05-13-2005, 08:35 PM

Hi everyone,

I just purchased a 12-inch PowerBook after being a Windows user my entire life. I love my new machine and am learning how things work, but I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find the answers to. I appologize if they're dumb!

1) The default setting for all folders is 'Icon.' I prefer 'List.' Is there a way to change all of them at once so I don't have to change each individual folder each time I access it?

2) When I first setup my PowerBook, I followed the instructions to charge it fully, then let it run on battery power until it shut down, and then charge it up again. But now that I'm on a power supply the meter only shows 99% full. I've tried unplugging several times, but it won't go to 100%. Any ideas why?

3) On Safari I have enabled pop-up blocking. On some sites I click a link, but that particular pop-up will be blocked. How do I override the blocker? (on my old Windows machine I just did a ctrl+click. Is there something similiar on the Mac?)

4) After installing AIM and Office for Mac, the applications were automatically added to my dock. However, sometimes I'll open something, like a preview, and that will show up in the dock and it won't let me remove it. It only goes away after restarting. How do I get rid of it without restarting? (and yes, I've tried dragging it to the trash or just dragging it to the desktop, but it doesn't seem to want to leave the dock!).

4.5) I've also moved things to the dock (like Documents), but then it will disappear after restarting. How do I permanently move things to the dock?

5) On AOL Instant Messenger my buddies who use AOL are showing up by their full name instead of their screen name. I can't figure out how to show the screen name. Any ideas on how to do this?


This is all for now. Thanks in advance for your help (and patience since I'm sure there are 'dumb' questions!)

05-13-2005, 09:21 PM

well i can only reply to 1 point :headphone
the battery meter will hardly ever read 100% even when fully charged. it will always hover around 99% even when plugged in. i believe this is common with 'books.

05-13-2005, 09:27 PM

Are you using iChat for your AOL? I use iChat and it shows the person's full name because they are listed in my address book. If they are not in the address book it will just show the screen name! Hope that helps!

As for the rest of your questions, i don't really know!

05-13-2005, 09:28 PM

Point 4 - to close an app in OSX you need to go to the top menu bar and click on the app name then choose quit or click and hold on the icon in the dock or press "apple key + q" while the app is open

05-13-2005, 09:33 PM

for question 1 , when you have a finder window open next to the back and forward buttons there are 3 box's one box has four squares in it , the next box has 3 lines in it , if you click the one with the 3 horizontal lines that will put the icons into a list view while navigating through the computer ..

question 3 , Command (the button with the apple on it) click will open it in a new tab if you have tab browsing open , i believe it will open in a new window if you do it this way if you dont have tabbed browsing on ,

question 4 to fully close the application hit control Q and it'll close the app all the way , this will also remove the icon from the dock , also if you click and hold on the icon you'll get the options to close it / remove from dock or keep in dock .

question 4.5 when you put something into the dock click and hold on the icon and you'll get the options to keep it in the dock .

hope this helps , and welcome to the forum

05-13-2005, 10:22 PM

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the swift responses. Most forums aren't this helpful/polite. If I have anymore questions, I now know where to turn!

05-13-2005, 11:53 PM

as for viewing windows in lists you will have to click the list button each time but you can set it to open all new windows in column mode under the finder preferences

05-14-2005, 02:52 AM

You can drag folders to the Dock (Right side by the trash) and they will stay there but documents that are minimised to the dock will close and not show in the dock when the application that produced them is closed. Open applications on the dock show a black triangle under them :-)

The dock is made up of shortcuts, dragging them off the dock will see them disappear in a puff of smoke. Preview will show up on the dock when open but will disappear again when closed as will all other applications unless you tell them to stay in the dock. Several ways to close applications but click & hold on the dock icon is the easiest & will give a quit option and keep in dock option too. Not applicable to finder, trash or dashboard on Tiger though.

Drag application icons from finder (Not the sidebar ~ they are just short cuts) to the dock for easy access.
I used the windows term 'short cuts', they are called aliases on a Mac :-)
Have fun.

05-16-2005, 08:51 AM

A little to the party, but item 2 the battery. I have found on some systems that if you let, the battery get below 95%. it will charge back to 100%.