THE 30 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
FOR Mac OS X

Jeff Balvanz
March 5, 2003

When you teach a person how to use a computer for the first time, you have to teach them what they have to do as well as how to do it. They don't know what files and applications are, and that you need to copy them to diskettes or organize them into folders.

You, on the other hand, have been educated in what computers do, and are probably familar with how to do all the things that need to be done in either Microsoft Windows or Classic Mac OS. Your questions are more like those of someone driving a strange car: "Where's the headlight switch, and how do you turn on the radio?" That's where the 30 Essential Elements come in. You will find instructions for doing the thirty most common operating system tasks, with references to the OS you're already familiar with, so that you can transfer your skills directly to the Macintosh. This will get you up and running on the Mac as quickly as possible.  

While reading, if you see a list with buttons under an element, it means that any of the choices will do what you want.  Without further adieu, here are the 30 Essential Elements.

1. Turn the machine on and log in

Press the Power Key in the upper right-hand corner of the keyboard. (If that doesn't work, look for the power switch.)

Most modern Macs can be turned on with the power Key in the upper right-hand corner of the keyboard. It usually has a circle with a vertical slash on it just like the power switch on the Mac itself, though older Macs may have a triangle and some PowerBooks actually say "On". Older Macs may not recognize the Power Key, though; in that case, follow the keyboard cable back to the computer and look for a power switch.  (Apple usually put the international 0 and 1 on them when those Macs were built.)

If more than one user has been created on your machine, you will immediately see a dialog box asking for your username and password. Enter the username and password that the person who set up your computer gave you. You'll then be permitted access to the computer.

2. See the disks on your machine

Look at the icons on the right side of the screen (known as the Desktop).

Unlike Windows, which shows icons for disks even if there aren't any in the drives at the moment, a Mac will only display icons for the disks that are currently mounted. Insert a removable disk or mount a network server, and an icon for it it should show up there as well.

3. Look at the contents of a disk

Double-click on the icon of the disk on the Desktop.

Double-clicking on the icon of a disk on the Desktop opens a new window. Just like in the Windows My Computer views, each icon represents a file on the disk, either a document or an application. Most Mac applications and documents have custom icons, but there are a few generic icons you should be familiar with:

	Generic document. Either this is a file not associated with an application, the application has never been installed on this Macintosh, or the application doesn't have a custom icon either.
	Text file. Like other variants of UNIX, Mac OS X can identify a text file without its having a .txt extension.
	Disk image file. This files usually has the .dmg extension on the end of the filename, and a picture of a hard disk on the icon. A disk image file will open into another disk icon when it's double-clicked.

The disk "opens" from left to right, the leftmost column showing the drives and drive-like objects, with the second column showing the top level of the disk (in this case, with the "Users" folder highlighted) and the third column showing the contents of the highlighted folder. More columns may appear if you make the window larger.  If you have several layers of subdirectory opened the columns may slip off the left edge of the window. Use the scroll bar at the bottom of the window or the "Back" button to move to a higher level.

There are other ways to view the disk. Click the left end of the View button or select "As Icons" from the View menu to display just the current level of the disk with files and folders as large icons.

Choose "As List" from the View menu or click the center of the View button to show a detailed list with modification dates and sizes.

4. Open a folder (subdirectory)

Double-click on the folder icon.

Each user in Mac OS X has a "Home" directory just for their personal files.  It's located on the startup disk at /Users/username, where "username" is the UNIXized form of your Mac username.  (For example, "Jeff Balvanz" becomes "jeffbalvanz".)  Unless you grant them permission, other users can't open your home directory (except for those who are Administrators, who can see and change everything).  The "Home" button at the top of the window is a shortcut; click on it once to open your home directory.

5. Move a window

Click, hold and drag on the window's Title Bar.

6. Resize a window

Click, hold and drag on the Manual Resizer Box in the lower right-hand corner of the window.

7. Maximize a window

Click on the green circular button in the upper left-hand corner of the window.

8. Minimize (hide) a window

• Click the yellow circular button in the upper left-hand corner of the window.
• Select "Hide [Application]" from the Application Menu on the left side of the Menu Bar.
  The menu item just to the right of the Apple Menu will show the name of the current foreground application. When you're just looking at the Desktop that item will be named "Finder".

9. Restore a window

From Maximized: Click again on the green circular button in the upper left-hand corner of the window.

From Minimized (Hidden):

• Click on the icon of the window or the window's application in the Dock at the bottom of the screen.
• Hold down <Command> and press <Tab> until the application's icon is highlighted in the Dock, then release.  (If you're trying to restore a disk or directory window, choose "Finder".)

10. Close a window

• Click in the red circular button in the upper left-hand corner of the window.
• Press <Command/W>.

11. Create a subdirectory (folder)

From the File directory, select "New Folder". Type a new name for the folder and press <Return>.

12. Move files

Click, hold and drag the file over the window or folder you want to move it to.

13. Copy files

• Click, hold and drag the file over the window or folder you want to move it to while holding down the <Option> key.
  (The difference between copying files within a disk on the Mac and on Windows is just the key: <Option> instead of <Ctrl>.)
• Control-click or right-click* the file you want to copy and select "Copy filename". Then switch to the folder you want to copy to, control-click or right-click and select "Paste item".
  *Right-clicking works if you're using a third-party mouse with more than one button.
  

14. Delete a file

• Drag the file's icon to the Trash at the right end of the Dock.
• Control-click or right-click on the icon and select "Move to Trash".

15. Recover a deleted file

Open the Trash icon in the Dock and drag the file back to the folder it came from.

16. Prepare a disk for use

17. Copy files to a disk

• Drag the file's icon to the disk's icon or to one of the disk's windows.
• Control-click or right-click the file you want to copy and select "Copy filename". Then switch to the disk window you want to copy to, control-click or right-click and select "Paste item".
  

18. Open an application

• Click on the application's icon in the Dock (if present).
• Double-click on the application's icon (or on its alias).

19. Open a document

Double-click on the document's icon (or on its alias).

20. Select a printer

1. Launch the Print Center. Either double-click "Print Center" in /Applications/Utilities, or choose Print from the File menu, then select "Edit printer list..." from the Printer menu.
2. Click "Add".
3. From the top pull-down, select a connection method (AppleTalk, IP Printing, USB, or one of the more esoteric choices that may be appropriate to your printer).
• If using AppleTalk, use the second menu to choose an AppleTalk zone. Then choose the printer in the list below.
• If using IP Printing, enter the address of the print server and the queue name (if not the default) in the fields below.
• If using USB, choose the printer device from the menu.
4. Under "Printer Model", choose the manufacturer and model for your printer. If you have a PostScript printer that does not appear, try "Generic". If you have a dot-matrix or inkjet printer, consult the documentation for your printer and look for another printer that it emulates, then select that type of printer under "HP" or "ESP".
5. Click "Add".

21. Print a document

Open the document, then select "Print" from the File menu.

22. Switch applications

• Select the icon of the application you want to switch to from the Dock.
• If the application's window is visible on the Desktop, just click on it.
• Hold down Command and press <Tab> until the name of the application appears above the Dock, then release.
  

23. Close an application

• Select "Quit" from the "Application" menu just to the right of the Apple menu.
• Press <Command/Q>.

24. Close an application that has crashed

Hold down <Option> and <Command> and press <Esc>. A dialog box will appear; highlight the application's name and click on "Force Quit". Note that this doesn't always work; sometimes you have to restart the Mac instead (see Element 27).

25. Shut down the machine

Select "Shut Down" from the Apple menu.

26. Restart the machine

Select "Restart" from the Apple menu.

27. Restart a machine that has crashed

Hold down <Control> and <Command> and press the Power Key. (This is analogous to <Ctrl/Alt/Del> on a PC.)  If this doesn't work, turn off the power on the Mac.  Macs with "soft" power switches can be turned off by holding down the power switch for five seconds.

28. Connect to a network file server

AppleShare server:

1. From the Finder, select "Connect to server..." from the Go menu.
2. Choose the Appletalk zone the server is in from the menu on the left.
3. Choose the server from the menu on the right and click "Connect".
4. If you are logging in as a registered user, click "Registered user" and enter your username and password for the server. If you are logging in as a guest, click "Guest".
5. Click "OK".
6. If the server has more than one shared volume, highlight the volumes you want to mount and click "OK".

AppleShareIP or netatalk server:

1. From the Finder, select "Connect to server..." from the Go menu,
2. Enter the address of the server like this: afp://domainname or afp://ipnumber
3. If you are logging in as a registered user, click "Registered user" and enter your username and password for the server. If you are logging in as a guest, click "Guest".
4. Click "Connect".
5. If the server has more than one shared volume, highlight the volumes you want to mount and click "Connect".

Microsoft Windows or Linux Samba server:

1. From the Finder, select "Connect to server..." from the Go menu.
2. In the Address field, enter the name of the server like this: smb://servername
3. Click "Connect".
4. Enter the appropriate workgroup or domain, username and password and click "OK".
5. Select the share you want to use and click "OK".

29. Repair a disk that has become corrupted

Launch the application named "Disk Utility". (Look in /Applications/Utilities.) A list of disks on your machine will appear; click once on the one you want to repair and click "First Aid". Then click "Repair Disk".

You can't repair the startup disk, a write-protected disk, a disk with open files or a shared disk. If the Mac's startup disk is the one with the problem, you'll have to start from the system CD and run Disk Utility from the Utilities folder on that disk.

Disk Utility will sometimes report that there are problems on the disk, but it cannot fix them. Rather than initializing the disk with Drive Setup (and losing everything on it), try buying a copy of Norton Utilities for Macintosh and trying to use it to repair the damage first. Oftentimes Norton Disk Doctor will be able to recover the disk just fine even when Disk Utility has given up.

30. Set the time and date

Select "System Preferences" from the Apple menu. Double-click on "Date & Time". Click on the different parts of the date and time, then type the new values or use the arrow buttons to change them. Close the window.
Alternatively, you can click "Network Time" in the Date & Time panel, turn on "Use a network time server" and click "Set Time Now". The time will be set to one of Apple's network time servers.

Getting More Help