Working with Windows
- Close, Minimize, Maximize
- Resize, Move
- Menus
- Menu Shortcuts
- Hiding Programs
- Exposé
The Desktop
Like a Windows interface, the Mac begins at the Desktop:
Depending on whether this is a new, previously used, or shared machine, there may be one or many icons already here. The Macintosh HD icon is always present and will be discussed in the Locating Programs section.
Icons can be dragged with the cursor to a new place on the desktop as on a PC. New icons can be created on the Desktop, which will be discussed in the Creating Aliases (the Mac term for shortcuts) section.
One of the first questions that PC users ask is, "Where is the Start bar?" Instead, Macs have a menu bar at the top of the screen. The far right side of it is similar to the System Tray on a Windows machine, displaying the time and icons of other programs running in the background. Here's the right end of my menu bar:
Norton Antivirus is a program that scans the files on my computer for viruses. I can click on this small icon and a few options for that program will be displayed. Remote Desktop allows other uses on my network to share selected files on my computer. Don't worry if these icons aren't on your menu bar or a few other icons appear. Each computer may have different applications running in the background.
The next two items will always appear on the menu bar. Click on the small speaker and a slide bar will appear; this allows you to change the system volume. To the right, the day of the week and time are displayed. Click on the day and time to change the format in which it's displayed.
The small magnifying glass on the far right is Spotlight, a program new to Mac OS X Tiger. It allows you to quickly search for applications and files. Spotlight will be discussed more later.Watch the video
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