Sage advice for the new Mac switcher

[dtravis7]

PC Magazine runs down OSX and Macs. Read many reviews there totally bashing everything Apple. Don't have much trust for them at all.

Using common sense though is the key.

 

[grandmere]

re-Pc mag.

The 10 Mac Security tips were from Nasa.

I don't believe everything I read . They have to be cautious and not lose advertisements that could be a reason for them to bash Apple . It would be more honest if they just said: " we are no the best source of info . on Apple products " .
Is there an Apple mag?
I have so many dumb questions , the only thing which makes me feel better , my husband has a doctorate and my 11 year grandson knows more about his P. C. that he does.

 

[Marrk]

The 10 Mac Security tips were from Nasa.

I don't believe everything I read . They have to be cautious and not lose advertisements that could be a reason for them to bash Apple . It would be more honest if they just said: " we are no the best source of info . on Apple products " .
Is there an Apple mag?
I have so many dumb questions , the only thing which makes me feel better , my husband has a doctorate and my 11 year grandson knows more about his P. C. that he does.

There are at least a half dozen Apple mags. As it happens, I was just killing time at the newsstand in a Barnes and Noble yesterday and saw quite a few. The two big ones are MacWorld and, I think, Mac User.

 

[grandmere]

re-reply by Marrc

It is it is not a matter of being smart . I am certain that you know a lot more than I will ever know about Macs . I don't understand some simple things about computer language . In fact , it is like a language. Coming from a P.C where I was never fluent, to a Mac , is like trying to learn a new language . I know many brilliant people and some don't have any common sense or do unbelievable stupids things.
This was not a criticism of your reply, which seemed to just tell me not to
worry. I think worrying is part of my DNA. Grandmere

 

[Marrk]

It is it is not a matter of being smart . I am certain that you know a lot more than I will ever know about Macs . I don't understand some simple things about computer language . In fact , it is like a language. Coming from a P.C where I was never fluent, to a Mac , is like trying to learn a new language . I know many brilliant people and some don't have any common sense or do unbelievable stupids things.
This was not a criticism of your reply, which seemed to just tell me not to
worry. I think worrying is part of my DNA. Grandmere

I think you misunderstood me. I didn't mean to imply that you were not smart.

By the way, I usually feel much the way you do. I don't know anything about computers, and everything seems quite strange to me, and difficult to figure out. I am _not_ one of the smart guys here. Quite the contrary. I come here to find out what's what from the gurus around this place!

Good luck.

 

[grandmere]

about Apple mags. reply to Marrk.

I was at B&N yesterday an bought "Teach yourself Visually Macbook" and "My Mac Book" but neither gave me the answers to my questions . Every newbie has different issues and it is impossible to include all of the answers.
I try to just look for specific things and get out or I'll go broke that is why i didn't go to the Mag. section. Grandmere .

 

[grandmere]

I wasn't implying that u said that I was not smart . I was referring to your first reply when you said : "I am not smart enough to comment ...." .
I get confused when I reply .to threads or posts . I wished they went back to a simpler format and they had a section /options for posts for super newbies. Grandmere

 

[Chuckoir]

Hi!

Purchased a 21.5" iMac at the weekend, having been a Windows user for many years and, wow. Had both an iPad and iPhone for an number of months, but am now well and truly in love with Apple.

This is a brilliant sticky for a switcher as myself, I'd been deliberating for a while about forking out £1000 for a new desktop, but I'm glad I did. I've only been able to sit down with my new acquisition for a couple hours as I work a way from home during the week, so have had to leave the Mac in the missus' capable hands - gulp - but looking forward to getting to grips with it very soon.

I'm sure there is so much to discover, and that's one of the things that excites me most (I don't get out much, and will be even less now!), but this post has definitely started me off in the right direction. So thanks Chas, and everyone else who has contributed, you've answered a few of my questions before I even had chance to ask them!

Cheers for now, Chuck.

 

[zen]

Thank you for this!

 

[Rdurr1414]

Holy Crap man.....

This thread helped me more than the representative I bought my computer from. Thanks a million. ;D

 

[maxwell2112]

I just got my MacBook Pro and I love it. I am not necessarily a switcher, I dearly love my home-built PCs and building PCs but this MBP is freakin awesome!!

I read this sticky and I would like to say: I just spilled a cup of coffee in my keyboard laughing at number 8.

Thank you. This board Rocks!!!!!!!

 

[ravi]

Here's my list of thoughts/advice/suggestions for new Mac switchers. Not all of it may apply to you personally but humour a brotha and read it anyway:

1. Follow Apple's intentions until you find a genuine good reason not to.

For example, when you get your Mac you'll notice some folders have already been set up, like Movies, Pictures, Documents etc. That's where those sorts of things should go (and the default programs will put them there automatically), and Apple has good reasons for this. Until you get into a situation where you *need* an alternative arrangement, just go with Apple's flow. Don't trash the "Music" folder just because you don't plan on loading any music on. Don't keep all your crap all over the desktop. Don't install an anti-virus, and DON'T tinker around in the System and Library folders. Which leads me to:
\

I switched to a Mac Mini two weeks ago and am slowly getting used to OS X. Thanks for your advice which I've been trying to follow.

However I have an issue with point one above. I've been using the defauly apps and folders as you recommend however I'm having an issue with Movies.

I've been storing my video files in the Movies folder however they do not show up automatically in iTunes so I can't sync them to my iPod and iPad. Instead I have to manually add them to iTunes which involves copying the files into my iTunes media folder. The files then exist in two different locations, wasting my hard drive speace.

Unless I'm missing something this seems to be a big flaw. I'm sure I must be doing something wrong as I can't believe iTunes wouldn't look in the default folders for media.

Can anyone help?

 

[maxwell2112]

I read your post and realized I have double copies on my hard drive as well

I found this in iTunes help.

 

[chas_m]

I've been storing my video files in the Movies folder however they do not show up automatically in iTunes so I can't sync them to my iPod and iPad. Instead I have to manually add them to iTunes which involves copying the files into my iTunes media folder. The files then exist in two different locations, wasting my hard drive speace.

I'm not quite seeing how this contradicts my point 1 which you quoted.

If you want videos to be seen in iTunes, add them to iTunes. You can then delete the originals which were in Movies.

I agree that it would be nice if iTunes "saw" files in Movies, but the problem there is that iTunes only works with certain formats in order to be compatible with iPods/iPhones/iPads/AppleTV, so it MUST convert the file into the right format in order to work, thus making the "original" file in Movies redundant.

 

[LPatriot]

lpatriot

just purchased my 1st mac product, an IPAD 2 thought I would look at the apps available and they are all labeled with asian characters (symbols? words?) how do I change it to English? when i answer emails it is not a problem

 

[chas_m]

Check your language setting under Settings -> General -> International -> Language

 

[Jablinski55]

Hi
have made a file on numbers after trying 3 differing formats now I would like to delete the old ones and they won't delete? Can anyone help??

 

[VetteTec]

Well done, thanks!!!!

 

[Geekbabe]

Welcome to the club! Unfortunately once you fall in love with FF, you do get spoiled. Now every other browser I use seems to fall short.

Make sure you drag that Firefox icon out of the disk image and drop it into your Applications folder. Then, the next time you start it, right click its icon in the Dock and click 'Keep in Dock'.

You probably already know that, but we seem to get a lot of threads on the subject (specific to Firefox for some reason), so I'm just trying to nip it in the bud.

Thank you, thank you

 

[mshipley]

Comcast is now recommending its free Xfinity Constant Guard Protection Suite. For Macs, I believe this is essentially Norton anti-virus. Am not sure what software is recommended to eliminate BOTS. Is this a good idea