I just switched from Windows to Mac.  Now what?  I was counting on no adjustment to a different computer.  I didn’t know what I needed to know; I couldn’t even begin to ask the right questions.  So here I am with my shiny new Mac.  Now what?

When someone showed me the power button at the lower back of the computer that was at least a start; I know how to turn the computer on.  I felt pretty encouraged when I saw the beautiful screen.  Colors seem super vivid.  Apple says the screen is backlit and has an enormous number of pixels.  This means that I’m looking at a screen that’s even sharper than an HD TV.

Sure is pretty, but where are my documents?  Well, I’m told that I can use the externals that I was already accustomed to using such as my USB flash drive.  I can plug my flash drive, for example, into the USB port in the back.  An icon will show on my Desktop and I can double-click to open any file.  My external hard drive that I bought to back up files, to transport really large files and for extra storage will work well via the Firewire port located on the back.  Files can be copied onto the Desktop simply by dragging them.  I could drag them into folders that I create either on the Desktop or in the Document folder on the Desktop.

What about my files on the “H” drive (It’s the Home drive on a Mac.)?  How do I access those using my new Mac?  This task takes a few steps but only the first time.  Here goes.  Click on the Go menu.  Select Connect to Server.  Choose from the list or type the name of your server.  For example, ITS staff would type “admin3.smith.edu.”  Click OK.  Now, log on with your username and password.  Good.  You’ll see that an icon has mounted on the Desktop.  Double click and in the directory window you will be able to navigate to your “HOME” location on the server and then your personal folder that has your username on it.  To avoid many steps each time that you want to reach your Home drive, drag your new Home drive icon to the Dock.  When you want to access your files on your Home drive then click on the icon on your Dock.  Log in.

The Dock is a fancy bar at the bottom of the screen that “docks” my most likely to be used applications (software).  I can add more applications by dragging an icon onto the Dock and I can delete the ones displayed by dragging an icon off the Dock.  That is, I can add or delete the icon for an application simply by dragging and dropping.  The Dock has a second purpose of holding an icon for each of my open and minimized windows.  These will always appear at the right end of the Dock.  And, one more thing:  I can click on the icon on the Dock for each of my open applications in order to switch from one to the other.

Of course, I discovered that there is no “My Computer” on a Mac, however; if I double click on my Macintosh HD icon in the upper right corner of the Desktop, I’ll see the Finder directory that reminds me very much of Windows Explorer (the Windows directory).

One of the first things that I noticed about my Desktop was that it had a folder called Documents.  It’s just like old times with My Documents on my Windows-based computer.

Trash is still Trash.  I can drag icons or files or folders to the Trash which sits on the right end of the Dock.  Empty the Trash by clicking on the Trash icon or by going to the Apple menu and selecting “Empty Trash.”

I used to change time, display and other settings on my PC from my Control Panel.  I can do the same by going to the Apple menu and choosing System Preferences.

There is so much more to tell, of course, but all the information about what’s alike and what’s different about a Mac compared to a Windows machine is extremely simple and easy to understand.  I recommend viewing the brief video tutorials at apple.com:

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#pctomac

Additional information can be found at:

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101

http://www.smith.edu/its/tara/macintosh.html

Apple Mail FAQs and setup instructions can be found at:

http://www.smith.edu/its/tara/groupwise.html#applemail

Please review Smith’s policy on ITS deployed computers and software.

http://www.smith.edu/its/about_its/deployment_policy.html

ITS is projecting Summer 2010 for the earliest date of deployment of Snow Leopard providing test results are positive.

The page has links to instructions & how-to’s as well as just an outline of how each way of backing up your data works.

Safari has been criticized in the past for not protecting users from phishing attacks. From Google’s Strange Behavior and Malicious Software: Phishing attacks:

Phishing is a type of attack whose goal is to steal private information, such as login credentials or credit card numbers, usually to carry out various types of financial fraud. An attacker impersonates a trusted entity, such as a bank, government, ISP, or large web site, and tries to trick people into giving up their private information. These attacks often take the form of “urgent” emails asking people to take immediate action in order to prevent some impending disaster.

To get Safari 3.2, simply run Software Update. You will need to restart your computer for the update to install.

For more information about the update, visit the The Unofficial Apple Blog: Safari 3.2 Adds Anti-Phishing and Other Security Enhancements

If you’re familiar with the text-editor Emacs (and even if you’re not) you may find these shortcuts really handy:

• Control-A: Beginning of line (like Home)
• Control-D: Forward delete (like the Forward Delete button, ⌦)
• Control-E: End of line (like End)
• Control-K: Kill/remove text between cursor and the end of the line
• Control-U: Remove/delete current line
• Control-V: Page down

For a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts, check out this Support article from Apple: Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts

It’s also good to know that you can find keyboard shortcuts for most of your common activities if you look in the menu of an application. The relevant keyboard shortcuts are listed right next to the menu item. For example, in this Firefox menu, I can see that to make a New Tab, all I need to do is hit ⌘T, and to close the current tab, ⌘W.

If you’re ever unsure what the symbols mean in a keyboard shortcut diagram, here’s a dictionary:

• Control = ⌃
• Command = ⌘
• Delete = ⌫
• Eject = ⏏
• Escape = ⎋
• Forward Delete = ⌦
• Option/Alt = ⌥
• Return = ⏎
• Shift = ⇧

[Emacs-like shortcuts via Lifehacker]

Episodes include how to Import a Parallels Virtual Machine, How to Share Data between your virtual machine and your Mac, How to Create a Virutal Machine from a Bootcamp Partition, and How to Install Windows XP.

Released Tuesday (10/14), Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.2 Update “offers stability and performance fixes and repairs a vulnerability in which an outside party could insert malicious code.”

MIcrosoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 was released the same day, and “offers improvements to enhance security, stability, and performance, including fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.”

To update your version of Office, use AutoUpdate (Help > Check for Updates) or download the updates directly from Microsoft: Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 or Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.2. ]]> http://sophia.smith.edu/blog/macuser/2008/10/16/office-updates/feed/ 0 http://sophia.smith.edu/blog/macuser/2008/09/26/map-your-contacts/ http://sophia.smith.edu/blog/macuser/2008/09/26/map-your-contacts/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:05:42 +0000 Esther http://sophia.smith.edu/betablog/macuser/?p=131 Did you know that you can quickly pull up a map of someone’s address directly from inside Mac OS X Leopard’s Address Book?

Simply right-click (or ctrl-click) on your contact’s address and choose “Map Of.” A Google Map of that location will open in your default browser!

[via The Unofficial Apple Blog]

Features of OS X 10.5.5 that might interest Smith Mac Users:

• Improves Spotlight indexing performance.
• Improves iPhone sync reliability with iCal and Address Book.
• Updates iCal to more accurately handle repeating events.
• Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.
• Improves Mail robustness when sending messages.
• Improves reliability when saving drafts that have attachments.

For more information and a complete list of changes, read About the Mac OS X 10.5.5 Update on Apple.com or checkout the Macworld review of 10.5.5, A deeper look at Mac OS X 10.5.5.

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View video tutorials on the Apple website on how to import music, make playlists, and more.

Check out the First Look from Macworld for an in-depth review of the new features.