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Upgrading to Mac OS X: A Guide For the Mac Faithful
Issues and Challenges: Where Did They Put My Favorite Feature?
Some things will be really different. When I used to have trouble with the
differences, I would get frustrated. Again, many common questions are
answered well in a guide from Apple.
I will cover the top questions that I used to have. If you want
me to cover something else, send
me an email (remove the all-caps letters before you send it).
TOP QUESTIONS
Where is the location manager?
The best feature, ever. Windows still has nothing even
close to this.
Mac OS X, by default, uses a location called "Automatic,"
which watches any of your network connections and tries to figure out what you
want to do. If you have an ethernet cable plugged in, it will try to use that.
If you have an Airport card, it will look for an Airport network. If you try
to dial your modem, it will use that. It's quite easy for most people just to
use Automatic.
If you're weird like me, you want to set up locations anyway, or maybe
you need to for certain special settings. In that case, you set up and change
locations by going to the trusty Apple menu.
See this screenshot and
this one. Note that locations in Mac OS X
at this point are limited only to network settings, and not all the other funky
little things that Mac OS X let you set, like Volume and QuickTime speed.
Where is the *$%# Control Panel?
Good question. It's called System Preferences now, and it's also
available in the Apple menu. The interface
is a little different, too.
Also, where is the *$%# Chooser?
Another good question. There is no such thing. The functions
have been separated, so you use different methods to connect to servers
than you do to connect to printers. To connect to a printer, you use
Print Center in the
Utilities folder. Most USB printers don't even
require this step.
To connect to a file server, use the oddly-named
"Go" menu in the Finder.
You'll get a dialog box like this one
which will allow you to connect to AppleTalk servers, WebDAV servers,
or even Windows file servers!.
How did you make your Finder windows like that? That is cool!
Thanks! It's called Column View, and it's a great way to navigate.
Check out the widget my mouse is pointing at
in this screenshot. You can also customize
the toolbar or just drag favorite folders onto it.
How do I work with the Dock?
Some people think the
Dock is stupid
(actually many of his criticisms were addressed). Other people have
defended the Dock.
It has certainly improved since the days of Mac OS X beta. For the most part,
you just drag things you want onto the Dock, and drag off things you don't want.
They go poof when removed. Yes, that is a puff of digital
smoke.
You can put programs on the left half of the dock, and files and folders
on the right side. Yes, that tiny little white line is what separates the left from the right.
The confusing thing is that the right half holds not only folder and file shortcuts,
but minimized windows and the trash can, too! You can configure the dock
by right-clicking (or control-clicking for the multi-button challenged) the
white line. You can put it on the left or right
sides of the screen, too.
This thing is saying "You need an Administrator password to do
such and such". How do I give it the password? I've been waiting forever!
This is one clueless piece of user interface design. Find the little lock
icon in that window, and click it to "unlock" it. See the
screenshot.
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