We just got a Mac and I can't figure this thing out...HELP

Eric Blair

[Eric Blair 2084]

The MAC was supposed to be better than a PC.

Does anybody out there know how to use this thing?

[MARTIAL MONK]

Hey, I'm a Windows using bigot, too. I've never used a Mac. We've never had any appreciable amount of trouble from our PC's.

I am making plans to convert completely to the Mac as soon as I can work out a schedule for a gradual replacement. There are just too many testimonials from people who have converted for me to ignore. Until then I can still make fun of you latte sipping fools. Until I are one.

[Paul Heinzman]

Ctrl-click -> “Open link in new window” or “Open link in new tab.” Right click will return the same. Works in both Firefox and Safari.

[TheBattman]

MAC? That would be MAC address you are asking about?

Oh - Mac (as in the Macintosh)....got ya!

What are you trying to figure out?

Which model?

Plug it in?

Connect cables?

Mouse connected?

Press power button?

Does it boot up?

Have you used a computer of any type before now? The basics of computer use are not really much different. If you can use a Windows-based PC, then a Macintosh should be much like that, but more intuitive (logical) and simple.

There should also be a Getting Started page that came with the computer. Also, every Macintosh I have ever purchased has come with a set-up guide that also is a demo of how to get started. In fact, I believe it auto-runs the first time you boot the computer (but it has been a couple of years, so I don’t quite remember). But is called something like Setup Assistant. There should also be “Guided Tour” which shows all the basics of operation.

Anything more than that and you will have to be more specific with us so we can help you.

[romanesq]

Indeed, I have a mac. Been using both the mac and PC going back 20 years.
I love Mac. I can barely tolerate a PC with windoze.

Looks like you are moving along your way soon enough. But I will check back on the thread too.

[romanesq]

“You can enable “Browser Tabs” in Safari by accessing the Safari menu in the menu bar and opening up the Preferences for Safari. Click on the “Tabs” preferences icon in the horizontal bar in the Safari Preferences window. Now you can configure the behavior of your tabs, and keep your browsing from cluttering up your display space with lots of windows.”

This is a great feature in Safari. It is also easy and quick to set this as your choice by making the change in the application’s preferences.

You’ll love it. With nine or ten pages across the top to switch between with a click.

[billva]

I just got a Mac and I can say...after 3 years of Windows, the Mac has been a god send....I will NEVER EVER use a Windows box again.

Me too!

I was going to order the same Computer Eric just got, but the wife and I have gotten so used to sitting in the living room with a laptop in our lap that we decided a 2nd Macbook would be more sensible.

It should arrive by the weekend.

[Tribune7]

I'm guessing you are using Safari. If so go to preferences -- It's in a drop-down menu under "Safari" in the menu bar at the top of the screen --and look at "general", "tabs" and "security" and make sure the settings are what you want them to be.

Going to a new OS is always a pain in the neck.

[antiRepublicrat]

The mouse has a tiny little button for my index finger and two buttons on each side that do nothing but give me the date and time when I click it. WTF?

Your four-button mouse is designed a bit differently than your standard one. When you press down on the mouse anywhere it's a left-click, especially when your index finger is in its place. You can be extremely lazy in your clicking; just letting your palm rest heavily on it can be a click.

If you have it so-configured in Preferences, pressure on the mouse with only your middle finger on the upper-right side is a right-click (so is Command-click). There are pressure sensors under the surface instead of having separate mechanical buttons.

The ball on top is the universal scroll. Pressing down on it is your third button, by default set to bring up Dashboard (clock and anything else you want to put there like sports scores or chunks of web pages).

Squeeze the sides of the mouse, that's the fourth button. By default that brings up Expose, where all your open windows show, click one to bring to front (or release the squeeze when over it).

I suggest three things: Go to the Apple site and take the OS X tour. Very good help there. Two, crank up iTunes and look for the Apple OS X podcast. Little minute-long clips showing you how to do cool things easily.

Last, keep playing.

[antiRepublicrat]

Nobody has yet been able to explain how to open up a link in separate window however.

Right-click, open in new tab. Or Command-click a link.

Yes, this is for tabs, generally a lot better than multiple whole windows.

[antiRepublicrat]

or get a one off browser that no html code writer except 2nd graders writes web pages for. Just a simple left click and select “Open in a new window”.

That one-off browser was one of the first fully standards-compliant browsers, and is based on a very popular engine. And no browser opens in a new window with a left-click unless you've changed preferences, certainly doesn't pull up a menu to select .

Yeah, al's a mac guy too.

At least he's not a fanatical Mac user like Rush Limbaugh.

[TalonDJ]

Does anybody out there know how to use this thing?

Yes.

[TalonDJ]

The mouse has a tiny little button for my index finger and two buttons on each side that do nothing but give me the date and time when I click it. WTF?

The whole front of the mouse is two buttons. Don't expect them to 'look' like buttons. Just push down like you normal would to the right or left of the little bump in the middle.

[TalonDJ]

Oh I figured it out. On the windows operating system you right click with the mouse and select open in a new windows. With what everyone is saying, it seems like you do the exact same thing on the MAC.

Yes. The way browsers work on MACs is the SAME as the way they work on PCs. There is nothing to figure out.

[TalonDJ]

If you plug a standard 2-button USB mouse into the Mac or configure the mouse that you have, you should be able to get the right and left buttons to work pretty much like they do in Windows

Actually MACs come with a 2 button mouse that works the same as windows. I think he is confused because the two forward buttons are pressure sensitive and the whole mouse clicks. So it is like there is one button as you push down on the front of the mouse except that it detects if your finger was pushing on the right or left side of the front of the mouse and it clicks a right click or left click based on that. In the middle there is a clickable control device much like those little eraser things on some laptops. It is in the same place as scroll wheels and has a 2 axis scroll. I think he was trying to click that instead of clicking where a normal mouse button is

[Fishrrman]

“I am making plans to convert completely to the Mac as soon as I can work out a schedule for a gradual replacement. There are just too many testimonials from people who have converted for me to ignore. Until then I can still make fun of you latte sipping fools. Until I are one.”

If you’re serious, keep in mind that ALL new Macs are Intel-based and run Windows as well as the Mac OS. You can partition the internal hard drive using BootCamp, install Windows on your new Mac, and “migrate” at your own speed.

Actually, if you use Parallels (there is another solution that I forget the name of), you can have BOTH the Mac OS and Windows running side-by-side. You can then move data without having to reboot.

- John

[MARTIAL MONK]

I am serious but it's more a matter of migrating than compatability. Since many of our machines are still relatively new, I thought I'd put sales on Mac first and then move in-house. I'll probably be the last to be a latte drinking elitist.

Mucho garcias for the advice though. I may be back for more depending on how things work out.

[coon2000]

Jacquej,

Unfortunately I have limited experience with the Mighty Mouse as I like my wireless Logitech too much. Whenever I forget to put it back on its’ cradle to recharge, I have to pull out my wired mighty mouse. I never really investigated it but I think those two side buttons do not do anything. I will pull it out later and have a look.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Right click will return the same. Works in both Firefox and Safari

. . . but only after you do the "System Preferences" thing so that there actually seems to be a "right click" distinguishable from a "left click."

That is what frustrates me, vicariously for Eric, on this thread. People telling him to do something which they know works - when I am relatively fresh from the experience of learning that it doesn't work that way out of the box. And it kinda seems to me that it should, because anyone who is used to a different "Mac way" will have the ability/familiarity to downgrade to that way.

And I do say "downgrade," because that is my perception of the difference between having a right mouse button and not having one. Done both, like the right click.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I never really investigated it but I think those two side buttons do not do anything. I will pull it out later and have a look.

Under "system preferences, the second row of icons includes "mouse and keyboard." If you select that icon, you get a picture of the mouse which indicates by default that pressing the side buttons (either one or, more likely, both) invokes "expose." If you then point the mouse to a thumbnail of a particular window and release the side buttons, the window you selected will be brought to the front so you can work on it.

Note that that is only the default. That can be changed to several different options, including off - which, if invoked, would explain why you think the buttons don't do anything.

[coon2000]

Thanks for that info!