I just got my new iMac but I'm lost!

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I'm well aware that it is going to take a bit of time to get use to a Mac, especially after being a Windows user forever. Here are some basic questions that I have:

1) How do you maximize a window? I looked up keyboard shortcuts, but could not find one for maximizing (only minimizing). Do I need to manually drag the window to maximize it?

2) How do I delete something? Since I can't seem to find a right click, do I just drag and drop a file into the trash can?

3) How do I use the video conferencing feature? Do I need to pay for a .mac account to use it with iChat? Or do I use it from Yahoo! Messenger or an alternative service?

4) How do I uninstall software that I do not use?
 
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1) Maximize is for Windows Computers

2) You Can just Drag and Drop but if you goto System Preferences, then Mouse & Keyboard then Select Mouse and on the Right Hand Sige it should be labbeled Primary Button change that to Secoundary Button.

Now you have Right Click

3) To use iChat and Most importantly to make use of Video Conferencing and Video Chat you need either a AIM or .MAc Account. Best bet is probably AIM as it's Free. Although .MAc offer a 60 Day Limited Trail.

Hope that answers your questions...and Enjoy your new iMac
 
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Thanks Big D, that clears stuff up.

I'm also having a little bit of difficulty setting up mail. I have a gmail account, but I'm not sure how to do this. I am following the directions on the website, but yet I can't manage to get it to work.

If I log into gmail.com for web-based mail, it says that I have 350 emails. But when I check it from Apple mail it says I have 450?

And also, does mail take up lots of hard drive space? Would you recommend to delete mail periodically? I tried deleting a piece of mail, but I can't see it in the trash. Where does the file go when you delete it?

And how come all of my outgoing mail is in my inbox? How do I change this?
 
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todd51

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Keep in mind whenever you "X" out of say..your internet browser window, it didnt' actually "quit" the application. To quit the application you have to go to the name in the upper left when the application is active and select Quit. Or you can just hold Command and press Q on the keyboard. This took me a bit to remember when switching to a Mac.
 
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Yeah, thanks for the pointer. I'm just getting use to that myself.
 
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Thanks Big D, that clears stuff up.

I'm also having a little bit of difficulty setting up mail. I have a gmail account, but I'm not sure how to do this. I am following the directions on the website, but yet I can't manage to get it to work.

If I log into gmail.com for web-based mail, it says that I have 350 emails. But when I check it from Apple mail it says I have 450?

And also, does mail take up lots of hard drive space? Would you recommend to delete mail periodically? I tried deleting a piece of mail, but I can't see it in the trash. Where does the file go when you delete it?

And how come all of my outgoing mail is in my inbox? How do I change this?




Hi,

Regarding trash, if you want to delete something there are 3 ways:

1) Drag it to the trash yourself
2) Highlight whatever you want to trash and in the File menu, select "Move To Trash"
3) Highlight the file and press Command+Delete (my favourite)

I know this doesn't answer your issue with Mail & Gmail but there's a Dashboard Widget which you can access your Gmail Webmail through:

http://www.webpronews.com/insidesearch/insidesearch/wpn-56-20050725GmailWidgetAvailableForOSXUsers.html

When you delete an email in Mail it is transferred to your trash, but the trash in Mail, not in Finder. It's the same with iPhoto and you need to periodically empty these other trash cans as they will take up disc space depending on the size of the trashed files, of course.

It's not normal that outgoing mail resides anywhere else other that the 'Sent' folder or in 'Drafts' if they are pending.

I just found this which addresses the method of configuring Mail to connect to Gmail and retrieve mail.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13275&topic=1555
 
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I figured out why the inbox/outbox is messed up. Apparently when you import all existing mail from your web-based email account, everything gets transferred into your inbox. but if you actually send email for the first time from your new Apple mail account, it places the outgoing message in the correct location.
 
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How do I transfer all my songs to iTunes? I'm using an external hard drive, and I copied all of the music files to "Music" on my Macintosh Hard Drive, and then I dragged and dropped them into iTunes. Is this all I need to do?

In the future, if I download any music to lets say "Music" will the songs automatically show up in iTunes or do I have to consolidate my library?

Also, I am trying to get all of my album artwork into iTunes. I had itunes on my windows machine with tons of artwork, and they were in the respective artist folders. Now when i have transferred all of my music folders to my mac, shouldn't the album covers show up as well in iTunes?

And in all my folders, I see a desktop.ini file
I'm not sure what this is, and if it is necessary of if I should be getting rid of it
 
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How do I transfer all my songs to iTunes? I'm using an external hard drive, and I copied all of the music files to "Music" on my Macintosh Hard Drive, and then I dragged and dropped them into iTunes. Is this all I need to do?

In the future, if I download any music to lets say "Music" will the songs automatically show up in iTunes or do I have to consolidate my library?

Also, I am trying to get all of my album artwork into iTunes. I had itunes on my windows machine with tons of artwork, and they were in the respective artist folders. Now when i have transferred all of my music folders to my mac, shouldn't the album covers show up as well in iTunes?

And in all my folders, I see a desktop.ini file
I'm not sure what this is, and if it is necessary of if I should be getting rid of it


Here's some info on transferring ones iTune library:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031222044506360

The desktop.ini files probably copied over with your music and are not needed as far as I know.

If you follow the advice in the link it might fix up the alb art problem too.
 
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Having one window maximised is clumsy on a widescreen TFT. Windows has a rigid system of one program filling your whole screen, with the option to change at the bottom in the taskbar. OS X is a bit more fluid and flexible - it just takes a bit og getting used to.
 
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OS X has maximize just like Windows does and windows never forces a person to run a program in full screen. Really, I have found little difference between OS X and windows when it comes to the minimizing, maximizing or resizing of a window. Bother do it in pretty much the same way.
 
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OS X dpes not have a maximize function @theonegood.

OSX doesn't have this because it's contra-productive according to Apple's usability guidelines. A window taking up the whole screen is a waste of screen space and blocks the user out from quickly accessing other windows on the desktop. No everyday application needs to be run in fullscreen. Photoshop, being a Mac app originally, knows this, and thus is divided into many little windows. In WinXP, Photoshop windows are put inside one big window... kinda stupid actually.

You'll love this approach. I remember when sitting at a windows box again and feeling lost. No Exposé (press F9 to see Exposé) and the window is just huuuuge.....
 
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Sure it does. The green + button. The caviot is what the individual program considers "maximize" to be. Some will be full screen while others just get larger vertically. Opera, which I am using atm will fill the screen. Safari will just fill vertically. 2 examples for you there.
 
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Sure it does. The green + button. The caviot is what the individual program considers "maximize" to be. Some will be full screen while others just get larger vertically. Opera, which I am using atm will fill the screen. Safari will just fill vertically. 2 examples for you there.

Glad someone said that.

With a 16:9 ratio screen, it's nice to have some things at the side always visible, like IM contacts or tool bars in programmes like Office.

Right click can always be simulated by pressing the ctrl key when clicking the mouse. There are many useful functions on some applications.

Delete using Command Delete after select what you wantto get rid of, then Shift-command-del to empty the recycle bin.

Some other great shortcuts...

Command-Shift-A for the application folder
Command-shift-n for a new folder in any directory

F9 shows all active windows, but only if they're on the screen. If you minimise or send them to the dock in any other way, they won't show.

F10 clears the screen - useful if you want something from the desktop.

F12 shows your widgets.
 
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F10 clears the screen - useful if you want something from the desktop.

F10 by default shows you all of the windows in the active program
F11 by default shows the desktop
 
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The green button enlarges, but does not maximise.

Windows loves to make programs fill the whole screen.
 
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Windows only enlarges as well. Honestly I fail to see the difference between words such as maximize and enlarge. I really think you are nitpicking. As previously stated the only difference is that not all Mac apps will fill the screen once enlarged though most will.

Seriously go ahead and open IPhoto then "enlarge" it and try to tell me it is any different then a maximize in a PC.
 
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The actual function of the "Zoom" button (green) is to switch back and forth from the factory window settings, to the user window settings.

It's almost like a .DS_Store in Finder, except in every window.

Click the Zoom button once, resize the window to however you'd like, then click the green button again. Now, when you click the Zoom button it will toggle between those two window settings.

It's not Maximize.
 
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It is not behaving this way for me at all.

When I open Iphoto (I like to have a program to use as an example as you can see) and resize then click on "enlarge" it fills the screen. Then when I resize this new window to a smaller size and click "enlarge again it again fills the screen. Opera behaves the same, so does safari.

None of these programs are remembering a changed "enlarge" position as you suggest.
 
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Hmm...I'm still working with iPhoto 5 and Safari 2.0, apparently I need to get with the times!
 

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