Moving from Windows to a Mac? 16 ways to get up to top speed

Web Workers Daily ^ | 12/27/2007 | Samuel Dean

[Swordmaker]

Are you a Windows user who received a brand new Mac system over the holidays? Or, did you choose to make the switch yourself and you’re just getting to know your new Mac? There are a lot of important things to learn in order to stay efficient if you’re just making this switch. In this post, I’ll round up top tips to brush up on so that you can work better, faster and more securely on your new computer.

Get to Know Finder. Mac OS X is much better than Windows at quickly finding what you need on your computer. Click the icon that looks like two smiley faces staring at each other (above) to work with Finder. If you’ve used iTunes at all, you’ll find the interface for Finder to be very similar. In your sidebar, you’ll have a view of everything on your Mac, and everything connected to it. If you’re running the Leopard version of Mac OS X, use the Cover Flow button atop your Finder screen to get a slick graphical view of your documents and files.

New Keyboard Shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are quite different in Mac OS X than in Windows. Apple has a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with them. A few top shortcuts to note: Command-W (close window); Option-Command-W (close all windows); Shift-Command-Q (Apple menu logout); Option-Command-D (show or hide the Dock). Also look into the many keyboard shortcuts for working with windows in Mac OS X.

Learn How to Use the Dock. The Dock (the toolbar with icons at the bottom of your Mac OS X screen, seen below) is an extremely useful navigational tool. Do a little homework on shortcuts and hidden features for it, available at Apple’s site.

Hardware Tips. Apple systems are different from PCs in several ways. You may have a Power button directly on your keyboard, rather than your computer. If so, it looks like a circle with a slash through it. How do you do the equivalent of a right mouse click in Windows? To do so, hold down the Control key on your keyboard and click the mouse to bring up a context menu. Also, on your keyboard, the Command/Apple key is the replacement for the Ctrl key on a Windows system, and the Option key is the replacement for the Alt key.

Going on Safari. If you’re used to the Internet Explorer, Firefox or Opera browsers on Windows, spend a little time brushing up on the Safari browser. There are quick video tutorials online for how to use tabs in Safari and how to configure your RSS feeds.

Investigate Free Mac Apps. There are a lot of good developers out there who provide good, free software applications for the Mac, and you can quickly download lots of gems. Investigate TinyApps.org’s long list of Mac OS X apps, and Version Tracker, and see my previous post and the reader comments there on other sites for finding free, useful applications.

Easy Uninstalls. One of the really nice features about the Mac operating system as opposed to Windows is that you’re applications don’t get littered all around your hard drive; instead, they’re in one central Program folder. Just drag an application from the folder to the trash can to uninstall.

Optimize Your Improved Wi-Fi. If you have a new Mac notebook and you previously used 802.11g Wi-Fi for your home wireless networking with Windows, you can greatly improve the Wi-Fi performance you get by purchasing an Apple Airport Extreme router. These routers use next-generation Draft-802.11n wireless technology, which you should have in your new Mac notebook as well. The performance is miles ahead of 802.11g Wi-Fi with a Windows notebook.

Stick with Windows. Many Mac users now run both Windows and the Mac OS on their machines. A good way to do this is to run Parallels, which lets you have Windows as a virtual machine on your Mac. You can also use Apple’s own Boot Camp software.

Taking Screenshots. Taking screenshots doesn’t work on the Mac the same way that it does in Windows. Review Apple’s notes for quick ways to get up to speed.

Built-In Security. Mac OS X ships with firewall software built in. Especially if you use public Wi-Fi hotspots a lot, get to know your configuration options with the firewall.

There are many other good sources online for information on switching from Windows to the Mac. A little research is well worth the effort.

Do you have any good tips for new Mac users coming from the Windows world?

[Swordmaker]

Tips for new Switchers who received a new Mac for Christmas... PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

Another good switcher help site:

The Tao of Mac.

[Mr. K]

How do you do the equivalent of a right mouse click in Windows? To do so, hold down the Control key on your keyboard and click the mouse to bring up a context menu.

Is this true? I cant believe you have to use 2 hands on a mac.

[antiRepublicrat]

Why still this idea that Macs only have one mouse button?

[Swordmaker]

Is this true? I cant believe you have to use 2 hands on a mac.

Nope. Go to System Preferences under the Apple menu item and turn on the Right Click on the Mighty Mouse. Works just like a two button mouse.

[Swordmaker]

Why still this idea that Macs only have one mouse button?

Because the Mighty Mouse is default one button until configured? Looks like a one button mouse? Wishful thinking?

[Rummyfan]

Thanks for posting this. I’m fumbling about on my new Mac. It’s quite a change going from BillWare to the Mac world after ten years using various Windows OS’. But I like it so far!

[Aggie Mama]

Thank you so much for that! I’ve had my iMac for about 3 months now and I just love it.

[Publius6961]

Moving from Windows to a Mac? 16 ways to get up to top speed...

Repeat after me:
Macs never crash.
Macs never crash.
Macs never crash.
Macs never crash.
Macs never crash.
Macs never crash.
Macs never crash.
Macs never crash.

There ya go!

[Dick Vomer]

The "easy" uninstall isn't that easy sometimes. I keep getting this message after I upgraded Safari and can't seem to find a way to fix it.

Safari 3.0.4 (v523.12.2) has not been tested with the plugin Red Snapper (null) (v1.3).

any suggestions?

[Swordmaker]

The "easy" uninstall isn't that easy sometimes. I keep getting this message after I upgraded Safari and can't seem to find a way to fix it. . . any suggestions?

Yup.

Double click on the Macintosh HD icon on your desktop. Double click the Library folder, double click on "Internet Plug-Ins" and find the Red Snapper plug in and drag it to the trash.

Download and install Web Snapper 2.1.

Quit from and Restart Safari 3.0.4.

However, if you are just using Red Snapper to grab a quick PDF or image of what you see on the screen, both Red and Web Snapper duplicate functionality built into OSX.

To create a PDF of the entire web page, do so from the print command under the File menu and select the PDF drop down menu. Anything that can be printed on a Mac can be saved as a PDF file.

Use keyboard shortcuts to take an image of the window (Opt-Shift-4, spacebar), screen (Opt-Shift-3) or selected area (Opt-Shift-4, outline area with cursor and release).

Web Snapper's advantage lies in the retention of working LINKS in the resulting PDF file.

I hope this helps...

[Swordmaker]

Here is a list of the keyboard shortcuts you can use on your Mac OSX computer:

---

Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts

• Last Modified on: October 17, 2007

• Article: 75459

Learn about common Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.

Startup
Keystroke	Description
Press X during startup	Force Mac OS X startup
Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete during startup	Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
Press C during startup	Start up from a CD that has a system folder
Press N during startup	Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)
Press T during startup	Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode
Press Shift during startup	start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)
Press Command-V during startup	Start up in Verbose mode.
Press Command-S during startup	Start up in Single-User mode

Finder window
Keyboard shortcut	Description
Command-W	Close Window
Option-Command-W	Close all Windows
Command-Right Arrow	Expand folder (list view)
Option-Command-Right Arrow	Expand folder and nested subfolders (list view)
Command-Left Arrow	Collapse Folder (list view)
Option-Command-Up Arrow	Open parent folder and close current window
(Assigned in Keyboard & Mouse preferences)	Show Package Contents (of selected file in Mac OS X 10.5 or later only). To create this contextual menu shortcut, open Keyboard & Mouse preferences in Mac OS X 10.5, click Keyboard Shortcuts, click the "+" button, choose Finder.app as the Application, and type "Show Package Contents" (exactly), and set whichever shortcut you want, such as Command-Control-S.

 

Menu commands
Keyboard shortcut	Description
Shift-Command-Q	Apple Menu      Log out
Shift-Option-Command-Q	Apple Menu      Log out immediately
Shift-Command-Delete	Finder Menu      Empty Trash
Option-Shift-Command-Delete	Finder Menu      Empty Trash without dialog
Command-H	Finder Menu      Hide Finder
Option-Command-H	Finder Menu      Hide Others
Command-N	File Menu      New Finder window
Shift-Command-N	File Menu      New Folder
Command-O	File Menu      Open
Command-S	File Menu      Save
Shift-Command-S	File Menu      Save as
Command-P	File Menu      Print
Command-W	File Menu      Close Window
Option-Command-W	File Menu      Close all Windows
Command-I	File Menu      Get Info
Option-Command-I	File Menu      Show Attributes Inspector
Command-D	File Menu      Duplicate
Command-L	File Menu      Make Alias
Command-R	File Menu      Show original
Command-T	File Menu      Add to Favorites (Mac OS X 10.2.8 or earlier), Add to Sidebar (Mac OS X 10.3 or later—use Shift-Command-T for Add to Favorites)
Command-Delete	File Menu      Move to Trash
Command-E	File Menu      Eject
Command-F	File Menu      Find
Command-Z	Edit Menu      Undo
Command-X	Edit Menu      Cut
Command-C	Edit Menu      Copy
Command-V	Edit Menu      Paste
Command-A	Edit Menu      Select All
Command-1	View Menu      View as Icons
Command-2	View Menu      View as List
Command-3	View Menu      View as Columns
Command-B	View Menu      Hide Toolbar
Command-J	View Menu      Show View Options
Command - [	Go Menu      Back
Command - ]	Go Menu      Forward
Shift-Command-C	Go Menu      Computer
Shift-Command-H	Go Menu      Home
Shift-Command-I	Go Menu      iDisk
Shift-Command-A	Go Menu      Applications
Shift-Command-F	Go Menu      Favorites
Shift-Command-G	Go Menu      Goto Folder
Command-K	Go Menu      Connect to Server
Command-M	Window Menu      Minimize Window
Option-Command-M	Window Menu      Minimize All Windows
Command-?	Help Menu      Open Mac Help
Command-Space	Open Spotlight (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
Command-esc	Front Row      Activates Front Row for certain Apple computers

 

Universal Access and VoiceOver
Keyboard shortcut	Description
Option-Command-8	Turn on Zoom
Option-Command-+ (plus)	Zoom in
Option-Command-- (minus)	Zoom out
Control-Option-Command-8	Switch to White on Black
Control-F1	Turn on Full Keyboard Access When Full Keyboard Access is turned on, you can use the key combinations listed in the table below from the Finder.
Control-F2	Full Keyboard Access      Highlight Menu
Control-F3	Full Keyboard Access      Highlight Dock
Control-F4	Full Keyboard Access      Highlight Window (active) or next window behind it
Control-F5	Full Keyboard Access      Highlight Toolbar
Control-F6	Full Keyboard Access      Highlight Utility window (palette)
Command-F5 or fn-Command-F5	Turn VoiceOver on or off (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
Control-Option-F8 or fn-Control-Option-F8	Open VoiceOver Utility (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
Control-Option-F7 or fn-Control-option-F7	Display VoiceOver menu (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
Control-Option-; or fn-Control-option-;	Enable/disable VoiceOver Control-Option lock (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)

 

The Universal Access preference pane allows you to turn on Mouse Keys. When Mouse Keys is on, you can use the numeric keypad to move the mouse. If your computer doesn't have a numeric keypad, use the Fn (function) key.

Mouse Keys
Keystroke	Description
8	Move Up
2	Move Down
4	Move Left
6	Move Right
1, 3, 7, and 9	Move Diagonally
5	Press Mouse Button
0	Hold Mouse Button
. (period on keypad)	Release Mouse Button (use after pressing 0)

 

Other Commands
Keystroke	Description
Option-Command-D	Show/Hide Dock
Command-Tab	Switch application
tab	Highlight next item
Command-Up Arrow	Move up one directory
Command-Down Arrow	Move down one directory
Page Up or Control-Up Arrow	Move up one page
Page Down or Control-Down Arrow	Move down one page
Option-Drag	Copy to new location
Option-Command-Drag	Make alias in new location
Command-Drag	Move to new location without copying
Shift-Command-C	Show Colors palette in application
Command-T	Show Font palette in application
Command-Shift-3	Take a picture of the screen
Command-Shift-4	Take a picture of the selection
Command-Shift-4, then press Control while selecting	Take a picture of the screen, place in Clipboard
Command-Shift-4, then Spacebar	Take a picture of the selected window
Option-Command-esc	Force Quit
Control-Eject	Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box
Control-Command-Eject	Quit all applications and restart
Option-Command-Eject or Option-Command-Power	Sleep
Command-click window toolbar button (upper right corner)	Cycle through available views for the window's toolbar (dependant on the nature of the Finder or application window)
Command-`	Cycle through windows in application or Finder (if more than one window is open)
Function-Delete (portables only--PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, MacBook Pro)	Forward Delete (delete the character to the right of your cursor)

	Related documents
	61466	Mac OS X: Shortcuts for Activating Full Keyboard Access
	61529	Mac OS X: How to Use the Keyboard to Perform Actions
	106178	Startup Manager: How to Select a Startup Volume
	61530	Mac OS X: Alternative Ways to Control Your Computer
	61544	Mac OS X: Shortcuts for Taking Pictures of the Screen
	106567	Mac OS: Apple Pro Keyboard Shortcuts for Shut Down and Restart
	107081	Mac OS X 10.2: Kotoeri Keyboard Shortcuts Have Changed
	61474	Mac OS X: Shortcuts for Windows
	106743	Mac OS X 10.1: Additional Features of the Dock
	61494	Mac OS X: Speech - How to Add a Spoken Command for Keyboard Shortcut

[Swordmaker]

I'm re-pinging the Mac Ping list members to this thread because I have just posted a complete list of keyboard shortcuts for OSX that you may find usefull...

You might want to bookmark these Mac Keyboard Shortcuts.

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

Macs never crash.

Well, I wouldn't go quite that far... I've been using OSX since 2001... OSX.0 and have seen four Kernal Panics (crash)... three of them on OSX.0 and one on OSX.1.

I've had some applications crash but you just restart the app and go on.

[SunkenCiv]

Have we ruled out stupidity? :’)

Another way to get a second menu is to hold down the button (this has been around since the Classic Mac OS days; but two button mice have been supported since then also).

[SunkenCiv]

“Press X during startup — Force Mac OS X startup”

Uh, that’s probably no longer operative, right? That applies to Macs which will boot into either 9.2.2 or 10.x, which ceased at least as long ago as the advent of Intel Macs?

[Dick Vomer]

Don't ever leave the FR. That was easy, greasy...thanks a bunch. I won't load on the other program if the OSX does the same thing.

What do you think of Leopard? Should I upgrade or wait to see if there is another better version out this year?

[kmiller1k]

I am browsing FR on my brand new Macbook! My family really, really, loves me!

[Swordmaker]

What do you think of Leopard? Should I upgrade or wait to see if there is another better version out this year?

I had a problem upgrading my G5 tower ... I had Unsanity Software's APE (Application Enhancer) installed and had not updated it to the latest and greatest so the upgrade install refused to complete booting. The solution was simple... do an "Archive and Install" instead.

On the other hand, it installed with no problems at all on my Intel Macbook Pro.

Leopard is faster than Tiger on both machines.

I would upgrade were I you... but also budget the purchase of a large external hard drive (320GB or so) for Time Machine to use. Also immediately select the Software Update under the black Apple on the menu bar and update to OSX.5.1 ASAP.