Mac OS® X Snow Leopard In Depth
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Mac OS® X Snow Leopard In Depth
Copyright © 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4229-2
ISBN-10: 0-7897-4229-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
McFedries, Paul.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard in depth / Paul McFedries.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7897-4229-2
1. Mac OS. 2. Operating systems (Computers) 3. Macintosh
(Computer)—Programming. I. Title.
QA76.76.O63M398155 2010
005.4’46—dc22
2009030548
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: September 2009
Associate Publisher
Greg Wiegand
Acquisitions Editor
Laura Norman
Development Editor
Dan Richcreek
Managing Editor
Patrick Kanouse
Project Editor
Mandie Frank
Copy Editor
Margaret Berson
Indexer
Tim Wright
Proofreader
Leslie Joseph
Technical Editor
Brian Hubbard
Publishing Coordinator
Cindy Teeters
Designer
Ann Jones
Compositor
Bronkella Publishing LLC
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Contents at a Glance
1 Working on the Mac OS X Desktop
3 Getting to Know Mac OS X Finder Windows
7 Installing and Using Mac OS X Applications
II Getting Things Done with Leopard’s Applications
8 Playing and Managing Music with iTunes
9 Playing and Managing Movies and Digital Video
III Living in a Connected World
13 Connecting Your Mac to the Internet
16 Chatting in Text, Audio, and Video
17 Wired Networking with Mac OS X
18 Wireless Networking with Mac OS X
19 Sharing an Internet Connection
20 Using MobileMe to Integrate a Mac onto the Internet
IV Delving Deeper Into Mac OS X
22 Managing Your Desktop with Exposé and Spaces
24 Making Your Mac Accessible to Everyone
25 Making Your Mac Do the Work for You with Automator
26 Working with the Mac OS X Command Line
27 Using the Mac OS X Notebook Features
28 Working with the Dashboard and Widgets
29 Running Windows and Windows Applications
V Working with Devices in Mac OS X
30 Working with Mice, Keyboards, and Other Input Devices
31 Working with Your Mac’s Displays
32 Working with Your Mac’s Sound
33 Installing, Configuring, and Using Printers
34 Understanding and Using Data Storage Devices
VI Maintaining, Protecting, and Repairing Your Mac
Contents
Welcome to Mac OS X Snow Leopard In Depth
1 Working on the Mac OS X Desktop
Working with the System Preferences Application
Managing Open Windows with Exposé
Managing the Desktop with Spaces
Customizing the Mac OS X Desktop
Changing the Desktop’s Appearance
Using Desktop Keyboard Shortcuts
The Dock and Minimizing Windows
Working with Icon Pop-Up Menus
Customizing the Appearance and Behavior of the Dock
3 Getting to Know Mac OS X Finder Windows
Resizing the Panes of Finder Windows
Closing, Minimizing, and Maximizing Finder Windows
Using the Keyboard to Select Items in a Finder Window
Navigating Up and Down the Folder Structure
Customizing the Finder Window Views
Working with the Finder Window’s Action Pop-Up Menu
Organizing Folder Items with Labels
Finder Window Keyboard Shortcuts
Understanding the Standard Mac OS X Folders
Working with Files and Folders
Creating and Using Burn Folders
Working with the Spotlight Comments Information
Working with General Information
Working with More Info Information
Working with Name and Extension Information
Working with Preview Information
Working with Open With Information
Working with Sharing & Permissions Information
Getting a Quick Look at Things
Looking for Things on Your Mac: A Modern Approach
Searching Your Mac with Spotlight
Using Spotlight to Create Complex Searches
Adding Spotlight Information to Folders and Files
Searching Your Mac with Smart Folders
Creating and Saving a Smart Folder
Taking a Tour of the System Preferences
Setting Appearance Preferences
Using the Color Picker to Choose Colors
Setting Desktop Pictures and Choosing a Screen Saver
Setting International Preferences
Setting the Language Tab Options
Setting the Formats Tab Options
Setting the Input Sources Tab Options
Setting Default Disc Behaviors
Configuring Your Mac’s Date and Time
Choosing a Startup Volume with System Preferences
Choosing a Startup Volume During Startup
Starting Up in Single-User Mode
Starting Up in Target Disk Mode
7 Installing and Using Mac OS X Applications
Understanding Mac OS X Application Types
Installing Mac OS X Applications
Installing Mac OS X Applications with Drag and Drop
Installing Mac OS X Applications Using an Installer
Launching Mac OS X Applications
Using Standard Mac OS X Application Menus
Working with Mac OS X Application Menus
Working with Mac OS X File Menus
Working with Mac OS X Edit Menus
Working with Mac OS X Format Menus
Using the Mac OS X Open Dialog Box
Determining the Application That Opens When You Open a Document
Understanding Filenames and Filename Extensions
Viewing or Hiding Filename Extensions
II Getting Things Done with Leopard’s Applications
8 Playing and Managing Music with iTunes
Viewing Information While Listening to Tunes
Controlling the Order of Tunes
Controlling iTunes from the Dock
Controlling iTunes with the iTunes Widget
Setting General iTunes Preferences
Setting iTunes Playback Preferences
Configuring iTunes to Import Music
Adding Audio CDs to Your Library
Adding Audio CDs to the iTunes Library Quickly
Adding Music from Other Sources to Your iTunes Music Library
Purchasing Music from the iTunes Store
Importing Audio Files into Your Library
Browsing and Searching Your Music Library
Browsing in the Library with the List View
Browsing in the Library Using the Grid View
Browsing in the Library with the Cover Flow View
Removing Tunes from the Music Library
Viewing Tags in the Info Window
Labeling a Track in the Info Window
Tagging Multiple Tracks at the Same Time
Setting Tags in the Content Pane
Configuring Track Options in the Info Window
Rating Tracks in the Content Pane
Adding and Viewing Album Artwork
Configuring iTunes to Download Album Artwork Automatically
Adding Artwork for Songs Manually
Building and Listening to Standard Playlists
Removing Songs from a Playlist
Setting the Order in Which a Playlist’s Songs Play
Listening to a Standard Playlist
Building and Using Smart Playlists
Understanding Why Smart Playlists Are Called Smart
9 Playing and Managing Movies and Digital Video
Playing Digital Video with QuickTime
Watching QuickTime Movies Stored Locally
Watching QuickTime Movies Stored on the Web
Using QuickTime Player Keyboard Shortcuts
Watching DVD Movies with DVD Player
Using DVD Player Keyboard Shortcuts
Finding Information in Address Book
Using Information in Address Book
Configuring Address Book General Preferences
Configuring Address Book Accounts Preferences
Customizing Your Address Book Card Template
Configuring Address Book’s Phone Number Format
Sharing Your Address Book with MobileMe Users
Adding Contacts to Your Address Book
Adding a Contact from an Email Message
Using vCards to Add Contacts to Your Address Book
Importing Contacts from Another Application
Editing Contacts in Your Address Book
Creating and Configuring a Basic Address Group
Creating a Smart Address Group
Getting More Out of Address Book
Subscribing to an Address Book
Using Address Book Keyboard Shortcuts
Managing Your Calendar with iCal
Creating, Configuring, and Working with Calendars
Subscribing to Other Calendars
Subscribing to Personal Calendars
Subscribing to Public Calendars
12 Working with Text and Graphics
The Mac OS X Text and Graphics Applications
Working with Images in Preview
Viewing a Slideshow in Preview
Using Preview to Convert Files to Different Formats
Using Image Capture to Download Images from a Camera to Your Mac
Capturing Screen Images with Keyboard Shortcuts
Capturing Screen Images with Grab
III Living in a Connected World
13 Connecting Your Mac to the Internet
Connecting Your Mac Directly to the Internet
Gathering the Internet Connection Data
Gathering Dial-Up Internet Connection Data
Gathering Broadband Internet Connection Data
Connecting Your Mac with Dial-Up Internet Access
Configuring Your Mac for Dial-Up Internet Access
Configuring Your Mac for Broadband Internet Access
Connecting Your Mac to the Broadband Modem
Configuring TCP/IP Using a DHCP Server
Configuring Static TCP/IP Settings
Understanding and Configuring Proxy Servers
Troubleshooting the Connection
Managing Multiple Internet Accounts
Configuring Safari Preferences
Configuring Safari’s General Preferences
Configuring Safari’s Appearance Preferences
Configuring Safari’s Security Preferences
Configuring Safari’s Advanced Preferences
Browsing and Configuring RSS Feeds
Using Safari’s Activity Viewer
Using Safari Keyboard Shortcuts
Downloading and Preparing Files
Configuring a Downloads Folder
Downloading Files Using Safari
Working with Plug-Ins and Helper Applications
Working with Helper Applications
Managing Email with Apple Mail
Configuring General Mail Preferences
Setting Fonts & Colors Preferences
Receiving, Sending, and Replying to Email
Using Mailboxes to Organize Your Email
Using Smart Mailboxes to Organize Your Email
Using Smart Mailbox Folders to Organize Your Smart Mailboxes
Configuring and Using Rules for Email
Sending and Receiving Files with Email
Sending Windows-Friendly Attachments
Using Files Attached to Email You Receive
Adding RSS Feeds and Configuring Mail to Manage Them
16 Chatting in Text, Audio, and Video
Adding Someone to Your Buddy List
Presenting in the iChat Theater
17 Wired Networking with Mac OS X
Configuring and Using File Sharing
Configuring File Sharing on a Mac Running Mac OS X
Using Firewalls and Network Services
Accessing Shared Files from a Mac OS X Computer
Using the Network Utility to Assess Your Network
Checking Network Connections with Ping
Tracing a Route with Traceroute
Understanding and Setting Permissions
Networking Mac OS X with Windows Computers
Sharing Files with Windows Computers
Accessing Virtual Private Networks
18 Wireless Networking with Mac OS X
Upgrading with the AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler
Setting Up an AirPort Base Station
Setting Up an AirPort Extreme Base Station
Configuring an AirPort-equipped Mac to Act As a Base Station
Connecting to an AirPort Network with Mac OS X
Troubleshooting Your Wireless Network
I Can’t Configure My Base Station Manually
I Don’t Know the Base Station Password
I Can’t Access the Internet Through AirPort Even Though I Can Connect to the AirPort Network
19 Sharing an Internet Connection
Enabling Multiple Macs to Use a Single Internet Account
Using an AirPort Extreme Base Station to Share an Internet Connection
Setting Up and Sharing a DHCP Internet Connection
Setting Up and Sharing a PPPoE Internet Connection
Sharing an Internet Account with Mac OS X
Using Multiple IP Addresses to Share an Internet Account
Troubleshooting Internet Connection Sharing
The Machines with Which I Am Sharing a Connection from My Mac Can’t Connect at All
The Machines with Which I Am Sharing a Connection from My Mac Have Lost Internet Access
I Get an Error Message Telling Me That Multiple Devices Have the Same IP Address
Troubleshooting a Network Internet Connection
20 Using MobileMe to Integrate a Mac onto the Internet
Configuring Your MobileMe Account on Your Mac
Working with Your MobileMe Email Account
Using Your MobileMe Email Account with Mail
Accessing Your MobileMe Email Account from the Web
Accessing a POP Email Account Using MobileMe
Setting the Size of Your iDisk
Working with a Local Copy of Your iDisk
Working with Your Online iDisk
Accessing iDisks from the Go Menu
Sharing Information on Your iDisk with Others
Using Your iDisk to Work with the Same Files on Multiple Macs
Using MobileMe to Publish a Website
Using MobileMe to Synchronize Important Information on Multiple Macs
Accessing Your Mac Remotely with Back to My Mac
IV Delving Deeper Into Mac OS X
Understanding Mac OS X User Accounts
Understanding Administrator Accounts
Understanding the Clean Account
Understanding Standard User Accounts
Understanding Managed Accounts
Understanding the Guest Account
Understanding Sharing Only Accounts
Understanding the Root Account
Creating and Configuring User Accounts
Creating a Sharing Only Account
Resetting Your Password If You Forget Your Administrator Password
Logging Out and Configuring Login Options
Controlling How User Accounts Appear in the Login Window
Hiding the Sleep, Restart, and Shut Down Buttons
Enabling and Using Fast User Switching
Enabling the Root User Account
22 Managing Your Desktop with Exposé and Spaces
Taking Control of Your Desktop
Managing Your Running Applications
Switching Between Running Applications and Windows
Managing Open Windows with Exposé
Creating, Using, and Managing Spaces
Understanding the Architecture of Characters
Installing and Managing Mac OS X Fonts
Configuring Fonts with the Font Book
Configuring the Font Book Window
Installing Fonts with the Font Book
Creating or Removing Font Collections
Editing the Sizes That Appear on the Size Pane
Applying Typography Effects to Fonts
Working with the Character Viewer
Opening the Character Viewer from the Fonts Panel
Installing the Character Viewer on the Finder Menu Bar
24 Making Your Mac Accessible to Everyone
Understanding Universal Access
Configuring and Using Seeing Assistance
Understanding and Using VoiceOver
Understanding and Using Display Options
Configuring and Using Hearing Assistance
Configuring Keyboard Assistance
Configuring and Using Mouse Assistance
Configuring and Using Speech Recognition
Configuring Your Mac for Voice Control
25 Making Your Mac Do the Work for You with Automator
Understanding Automator’s Workflows
Understanding the Automator Utility
Knowing When to Automate Tasks
Understanding Actions That Are Supported by Automator
Understanding Action Inputs and Outputs
Understanding Variables That Are Supported by Automator
Testing and Editing a Workflow
Saving a Workflow as an Application
Learning How to Automate Your Mac by Example
26 Working with the Mac OS X Command Line
Using the Unix Command Line with Mac OS X
Understanding Unix Command Structure
Understanding Unix Applications
Learning About the Environment
Viewing the Contents of Directories
Changing the Contents of Directories
Working with Basic Unix Applications
Compressing, Uncompressing, and Extracting Files
Using Terminal Keyboard Shortcuts
27 Using the Mac OS X Notebook Features
Using Mac OS X on a Mobile Computer
Managing Your Mobile Mac’s Power
Controlling Your Mobile Mac with Function Keys
Using and Configuring the Trackpad
Configuring and Using Locations
28 Working with Dashboard and Widgets
Activating and Deactivating Dashboard
Configuring the Widgets That Open When You Activate Dashboard
Using and Customizing Useful Widgets
Setting Dashboard’s Hot Key and Active Screen Corner
Removing Widgets from Dashboard
Finding and Installing More Widgets
Building Your Own Widgets with Web Clips
Finding and Downloading Widgets
Installing Third-Party Widgets
29 Running Windows and Windows Applications
Choosing How to Run Windows on a Mac
Understanding Virtualization Software
Using Boot Camp to Run Windows on a Mac
Running the Boot Camp Assistant and Installing Windows
Switching Between Mac OS X and Windows
Reinstating Mac OS X as the Default OS
Using Parallels Desktop for Mac to Run Windows Virtually on a Mac
Configuring a Virtual Machine and Installing Windows
Protecting Windows on a Mac from Attack
V Working with Devices in Mac OS X
30 Working with Mice, Keyboards, and Other Input Devices
Choosing, Installing, and Configuring a Keyboard
Choosing and Installing a Keyboard
Configuring Keyboard Shortcuts
Configuring Your Keyboard’s Language Settings and the Input Menu
Choosing, Installing, and Configuring a Mouse
Choosing and Installing a Mouse
Choosing, Installing, and Using a Trackball
Choosing, Installing, and Using Bluetooth Devices
Configuring Bluetooth on Your Mac
Installing a New Bluetooth Device
Working with Bluetooth Devices
Getting the Most from Keyboard Shortcuts
Adding Keyboard Shortcuts for Application Commands
31 Working with Your Mac’s Display
Getting the Most out of Your Mac’s Displays
Configuring Rotation and Brightness
Using the Displays Menu in the Menu Bar
Setting Up and Using Multiple Displays
Working with Two (or More) Displays
Synchronizing Color Among Devices
32 Working with Your Mac’s Sound
Understanding Audio Output Options
Installing Digital Speakers Using the Mac’s mini-Toslink Digital Audio Out Port
Installing Digital Speakers with a Mac Pro
Installing Digital Speakers Using USB
Installing Digital Speakers Using a PCI Express Card (Mac Pro)
Understanding Audio Input Options
Installing Additional Alert Sounds
33 Installing, Configuring, and Using Printers
Finding, Installing, and Using Printers
Configuring a Local USB Printer
Configuring Other Types of Printers
Sharing a Printer Connected to Your Mac
Adding Shared Printers to Your Mac
Installing and Using a Hard Drive
Installing an External Hard Drive
Installing an Internal Hard Drive
Initializing and Partitioning a Hard Drive
Assessing Your Mac’s Disc Drive
Burning CDs/DVDs with Disk Utility
Burning a Single Disk Image on CD or DVD
VI Maintaining, Protecting, and Repairing Your Mac
Using Software Update to Maintain Your System Software
Checking and Repairing Disks with Disk Utility
Erasing Disks with Disk Utility
Enabling Journaling with Disk Utility
Defragmenting and Optimizing Your Hard Disks
Maintaining Alternative Startup Volumes
Building and Maintaining a Mac Toolkit
Going Further with Disk Utility
Backing Up Your Mac with Time Machine
Restoring Files with Time Machine
Managing Your Time Machine Backups
Backing Up Your Mac with Apple’s Backup
Obtaining and Installing Backup
Configuring Backups with Backup
Securing Your Mac with User Accounts
Securing Your Mac with Privileges
Securing Your Mac with the Security Pane
Securing Your Mac with FileVault
Securing Your Mac with the Mac OS X Firewall
Securing Your Mac with Security Settings
Securing Your Mac by Removing Trash Securely
Securing Your Mac with Keychains
Viewing and Configuring Your Keychains and Keychain Items
Defending Your Mac from Internet Attacks
Defending Your Mac from Virus Attacks
Defending Your Mac Against Internet Hackers
Using Parental Controls to Safeguard a Mac
Using Parental Controls to Limit a User’s Access to the Mac
Limiting the Web and Dictionary Content Your Mac’s Users Can Access
Limiting Email and Chat Access of Others to Your Mac’s Users
Understanding the Causes of Problems
Using System Profiler to Create a System Profile
Using Activity Monitor to Understand and Manage Processes
Using the Activity Monitor to Monitor System Activity
Viewing System Activity with Top
Using the Console to View Logs
Troubleshooting and Describing Your Problem
About the Author
Paul McFedries is a Mac expert with more than 20 years experience with all flavors of Macs. Paul is a full-time technical writer and has been authoring computer books since 1991. He has more than 60 books to his credit, including a number of titles covering Macs, Mac OS X, and the iPhone. Paul has written many books for Que, including Tweak It and Freak It: A Killer Guide to Making Windows Run Your Way; Build It. Fix It. Own It: A Beginner’s Guide to Building and Upgrading a PC; Tricks of the Microsoft Office 2007 Gurus; Formulas and Functions with Microsoft Excel 2007; VBA for the 2007 Microsoft Office System; and Microsoft Office Access 2007 Forms, Reports, and Queries. Paul’s Mac titles include Macs Portable Genius, Switching to a Mac Portable Genius, iPhone 3G S Portable Genius, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macs, and Teach Yourself VISUALLY Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Paul’s books have sold more than three million copies worldwide.
However, all geek and no play makes Jack (and Paul) a dull boy. Paul’s other interests include solving and writing cryptic crosswords, word play of all forms, reading, running, baking bread, and taking naps. Paul lives in Toronto with Karen, the love of his life, and Gypsy the kissing dog. They have no cats.
Paul is also the proprietor of Word Spy, a website devoted to recently coined words and phrases. Word Spy generates over a million page views each month, has won numerous awards, and has been mentioned or featured in such august publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. Paul invites you to join in the fun at http://www.wordspy.com/, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wordspy/.
If you’d like to contact Paul, please feel free to drop by his website at http://www.mcfedries.com/ or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulmcf/.
Acknowledgments
Being an author is the most wonderful vocation (I don’t think of it as a job) I can imagine. I get to play with words, I get to talk about things I’m intensely interested in, and I get some big-time warm, fuzzy feelings when people write to me to tell me that, in some small way, something I’ve written has helped them.
Any book, but especially a book as big as this one, is the result of the efforts of many hard-working people. The Que editorial staff, in particular, never fail to impress me with their dedication, work ethic, and commitment to quality, and there are a few I’d like to thank personally: Acquisitions Editor Laura Norman, Development Editor Dan Richcreek, Project Editor Mandie Frank, Copy Editor Margaret Berson, and Technical Editor Brian Hubbard.
The members of the editorial team aren’t the only people who had their fingers in this publishing pie. Flip back a few pages and you’ll find a list of the designers, illustrators, indexers, and other professionals who worked long and hard to produce this book. I tip my authorial hat to all of them. I’d also like to thank the thousands and thousands of readers who have written to me over the years to offer book compliments and suggestions.
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Introduction
Welcome to Mac OS X
You don’t have to see too many of those ubiquitous “Mac versus PC” ads to get the basic idea: Macs are intuitive, easy to use, and they just work. That’s all true, certainly, but it misses something important about the Mac, and particularly about Mac OS X, the Mac operating system: easy is not the same as simple. Easy means that you can accomplish tasks (and, importantly, figure out how to accomplish tasks) with a minimum of fuss and with no sign of bother. Simple, on the other hand, implies a kind of shallowness, a superficiality where all you get is a pretty interface. It implies, in other words, that Mac OS X has no depth.
Friend, I’m here today to tell you that Mac OS X most definitely has depth. We’re talking here about one of the world’s most sophisticated operating systems, with millions of lines of programming code behind it, dozens of free and powerful applications installed by default, and hundreds, nay thousands of options, settings, and preferences to warm the cockles of any system tweaker’s geeky heart.
However, Apple has spent untold millions of dollars and tens of thousands of man (and woman) hours designing an interface that seems to serve just one purpose: to hide the depths of Mac OS X from view. That’s fine if you just want to use your Mac to accomplish a few simple goals, such as surfing the Web, managing email, sending texts, and perhaps writing a thing or two. But if your goal is to get the most out of your Mac investment and to make your computing life more efficient and more effective, you need to get beyond the surface of Mac OS X and dive head-first into its depths. And the best way to do that is to have a guide at your side to show you the nooks and crannies, light up the dark corners, and dig up the buried treasures. This book is your guide to hidden depths of Mac OS X.
Welcome to Mac OS X Snow Leopard In Depth
This book has two fundamental purposes:
• To help you make the jump to Mac OS X as efficiently as possible
• To provide a reference for you to use as you continue to grow in your Mac OS X use
To accomplish the first purpose, this book is written in a straightforward style; you won’t find any fluff here. The book is designed to help you use Mac OS X as efficiently and effectively as possible. Everything about the book is an attempt to make specific information accessible and applicable to your daily Mac life. You will find only the background information you need to understand how to apply specific techniques and technologies; the focus is on the information you need to apply what you learn to your own Mac.
To accomplish the second purpose, this book covers an extremely broad range of topics. In addition to coverage of the core functionality of the desktop, you get extensive coverage of topics to enable you to accomplish productive work with your Mac, such as surfing the Net, burning discs, and using Mac OS X’s applications to accomplish specific tasks. This book also contains substantial amounts of information to help you add devices to expand your system so you can accomplish even more. Because Mac OS X has been designed to be networked, you learn how to use its capabilities in this area to connect with other Macs, as well as to Windows networks. You learn how to both prevent and solve OS X problems along the way.
How This Book Is Organized
This book consists of six parts, each of which contains at least four chapters. The following list provides an overview of this book’s contents:
• Part I, “Exploring Mac OS X”—This part gets you started on the right foot. You learn the core operations of the OS, including the desktop, the Dock, and Finder. You also learn how to manage files and folder, search your Mac, set system preferences, and install applications.
• Part II, “Getting Things Done with Snow Leopard’s Applications”—Mac OS X includes a number of useful applications, such as Safari, iTunes, QuickTime Player, Address Book, iCal, and others. In this part, you learn how to take advantage of these great applications.
• Part III, “Living in a Connected World”—Mac OS X has been designed to facilitate your interaction with networks and with the Internet. This part of the book explains how to configure Mac OS X for the Internet and how to use the tools it provides after you are connected. You also learn how to create and manage wired and wireless networks.
• Part IV, “Delving Deeper into Mac OS X”—After Parts I to III, you’re ready to take your Mac OS X skills to a new level. In Part IV you learn how to manage user accounts; take control of your desktop with Exposé and Spaces; use fonts and accessibility options; use the powerful Automator application; take advantage of the Mac OS X notebook features; work with Dashboard and Widgets; and run Unix and Windows on your Mac.
• Part V, “Working with Devices in Mac OS X”—No Mac is an island; this part of the book helps you understand the input and output technologies supported by Mac OS X to enable you to select and add the peripheral devices you need.
• Part VI, “Maintaining, Protecting, and Repairing Your Mac”—As great as Mac OS X is, you still need to know how to minimize problems with good preventive maintenance actions and be able to effectively solve any problems you do experience. You should also learn how to use Mac OS X’s extensive security features to protect your Mac.
Special Features
This book includes the following special features:
• Chapter roadmaps—At the beginning of each chapter, you will find a list of the top-level topics addressed in that chapter. This list will enable you to quickly see the type of information the chapter contains.
• Troubleshooting—Several chapters in the book have a section dedicated to troubleshooting specific problems related to the chapter’s topic.
• Notes—Notes provide additional commentary or explanation that doesn’t fit neatly into the surrounding text. You will find detailed explanations of how something works, alternative ways of performing a task, and comparisons between Mac OS X and previous versions of the OS.
• Tips—Tips help you work more efficiently by providing shortcuts or hints about alternative and faster ways of accomplishing a task.
• Cautions—These sidebars provide a warning to you about situations that involve possible danger to your Mac or its data.
• Cross-references—Many topics are connected to other topics in various ways. Cross-references help you link related information together, no matter where that information appears in the book. When another section is related to one you are reading, a cross-reference will direct you to a specific page in the book on which you will find related information.
Conventions
To make things as clear as possible, this book doesn’t use many special conventions or formatting techniques to identify specific kinds of information. However, there are a few things you need to be aware of:
• Menu commands are referred to by starting with the menu name and moving down to the specific command while separating each layer with a comma. For example, rather than writing, “Open the Terminal menu, then select the Services command, then select the Mail command, and then select Mail Text,” I use a shorthand technique. In this example, I would write, “Select Terminal, Services, Mail, Mail Text.” This shorthand makes the command structure more clear and cuts back on the number of words you have to read.
• When you are working in the Terminal, the commands you enter and the output you see are in a monospace font like this.
• Variables that stand for text that is specific to you are usually in italics. For example, if I need to refer to your username in a specific location, I write, “Users/username, where username is your username,” to indicate that you should look for your own information in place of the italicized phrase.
Who Should Use This Book
In this book, I’ve made certain assumptions about your specific experience with the Mac OS and your general comfort level with technology. The biggest assumption is that you are quite comfortable with the fundamentals of using the Mac OS. For example, you won’t find any explanations of how to use a mouse, how to copy and move files, the basics of drag and drop, and so on. When there are significant differences in these basic tasks under Mac OS X as compared to the previous versions of the OS, you will find those differences explained, but probably not in enough detail to teach you how to do them if you have never done them before.
If you are completely new to computers, you will still find this book very useful, but you will also need a companion book that explains the fundamentals of using a Mac in more detail than is provided in this book, such as Easy Mac OS X Leopard (0-7897-3711-X).
If you have used previous versions of the Mac OS, such as Mac OS 9 or earlier versions of Mac OS X, and are comfortable with basic tasks, this book will help you make the jump to Mac OS X version 10.5 in a short time. It also will serve as a comprehensive reference for you as you explore this amazing operating system.