My first Mac

I was once adamant that I was going to be a Windows user for life.

Today, I purchased my first Mac.

Anyone has "transition advice" for a new Mac user in his 70s?

Well tell us about your Mac, model, memory capacity, hard drive capacity, operating system and was this a brand new machine or used? Best transition advice is not to use OS X as Windows. It is a different operating system and do not run antivirus software on it. For malware etc download Malwarebytes for Mac, Ghostery and AdBlock Plus to take care of nasties.

Never ever download anything from CNET, Softonic nor MacUpdate as they include 'free' little nasties. What's wrong with 70s? Mine have been great but not looking forward to the 80s!

Well, congratulations for making the shift. There are many good online resources for beginners as well as books but might I suggest that first you concentrate on how the filing system works because this is the primary difference between Windows and macOS and it's great advantage over Windows.
Here is a Beginners Guide for the basics and a website which has some helpful articles and links. The Beginners Guide is for a 2013 MBP but little has changed.
https://it.ringling.edu/fileadmin/p...ok_pro-13-inch_mid-2012-quick_start_guide.pdf
http://www.macforbeginners.com/osx-guide/mac-os-x-introduction/

Congratulations on switching to the Mac. I thought I was going to be a Windows user for life too. Just a little less than a year ago I bought myself my first Mac at 66 years old. Now I never use Windows anymore. There is a learning curve to go through with a Mac, but once you catch on it becomes very easy. Using a Mac, you have to stop thinking Windows. LOL. Any questions, this is the right Forum to ask them. I know I do. Very knowledgeable members on this Forum.

I should also have mentioned doing a search on this site in the Switcher Hangout forum. There you will find posts like this sticky; http://www.mac-forums.com/switcher-...vice-mac-switcher.html?highlight=New+Mac+User

MrBossible said:

I was once adamant that I was going to be a Windows user for life.

Today, I purchased my first Mac.

Anyone has "transition advice" for a new Mac user in his 70s?

Click to expand...

My "transition advice":

- Don't expect everything on the Mac to be the same as it is in Windows. Some stuff will be simiilar & some stuff won't.
- Don't install anti-virus apps (there are no Mac virus's in the wild).
- Don't install cleaning apps (like MacKeeper for example).
- Just use the computer. The more you use it...the more familiar everything will become. Things like internet browsing & email work very similarly to a Windows computer.

* Maybe you can tell us why you thought you would be a Windows user for life...and what changed your mind resulting in your first Mac.
* What model Mac did you get?

Welcome to Mac-Forums!!

- Nick

You will find using the Mac much more enjoyable than any windows computer, there is a learning curve but once you have used it for a while you will find it is so much easier and that it just works and works well. I still use a windows laptop for live storm radar and to program my digital ham radio but mainly only use apple products now from my phone to the computer.

Hi MrBossible, I'd love to know what changed your mind about getting a Mac.

pigoo3 said:

My "transition advice":

- Don't expect everything on the Mac to be the same as it is in Windows. Some stuff will be simiilar & some stuff won't.
- Don't install anti-virus apps (there are no Mac virus's in the wild).
- Don't install cleaning apps (like MacKeeper for example).
- Just use the computer. The more you use it...the more familiar everything will become. Things like internet browsing & email work very similarly to a Windows computer.

- Nick

Click to expand...

Pretty much my advice to everyone who switches, because this exactly the advice p3 gave to me when I first got my Mac Mini (February 2015, so, almost exactly 2 years now!). Macs are awesome machines, and seriously, now that I've had it, I can't imagine going back to a Windows machines (doesn't help that my daughter and wife both have W10 computers, which I occasionally have to troubleshoot).

More or less, just use the computer and learn it. See Apple's logic for how things are done on it; later, you can always get the giant number of apps out there to mimic Windows behaviors, but...why would you? When you can enjoy MacOS glory?

One thing you will find Mencelus is Mac's work properly, unlike Windows. You will not get the hassle with a Mac OS that you do with Windows. Mac OS works as it should. There are no daily updates with Mac. My tip is, stop thinking Windows and you will get along faster with the Mac.

Congratulations and Welcome to the Forum.

Gandalph said:

One thing you will find Mencelus is Mac's work properly, unlike Windows. You will not get the hassle with a Mac OS that you do with Windows. Mac OS works as it should. There are no daily updates with Mac. My tip is, stop thinking Windows and you will get along faster with the Mac.

Congratulations and Welcome to the Forum.

Click to expand...

I think you meant MrBossible, mate! I've had my Mac Mini for almost two years now. As I said in my post, I like that Macs more or less work without hassle (unlike my wife and daughter's Windows 10 machines; though lately they've been okay actually...).

Cheers mate!

Sorry about that Mencelus. Senior moment I think.

My Windows machine somehow got so slow I had enough time to go out and buy coffee while waiting for a web page to load.

My grandson "sold" me this Mac, I'm happy with it so far, websites load very quickly. Have not done much other than installing Skype and video chatting with the kids.

Right now, I'm struggling with not being able to "cut" and "paste" files from folder to folder.

Right now, I'm struggling with not being able to "cut" and "paste" files from folder to folder.

Click to expand...

How are you doing it? Hint: Don't use the same method that you used with your Windows machine.

To copy a file from folder to folder - click on the file holding down the "option" key and drag and drop it to the new folder.

To cut a file from one folder and paste it to another folder - click on the file holding down the "command" key and drag and drop it to the new folder.

chscag said:

How are you doing it? Hint: Don't use the same method that you used with your Windows machine.

To copy a file from folder to folder - click on the file holding down the "option" key and drag and drop it to the new folder.

To cut a file from one folder and paste it to another folder - click on the file holding down the "command" key and drag and drop it to the new folder.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much, I just tried these out, your tips are very helpful. I'm writing these shortcuts on my notepad so I can stick it to my desk.

You are a very helpful bunch here at this forum.

MrBossible said:

Thank you very much, I just tried these out, your tips are very helpful. I'm writing these shortcuts on my notepad so I can stick it to my desk.

You are a very helpful bunch here at this forum.

Click to expand...

If you want to cut and paste items from one folder to another within the Finder - in other words, to copy a file and move it to another location - just copy the files as normal using Command (⌘) + C (or right-click and select Copy), and then press Command (⌘), Alt (⌥) and V to move the copied file(s) to their new location (or right-click, hold down Alt (⌥) and select Move X Items Here). This is the equivalent of pressing Ctrl + X and then Ctrl + V under Windows to cut-and-paste a file in Windows Explorer.

Bear in mind this is not the same for text cut-and-paste (i.e. for Word documents, etc.) For that, simply highlight the text you want to cut-and-paste, and select Command (⌘) + X to cut it out, and then Command (⌘) + V to paste the copied text.