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?
You can roll the tiny little button with your index finger. To scroll windows up and down.
Click on the window first.
The date and time little windows are called widgets. There are thousands of free ones out there to use. I just pretty much stick with the ones that ship with the mac.
Many of these connect to the internet and can supply useful information such as up to date flight information.
Jeez! I thought *I* was a computer putz. Utilities my boy. Just like in Windoz. Go to system Preferences and set up you mouse.
You’re putting us on, right?
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?
Calm down. The mouse actually has five buttons (Left, Right, Center under the scroll ball, and both side buttons) but most of them are deactivated as a default. There is a right click button... it just works as a left click button right now.
To change that, click on the Apple Icon on the menu bar and select "System Preferences..." (This is where a lot of system customization can take place... think of it as the Windows Control Panels) and then choose "Keyboard and Mouse" which is in the second row about the middle. Click on the Mouse tab and then set the Right hand mouse button to be a Right Click. I suggest you set the middle mouse button (pressing the scroll ball) to do nothing for now. This will make the right mouse button work more like what you expect from your Windows experiences.
Close the preference window.
Until you set this preference, you can simulate a Right Click by holding down CTRL and clicking.
Now, up in the right hand corner is an Icon of a hard drive probably named Macintosh HD. Double click on that to open a "Finder" window. This is equivalent to the Windows Explorer window. In the main window you will see icons for Applications, Library, System, and Users. In the tool bar you will see back and forward buttons, a view selector that includes Icon view, list view, a paned view that puts opened folders to the right of the parent folder, and finally a view that include cover flow and a list view. Play around with them and you'll get the idea what each can do.
To the left of the finder window is a side bar that has "Devices" at the top such as the hard drive, the optical drive, any external drives, networked drives, etc. Below that is "Places" where you can put anything you like. Primary there is a house icon with your user name - that is your home partition where you store ALL of your documents. It will also have Applications, Music, Pictures, Movies, Favorites, and Documents... all of which except Applications are shortcuts to folders in your home partition. The Applications icon is a shortcut to the Applications folder used by all users on your Mac.
Below that is an area for "Searches" which include folders for "All Images", "All Movies" and "All documents" that are smart folders that will show what they say... i.e. All images on your computer, etc. After you start using the search system and Spotlight, a history of all your searches will also be found here.
All windows are resized only using the lower right hand corner of the window. Windows are moved by click-dragging the top bar of the window.
The Green Resizing button in the upper left is NOT the same as the Windows full screen button... clicking it will toggle between the current setting and a view that allows complete view of the window content, rather than a full screen, and back. The Yellow button will minimize the window onto the right hand area of the Dock.
Most applications DO NOT QUIT when you close their last window. On a Mac you actually have to QUIT (Menu Bar/"Application Name"/Quit. There are some exceptions to this like iPhoto and the calculator that have only one window... on those closing the window will quit the application. It is OK not to quit applications and just leave them running. When not in use, dynamic memory handling keeps them from slowing down other running applications.
CDs, DVD, etc. placed in your optical drive will appear both on the desktop as an Icon that looks like a CD or DVD and in the Finder side bar in the Devices list. To remove the disk from the computer you can do one of the following:
Doing any of these will eject the CD/DVD disk IF the disk is not in use by an applications. If it is, it will not eject until you stop the application from using the CD/DVD.
In Safari, be sure to click on "Block Pop-Up Windows" under the Safari Menu on the menu bar.
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.