New to Mac? Tips for the Mac Newbie

I'm going to start an ongoing series here for all of you Windoze users who have decided to switch over to the land free of the blue screen of death: the Mac.  These will be quick mini tips to go along with your new Mac mini (or honestly whatever Mac you choose as your dearest new computer friend). Most Mac users have been liberated from Windows for so long that we overlook all the little differences between the two platforms which can drive a fresh switcher just a little batty.

My first bit of advice:

1. Don't ever touch anything inside your Library or System folder (unless of course you happen to be a 1337 Linux user and find OS X to be oddly familiar; if you don't know what 1337 means, then just don't touch these two folders. Okay?)

2. Keeping in mind rule number one, don't be afraid to tinker around. OS X is highly tweakable to your personal tastes and there are tons of free pieces of software out there to enhance your experience on a Mac.  Don't be afraid of the blue screen of death. We don't have that on the Mac.  Maybe once every six months to a year, you might get a kernel panic where the screen goes sort of sepia-shaded and asks you to reboot.  After you reboot and to avoid this problem, get Cocktail ($15 shareware) and run it on autopilot about once a month.  Cocktail performs all the regular maintenance to keep your Mac running smooth and fast. That's it.
Enjoy! 

More tips to come soon...