New Mac coming anything I should know

Well my new Mac is scheduled to arrive on Monday. Any advice or things I should know before setting it up?

Cheers,

Lucy Goose

If I could do my switch all over again, I'd document the experience somehow. A switch is rife with challenges, excitement, and learning -- a LOT of learning. A million little things that never really get talked about. So, my advice to you is to document your experience. Not only for nostalgia's sake, but also to give something back to all those who will follow you as a switcher.

1) It will be exquisitely packaged. Seriously, you will never have opened a box of electronics that is so well thought out and packaged. I recommend you take pictures. If you don't you will wish later on that you did.

2) Read this thread: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/208133-sage-advice-new-mac-switcher.html

3) Read this thread: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/sw...-official-antivirus-malware-firewall-faq.html

4) Read this thread: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/196606-backups-backups-backups.html

5) Enjoy your Mac, take it slow and remember it's not Windows. There isn't a right or wrong, it's just different.

Have a look at these links:
Apple - Support - Switch 101
Apple - Support - Mac 101
Apple - Find Out How - Mac Basics
Mac Beginner's Guide - Mac Guides
Finding Mac Software - Mac Guides

Thank you everyone.

For after you set it up:


Tips for new Mac users:

The green button at the top of a window does not expand the window to fill your screen. Very few windows need the full screen, so what that does is expand the window so it's large enough to handle the content. This will always leave some of the background visible. The red button does not always quit an application. It often merely closes the active window. The exceptions are those applications that cannot have two or more open windows. The "light" by the application's icon in the Dock will indicate if the app is still running.

You cannot cut and paste files in the Finder as you can in Explorer. To move or copy a file from one place to another, the Mac way is to open both the Target and Source folders, then drag and drop the file or folder. There are nuances depending on where the Target folder is. For example, hold down Option while dragging a file to copy it to a folder on the same volume. 



You cannot see the size of a file or folder in Icon View by holding your mouse over it. You must highlight the item and use Get Info. Or you can use List View, which will show you the size. There are at least four ways to access Get Info, three of them involving the mouse.

You can't make a Finder Window display folders first in all circumstances. There are simply some file types that the OS sorts ahead of folders. There are work-arounds. The simplest, but perhaps most inconvenient, is to put a space at the beginning of each folder name, and sorting by Name.

If you have two folders with the same name, but have a few differences between the contents of same, don't move one to the enclosing folder of the other. OSX will not automatically merge the contents of the two folders. Instead, it will overwrite the target folder with the one you're moving. The differences in the target folder will be lost forever. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to overwrite. Be sure you know what that means before saying yes!

You really don't need anti-virus software. It will just slow your computer down, and there isn't a single virus out there that will infect a Mac. If you run Windows on your Mac, you do have to take precautions for that. And, you can pass a virus on to a Windows user. Just be smart about where you go online and you'll be fine. It's also not necessary to run a defrag program. The Mac OS takes care of that for you. Some Mac users still do it, myself included, but you'll be fine without it.

You cannot selectively delete items that you have "stored" in the Trash. Sorry.

Read the first two chapters of the manual (er, the "User Guide") copmpletely before you do anything.

It's short, and well illustrated, and it's well worth the ten minutes it'll take you.

Consider buying the missing manual (this is the kindle link)
Amazon.com: Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual eBook: David Pogue: Kindle Store
Here is the paperback
Amazon.com: Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual (9780596153281): David Pogue: Books

If you already know Windows (and who doesn't), try Switching to the Mac by David Pogue. However, this book doesn't mention the areas that bug those switching from Windows - inability to move files using the keyboard, bypass the Trash or selectively delete files from the Trash, no folders first in Finder, iTunes atrociously slow when compared to WinAmp etc.