R. Craig Collins > Common > How To: Use a Macintosh

How To: Use a Macintosh © R. Craig Collins, 2005/6

The Mac desktop, with its single menu bar at the top, it's dock (task bar) at the bottom, and aliases (shortcuts).

If you insert a floppy disk or CD, an icon for it appears on the desktop

Instead of a Start Menu, you use the menu.

The File Menu, and some of the Keyboard shortcuts. There are extra keys not on a PC, including the []

Other common keyboard shortcuts

Apple Screen Print	[] [Shift] [3]
Apple Make Alias	[] [M]
Apple New Folder	[] [N]
Apple Force Quit	[] [ESC] [Power]

Other Macintosh Keyboard shortcuts, from Apple

There is only one mouse button on a Mac, so you hold down the Control key, then click to get shortcut menus,
such as Control+click on the Trash can has only one option, to Empty the Trash

Instead of a Control Panel, the Mac has System Preferences. Note the close, minimize, and resize buttons look like a traffic light on the left. Closing a window does not exit the program, that is done from the Menu bar. The menu bar changes to reflect the menu items for the selected window.

If you double click the Mac Hard Drive Icon, you can browse for programs. Some are in the Applications folder, as shown below. Note the Icon view of the folder.

In the Utilities folder, shown in detail view below, you can now access a command line (Unix based)

Earlier versions of the Mac Graphical User Interface (Mac OS 6-9) had no command line... there is a lot new in OS X.

To find out all about your Mac, you can choose About this Mac (OS X) or
generate an Apple System Profile (OS 9)

Steps illustrated on an Apple OS 9 Mac, note the different look to the interface.

Most OS X computers still have OS 9, for backward compatibility... here is how to switch.

Apple Boot Setting
Switching from OS X to OS 9.x
• While booted in OS X go to System Preferences -> Startup Disk.
• In the Startup Disk system pane select the system folder you wish your computer to start up from.
• Reboot your machine to switch into the new OS.

Switching from OS 9.x to OS X
Boot the computer while tapping the [X] key or
• While booted in OS 9 go to Apple menu -> Control Panels -> Startup Disk.
• In the Startup Disk control panel select the system folder you wish your computer to start up from.
• Reboot your machine to switch into the new OS.

Finally, how to shut down
• OS 9 or earlier:
Quit from any open applications to ensure that you have saved all of your work.
Click "Special" on the menu bar.
Select "Shut Down" from the "Special" menu..
• OS X or later:
Quit from any open applications to ensure that you have saved all of your work.
Click the "Apple" () on the menu bar.
Select "Shut Down" from the "Apple" menu...

Troubleshooting tips at Maq.pdf