Mail Bag: Switcher Tips?
TUAW reader Aron writes in: "I have been reading this site for quite some time and can say that I have enjoyed every day of it. I am finally going to switch and purchase my ibook or powerbook... I'm going to make the final decision today and bring it home tonight! I was just wondering if anyone had any links to some good information for new users to the OSX scene. I've been an avid windows user for years now and frankly I am just tired of it; this is what has prompted my purchase decision. What I am most nervous about is that my computer experience is limited DOS and windows; I have little-to-no experience elsewhere. Please, please please help a newbie become acquainted with his new mac and ease his switch to the light side."
Well, Aron, first off: Thanks for writing in. Secondly, don't worry. There's a learning curve, but if you take it slow, you should have an easy enough transition. Also, OS X tends to be more forgiving than Windows, so there's a much smaller chance of spyware, viruses, or some random piece of shareware causing your machine to grind to a halt. I'd suggest you check out our switcher tips series, which has been an on-going series that has gone a bit dusty as of late. Other than that, I'm going to suggest a few small things before turning it over to the other TUAW readers to add suggestions for you in the comments. You can still use a two-button mouse if you like, but if you're not using one, CTRL+CLICK behaves like right-clicking. Your Home folder is your home. Don't fiddle with any folders other than the Applications and Home folder on the computer. Drag disks to the Trash to eject them. Drag a copy of your hard drive to the side of the Dock where the Trash and your Home folder are, so that you can use it to easily navigate your entire hard drive. Be careful when replacing folders. If you have problems with your Mac misbehaving, try using Disk Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities/) to repair permissions and search MacFixIt for help.
What does everyone else think? What *must* any new switcher know?