Part 4. Setting System Preferences
Preferences make the world go round—or, at least, they make your Mac more your Mac. You can control so many aspects of your everyday computing experience that it’s worth a trip to the System Preferences window every once in a while just to remind yourself what’s there. Be sure to explore all the tabs of each preference pane, too, to make sure you know what all your options are.
The System Preferences command in the Apple menu opens a command center for preferences. It contains buttons for each preference pane, organized into categories.
In this Part you’ll learn how to set preferences for everything from how your mouse or trackpad works to what size objects are displayed on your monitor. A couple of tasks—"Setting Trackpad Preferences” and “Monitoring Battery Use"—deal with preferences for laptop users only; if your Mac isn’t an iBook or a PowerBook, you won’t even see these settings, so don’t worry about them.
The System Preferences Window
Setting System Preferences
In a flashback to the days of the Mac’s System 6, Mac OS X stores all its preferences in a central window called System Preferences. It’s accessible via the Apple menu, so you can reach it from any program. Preference panes for non-Apple programs and utilities can also be found in System Preferences, at the bottom of the window.
Tip: Haven’t I Been Here Before?
To return to a preference pane you’ve just visited, click the left arrow at the top of the System Preferences window. The left and right arrows take you forward and back through the preference screens.
Tip: Asking for Directions
Not sure which preferences pane to head for? Type a word or two into the search field in the upper-right corner of the System Preferences window, and you’ll get a task menu that takes you to the right place.
Choose Apple menu, System Preferences to display the System Preferences window.
Click Show All to see all the buttons; then click the button for the preferences you want to change.
Click buttons across the top of the preference pane to access various groups of settings.
Lock the preferences by clicking the padlock button.
If the preferences are locked (indicated by a closed padlock button in the lower-left corner of the window), enter an admin name and password when prompted and click OK. The preferences will stay unlocked until you click the padlock again to lock them.
Tip: Down by the Dock
If you make many trips to the System Preferences, the Dock can be a quicker way to get there than the Apple menu. Open your Applications folder, find System Preferences, and drag it to the left side of the Dock.
Tip: Now You Know Your ABCs
If the System Preference categories don’t make sense to you, choose View, Organize Alphabetically. This command reorders the buttons in good old alphabetical order, instead of dividing them by category.
Changing Your Alert Sound
The alert sound is that annoying beep you hear when you do something your Mac doesn’t like or when you tell it to do something it can’t do. The nice part about this is that you can change the sound that’s played, as well as adjust its volume independently of the system’s overall volume level.
Click the Sound button in the System Preferences window to display the sound preferences.
Click the Sound Effects button to see your choices.
Click a sound in the pick list to hear it.
Click and drag the Alert volume slider to set the volume level for alert sounds.
Note: Blowing Your Own Horn
If you don’t like any of the alert sound choices, you can add your own. They must be in AIFF format, and you need to store them in the Sounds folder within the Library folder that’s located in the System folder on your main hard drive.
Changing Display Settings
Your monitor’s display resolution is the number of pixels it displays horizontally and vertically. You can change the resolution of most monitors. With a lower resolution, everything on the screen is bigger and you can’t see as many windows at one time, and with a higher resolution everything is smaller, but you can fit more.
Click the Displays button in the System Preferences window to display monitor preferences.
Click the Display button to see your choices.
Click a setting in the Resolutions pick list to determine the scale of the images on your monitor. If the setting you choose doesn’t work, click another.
Choose an option from the Colors pop-up menu to change the number of colors displayed on your monitor.
Tip: Don’t Keep Your Resolutions
If you expect to change your settings often, click Show displays in menu bar in the Displays preference pane to add a menu that you can use to switch resolutions.
Note: The More, the Merrier
Expert users generally choose the highest resolution that still allows them to read text onscreen. It makes onscreen objects seem small at first, but you get used to that quickly. You can fit more windows onscreen at higher resolutions.
Changing the Mouse Speed
When you’re in a hurry, there are few things more annoying than a slow mouse, or one that’s so fast you can’t keep track of it. Whether your mouse moves too slowly or too quickly for your taste, you can adjust its setting until it’s just where you like it. You can also change the speed at which you must click for two clicks to register as an official double-click.
Click the Keyboard & Mouse button in the System Preferences window to display mouse preferences.
Click the Mouse button to see the mouse settings.
Drag the Tracking Speed slider to change how quickly the mouse moves across the screen.
Drag the Scrolling Speed slider to change how fast windows scroll when you use a mouse with a scroll wheel.
Note: Scrolling, Scrolling, Scrolling
If you haven’t tried a mouse with a scroll wheel yet, you should make a point of checking one out. This handy little control makes scrolling through long documents or long web pages a breeze—and you can also use it to zoom in and out in graphics programs. Check the Zoom using scroll wheel while holding box at the bottom of the Keyboard & Mouse preferences, and then choose a modifier key that will invoke the zoom function.
Changing Keyboard Settings
Most aspects of the way a keyboard works are determined by the hardware—in other words, the keyboard itself. However, there are a couple of keyboard settings you can adjust, having to do with how quickly your Mac repeats keys when you hold down a key.
Click the Keyboard & Mouse button in the System Preferences window to display keyboard preferences.
Click the Keyboard button to see the keyboard settings.
Drag the Key Repeat Rate slider to control how quickly keys repeat when you hold them down.
Drag the Delay Until Repeat slider to control how long the Mac waits before starting to repeat keys when you hold them down.
Note: Taking a Shortcut
You can use the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard & Mouse preferences to choose custom keyboard shortcuts for several Mac OS X system functions: taking screen shots; navigating the Finder using the keyboard; using the Dock, Exposé, and Dashboard; invoking Spotlight; and more.
Setting Energy Saver Options
You might not think your quiet little computer, sitting over there in the corner not even moving, could eat up that much electricity—but think again. That’s why the Energy Saver settings are important; they enable you to reduce your Mac’s power consumption during times when you’re not using it. Be sure to take as much advantage of Energy Saver as possible.
Note: Hurry Hurry
If you’re always in a hurry when you come back to your computer, don’t set the hard drive to sleep. The monitor wakes up from sleep instantly, but it takes a few moments for the hard drive to spin back up to speed when it wakes up.
Click the Energy Saver button in the System Preferences window to display energy preferences.
Click the Sleep button to display sleeping options.
Drag the top slider to choose when your Mac will sleep and the bottom slider to set a separate time for when your monitor will sleep.
Click the check box if you want the hard drive to sleep.
Click the Schedule button to display scheduled startup and shutdown options.
Check the box and choose when to start up the Mac automatically.
Check the box and choose when to shut down the Mac automatically; then click OK.
Click the Options tab if you want to change the circumstances under which the Mac will sleep and wake up.
Tip: Are You Getting Sleepy?
Sleep is a state between powered up and powered down. A sleeping computer consumes much less power, but it’s not completely turned off. Of course, it wakes up more quickly than it boots up from a powered-down state.
Note: Quick Start
In step 7, you can also set your Mac to sleep at a particular time instead of shutting down. This is a good choice if you keep programs running all the time that you don’t want to have to start up again every day.
Setting the Time and Date
If you opt to set the date and time yourself, you can do it by clicking a calendar or dragging clock hands—no messy typing needed! If you have a constant or frequent online connection, you can choose instead to have your Mac’s clock set automatically over the Internet.
Click the Date & Time button in the System Preferences window to display time and date preferences.
Click the Date & Time button to see your choices.
If the Set date & time automatically box is checked, click to remove the check mark.
Click a day on the calendar to set the date, or type in the date; drag the hands on the clock to set the time, or type in the time.
Note: Do You Have the Correct Time?
If you use a timeserver to set your Mac’s clock automatically over the Internet, be sure you’ve chosen the correct time zone in the Time Zone tab of the Date & Time preferences.
Tip: A Clockwork Preference
The third button in the Date & Time preferences pane opens the Clock tab, where you’ll find settings for the menu bar clock. You can even choose an analog clock with hands instead of the regular digital display.
Adjusting the System Volume
A small thing such as the volume of the sounds your Mac plays can have a significant impact on your experience while using the computer. You can always increase the volume when you’re working in the next room or when you want to turn up the radio and sing along, or lower it when you don’t want to wake the baby.
Click the Sound button in the System Preferences window to display sound preferences.
Click the Output button to see your choices.
If you have more than one output method (internal speaker and external speakers), choose the device you want to use from the pick list.
Drag the Output volume slider to change the volume for all sounds produced by your Mac.
Tip: Muting for Discretion’s Sake
Click the Mute check box next to the Output volume slider if you want to turn the volume all the way down.
Tip: Getting Louder (or Softer) Faster
Click the Show volume in menu bar check box to put an extra menu in your menu bar that’s simply a volume slider. To use it, click its icon, release the mouse button, and click and drag the slider. Also, many keyboards now have volume controls at the top of the numeric keypad.
Setting Trackpad Preferences
Trackpads—those snazzy touch-sensitive pads laptops use instead of trackballs these days—are funny creatures. Because they don’t feel the same as a mouse, you might want to use different speed and double-clicking settings than you would for a mouse. You’ll need to experiment until you’re comfortable with the settings.
Click the Keyboard & Mouse button in the System Preferences window to display mouse preferences.
Click the Trackpad button to see the trackpad settings.
Drag the Tracking Speed slider to set how fast the trackpad cursor moves; drag the Double-Click Speed slider to set how fast you must double-click.
In the Trackpad Options section, click the check boxes to change your click and drag settings.
Note: Trackpad Settings
Ignore accidental trackpad input reduces the sensitivity of the trackpad so you don’t click or drag accidentally, and Ignore trackpad when mouse is present turns off the trackpad when you plug in a mouse.
Note: A Trackpad but No Laptop
If you love trackpads but don’t use a MacBook, you can still satisfy your craving. Try a standalone trackpad such as the Cirque Easy Cat—the USB version plugs right into your Mac—and your fingertips will be cruising along in no time.
Monitoring Battery Use
If you’re a laptop user, you know how important it is to keep track of the charge in your PowerBook’s battery. Running out of power at a crucial moment could be a disaster—you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on the Battery menu to make sure the worst never happens to you.
Click the battery display in the menu bar to see the Battery menu; then choose a display option, such as Percentage.
In the Battery menu, choose a performance option to quickly change all your Energy Saver settings.
Note: Saving More Power
Look at the Energy Saver functions in the System Preferences—you can save a lot of power by setting the right preferences. See the task “Setting Energy Saver Options” earlier in this Part to learn more about Energy Saver settings.