MAC OSX primer, guide, tutorial
 

I got the missus a Macbook Air. Now I have to learn to use it so I can teach her. I'm going through stuff on the Internet, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with a specific site or book to buy that they'd recommend.

I know we have some folks here that are on Mac and some folks that have switched. I'm assuming some of you have gone through the process and could provide a specific recommendation.

I'm not looking for "let me google that for you" type answers. I'm already doing that and going through stuff that I find. I'm looking for "hey, I used this and it was great." or something like that.

Thanks

File encryption:
How To Encrypt A Folder With Password Protection In Mac

Dummies Guide

if that isn't enough then NYT guy David Pogue has a book (and his writings are much better than his irritating TV personality)

Thanks, I don't think we'll be encrypting the drive, but it's good to know that we can and how to do it.

Don't turn on encryption.

If the box never leaves the house you don't need it.

If there is an Apple store convenient to you set up a training session.

They will sit with her 1 on 1 and she'll walk out knowing everything she needs to know.

dont encrypt the whole drive, encrypt sensitive files like tax returns, that sort of thing. I have 1 Gig dedicated to an encrypted file. I travel with this thing so, that's just me.

Encrypting the whole drive would be a hassle...

rjp

I'll check them out.

Thanks

Yeah, I was going to get her the $99 one to one training. I figure she would like it. She sometimes doesn't enjoy learning from me, but she said she didn't want to do that and prefers me to learn it and teach her. I even considered getting the one to one for me and then teaching her, but I don't want to do it either.

Yeah, I had considered that as well.

Most of what she really needs to have encrypted is her list of logins. I've been lax about letting her keep them in a file on her current computer. I need to set up something like keeppass for her.

Mac has the password thing, but I haven't looked into it. I should get her a password program to keep them all.

all I can say is this: Once you get used to it, you'll never go back.

It's called Keychain and works awesome.

No need to get a 3rd party utility.

So here's tip number 1, forget about looking for 3rd party paid utilities before trying the built in Apple stuff. Generally you'll find the box comes with pretty much everything you need.

Tip 2, think obvious. example, to change network settings in OS X

Go to the little Apple Icon, select System Preferences->Network.

VS windows

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

In Control Panel, under Pick a Category, click Network and Internet Connections.

Under or pick a Control Panel icon, click Network Connections to display the Network Connections window.

Ooh, one more: Right click: Rest your index and middle finger (the one you salute with) on touchpad, click with thumb.

swipe left, right= change pages. But, that's annoying since it kicks in at weird times.

I encrypted the whole drive, run an encrypted time machine backup and have no worries.

Drive encryption isn't a big deal, just takes a few hours - I'd do it when the drive is fresh and you haven't loaded tons of junk onto it (wont take as long to complete).

You'll never go back. Apple stuff works, is reliable and predictable. It is way more intuitive than windows IMHO.

I was a long time DOS/Win user and made the switch to Mac OSX 4 yrs ago. I find this software very intuitive and the learning curve is pretty short. It just works, and adapting to OSX is much easier than you think it will be. I originally signed up for the $99 training classes but the ones I was interested in were very impacted so I never actually went. I would benefit from a little training in iPhoto and iMovie but everything else is pretty straightforward and intuitive.

Instead of buying an expensive version of Microsoft Office for Mac, I chose to use Open Office software which is very flexible and compatible with nearly every other file format... and it's free online.
Apache OpenOffice for MacOS X

Enjoy your new adventure!

I haven't tested it yet, but supposedly Pages, Numbers and Keynote all open and edit office docs, so we are going to give that a shot first. We may end up trying Open Office or Microsoft Office if we need .

I'll look into keychain a bit more.

try lynda.com

hundreds of video lessons for $20 per month

I made the mistake of simply saying that on FB, and got attacked by a million people- the windows fanbois- you'd think I punched their little kid in the face.....

Windows is the IT and repair world bread and butter...

PS- MSFT sells AD SPACE in the new Windows 8.1, yes the browser itself comes up with paid ads when you search the computer- subtle, but it's there. How's that for class?

They all have their pros and cons. I'm an equal opportunity IT guy.

Mac isn't perfect either.

PM sent

Thanks, I responded.

I haven't gotten very deep into this thing, but so far it seems pretty cool.

the missus or the Macbook Air?

Setup an appointment at an Apple store and get some free training. I'm always surprised that i learn something new each time.

Thanks, I'll check those out.

So far, this thing seems pretty simple.

My advice is to get a nice two button mouse. (The Apple mouse can be configured for as a two button mouse, but it's a turd. Get a good one, with a nice scroll wheel, not a tiny peppercorn sized ball for scrolling.) Use the right click button. The more you use it, the more uses you find for it.

I use the Magic Mouse - very nice feel to it and incorporates all the nice swipe functionality of the touchpad without the terrible ergonomics of it.

Me too. Swipe gestures on the trackpad and magic mouse are really useful when you stop "windowing" and using full screen mode. It rocks on a laptop screen.

Personal bias but full screen mode is one of the things about how Windows defaults that drives me nuts. I abhor full screen mode and it also defeats a major part of OS X efficiency / ease of use, drag and drop content between open docs even across different applications.

Tip, hit Command key with left thumb and while holding it hold the Tab key. Icons for all open apps pop up. While still holding Command tap the Tab key to cycle through the open apps. Adding shift key reverses the order. Really useful when you are copy pasting from one app to the other. A quick Command + Tab hit will cycle back and forth between the 1st and 2nd position apps.

Command plus Tilde (right above Tab) does the same thing to open windows within the same app.

lots of good stuff guys. keep it coming. thanks

MS Word will crash on the mac and destroy your work - years long issue but MSFT is either unwilling or too stupid to fix it.

I would not run Windoz on a mac - it is really the ultimate gloss on a Unix box. Grep on!

We're trying the, "use the stock software route" first. So far Pages and Numbers will open all of her old documents. I'm getting her to drink the Kool-Aid.

I have to say, this thing is freakin' cool. I can understand why people switch. I may see an iMac in my future.

I run Word (and pages) just fine on my MacBook. Maybe the error is between the keyboard and the chair?

So you're saying Id10t or pebkac?

Don't let her turn into a menu surfer.

Tons of keyboard commands are available to minimize mousing.

When you pull down a menu look for a keyboard shortcut associated with the menu item. Release the menu and use the keyboard shortcut. If you get in the habit of doing that you'll soon start using the keyboard a lot more and will work faster / more efficiently.

Many of the shortcuts are common across different apps, even those from different companies.

yeah, i like keyboard shortcuts, and Im slowly teaching here shortcuts. fortunately, things like select all, copy, paste, etc are essentailly the same. I'm going to print them out for her.

No. It is a known problem with Word. I only have it on the McMini, never on the McBook. Others report problems with laptops however.


BTW - another big problem is with the Superdrive not being recognized (episodically). If you buy an external CD/DVD reader, you might want to get the Samsung or other non-Apple brand.