deleted items are kept here until you empty the Trash. You can also eject DVD's, SD memory cards and drives connected to your Mac by dragging them to the trash. Note: Snow Leopard introduces the Put Back option for files in the Trash. See the below for details.

Tip: Want to learn how you can customize the Finder window for your needs? Be sure to check out "Modify Your Finder Windows."

Finder Preferences

Finder preferences let you configure file labels, search locations, Finder window sidebars, and hide or show hard disk icons on the desktop. To open Finder preferences choose Preferences from the Finder menu, or press Command-, (The Command key and the Comma key).

In the General tab you can configure what kind of items appear on your desktop. For example, you can have your internal hard disk appear on the desktop or not. Your hard disk will appear in the Finder windows sidebar. If no Finder window is open, you can open a new one by clicking the Finder icon on your Dock.

In the Label tab you can assign special titles to your labels. For example, you can customize the labels to be a priority level or a project name. This can make for easy Spotlight searches based on your priorities and projects.

In the Sidebar tab you can customize the kind of devices that will appear on your Finder window sidebars (changes affect all Finder window sidebars).

In the Advanced tab you can set the initial search locations in your Finder windows search field (item 7 above).

Search this Mac - Will have the search results pertain to any file on your Mac.
Search the Current Folder - Will have search results restricted to the folder you have open and its subfolders.
Use the Previous Search Scope - Will have search results based on the last customization search you performed.

Finding items you want

Finding items on your Mac is easy with Spotlight. Using the Finder search field, you can quickly use Spotlight locate what you want.

In the Finder window search field (item 7 above), just type in a word or phrase to search your Mac for. Your Mac will begin to find any items that contain what you have typed in. Refer to the above Finder Preferences section for information about how to configure your default search.

You can refine your search further with just a few clicks and selected options. This custom search can then be saved as a Smart Folder on your sidebar that automatically updates with new items when you click it.

Click here to see a sample search

Quick Look

Quick Look is a fast and easy way to see a preview of your images, documents, movies, and even Microsoft Office documents without opening them in an application.

Simply highlight an item you would like to Quick Look. Press the spacebar or click the Quick Look button in the Finder window (item 5 above). The Quick Look window will appear showing you the contents of your file. If it is a document, you can page through it. If it is a movie, you can play it, even in full screen mode. If you highlight several images, you can start a slide show of those images. Press the spacebar, Esc key, or Quick Look button again to exit Quick Look.

Tip: Quick Look also works in the Time Machine backup interface, which is a great way to check an item before restoring it from a Time Machine backup.

Enhanced Icon View

As with Cover Flow and Quick Look, you can thumb through a Document or watch a QuickTime movie right in the Finder window in icon view.

If you have a multipage PDF document, you will see a "book binding" graphic on the left side of the PDF icon.

If you hover your mouse pointer over a multipage document and you will see arrow buttons that let you thumb through your document.

If you hover your mouse pointer QuickTime movie, you will see a play button. Click it to watch the movie play. The button becomes a pause button to pause playback.

By using the Icon Size slider located to the left of the Finder window resize control, you can adjust the size of your icons all the way up to 512-by-512 pixels (which is four times larger than Mac OS X v10.5).

Restoring deleted items to their previous location

If you put an item into the Trash from your Desktop or Finder window, you can restore it to where it was before it was placed in the Trash (if you haven't emptied the Trash yet).

Open the Trash (item 15 above) by clicking on it in the Dock. Select the item(s) to move back, then choose Put Back from theFile menu. Or, you can Control-click or right-click the item and choose "Put Back" from the contextual menu.

Removable sidebar headers

If you prefer a minimal sidebar, you can remove all items under a sidebar header (Devices, Shared, Places, Search For). The sidebar header will then disappear.

To restore the sidebar header, simply drag an item onto the sidebar that would be contained in the sidebar header. The sidebar header will return and contain the item you dragged over. For example, dragging the documents folder to the sidebar returns the Places header.

Sortable search results

After performing a search by entering a word or phrase in the Finder window search field (item 7 above). You can then sort the results by clicking the Action Menu (item 6 above) and choosing the desired "Arrange By" option. Note: You can add / remove "Arrange By" options by using the "Show View Options" Action Menu item.

Getting around

The hard disk icon in your Finder window's sidebar represents your computer's hard drive (typically called Macintosh HD). You can access everything on your Mac by clicking this icon in the sidebar to open it, and then opening any subsequent folders to navigate to whatever you're looking for. At the top level, you'll see the Applications, Library, System, and Users folders, plus a few others. Both the Library and System folders contain system-level files--you shouldn't add anything to, or remove anything from, these folders unless you fully understand what you're doing.

The Applications folder contains applications installed on your Mac. It also includes the Utilities folder with applications that are designed to support different functions of your Mac (such as Disk Utility and System Profiler).

The Users folder houses all the content for each user account on your Mac; each user has a separate Home folder that's named after his or her user account name. The active account's Home folder, the user who's currently logged in to the computer, displays a small house as its icon instead of a folder. Each Home folder contains a series of subfolders--Desktop, Documents, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, and Sites.

When you put stuff on your desktop, technically it's being stored in your user account's Desktop folder, even though to you it appears "on" your desktop. When you bring music into iTunes, your music files get stored in the iTunes folder in your user's Music folder. Likewise, iPhoto stores pictures in the Pictures folder and iMovie stores movies in the Movies folder. You can get quick access to your user account folders from any Finder window sidebar by clicking the house icon.

The Finder

2010-09-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Summary

When you first start up your Mac, you're greeted by the Finder, which allows you to visually access practically everything on your Mac, including applications, hard disks, files, folders, and CDs. You can use the Finder to organize all your files and folders as neatly or as messy as you want, search for stuff anywhere on your Mac, delete things you don't want, and more.

Finder Windows

To see all the goodies on your Mac, double-click the hard disk icon. Note: An icon is a small graphical representation of an item such as a file, folder, application, CD, or drive. This opens a Finder window, which allows you to visually see the hierarchy of your computer's contents.

Finder windows generally include a sidebar on the left side. Items are grouped into categories: places, devices, shared computers, and searches — just like the Source list in iTunes. Whatever mounted and accessible volumes you have, such as a hard disk, iDisk, network, CD, DVD, or iPod, in the top portion. The bottom portion contains your user account folder, aka Home folder—the folder named after your user account name, some of the folders found in your Home folder include (Desktop, Documents, Movies, Music, and Pictures), and the Applications folder. This is what it looks like:

To really get an idea about how all these standard Finder window elements function,
select stuff, double-click things, push buttons, and drag things around.

The contents of the selected folder or volume appear in the right pane. Depending on what view your Finder window is set to, this pane may look a little different from ours, our window above is shown in icons view. In icons view, you can navigate through your hard disk contents by double-clicking the pretty folders to view the contents inside.

To go back one folder, click the Back button in the toolbar. To close the window, click the round, red button in the upper-left corner. If you don't want to close the window but want it out of your way, click the round, yellow button to minimize the window to the Dock. If a window is chock full of stuff, you can resize it by dragging the lower-right corner to make it bigger, or click the round, green button to maximize the window's size.

Tip: Want to learn how you can customize the Finder window for your needs? Be sure to check out "Modify Your Windows."

If you'd like to change how folder and volume contents appear in the right pane, click one of the view buttons in the toolbar. For example, when we click the list view button, our Finder window magically transforms itself into this:

In list view, the Finder window displays folder or volume contents as a list,
which can be sorted by name, date, kind, or other criteria.

List view enables you to see more content in the window than icons view, and displays some extra file and folder information, such as the last date the item was modified, the file size, and what kind of item it is. As in icons view, you can navigate through your stuff by simply double-clicking folders until you find what you're looking for.

If you'd rather see your stuff displayed in a more hierarchical fashion, click the columns view button. In columns view, the right pane splits into multiple columns to display your computer's file and folder organization. Instead of double-clicking folders to see what's inside, select a folder in any column, click on it once, and its contents will appear in another column to its right. If you really start digging down deep into your folder, you can drag the bottom-right corner of the Finder window to expand it and see how many layers you've traveled.

In column view, you get a better view of your hard disk's folder hierarchy as you look for stuff.

Getting Around

The hard disk icon represents your computer's hard drive. As we said earlier, you can access everything on your Mac by double-clicking this icon to open it, and then opening any subsequent folders to find whatever you're looking for. At the top level, you'll find the Applications, Library, System, and Users folders, plus a few others. Both the Library and System folders contain system-level files, so don't mess around with their contents until you fully understand what you're doing.

The Applications folder contains all the applications installed on your Mac. It also includes a Utilities folder, which contains a bunch of utilities, programs that are designed to support different functions of your Mac.

The Users folder houses all the content for each user on your Mac; each user gets a separate Home folder that's named after his or her user account name. Whatever you do, do not rename your Home folder; doing so can make it impossible for your Mac to access pertinent resources. The active account's Home folder, the user who's currently logged in to the computer, displays a little house as its icon instead of a folder. Each Home folder contains a series of subfolders—Desktop, Documents, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, and Sites.

When you put stuff on your desktop, technically it's being stored in your user account's Desktop folder, even though to you it appears on your desktop. When you bring music into iTunes, your music files get stored in the iTunes folder in your user's Music folder. Likewise, iPhoto stores pictures in the Pictures folder and iMovie stores movies in the Movies folder. You can get quick access to your user account folders from any Finder window sidebar.

Find Stuff Fast

Sometimes it can take a little effort to navigate through a lot of folders to find what you want, but you can find stuff quickly using the search field in the Finder window. This field uses the Leopard Spotlight technology to scour any volume you select. For more information on using Spotlight, see the "Spotlight" lesson. Combine Cover Flow with Spotlight and you’ve got one amazingly powerful search tool. Use your mouse pointer and hover over the file to shuffle through them visually.

The Finder window's search field uses powerful Spotlight search technology to find anything anywhere.

Just start typing in the search field, and Spotlight dynamically displays results in the Finder window that match your criteria as you type. You can choose where you want Spotlight to look by clicking on an item in the header, such as Servers, Computer, Home, and more, that appears just below the search field in the Finder window. Spotlight will scour the location you select and organize its search results by kind.

For example, if you wanted to find all the JPEG (.jpg) images on your Mac, type .jpgin the search field, and you'll immediately see results pop into the window. Click Computer in the header to find all JPEGs on your entire hard disk. Not only will Spotlight display thumbnails, small images, of your JPEG images, it'll also list other things that match your criteria, such as documents that contain the word ”.jpg” in them. You can then access the file right from that Finder window.

Files, Folders, Action!

While you'll generally find files and folders in any given Finder window, the window also features an Action menu, which lets you easily perform commands on a selected file or folder, such as make a duplicate, move it to the Trash, or create an archive for sending.

To access the Action menu, click its gear button at the top of the window; the button turns blue to indicate that it's active, and a pop-up menu full of commands opens. To put it in use, select a file or folder and then click the Action menu. Choose any action from the menu by clicking it. If you don't want to choose an Action item, click anywhere outside of the menu to close it.

Or, say you’re flipping through files in the Finder. But you’re looking for something specific and you don’t have time to open lots of files to find it. Enter Quick Look. It gives you a sneak peek of entire files — even multiple-page documents and video — without opening them.

We used the Quick Look to instantly view a slideshow of our selected photos.

Other Ways to Make the Finder Active

Besides double-clicking your hard disk or having the Finder active on start up, you can make the Finder active by doing any of the following:

Simply click on the desktop.
Double-click any folder icon to open a Finder window.
Click the Finder icon (it looks like a two-toned blue, rectangular, smiling face) in the Dock.
Select any application, file, or folder by clicking once in a Finder window or on the desktop.

The Grand Tour: Introduction

2010-09-09T13:47:00.001-07:00

Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard" is the most technologically advanced operating system Apple has ever released, but don't let that scare you. While there's a lot of powerful stuff going on under the hood, the Mac OS makes it easy for you to work, play, and get entertainment on your Mac.

If you find a big question mark popping up over your head the moment your Mac starts up, this is a good place to start. These interface initiation lessons will introduce you to the different pieces that make up the Mac OS interface, tell you how to get around it, and show you how to use the Finder and Finder windows, the Desktop, the menu bar, the Dock, the Trash, files and folders, and more.

For visual reference, here's a quick guide to the lay of the land—Mac Desktop-wise.

Lesson 1: The Finder—Like rummaging through your drawers and closets, the Finder is the place to, well, find stuff on your Mac. Learn how to do just that using the Finder and Finder windows.

Lesson 2: The Desktop—This is your main work area. Learn more about what it is and how to use it to your organizational whim.

Lesson 3: The Menu Bar—When you want to make your Mac do something, you can order a host of commands right off the menu. Learn about the menu bar and how to command your Mac to do your dirty work.

Lesson 4: The Dock, Dock Exposé, and Stacks—The Dock is your personal launching pad to open applications, documents, servers, websites, and more. It's also the place to talk Trash. We'll show you how to use the Dock and customize it for your daily routine.

Lesson 5: Applications, Files, and Folders—You're going to use these things frequently, so get to know what they are. We'll show you how to open and close applications, files, and folders; get more information about these items; and do various other tasks that involve them.

Get Started with the Mac.

2010-09-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

If you're new to computers or simply need a refresher course on how to get the most out of your Mac, you've come to the right place. Welcome to Mac 101: Your guide to using a Mac effectively and efficiently. If you've switched to Mac from Windows, Switch 101 is just for you.

Whether you want to learn how to get around your Mac desktop (or find out what a desktop is, for that matter); figure out how to connect your printer, iPod, digital camera, or other device; discover email and the Internet; learn how to do various tasks; learn how to use the software that came with your Mac; or even find out what to do when things don't go as planned; we have the answers.

Ready to begin? Just tell us what you want to know:

The very first post

2008-10-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well everyone must be asking themselves, what's all of this about. Not again another discussion about computers. Well to demystify somethings, yes it is. But it is not no ordinary discussion about just any computer, especially the ones from the "Dark Side". This BLOG will focus entirely about the one & only Apple Macintosh. Now with this being said, let us now turn our focus for a moment to this year's upcoming Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Presidential Election. Why would someone who is BLOGGING about Macintosh computers bring up the subject of this years election into the mix. Well if you have been following the candidates John McCain and Barack Obama you will know that the later, Barack Obama, is using the internet, social networking sites, text messaging and most of all making a statement that if elected will get rid of those computers from the "Dark Side" and go all out Macintosh. So if you feel that getting out of this economic devestation from the past 8 years then I suggest who you should vote for and Long Live the Apple Macintosh computer.

Mac Computer Ownership - 10 Facts About Switching From Windows to Mac

2008-09-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

This being the case, here are 10 "Mac Facts":

• Despite the advantages that Mac computers have over Windows computers, both computers operate pretty much the same way. Basically if you can point and click the mouse and use a computer keyboard, you're golden.
• Transferring files between Macs and PCs is no longer an issue. You can send a Microsoft Office document from your PC at work to your Mac at home; work on the document on your Mac; and then send it back to your PC at work without any problems.
• The software bundle that is included with new Mac computers makes them a better value than similarly equipped PCs.
• You can open and edit pictures, photos, and Microsoft Word documents that were created on a Windows computer without any additional software.
• You can purchase Apple's iWork suite of Applications to be able to open, create & edit Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.
• Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac has a January 08 release date.
• You can run Windows XP and Windows Vista on newer Mac computers without any additional software (except the installation disc for the Windows OS that you want to install on your Mac).
• Due to the increased compatibility between Windows and Mac computers and the plethora of software that has been created for the Mac platform, installing Windows on your new Mac will probably not be necessary.
• I have never installed any form of virus protection on my Mac computers and have never experience any problems with viruses or spyware.
• If there is an Apple Store in your area, you can have a "genius" transfer the data from your old PC to your new Mac. You can also copy the files from your PC to an external hard drive and then copy the files from the external drive to your new Mac.