Take control of switching to the MAC

Table of Contents (Version 1.0)
Read Me First .......................................... 2
Introduction ............................................ 5
Switching to the Mac Quick Start ................ 6
Get Ready ............................................... 7
Set Up and Use Your Mac ........................ 16
Learn More about Your Mac...................... 56
Live as a Mac User in a Windows World...... 81
Glossary ............................................... 84
Resources ............................................. 87
About This Ebook ................................... 89

ISBN 1-933671-04-1

READ ME FIRST
Welcome to Take Control of Switching to the Mac, version 1.0.

NOTE

This ebook was sponsored by Genentech. Special thanks to Mark
Altenberg and the reviewers at Genentech: Bill Bennett, Dexter
Chan, Kevin DuBay, Mark Jeffries, Jane Pray-Silver, Jerome
Rainey, and Kathryn Woods.

This ebook was written by Scott Knaster, edited by Caroline Rose,
and published by TidBITS Electronic Publishing. It guides you
through the process of switching from a Windows PC to a Macintosh
computer. You can contact TidBITS Electronic Publishing by sending
email to tc-comments@tidbits.com and view the Take Control Web
site and catalog at http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/. You can read
About This Ebook to learn about the author, the publisher, and the
Take Control series. The copyright page contains copyright and legal
info.
We may offer free minor updates to this ebook. Click the Check for
Updates button on the cover to access a Web page that informs you
of any available or upcoming updates. On that page, you can also
sign up to be notified about updates via email.

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Basics
To understand this ebook, you don’t have to know anything about
Macintosh computers or how they work. However, a working
knowledge of Microsoft Windows will help. Also note the following
conventions:
• Menus: When I describe choosing a command from a menu in the
menu bar, I use an abbreviated form. For example, the abbreviated
form for the menu command that saves a file from Microsoft Word
is “File > Save.”
• Descriptions: When I describe hardware, such as the Mac key-
board, I’m assuming you have a newer Mac, made in 2005 or later.
Some descriptions—mostly minor details—don’t fit older Macs.
• Operating system terminology: The Macintosh operating
system is called Mac OS X (the X is pronounced “ten,” like a
Roman numeral). Major releases have both a number and a name.
The current release is 10.4 Tiger, and the previous version was 10.3
Panther.
• Path syntax: This ebook occasionally uses a path to show the
location of a file or folder in your file system. Path text is formatted
in bold type. For example, the Mac stores most utilities, such as
Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder. The path to Disk Utility is:
/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.
The slash at the start of the path tells you to start from the root
directory of the disk (similar to C: in Windows). You will also
encounter paths that begin with ~ (tilde), which is a shortcut for
any user’s home folder (similar to My Documents in Windows).
For example, if a person with the user name joe wants to install
fonts that only he can access, he would install them in his
~/Library/Fonts folder, which is just another way of writing
/Users/joe/Library/Fonts.

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INTRODUCTION
There has never been a better time to be a Macintosh user. And
there’s never been a better time to become one if you’re not one
already. Thanks to the success of the iPod and of recent Macintosh
models, Apple is enjoying a renaissance.
Mac users tend to be dedicated to their computer of choice. There
are reasons for this devotion. Apple’s fanatical attention to detail
and ease of use, and high-tech-with-a-smile personality, have been
rewarded with loyal customers. And Mac users welcome new mem-
bers to their ranks.
In this ebook, I take you through the steps you need to switch your
computing life from Windows to Macintosh. By the end of the ebook,
you’ll be running on your Mac with your files moved over from your
Windows PC, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of how to get around
on your new Mac.

NOTE Because this ebook is written with Macintosh beginners in mind, I
refer to many other Take Control ebooks that you might find useful.
I don’t mean to be pushy by doing this, just thorough. This ebook is
designed to be useful all by itself, but if you want to find out more
about particular topics, I highly recommend other Take Control
ebooks. I also suggest you visit Apple’s Web site, especially
http://www.apple.com/macosx/, to learn more about topics
that interest you.

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SWITCHING TO THE MAC QUICK START
Switching from Windows to Macintosh doesn’t have to be hard.
Here’s an overview of how this ebook can help:
Get ready to switch:
• Why switch to the Mac? You probably have some ideas already.
Find out more in What’s Cool about the Mac, and balance that by
reading What’s Not So Cool (and What to Do about It).
• Be sure to Choose the Best Mac for You.
Set up and use your Mac:
• If your Mac isn’t already set up, begin by reading Set Up Your Mac.
• You can figure out a lot about your Mac by playing around with it,
but it’s better to first Understand User Interface Differences.
• Next, you’ll start to get ready for real work on your Mac. It’s time
to Choose Mac Applications and Move Your Data to Your Mac.
Learn more about your Mac:
• You’ve got the basics down; now start diving deeper by reading Set
Up Multiple Users and Learn More about File Views.
• Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger includes a new tool for locating information
on your computer, as explained in Find Files with Spotlight.
• Figure out how to use more of your Mac’s features. See Manage
Applications and Windows, Use the Network, and Try Printing.
• Apple offers an easy-to-use service that downloads new software to
your computer via the Internet. See Use Software Update.
• Inevitably, you’ll run into problems. Find out how to solve them by
reading Glitches and Gotchas: Troubleshooting.
• Expand your Mac mind by perusing Five Mac Features You Must
Learn, followed by Five Useful Tips.
Learn to live as a Mac user in a Windows world:
• You might want to know how to Share Documents with Windows
Users, and you might have to Run Windows Applications.

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GET READY
OK! You’ve decided to take the plunge: you’re switching to the Mac.
Well, although you might think you’re a Mac island in a vast sea of
Windows, you’re far from alone. Apple is on a roll, and millions of
people are buying Macs, many of them for the first time.
When Windows computers seem to be everywhere, why should you
be using a Mac? Let’s take a look.

What’s Cool about the Mac
People have various reasons for buying and using Macintosh com-
puters. Here are the most common ones:
• Macs are stable. In general, fewer weird and unreliable things
happen when you’re using a Mac. Programs don’t crash or freeze
as often. Inexplicable problems, such as no sound from the
computer or the mouse not working, are almost unknown. And
although applications occasionally misbehave, full system crashes
(the equivalent of the dreaded Blue Screen of Death in Windows)
are rare.
• Macs don’t get viruses. If you’re tired of cleaning viruses
off your computer—and according to recent press reports, some
people are actually choosing to get rid of their PCs rather than
deal with virus infections—you’re bound to love having a Mac.
You won’t find viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, or other
ill-meaning software running in Mac OS X.
• Almost everything is easier on a Mac. Ease of use is a
cornerstone of Macintosh hardware and software design. Macs
come with lots of friendly software included, and more is available
from Apple and other companies. Because Mac users tend to
expect higher-quality software, other companies have to make
sure their Mac software is good, too.
• Little things on the Mac seem to work better. Waking your
Mac from sleep (system standby) will make you smile: the process
is almost instantaneous. Joining a wireless network usually hap-
pens automatically. The Mac is filled with small touches that make
your computing experience more enjoyable.

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• Mac software has terrific graphics and high production
values. Apple sweats the details, and it shows. Macs are fun to
use, which makes it more pleasant (or perhaps tolerable) when
you have to work late on those spreadsheets; as famed computer
researcher Alan Kay has said, “Things that are fun are intrinsically
worth doing.” Apple also does a great job hiding the messy behind-
the-scenes stuff that most users don’t want or need to see. In
contrast, Windows users must sometimes work through bits of
older software, such as DOS-style pathnames, that peek out from
the corners of the system.
• Now is a good time to switch. Reviewers and regular folks
have high praise for the latest version of the Mac’s operating
system, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Apple produces beautiful, innovative
hardware with plenty of features. The company is fiscally healthier
than ever (thanks in no small part to its success with digital
music), sparing us from those “Apple is going out of business”
rumors that used to pop up every year or so. And finding help for
your Mac questions is easier than ever, thanks to the vast informa-
tion sources on the Internet as well as Apple’s large network of
company-owned retail stores (each of which includes a support
and repair department named, with typical Apple verve and
humility, the Genius Bar).

What’s Not So Cool (and What to Do about It)
After reading the previous section, you might wonder why everyone
on the planet doesn’t immediately pitch their Windows computers
out the, er, window and trade them in for Macs. As wonderful as the
Macintosh world sounds, there is some pain attached to making the
Mac switch. And, although you’ll find Mac fans who disagree,
Macintosh computers are not perfect, or even clearly superior to
Windows in every last detail. Here are a few of the problems you’re
likely to encounter:
• Switching is work. Even if your switch to the Mac improves
your life and work, the act of switching itself will have its difficult
moments. When you use Windows, you’re exercising muscle
memory and neural paths so familiar that you might not even
realize you’re using them. As you make the transition, you’ll have
to slow down and think about things that have heretofore been
automatic. Changes in terminology will annoy you. You’ll be
troubled by screen elements that look the same but act slightly
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differently, or that have a completely different appearance but
perform familiar functions. One of the chief jobs of this ebook is
to help you with these issues—but they’ll still bug you, especially
during the early stages of your switch.
• In a Windows world, Macs can seem harder to use. Most
people who have used both systems agree that Macs are easier to
use than Windows PCs. But there are many, many more PCs in the
world than there are Macs. So when something goes wrong with
your Windows PC, there are usually more resources around to help
you: more neighbors, more family computer gurus, more material
online, more technical support at the office. This produces a para-
doxical network effect: although Macs are generally easier than
PCs, they can actually become more troublesome than PCs when
you need help.
Apple helps you overcome this problem by offering one-stop
shopping (literally) through its online and physical stores. Like
most companies, Apple provides support via the Web. But Apple
goes far beyond most others with its Apple Stores. Apple has more
than 100 retail stores in the U.S., a few more stores in Canada,
Japan, and the U.K., and more opening every month. Each store
includes a Genius Bar (as mentioned in the previous section),
where you can obtain excellent service and support for your Mac.
Employers provide varying degrees of help for Mac users. If your
IT department officially supports Macs, be sure to take advantage
of any services offered there. At most companies, Mac users are
in the minority, so it’s a good idea to form a community, such as
a mailing list, to provide mutual aid and to commiserate about the
terrible unfairness of a world in which most people use Windows.
Of course, Macs typically need less technical support than Windows,
so having fewer support resources becomes less of an issue.
• Connecting to Windows networks can be tricky. Apple
spends a lot of time and effort giving its computers the ability to
play nice with Windows. This includes such features as mounting
Windows shares, connecting to printers on Windows networks,
and working with Windows-formatted disks. But sometimes it
seems like Apple’s heart isn’t in it. Mac support for working with
Windows computers and networks is often buggy and incomplete.
And who can blame Apple? No doubt it’s a lot more interesting to
create the latest visually stunning Mac OS X feature than to fix a
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bug in how Macs share files with PCs. But for those of us who need
that Windows support, it’s a pain.
• Some applications don’t have Mac versions. Because there
are so many more PCs than Macs, some companies decide to
produce software only for Windows. Others have both Mac and
Windows versions but let the Mac versions trail behind in features.
You can find at least one Mac OS X application in every major
category. Because Mac users have high standards, these programs
are often excellent. But in many categories PC users have more
options to choose from. Specialized programs can present bigger
problems: some niche software is simply not available on the Mac.
If you rely on one of these unavailable programs, you have several
options. You can sometimes find another program that’s similar to
yours and adapt your work to use it. A few programs provide Web
interfaces that don’t care whether you’re using a Mac or Windows.
But in some cases you might have to continue using specialized
Windows applications. If you find yourself in that situation, you
always have the option of using Virtual PC, a software package
from Microsoft that actually installs Windows on your Mac and
lets you run Windows applications. I cover Virtual PC and related
issues in more detail in Choose Mac Applications.
• A Mac is a computer, and computers can be balky. If you
are used to Windows, you’ll experience fewer instances of odd and
annoying behavior on your Mac—but you’ll still see it sometimes,
unfortunately. This includes applications growing sluggish, freez-
ing, or quitting unexpectedly, features working strangely, and
network troubles. Although you can’t eliminate these problems,
you can learn how to avoid them, and to recover from them
gracefully when they do happen. I cover this in Glitches and
Gotchas: Troubleshooting.
Something else to remember is that although Macs are virus-free
today, there’s no guarantee that that will be the case forever. Why
haven’t Macs been hit by viruses, worms, and the like? The answer
to that question is hotly debated. The factors usually cited include:
(a) Mac OS X is built on UNIX, a mature and solid operating sys-
tem, (b) Mac OS X as installed is configured to prevent intrusions
from bad things on the Internet, (c) Macs are so few in number
compared to Windows computers that nobody bothers to attack
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them, and (d) virus writers hate Windows, but they leave Macs
alone. I believe each of these plays a part in the lack of Mac
viruses, but nobody really knows.

NOTE BEING PC: AREN’T THEY ALL PERSONAL COMPUTERS?
PC stands for personal computer, of course. But in this ebook and
in the common vernacular, PC is a shorthand term for a personal
computer running Microsoft Windows, as opposed to a Macintosh
computer running Mac OS X.

Choose the Best Mac for You
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he ridiculed the com-
pany’s confusing product line, which included many Macs with
similar designations such as Performa 6110, Performa 6112, and
Performa 6115 (not to mention Performas 6116 and 6118). How, Jobs
reasonably asked, could customers know the difference between these
models when even people working at Apple couldn’t tell?
To simplify, Apple changed the product line by dividing it into four
simple categories: desktop and portable computers, each with ver-
sions for consumer and professional users. Although the distinctions
have blurred and the product lines have become somewhat more
complex, these categories are still valid today, the better part of a
decade after Apple adopted them.
When deciding which Mac is right for you, your first decision should
be whether to choose a desktop or a portable computer. Get a por-
table (also called a laptop or notebook) if you want to be as mobile
as possible, carrying your work with you around the office and the
house. Pick a desktop model if you need processing power or a big
screen, or if you don’t care about portability.

TIP LESS IS MORE
You’ll usually pay more for the same capabilities in a portable com-
puter than in a desktop. That’s because cramming components into
a portable requires more advanced engineering and more precise
manufacturing than building a relatively spacious desktop model.
So, price versus performance is another factor to consider when
choosing desktop or portable.

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Here’s a brief look at the Macintosh models available now in each
category:
• Desktop computers: Power Mac G5 (Figure 1) is Apple’s
professional-grade desktop line. These computers possess the
most impressive specs of any in Apple’s stable, including the
fastest microprocessors, largest possible memory and hard disk
storage, and most powerful graphics hardware.

FIGURE 1 Power Mac G5, Apple’s most powerful line of
computers.

The venerable iMac and the upstart Mac mini are Apple’s low-end
desktop models. The iMac G5 (shown in Figure 2) plays hide-the-
computer, placing all the electronics inside the same 2-inch-thick
case that holds the display, so all you see is screen, keyboard, and
mouse. The Mac mini (Figure 3) is nearly the opposite: nothing
but a tiny box (less than 85 cubic inches) containing the basic
computer. You add your own external display, along with keyboard
and mouse, to complete the system. The display, keyboard, and
mouse need not come from Apple; you can use inexpensive ones
or spares to keep your total cost down. Because the mini includes
only essential parts, Apple can price it low ($499 for the basic
model).

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FIGURE 2 iMac G5 with keyboard, mouse, and
remote control.

FIGURE 3 Mac mini, the smallest
and least expensive
Macintosh computer
ever. You supply the
keyboard, mouse, and
display.

Apple also sells the eMac, a lesser-known consumer desktop
model. The e in eMac stands for education and reveals the eMac’s
origin: when Apple redesigned its iMacs to incorporate flat-panel
displays, the eMac, which includes a less expensive CRT display,
was created to accommodate price-conscious education buyers.
Apple sells eMacs only to educational institutions; for more
information, see http://www.apple.com/education/emac/.
• Portable computers: Apple’s consumer-level portable is the
iBook; the professional model is the PowerBook (Figure 4 and
Figure 5). The current editions of these two lines are similar in
many ways, and the machines are a lot alike internally. The main
advantages of the PowerBook are its options for a larger screen,
faster processor, more memory, PC Card slot, and better graphics.
You can compare PowerBook and iBook features by going to
http://www.apple.com/powerbook/specs.html and clicking
Compare with iBook Notebooks.

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FIGURE 4 The PowerBook is avail-
able in various screen
sizes: 12-, 15-, and 17-
inch. It includes nifty
features such as a backlit
keyboard and a trackpad
that can be used for
scrolling.

FIGURE 5 The iBook is the Power-
Book’s less expensive
cousin. It lacks a few of
the PowerBook’s features
and is available only in
12- and 14-inch screen
sizes, but it can cost
substantially less.

NOTE Although this general description of Apple’s Macintosh lines is
correct as of November 2005, Apple is always making new stuff, so
the product line is bound to change in the future. In particular, with
Apple’s transition to Intel processors just around the corner (see the
sidebar Switching to Intel), big changes might be afoot. (I don’t know
anything about Apple’s plans for new Macs, and [almost] nobody else
does either. Apple loves to surprise everyone and is notorious for its
secrecy. Of course, this vacuum of official information leads to a
flood of speculation and rumors about what Apple is up to. Rumor-
mongering is a popular pastime among Macintosh fans.)

For detailed information about selecting the right Mac for you,
I suggest that you read Take Control of Buying a Mac
(http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/buying-mac.html).

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SIDEBAR SWITCHING TO INTEL
Apple has made its way by going in a different direction from other
computer companies. Not only does Apple make its own operating
system and computers, unlike companies that license Windows from
Microsoft, but Apple builds Macs around the G4 and G5 processors,
which have a completely different design than the ones used in com-
puters that run Windows. But that’s changing: in June 2005, Apple
announced that it’s ditching the current processors in favor of Intel
chips in future Macs. The first Intel-based Macs are supposed to
appear in mid-2006.
Amazingly, this processor switch alone won’t affect the way Macin-
tosh software looks and behaves. Apple has been secretly running
Mac OS X on Intel chips in its labs for several years now. Most
current OS X programs will work on Intel-based Macs, albeit more
slowly, as special software translates the old code on the fly. And
programmers are hard at work (listen: you can hear them typing
and griping) converting software to be directly Intel-compatible
so it won’t need the translation layer anymore.

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SET UP AND USE YOUR MAC
Now it’s time to go to your workspace, stretch out your fingers, and
set up and use your Mac. At this point, you might find it helpful to
recall the words printed in large, friendly letters on the cover of the
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t Panic. You’ll see and experi-
ence all sorts of strange new things, but it’s going to be OK. It’ll be fun
and rewarding, too.

NOTE Before you go ahead with setting up your Mac, make sure this is a
good time to proceed. You should clear at least a few hours on your
schedule to make the transition and move your data; a weekend is
ideal. Although you might be itching to start working with your Mac
as soon as possible, it’s not a good idea to begin the process 10 min-
utes before you leave for an appointment. If you use your Mac at
work, the beginning of a new project is an excellent time to switch.
You should choose a point of relative calm in your computing life—
not, for example, while you’re simultaneously trying to finish up
your company’s annual plan.

Set Up Your Mac
If you haven’t already done so, take your Mac out of its box and set it
up in your workspace. Connect the mouse and the keyboard (if it’s not
built in, as on a portable) to the USB ports on the Mac. Make sure
you’ve plugged your Mac into AC power.
Turn your Mac on by pressing the Power button—that’s the round one
marked with a circle broken by a vertical bar. Enjoy the welcome from
Apple, and then follow the steps and answer the questions that
appear on the screen as the first-time setup program runs.

TIP The Mac emits a melodious tone when it starts up. If you’ve connect-
ed your Mac to external speakers, or you’re turning it on for the first
time late at night at home, be sure to lower the speaker volume or
make sure the door to the room is closed.

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NOTE If your computer has already been set up by someone else, you won’t
see the first-time setup program. Instead, your Mac will go directly to
the Desktop or to the login screen, depending on how it’s been set up.

Understand User Interface Differences
Your first time in the Macintosh universe might feel like a trip to
Bizarro world: everything is sort of familiar, but nothing is quite right.
Favorite objects are missing or have moved, and the colors are all
wrong. This section will help get you through those first minutes and
hours with your new Mac as you endeavor to figure out what’s what.
Mouse differences
The mouse or trackpad on a Windows PC has at least two buttons.
You use left-click to select and click things, such as menus and but-
tons, and right-click to bring up a shortcut menu of operations that
work on whatever you’re pointing at.
In contrast, Macintosh trackpads and mice have only one button.
This is an immediate, concrete example of the Mac philosophy of
simplicity: when there’s only one button, you can’t click the wrong
one. Use the single button on your Mac mouse or trackpad to select
and click objects. Macs have contextual menus, which are the same as
shortcut menus on Windows. (This is a rare case of Microsoft using a
friendlier name for a technology than Apple does.) To see contextual
menus, you hold down the Control key (which is marked “Ctrl” on
most keyboards) while you click.
Many people switching from Windows miss having that right mouse
button. Well, I have good news: although Macs don’t come with two-
button mice, Mac OS X fully supports them. You can connect any
multi-button USB mouse to your Mac, and both left- and right-click
are supported automatically, as is a scroll wheel. USB mice with three
or more buttons usually come with software that lets you set up the
additional buttons to perform other functions. You might want to
bring your favorite mouse with you from your PC to your Mac; it will
probably work fine.
If you have an Apple mouse, it might actually be a two-button mouse
in disguise. Apple’s Mighty Mouse has no visible buttons at all. It
works by detecting pressure on the left or right side of its face. Mighty
Mouse comes configured as a one-button mouse: it treats all “clicks”
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the same, so that novice users will never hit the wrong button.
Windows veterans and others who want two buttons can easily
change the settings (see System Preferences vs. Control Panel)
and then right-click with Mighty Mouse.
Keyboard differences
What’s so different about the keyboard? It still has all the letters
and numbers, right? Yes, but there are a few important distinctions:
• Control (or Ctrl): Macintosh and Windows keyboards both have
this key, but unfortunately for planetary sanity, they do entirely
different things. On Windows, you use Control with another key
as a shortcut for performing a command. On the Mac, Control is
much less common, usually used with a mouse click to summon
contextual menus, as described earlier in Mouse differences.
Fortunately, the key with the Apple logo is an almost exact
replacement for Control on PCs, as described in the next bullet
point.
• Command (Apple logo): The key labeled with both the Apple
logo () and the Command symbol () works like the Control key
in Windows: you use it primarily for menu shortcuts. This key is
called the Command key. For example, you can use Command-Q
to quit most applications. You’ll find that many shortcuts use the
same letter as on Windows; for example, Command-X is Cut,
Command-N is New, and Command-S is Save.
• Option and Alt: The Option key on the Mac is roughly equivalent
to the Alt key on Windows computers. In fact, most Mac keyboards
have the word Alt inscribed on the Option key, usually in tiny let-
ters. And if you have a non-Mac keyboard, you’ll use the Alt key
instead of Option.
The Option key is used to create additional shortcuts, often in
conjunction with the Command key. For example, in the iCal
calendar program that comes with your Mac, you can press
Command-Option-N to create a new calendar. (Command-N
creates a new event.)
Option is also used for mouse shortcuts. If you hold down Option
while dragging a file’s icon, for example, you’ll create a copy of the
file. (Dragging without holding down Option simply moves the
file.)

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• Windows logo: Apple keyboards have no Windows key, of
course, so all the shortcuts it provides in Windows are unavailable
on the Mac. However, you can connect USB keyboards made by
other companies to your Mac, and if you have one that’s not
designed especially for the Mac, it might well have a Windows key.
If you have such a key, don’t put black tape over it and pretend it
doesn’t exist: you’ll use it a lot as your equivalent of the Command
key.
• Backspace, Delete, and Del: On a non-Mac keyboard, you
press Backspace to delete the character to the left of the insertion
point. On a Mac keyboard, the Delete key performs this function.
Confusingly, the Delete key in Windows deletes the character to
the right of the insertion point. To delete to the right on a Mac,
press the Del (not Delete) key unless you’re using a Mac portable,
in which case press Fn-Delete.
The Mac keyboard includes a few additional special keys that provide
direct shortcuts to common hardware functions. Two keys have little
suns on their labels (one sun is smaller than the other); use these keys
to increase or decrease the screen’s brightness. Three other keys con-
trol the volume of the Mac’s built-in speaker; they’re the ones with
pictures of a loudspeaker on them. Press the first one to mute the
volume (and again to unmute). The second key lowers the volume,
and the third turns it up. Another key, usually at the far right, has a
horizontal bar and an Up arrow; that one ejects CDs and DVDs.
Depending on your keyboard, some or all of these special keys might
do double duty. In particular, all special keys on PowerBooks and
iBooks share space with functions keys (those labeled F1, F2, and
so on). You can tell they have two functions because they have two
legends printed on them; for example, on PowerBooks and iBooks,
brightness-down shares a key with F1, brightness-up is on the F2 key,
and so on.
To use the two-legend keys (typically F1 through F7 and F12 on
PowerBooks and iBooks) as function keys, hold down the Fn key and
press the desired function key. For example, F5 is also labeled as the
volume-up key. To turn the volume up, press F5 alone. To generate
the F5 function, press Fn-F5. Windows works the opposite way: press
the function key by itself for the usual function, and Fn plus the
function key for the special feature.

Page 19

NOTE If you like, you can easily make your Mac function keys work in the
Windows way: choose Apple > System Preferences (remember, the
Apple menu is the first one in the menu bar, labeled with the Apple
logo), click Keyboard & Mouse, click the Keyboard tab, and then
check the box in the middle of the window.

Here are the highlights of what you need to know about the keyboard:
• Command () on the Mac works almost identically to Control on
Windows.
• Option on the Mac works much like Alt on Windows.
• The main use of the Control key on the Mac is as part of Control-
click, which summons contextual menus.
Differences in menus
In Windows, every window contains its own menu bar. Mac OS X
uses a simpler concept: a single menu bar that’s always at the top
of the screen and changes depending on the current application.
The first item in the menu bar is always the Apple logo and always
contains the same items, which are systemwide commands such
as Restart, Shut Down, and System Preferences. The second menu,
called the application menu, always bears the name of the current
application and has commands that affect the whole application,
including Quit and Preferences. The rest of the menu bar varies
depending on the current application, although the next three menu
titles are usually File, Edit, and View, and the last one is Help in most
applications.
The phantom application
If you’re using an application and you close all its windows, you’ll
find yourself in an unfamiliar twilight zone. The application is still
running, as you can see by looking at the menu bar and noticing that
the program’s menus are still there, including the application’s name
next to the Apple logo on the left (Figure 6). But you don’t seem to
be able to do anything with the application.

Page 20

FIGURE 6

What happened to Microsoft Word? It’s the active application, but
the only way to know that is by looking next to the Apple logo in
the menu bar, at the application menu (it says “Word”).

When you’re using Windows, this situation can’t happen. As soon
as you close an application’s last window, all signs of the application
vanish. But most Mac OS X applications are happy to let you close all
their windows while they keep control of the menu bar at the top of
the screen.
Maybe even worse is that if you accidentally click the Desktop, or
anywhere outside the current application’s windows, you’ll switch to
another application, and the menus for the current application will
vanish.
Either of these situations can be confusing, especially if you’re used to
Windows. How do you reactivate the program you were working on?
First, look at the menu bar. The name of the current application is
always there, next to the Apple logo. If you’re not in the application
you want, switch to the desired application by clicking its icon in the
Dock (the strip of icons at the bottom of the screen).

Page 21

If you’re in the right application but there are no windows open, most
applications let you use the File menu to create a new, blank docu-
ment or to open an existing file. If the application has its own custom
windows, such as the Downloads window in Safari or the main iTunes
window, there’s usually a menu named Window that lets you open
those custom windows when they’ve been closed (Figure 7).

FIGURE 7 Safari’s Window
menu lets you open
the Downloads and
Activity windows if
they’re closed.

Status menus
On the far right end of the menu bar, you’ll find a few status menus.
These are menus that also serve as status indicators. Status menus
give you features similar to those provided by the system tray in
Windows (officially called the notification area, but nobody uses that
term), in the lower-right corner of the screen.
Among the status menus, the icon that looks like a speaker with
sound waves coming out of it is a menu that controls the Mac’s audio
level: click it to see a slider control, and then slide the control to
change the volume level. If you turn the volume all the way down, the
icon becomes a speaker with no sound waves.
Similarly, if you have a portable Mac, you’ll probably see an icon that
reports power status: plugged in, charging, charged, and so on. Click-
ing this icon reveals a menu of power options.
The date and time display is actually the title of another status menu;
like other status menus, you can click it to reveal a menu of options.
Table 2 on the next page shows the standard status menus, their
icons, and where to go in System Preferences to turn them on or off.
Others, such as Bluetooth and iChat, can be turned on in their related
System Preferences panes or applications.

Page 22

Table 2: Status Menus
Icon Menu Name Where in System Preferences

AirPort Network pane, Show menu

Clock Date & Time pane, Clock tab

Power Energy Saver pane, Options tab

Volume Sound pane

NOTE If you’re running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the magnifying glass icon you
see at the right end of the menu bar is not a status menu. It summons
Spotlight, the powerful search feature Apple introduced in Tiger,
which I cover in Find Files with Spotlight. To find out which version
of Mac OS X you’re running, choose Apple > About This Mac.

Apple offers many other status menus, most of which you can activate
using System Preferences (see System Preferences vs. Control Panel).
In addition, independent developers have created dozens of other
status menus for you to download and install. In fact, you can install
so many status menus that your poor menu bar won’t have room for
all of them, in which case the Mac simply leaves a few out.

TIP You can move a status menu left or right by holding down the
Command key and dragging the menu’s icon in the menu bar. To
quickly remove a status menu, drag it below the menu bar and
release.

Differences in windows
Even without this ebook, you can probably figure out the basics of
Mac OS X windows: they’re not much different from what you’re used
to. In both operating systems, most windows have a title bar that’s
meant to give you some idea of the window’s contents or purpose. The
title of the current window stands out in some way from the titles of
all other windows. Other parts of windows are different in the two

Page 23

systems. Here’s a guide to what’s not the same when it comes to
windows:
• Close, minimize, and zoom buttons: Windows in both
operating systems have a set of three buttons that perform roughly
the same functions: close the window, make it as big as it can be,
or reduce it to a small status indicator. This consistency is great,
but here’s the bad news: the Mac and Windows versions of these
buttons are on opposite sides of windows, look completely differ-
ent, and are arranged in a different order (Figure 8). For a while
you’ll find yourself instinctively mousing to the wrong side of the
window when you want to click one of them, but eventually you’ll
get used to the change.

FIGURE 8

Title bar buttons in Windows and Mac OS X windows are the same,
only different: their functions are almost identical, but their
appearance and locations are not.

Page 24

Here’s more information about each of the window control
buttons:
• Close button: Mac close buttons are red and are on the far
left, with the other buttons. When you hover over a close button
with your mouse pointer, an X appears inside it, which might
remind you of the X that’s drawn inside close buttons (also red)
in Windows.
• Minimize button: The middle (yellow) button in Mac win-
dows is called the minimize button; it corresponds to the button
of the same name in Windows. Click it to see your window melt
away into the Dock like a genie reentering his bottle. Click the
teeny window in the Dock to make it big again.
• Zoom button: This (green) button is called the maximize
button in Windows. It makes the window get as big as it can be,
which on a Mac usually means covering the whole screen except
for the Dock, or in some applications making the window just
wide enough to show all its contents (rather than filling the
entire screen, as in Windows). Click it again to return the win-
dow to its previous size and location.
• Scroll bars: Mac scroll bars behave the same as their Windows
counterparts, but with one odd difference in their appearance:
instead of putting the up and down scroll arrows at opposite ends
of the bar, Mac OS X draws the two arrows right next to each other
at the bottom (or the right, for horizontal scroll bars). The idea
here is that it’s easy to scroll in either direction; you don’t have
to move the mouse far.
Clearly, Apple thinks this is the way to go. Somebody might agree
with that decision, but I haven’t met him or her yet. If you’re not
the one, either, you can change the placement as follows: choose
Apple > System Preferences; click Appearance; and in the Place
Scroll Arrows setting, choose At Top and Bottom.

TIP Maybe the best solution of all is to have double arrows at both ends
of the bar. Although this option is available, Apple doesn’t provide
a setting for it in System Preferences. To enable double arrows at
both ends, you can download and use the free TinkerTool utility
(http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html).

Page 25

• Resizing and dragging windows: To change the size of a Mac
window, drag the control in the lower-right corner, just as you
would in Windows. If you’re used to resizing windows by dragging
the edge of the window, I’m sorry to tell you that that feature isn’t
available in Mac OS X.
Some Macintosh windows are drawn in a style called brushed
metal, as shown in Figure 9. You can drag the edges of these
windows, but you won’t resize them: you’ll move them around.
In fact, you can drag brushed metal windows by mousing down
anywhere the “metal” appears.

FIGURE 9 QuickTime Player is an
example of an application
that has brushed metal
windows.

• Search box: This window part appears only in Mac OS X—not
in Windows—and primarily in the Finder (the Mac’s version of
Windows Explorer; see the next section for details). It’s a blank
field marked with a magnifying glass in the upper-right corner of
the window. (As you might have guessed by now, Apple uses the
magnifying glass icon to mean “search” in various places.) Click in
this field and type to search for files.

TIP When you open a dialog box in Windows, you can use the Tab key
to move from one control to the next. In Mac dialogs, by default, the
Tab key moves only among text fields and lists. If you want Windows-
like behavior, you can change this setting. Choose Apple > System
Preferences, click Keyboard & Mouse, click the Keyboard Shortcuts
tab, and then click All Controls near the bottom of the window.

Page 26

The Finder vs. Windows Explorer
Just as in Windows, your Macintosh has folders, icons, and a Desktop
(and as any veteran Mac user will be happy to tell you, Macs had
these things first). The Mac program that controls your Desktop is
called the Finder; it’s roughly equivalent to Windows Explorer.
Whenever you dig through folders or drag document icons from
one place to another, you’re in the Finder.
You can tell you’re using the Finder in the same way you can tell
you’re running any other application: it’s the title of the menu to the
right of the Apple menu. To get to the Finder, click the Desktop or
click the first icon in the Dock.
When you’re in the Finder, you can see your documents and other
files by choosing File > New Finder Window or by pressing
Command-N. The left side of the Finder window, called the sidebar,
lists some important places and folders on your Mac (Figure 10).
One of them is your entire hard disk, which is named Macintosh HD
by default on every Mac (although it’s been renamed Tiger in
Figure 10; you can rename yours too, by clicking to select it, choos-
ing File > Get Info, and then typing a new name in the Name &
Extension field). Macintosh HD is similar to the C: drive in Windows.
If you click Macintosh HD in the sidebar, you’ll see its contents in the
main part of the window. If you want to explore, double-click the
folders you find in Macintosh HD—but be careful not to move or
delete anything.

Page 27

FIGURE 10 The sidebar in Finder windows is a handy
place for shortcuts to important folders.
Applications gives you quick access to all
your programs. The Documents, Movies,
Music, and Pictures icons take you directly
to those folders.
You can add icons to the sidebar and
remove ones that are already there. See
Customize the Finder sidebar and toolbar
for details.

You’ll also see an icon named Applications in the sidebar. As you
might guess, that’s the place where your Mac’s programs are kept.
Click Applications in the sidebar to see which applications you have
on your Mac, similar to clicking Start > All Programs in Windows.
To start an application, you can double-click it here in the Finder
window.
Another important sidebar icon is Documents. It’s an empty vessel
in a brand new Mac, waiting for you to fill it up with your drawings,
reports, outlines, and other items you create with applications. This
folder is equivalent to My Documents in Windows.

Page 28

TIP Like Windows, the Mac lets you set up accounts for multiple users on
one computer. In the sidebar in the Finder window, you might notice
evidence of this: an icon of a house, along with the short version of
your account name. This is your home folder, the place where you’ll
store all your files and do virtually all your work. For example,
Documents is a folder inside your home folder. You should avoid
creating folders or files outside your home folder. Other users can log
in and see their own home folders. I discuss multiple users further in
Set Up Multiple Users.

In the sidebar, all items appear in a flat representation, without
hierarchy. But the sidebar items are shortcuts to actual files and
folders, which do have a hierarchical relationship: for example,
Macintosh HD contains Applications, and your home folder contains
Documents. When you click a sidebar icon, you see the hierarchy in
the Finder window.
The sidebar also shows up in applications, in the dialog that appears
when you open or save a file.
I examine the Finder in more detail later, in Learn More about File
Views.
Differences in disk organization
Windows and Mac OS X have similar locations for storing some
important files:
• Each operating system has a folder for applications: it’s
C:Program Files in Windows (which appears as All Programs
in the Start menu) and Applications on the Mac.
• Each provides a standard place for your documents: My
Documents in Windows and the Documents folder on the Mac.
• Each has an overarching item that encompasses everything else.
In Windows, this is an item called Desktop. On the Mac, the all-
encompassing item is the name of your computer—for example,
Jane Doe’s PowerBook G4.
To find your way comfortably around your Macintosh, you need to
realize that inside those all-encompassing items, the contents are
different. On Windows, the Desktop item contains My Computer,
My Documents, and My Network Places, which are virtual items that
Page 29

don’t correspond to actual folders. My Computer holds all files on
all disk drives. Within My Computer on the C: drive is a folder named
Documents and Settings; inside that folder are the actual folders that
hold the contents of My Documents. I find this mix of actual folders
and pseudo-folders confusing. After using Windows for a while, you
make some sense of this scheme (or you at least make peace with it),
which is depicted in Figure 11.

FIGURE 11 The Windows folder hierarchy.

In contrast, the outermost item on the Mac—for example, John A.
Vink’s Power Mac G5—contains disk drives, connected servers,
and a representation of the network. The main disk contains the
Applications folder, Users folder, and other important folders. Inside
the Users folder is your home folder and that of any other users
(Figure 12).

Page 30

FIGURE 12

Mac OS X folder hierarchy.

The Mac has no pseudo-folders like My Computer and My
Documents; what you see in the Finder matches the physical
hierarchy of the folders.
The Mac way, I believe, is more sensible. But because you’re used to
Windows, the Mac technique will likely confuse you for a while. My
advice is to focus on the Documents and Applications folders, which
are functional replacements for My Documents and All Programs,
while you gradually discover the rest of the layout. Before long, you’ll
be comfortable with the Mac’s layout.
The Dock vs. the taskbar
The Dock is the prominent rectangular palette of icons at the bottom
of the screen, in the same general space where the Windows taskbar
appears. Like the taskbar, the Dock is the place where you can see and
choose among all the running applications and open documents on
your computer—in a completely different way than on Windows, of
course.
Every application that’s running is represented in the Dock by its
icon, with a black triangle underneath, just as the Windows taskbar
has an entry for every window; click the icon to go directly to that
Page 31

application. But the Dock has more: it also includes icons for key
applications that aren’t running. Use these icons as a quick way to
run those programs: click the icon to start the application, as on the
Quick Launch toolbar in Windows. Mac OS X comes with a few of
these icons already in place in the Dock. You can easily add your own
shortcuts by dragging icons from the Applications folder to the Dock,
and you can remove ones you don’t want by dragging them away from
the Dock.

TIP When you run an application that isn’t in the Dock, Mac OS X adds it
to the Dock temporarily. When you quit that application, it vanishes
from the Dock. To make the icon of a running application stay in the
Dock even after it quits, Control-click the icon in the Dock and choose
Keep in Dock.
You can’t remove a running application from the Dock; you have to
quit it first.

TIP You might want to add the Applications folder to the Dock. You can
then Control-click it to see a list of all available applications, very
much like the Start > All Programs menu in Windows.

The Dock isn’t limited to applications; you can also drag any file or
folder into the Dock for easy access. The left side of the Dock is for
applications, whereas files and folders go on the right side. Take
a close look and you’ll see a vertical divider to the right of the last
application in the Dock. When you add your own items to the Dock,
remember that it’s applications on the left and everything else on the
right.
The last item in the Dock is special: it’s the Trash. Just like the
Recycle Bin in Windows, the Trash is for things you don’t want any
more. But the Trash behaves a bit differently from the Recycle Bin.
Windows has a maximum capacity for the Recycle Bin, whereas the
Mac’s Trash can hold any amount of stuff. When the Recycle Bin is
nearing its capacity, Windows automatically deletes files, starting
with the oldest. But Mac OS X never deletes anything in the Trash
automatically. So, if your Mac is running low on disk space, you can
empty the trash (Finder > Empty Trash) to reclaim some space.

Page 32

Learn the switching shortcut
You can change to a different application by clicking that application’s
icon in the Dock, but there’s a faster technique: press Command-Tab
to switch among the running applications. Hold down the Command
key and keep pressing and releasing the Tab key to move through
each application in turn. (This shortcut is similar to Alt-Tab in
Windows.)

TIP To switch quickly to another application, press Command-Tab, and
then release Tab, but keep holding down Command. With your other
hand on the mouse, move the pointer to the icon of the application
you want to switch to, until it’s highlighted by a white box. Release
the Command key and you’ll switch to that application.
To switch directly to a particular window in another application,
Control-click the application’s icon in the Dock to reveal a menu that
lists that application’s windows. Then choose the one you want.

NOTE There’s a subtle difference in philosophy between Windows and Mac:
the Windows taskbar has an entry for every window you have open,
while the Macintosh Dock has an icon for every running application.
When you click in the taskbar, you go directly to the window you
want. Clicking an application in the Dock moves all that program’s
windows in front of other windows, and you might not end up in the
one you want. In other words, the taskbar is more window-oriented
and the Dock is more application-oriented. If you don’t notice this
distinction as you move to using a Mac, don’t worry about it. But if
you do feel that something is vaguely “wrong,” maybe this description
will help your transition.

Customize the dock
The Dock is always there, and you’ll likely use it a lot, so you’ll
probably find it useful to tweak a few settings to make it more to your
liking. Choose Apple > Dock to see a few of the behaviors you can
change. Does the Dock get in your way as you’re working? Choose
Turn Hiding On to keep it out of sight until you move the mouse to
the Dock’s territory at the bottom of the screen. Is the Dock’s habit
of enlarging the icon you’re pointing at making you crazy? Turning
Magnification Off will restore your sanity.

Page 33

Some users don’t want the Dock to be so big. To fix that, choose
Apple > Dock > Dock Preferences and drag the Dock Size control
until you make the Dock just big enough, but no bigger.
If the Dock annoys you at the bottom, try moving it to the left (or
right) side. Choose Apple > Dock > Position on Left (or Position on
Right) to set that preference.
Sleep mode vs. system standby
Like most Windows computers, your Mac knows when you haven’t
used it for a while, at which point it enters sleep mode: the screen
goes dark, the hard disk stops spinning, and the computer uses very
little power. (This is similar to system standby in Windows.) Every
sleeping Mac has a little white light somewhere that pulses gently to
show that the computer is still breathing. On portable Macs, the light
is next to the button that opens the lid; the light is on the front of the
Power Mac G5 case and above the iMac screen; and the Mac mini’s
sleep light is on the front, in the lower-right corner.
Macs are light sleepers: they usually wake up in less than one second,
which is one of the great pleasures of using a Mac.

NOTE Windows has a hibernate mode, in which the contents of memory are
saved to disk, and then restored when the computer comes out of
hibernation. Although some laptop users are fans of hibernate mode
because it uses virtually no power, this mode is disabled by default on
PCs, and there is evidence that it’s buggy and not widely used. Macs
don’t have an equivalent to hibernate mode.

If you’re not going to use your Mac for a few days, or if you’re fastid-
ious, you can shut it off completely rather than letting it sleep. To turn
your Mac off, press the Power button and choose Shut Down from the
dialog that appears. If the Power button is a long reach, you can
choose Shut Down from the Apple menu to achieve the same result.
When you shut down your Mac, each application gets a chance to quit
in turn. If you have any unsaved work, the application will ask
whether you want to save your changes before it quits.
When you’re ready to work or play again, press the Power button to
start your Mac.

Page 34

System Preferences vs. Control Panel
When you want to change the way a particular application acts, you’ll
usually go to Preferences in the application menu. System Prefer-
ences, on the other hand, is the place to see and change settings that
affect the whole computer, not just one application. System Prefer-
ences is similar to Control Panel in Windows.
You open System Preferences by choosing Apple > System Prefer-
ences or by clicking the System Preferences icon in the Dock. Apple
organizes the System Preferences items into various functional
categories. If you prefer an alphabetical listing, choose View >
Organize Alphabetically. Each item in the System Preferences window
displays a preference pane in the window when you click it. Here are
a few of the key preference panes:
• Sharing: The Sharing pane lets you control whether your Mac is
visible to others on the network. Personal File Sharing lets other
Mac users read (but not change) files you put in the Public folder
inside your home folder. Windows Sharing gives Windows users
access to files on your Mac and the ability to use printers con-
nected to your computer; you create a password that Windows
users will need in order to get to your files.
This pane includes other settings related to accessing your Mac
remotely—mostly for advanced features, such as access via FTP
(file transfer protocol) and SSH (secure shell). To find out more,
choose Help > System Preferences Help and search for Sharing.
File sharing has serious security implications. For more informa-
tion, see Use the Network.
• Print & Fax: Use the Print & Fax pane when you want to connect
to a new printer, send a fax through a phone line attached to your
computer, or share a printer that’s connected to your Mac.
• Display: The Display pane lets you change the resolution of your
monitor, so you can fit more on the screen. You can also modify
the brightness and color profile.
• Appearance: Apple uses blue as an accent color in buttons, menu
bar highlighting, and the Apple logo in the menu bar. You can sap
some color from Mac OS X by opening the Appearance preference
pane and choosing Graphite. If you want to make your Mac more

Page 35

colorful, go instead to the Highlight Color category in the Appear-
ance pane and pick something new, such as gold or purple.
• Energy Saver: This preference pane lets you control how long
the computer must be idle before it goes to sleep. If you want your
computer to stay awake longer, click Energy Saver. If you don’t see
the Sleep settings in the Energy Saver pane, click Show Details.
Use the top slider control to choose the length of time you want.
• Desktop & Screen Saver: Your Mac Desktop comes preset to a
swoopy picture that Apple calls Aqua Blue. As with Windows wall-
paper, you can change the Desktop picture to any image you like.
Open the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane and then click
the Desktop tab if it isn’t already selected. Pick from the available
choices, or click Choose Folder to find your own images. And if you
can’t make up your mind, check the box at the bottom to have the
Mac select a new Desktop picture for you every so often.
Mac OS X has screen savers, just as Windows does, and some of
Apple’s are truly spectacular. To set one up, open the Desktop &
Screen Saver preference pane and click the Screen Saver tab.
Choose any of the screen savers in the left column to get a minia-
ture preview of what it looks like. The RSS Visualizer screen saver
installed on most new Macs is especially cool: it pulls news head-
lines from the Web and displays them as floating, twisting text that
must be seen to be appreciated. When you’ve decided on a screen
saver, slide the Start Screen Saver control to the setting you want,
indicating the number of minutes before the screen saver kicks in.
• Sound: Your Mac comes preset with a rather boring sound
(named Funk) as the noise it makes when it wants your attention.
If you want something more fun, open the Sound preference pane,
click the Sound Effects tab, and check out the sounds.
• Date & Time: The clock in the menu bar is controlled by the Date
& Time preference pane; click Date & Time and then the Clock tab.
You can change to a space-saving analog clock face, add seconds to
the time display, and switch to 24-hour time, among other options.
A couple of important preference panes are described elsewhere in
this ebook. To find out about using the Accounts pane to add accounts
for other users, see Set Up Multiple Users. To learn how to control
software updating with a preference pane, see Use Software Update.

Page 36

Summary: Learning to speak Mac
Congratulations! You now know most of the basic skills you need for
switching to the Mac. At this point, let’s pause and recap, using a list
of Windows terms and their Macintosh counterparts (Table 3).

Table 3: Windows and Macintosh Terms
Windows Term Macintosh Term Comments
Alt key Option key Used with other keys to create shortcuts.
Alt-Tab Command-Tab Switches between windows in Windows
vs. between running applications in Mac
OS X.
Control key Command key (_) Virtually equivalent in function.
Control Panel System Preferences
Maximize button Zoom button The green button in a Mac title bar vs.
the middle button in a Windows title bar.
My Documents Documents The next version, Windows Vista, drops
the “My” prefix. Microsoft innovates
again.
Recycle Bin Trash Sounds less ecological, but it’s the same.
Right-click Control-click You can right-click if you have a multi-
button mouse.
Shortcut menu Contextual menu The menu that appears when you right-
click (or Control-click).
Sleep System standby Waking (resuming) on Mac is generally
much faster than on Windows.
System tray Status menus Found at top of screen on Mac vs.
bottom on Windows.
Taskbar Dock The Dock also includes shortcuts to your
choice of files, folders, and nonrunning
applications.
Wallpaper Desktop picture
Windows Explorer Finder Click the first icon in the Dock to get to
the Finder quickly.

Page 37

TIP Apple’s Help has a similar table of Windows-Mac terms, but with
a few additional entries. To see it, in the Finder choose Help > Mac
Help, and then search for Microsoft Windows. One of the Help
Topics found is “What’s it called on my Mac?”. Double-click that
topic to see the table. Alternatively, you can find the table at
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/
cdb_whatcalled.html.

Choose Mac Applications
Macs and their software are good-looking, but what matters is
whether they can do the jobs you need them to do. Operating systems
create a foundation, but the real work is done by applications. In this
section, I discuss how to pick applications that do the work you’ve
been doing with Windows programs.
As you choose Mac applications and compare them to what you’ve
been using on Windows, you’ll find five rough categories of options:
• Programs that are virtually identical on Mac and Win-
dows: These tend to come from large software companies that
have an interest in making all their applications look and work
the same. That way, they have to create only one manual or Help
system, and their support department has to learn only one uni-
versal version of the program. Many of Adobe’s applications are
examples of this, as is Apple’s iTunes.
When you switch to Mac, these programs are the easiest to learn,
but they don’t always take full advantage of the Mac’s benefits.
However, a few Mac-only features sometimes sneak in; for
example, Adobe’s applications let you use some of the Mac’s
superior graphics features.
• Programs that have the same name and basic functions
but have additional features that are different on Mac
and Windows: Microsoft Word exists on both operating systems,
and the two versions have many identical features, making it
relatively painless for you to switch. They’re similar enough that
you can exchange files between them. But there are niche features
in each version that are not in the other; Microsoft has allowed two
development teams to follow two different sets of customers.

Page 38

With this approach, software companies can take advantage of
the particular needs and features of each operating system and its
users. For example, the Windows version of Microsoft Word
includes a feature called Information Rights Management, which
allows users to specify that a document can be read only by an
authorized list of people. This feature is more important in large
companies, where there are usually plenty of Windows computers.
It hasn’t been added to the Macintosh version of Word because
most Mac owners are at home or in small businesses. On the other
hand, users of Mac Word have a feature called Notebook Layout,
designed especially for students, that’s not in the Windows
version.
• Programs with no direct Mac counterpart but for which
there are programs with similar or equivalent features:
You might find that a program you’ve been using on Windows has
no Mac version. For example, Microsoft Outlook Express is a
popular (and free) email program for Windows users, but there’s
no current Mac version of Outlook Express. So if that’s your email
program on Windows, you have to change to something else when
you switch to Mac. (But don’t worry: you can choose from several
excellent Mac email programs, as I point out in Email applications
just ahead, so you’re bound to find one you like.)
• Web-based applications: These are applications that run inside
your Web browser, such as Web-based email (Hotmail, Yahoo
Mail, Gmail), banking applications, and shopping sites. Most of
these work fine on the Mac, although some require a specific Web
browser.
• Programs that have no Mac counterpart or equivalent:
Because Windows computers are so much more common than
Macs, you might discover that a particular Windows program you
rely on has no Macintosh counterpart whatsoever. Dealing with
that can be a pain. For more information on how to handle this
situation, see Run Windows Applications.
Let’s take a look at the Mac applications you’re likely to use.
Web browsers
The leading Web browser on Windows is Internet Explorer, although
Firefox has become popular lately. Apple’s own Web browser is called
Safari. It’s fast, visually slick, and regularly updated. Safari comes
Page 39

already installed on every new Macintosh. If you prefer Firefox, you
can download the free Mac version of that browser, which is virtually
identical to the Windows version, at http://www.getfirefox.com/.
The Mac has a version of Internet Explorer, but it’s like an abandoned
Victorian house: it was really something in its day, but the owner has
let it fall into disrepair. You should use it only when you encounter a
site that fails to work with either Safari or Firefox.
For a deeper look at these and other Mac browsers, see
http://www.macworld.com/2005/09/reviews/browserrdp/.

TIP It’s handy to have two or three browsers installed: one as your
primary browser, and others for accessing Web sites that don’t work
with your usual browser. If you use Safari as your main browser,
Firefox is especially handy for troublesome sites. For more about
getting into problem sites, see Work around stubborn Web sites.

Email applications
Although the Mac has no Outlook Express, it does offer many other
choices. Apple provides a free email client, blandly called Mail, that’s
already installed on your Mac. The first couple of versions of Mail
were severely lacking in features, but Apple has steadily improved it
with each release, and it’s now more than powerful enough for many
users.

NOTE If you decide to use Apple’s Mail program, you might be interested in
taking a look at the ebook Take Control of Email with Apple Mail
(http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/email-apple-mail.html).

Microsoft Outlook (a very different program from Outlook Express,
despite the similar name) is the most popular Windows email
program in businesses. Microsoft used to have a Mac application
named Outlook, but it provided only a fraction of the features of the
Windows program. Finally, a few years ago, Microsoft gave up the
charade and dropped its Mac Outlook program. Instead, Microsoft
puts its development resources into a program called Entourage,
which is a part of the Office suite for the Mac. If you have to replace
Outlook in a corporate office, you should consider switching to
Entourage.

Page 40

If you’re using (and liking) Qualcomm’s Eudora, famed for its flex-
ibility and power, you’ll be happy to know that you can switch to the
Mac version of Eudora.
Another popular email program to consider is Mailsmith, made by
Bare Bones Software, the legendary Mac-only software company.
Mailsmith users like its filter options, advanced schedule features,
and strong text editing capabilities.

NOTE If you’re using a Web-based email program, such as Hotmail, Yahoo
Mail, or Gmail, you’re in luck: you can continue to access your mail
from a Mac Web browser.

Office applications
Microsoft rules the Windows world with its Microsoft Office suite,
and the Mac universe is no different: the most popular office software
is Microsoft Office for Mac. The current version is Office 2004 for
Mac. Note that there is no Windows software called Office 2004: the
current version is 2003. Although the Mac version is newer, it’s not a
superset of the Windows package; it’s simply released on a different
product cycle. This causes plenty of confusion among those who use
both versions.
Office 2004 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage. The
first three have the same basic features as their Windows counter-
parts. Entourage is a Mac-only program that handles email, address
book, calendar management, and tasks.

NOTE Several excellent Take Control ebooks can help you get more out of
Microsoft Office 2004:
• Take Control of Customizing Microsoft Office
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/office-customizing.html
• Take Control of What’s New in Entourage 2004
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/entourage-2004.html
• Take Control of What’s New in Word 2004
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/word-1.html
• Take Control of What’s New in Word 2004: Advanced Editing &
Formatting
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/word-2.html

Page 41

Microsoft does not offer a Mac version of Visio, the diagram-making
program. Instead, you can use the Omni Group’s OmniGraffle
application for creating flow charts, organization charts, and other
similar projects. Some Macs come with the standard version of
OmniGraffle already installed. An enhanced version, OmniGraffle
Pro, imports Visio documents saved in the Visio XML format.
You might also take a look at Apple’s iWork package. iWork includes
two applications: Keynote, which is a presentation program and a
more than capable replacement for PowerPoint; and Pages, a sort of
word processor/page layout hybrid.

NOTE Many Macs come with AppleWorks, which is Apple’s long-standing
home/personal office software. AppleWorks is an all-in-one appli-
cation that provides word processing, spreadsheet, drawing, data-
base, and other features. Although AppleWorks might be more than
enough for your needs, you should avoid spending a lot of time with
it, because Apple hasn’t been doing much work on it for years and
seems to be preparing to abandon it, perhaps in favor of an expanded
version of iWork.

Instant messaging
If you’re a fan of instant messaging, you’ll be happy to learn that
all the popular IM services are available on Macintosh as well as
Windows. This includes AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Microsoft
Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. When you use any of these
programs, it doesn’t matter which operating system your online
contacts are running: you can all chat like buddies.
In addition to the big three chat clients already mentioned, Apple
supplies iChat, an IM program with Macintosh flair. iChat works on
the AIM network, so you can use AIM to log in to your account and
chat with your AIM buddies.
Video conferencing using iChat and an iSight camera is one of the
Mac’s most remarkable features. iChat rivals the quality and features
of dedicated video conferencing systems, but is far less expensive and
easier to use. In some cases, iChat alone could justify the purchase of
a Mac.
If you don’t want or need video, iChat also does audio-only chat.

Page 42

iLife applications
Every Mac comes with Apple’s iLife suite of programs already in-
stalled. iLife focuses on applications that work with media, such as
music, photos, and movies. If you haven’t used a computer to do these
kinds of things before, you should try iLife to see how this works on a
Mac.

NOTE If you got your Mac from your company, or someone else set it up for
you, you might not have the standard software installed on your hard
disk. In particular, maybe your company doesn’t think you should be
playing with iTunes or iPhoto. That would be unusual, but it serves to
point out that if your computer was set up for you, it might not con-
tain all the standard software that Apple includes. If that’s your fate,
and you want to have some of the software reinstalled, check with
your IT department.

iLife comes with five programs:
• iTunes: You’ve probably used, or at least heard of, this music
program. It’s the way to buy music and video from Apple and
transfer it to an iPod. iTunes handles music, podcasts, audio
books, movie trailers, music videos, and TV shows. There are
virtually identical Windows and Mac versions of iTunes.
• iPhoto: This is Apple’s program for managing your digital photos.
iPhoto grabs pictures directly from your camera, provides photo-
editing tools, and lets you order books containing your snapshots.
If you’ve used Picasa, Microsoft Digital Image Suite, or ACDSee on
Windows, take a look at iPhoto.
• iMovie: Edit your digital movie footage and become a celebrated
filmmaker with iMovie. Give this one a try if you’ve used Windows
Movie Maker and you need a Mac program to continue with your
efforts.
• iDVD: If you’ve ever created your own DVD with software like
Dazzle DVD Complete or Sonic MyDVD on Windows, you know it’s
not a simple task. You have to arrange the material you want, and
build menus so viewers can navigate through it. iDVD provides
themes and templates to simplify the process.
• GarageBand: GarageBand lets musicians (and pretenders)
record and arrange their own music. Although there are many
Page 43

Windows programs for creating music, there’s nothing quite like
GarageBand. This program is also an excellent tool for recording
and editing audio captured from a microphone, which you can
use to add a voiceover track to your slides or presentations. For
example, you might add a recorded bit of praise from a co-worker
to your next PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. To learn more,
you can read Take Control of Making Music with GarageBand
(http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/garageband-music.html)
and Take Control of Recording with GarageBand
(http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/garageband-recording.html).
Media players
The major media formats—Real, Windows Media, and QuickTime—
all have free players that work on the Mac. You might think that that
enables you to watch and listen to all the media on the Web, but alas,
it’s not always so. QuickTime works better on the Macintosh than
on Windows, which is not surprising, because QuickTime is an Apple
product. Real streams usually work OK in RealPlayer on Macs. But
Microsoft keeps the Mac version of Windows Media Player at least
a step behind the Windows edition. In particular, you can’t play Win-
dows Media Audio files that are protected by Digital Rights Manage-
ment (DRM), and some newer Windows formats don’t work with the
Mac player.
For much more information on media files and players, see the
discussion under Moving documents.

TIP Some files don’t work with the major media players, but there’s still
hope: VLC is an open source video player available free from
http://www.videolan.org/. If you encounter a video file that won’t
work with the other players, try viewing it with VLC. It will often
succeed when the others fail.

Graphics and illustration programs
The king of graphics editing programs is the same on both operating
systems: Adobe Photoshop. Some users prefer Macromedia Fire-
works, which is available in both Mac and Windows versions. Adobe
also makes Illustrator, another powerful graphics application that’s
available on both Mac and Windows. And you can use many other
less complicated and less expensive programs to create and edit

Page 44

drawings. OmniGraffle, from The Omni Group, is a popular tool that’s
included with some Macs; check yours to see if it’s installed already.
Adobe Reader is the standard Windows way to view PDF files. There’s
a Mac version of Adobe Reader, but many Mac users prefer Preview,
an Apple program that comes with Mac OS X and provides a more
Mac-like way to read PDF files.
Database programs
The most popular database program, Microsoft Access, doesn’t have
a Mac version. If you need a powerful database, look into FileMaker,
which has both Mac and Windows versions. Of course, you’ll have to
export your data from Access and get it into FileMaker, but at least
that’s a start.
Where to find more software
I’ve named only a small number of Mac applications in this section.
Despite the Mac’s reputation for having little software, thousands of
programs are available. Here’s how to find them:
• Visit an Apple Store. Apple retail stores carry a selection of inde-
pendent software for Macs. See http://www.apple.com/retail/ for
a list of locations.
• Look at Apple’s online list of programs. Apple keeps track of
thousands of applications that work with Mac OS X. To view the
list, choose Apple > Mac OS X Software, or point your Web
browser at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/. You can
also search the Macintosh Products Guide, a catalog of software
(and hardware) products for the Mac, at http://guide.apple.com/.
• Try VersionTracker. The folks at http://www.versiontracker.com/
maintain an exhaustive list of software releases for programs that
work with various operating systems, including Mac OS X. To see
what’s available, go there and search or browse the vast listings.

Move Your Data to Your Mac
Your Mac is set up, you know your way around, and you’ve selected
applications. Now you have to move all your stuff from the PC to the
Mac. Moving your data isn’t technically hard, but it can be tedious.
Even after you’re done with the transfer, you should keep your PC
around, even if you don’t intend to use it any more, just in case you
inadvertently left something behind.
Page 45

Getting help
Later in this section, I give directions for locating and moving your
files. However, you may find it worthwhile to seek help from other
sources, particularly if you’re switching at work, where your IT
department can assist you, or if you bought your Mac at an Apple
retail store, where your purchase makes you eligible for free services.
Here’s a closer look at some of these options:
• Let Apple do it. Apple retail stores offer a data transfer service
that moves all your information to your new Mac. Two levels of
service are available: basic and complete.
• To use the basic service, you begin on your PC by putting the
files you want to bring over into a folder named To Transfer.
The folks at the Apple store then move the contents of that
folder to your Mac.
• The complete service is much more thorough. It moves your
information and puts your files in their proper places (for
example, your photos appear in iPhoto, your Web bookmarks
are moved into Safari, and so on).
If you bought your Mac at an Apple retail store (not the online
store), Apple will do the complete transfer for free. Otherwise,
Apple charges $50 for the complete transfer service. If your PC is
more than a few years old and lacks a USB or FireWire port, Apple
might elect to remove your hard disk to complete the transfer, and
the charge goes up to $150. In any case, you can avoid the transfer
fees entirely if you join ProCare, Apple’s premium service program,
for a $99 annual fee.
• Hire a consultant. If you want a more personal level of service,
consider hiring a consultant to move your files. To help track one
down, see http://consultants.apple.com/.
• Use Move2Mac. Another option for semi-automating your trans-
fer is Move2Mac from Detto (http://www.detto.com/). Move2Mac
includes software and a cable to connect your PC to your Mac. Apple
touts Move2Mac on their Web site, stating that it “transfers files
from your PC to your new Macintosh and puts everything just where
you need it.” Move2Mac starts by letting you choose which files you
want to transfer and then sends those files directly to their places

Page 46

on the Mac. Unfortunately, Move2Mac doesn’t transfer your saved
email. Move2Mac costs $50, the same as Apple’s data transfer
service.
Move2Mac is a complex product that includes software running
on both your PC and Mac. Apple’s own Web site contains several
disturbing customer complaints about Move2Mac not working
as advertised: failing to transfer data, or simply refusing to run.
Furthermore, Move2Mac contains a copy protection scheme that
lets you run it with only one PC, which can make debugging (or
returning) the package difficult.
Should you use one of these options? And if so, which one? If you
don’t mind spending the $50, Apple’s service is an excellent value.
(If you bought your Mac at an Apple Store, the service is free, which
makes it an even better value.) Apple obviously subsidizes this cost
because it gets more people to buy Macs. The Apple service has
several advantages over Move2Mac, including that Apple moves your
email. But the most important advantage is that you get to deal with
a human being—an Apple Genius, a member of a group renowned for
excellent customer service—for the same price you would pay for
buying a mass-market software package. If you don’t mind paying
$50 and you can get to an Apple store, you should strongly consider
the complete data transfer service.
Of course, you can do it yourself. To describe this process, I start by
going over various ways to move the files. Then I discuss the kinds of
data you’ll want to move, where to find each kind on Windows, and
where it goes on the Mac.
How to move files
You need some way to get the files from your PC to your new Macin-
tosh. If you’re not using Move2Mac or the Apple data transfer service,
consider one of these methods:
• External hard disk: If you have an external hard disk with a
USB or FireWire (also called IEEE 1394) interface, it provides an
excellent pathway for your file transfer. Connect the hard disk to
your PC, copy the files you need (as described throughout the rest
of this section), safely disconnect the drive from your PC, and hook
it up to your Mac. You’ll find that Macs are trained to recognize
PC-format hard disks, and the disk will appear on the Mac’s
Desktop. If you don’t have an external hard disk and you’re about
Page 47

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