Basic Advice and Info needed by a new Mac user, aged 64

Hello to you All, I am a recent migrant from Windows, been a PC user, builder etc for over 15 years, finally decided to switch to Apple. I am struggling with my Mac in many ways, simple things I did on PC now seem alien on Mac. Instance when you download a program/app it goes to my download folder, then asked to move to applications, but if I delete the app from my download folder, the app stops working, has Mac not executed the program/loaded the program into a "program file"? I guess this question is probably stupid to the seasoned Mac user, but it is frustrating to me? Perhaps some kind person can point me to a publication for "Older users of a Mac" or the basic principles of Mac. Struggling with photos moving from the original files, Apple seem to move them to all different listing criteria, do not think me as someone who will give in and go back to PC, I am determined to be able to use my Mac as it should be used, not just a 27 inch screen with a great backgrounds to view.
So, thanks for letting me join the Forum, I should add I live in the South West UK, and am retired, but not brain dead! Thanks for reading my question, I look forward to receiving help and guidance in abundance.

Hi, welcome. You'll be up and running in no time. Enter your Mac and location details in your Profile so that we can see what you are using.

There's loads of info available on the Apple website, videos on you tube and lots of answers on various threads here. If you enter a topic in the search box top right, the forum will give you all it has on that subject. Sometimes I just read to pick up tips.

Start here: https://support.apple.com/explore/new-to-mac

Plus: book some free hour-long workshops on various topics at your nearest Apple Store https://www.apple.com/retail/learn/

Expand on your Photos issue and we'll try to help.

silverdel said:

Perhaps some kind person can point me to a publication for "Older users of a Mac" or the basic principles of Mac.

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Some books that I find to be really good (you only need one):

MacOS Sierra The Missing Manual (about $20)
https://www.amazon.com/macOS-Sierra-Missing-Manual-should/dp/149197723X/?tag=macforums0e4-20

macOS Sierra For Dummies (about $25)
https://www.amazon.com/macOS-Sierra-Dummies-Computer-Tech/dp/1119280656/?tag=macforums0e4-20

There are some really nice, free, tutorials available online:

Mac Basics - comprehensive beginner tutorials
http://www.apple.com/support/macbasics/

Mac 101: Getting Started With the Mac
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/

Quick Assist
http://www.apple.com/support/mac/

http://www.pcclassesonline.com/category/mac-and-windows/

Macbook Pro - Beginners and Current Users Help plus Tips - macOS Sierra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3WgjOl77Mg

Excellent suggestions as usual Randy.

Slydude said:

Excellent suggestions as usual Randy.

Click to expand...

Thank you!

Unfortunately, one of the books that I like to recommend for switchers hasn't been updated for Sierra. But you can still buy the El Capitan edition, which, of course, is quite similar:

Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, El Capitan Edition (about $20)
https://www.amazon.com/Switching-Mac-Missing-Manual-Capitan/dp/1491917970/?tag=macforums0e4-20

Wow. I didn't realize that hadn't been updated. Maybe they thought there were not enough differences / feature changes between the two versions.

REather than an immigrant young fellow, consider yourself as refugee from Windows.

Just remember this is not Windows and things are done differently. For your apps, when they are in the Downloads folder, double click on them to expand them, then move the file to Applications. Normally when the app opens, there is an Application alais there to drag into. Download and run Ghostery, AdBlock nand Malwarebytes for Mac to your browser extnsions. there is no need to run antivirus software on your Ma, as viruses cannot execute on the Unix operating system.

If ever a virus does appear, it will be trumpeted world wide.

@silverdel you might find this thread helpful. The first two post explain the most common installation methods for the Mac. The graphics are not there but the text descriptions are still pretty good.

To Randy et al:

David Pogue's book - missing manual Sierra has been available in the UK for some time. I bought it from Amazon UK about 6 to 8 weeks ago.

But you are right - there's precious little change from the El Capitan book. It looks like the the latter has just been added to or modified in parts rather than a rewrite.

Ian


Sent from my iPad using Mac Forums

Please feel free to offer advice and pointers to Apps, publications I will avidly try and look at all interesting sites etc. thank you all who answered my question. SD

silverdel said:

Please feel free to offer advice and pointers to Apps...

Click to expand...

If you have a need for a particular type of application, or a particular function, or need assistance on how to do something, just let us know. We'd be happy to assist.

silverdel said:

Please feel free to offer advice and pointers to Apps, publications I will avidly try and look at all interesting sites etc. thank you all who answered my question. SD

Click to expand...

When you download an application, it will appear in your Downloads folder as a "dmg" file. This file contains the application, but is not the application itself - a dmg file is like a "zip" file, if you like. When you open this file, the application itself will appear in the Finder in a separate window, usually with your Applications folder on the other side, like this:



Now, the Applications folder in the window above is actually just a shortcut (or an alias) to the real Applications folder on your Mac - you know this because if you look carefully you'll notice an arrow in the corner of the folder. Developers of these applications include this folder shortcut when you first download an application to make it easy for you to copy the program over to the Applications folder on your Mac. All you need to do is copy the application icon over to the folder. Most (but not all) applications on the Mac don't need to be installed like you are familiar with in Windows. If you come across an application that does need to be installed rather than just copied across, you may come across something like this when you open the dmg file:



So as you can see, it's very clear and all quite straight forward!

When you've finished copying the program over to the Applications folder, instead of opening the program directly from the same window, you should "close" the dmg file and discard it, and then open the program from your Applications folder. To close the dmg file (or rather, eject the dmg archive), make sure the window is at the front and simply go to the File menu and select "Eject" (near the bottom of the menu), or press the shortcut Cmd (⌘) + E.

So to put it another way, a dmg archive is a way for developers to distribute their applications. You open the dmg file, copy the program over to your Applications folder, eject the dmg archive and delete the dmg file afterwards. As this process simply involves copying an application over to a folder, deleting an application is just as easy - just go into your Applications folder and delete the file. That's how you "uninstall" most applications.

It will take time to familiarise yourself with the Mac but believe me, before long you'll come to love how the Mac works. If you have any questions, you're in the right place. We were all new to Macs at one point, so there are no stupid questions.

One small correction to what bbnck said: The dmg is NOT like a zip file, it's more like an iso file. It mounts on the Mac as a drive, and then opens to show the contents of the drive. In fact, the dmg extent on the file name is "disk image" in Apple terms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Disk_Image

And a third install method you may see is that you may open a dmg and see an icon that looks like a wooden shipping crate. That also is an installer application and will need to be run to install the actual application. Usually that method will also lead to a licensing agreement that you have to agree with to complete the installation.

As bbnck said, to eject the drive mounted from the dmg file, you do have to Eject it to make it disappear from the Mac so that you can then delete the dmg file (which is no longer needed).

If the program used an installer (the dropbox example above, or the wooden crate icon I referred to) then you may need to use an un-installer to get rid of it. Not all applications can simply be dragged to the trash.