Getting into Mac OS X

1.1. Getting into Mac OS X When you first turn on a Mac thats running Mac OS X 10.5, an Apple logo greets you, soon followed by an animated, rotating "Please wait" gear cursor—and then youre in
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Getting into Mac OS X1.1. Getting into Mac OS XWhen you first turn on a Mac thats running Mac OS X 10.5, an Apple logo greets you,soon followed by an animated, rotating Please wait gear cursor—and then youre in. Noprogress bar, no red tape.Figure 1-1. Left: On Macs configured to accommodate different people at different times, this is one of the first things you see upon turning on the computer. Click your name. (If the list is long, you may have to scroll to find your name—or just type the first few letters of it.)Right: At this point, youre asked to type in your password. Type it, and then click Log In (or press Return or Enter; pressing these keys usually clicks any blue, pulsing button in a dialog box). If youve typed the wrong password, the entiredialog box vibrates, in effect shaking its little dialog-box head, suggesting that you guess again. (See Chapter 12.)1.1.1. Logging InWhat happens next depends on whether youre the Macs sole proprietor or have to shareit with other people in an office, school, or household. • If its your own Mac, and youve already been through the Mac OS X setup process described in Appendix A, no big deal. You arrive at the Mac OS X desktop. • If its a shared Mac, you may encounter the Login dialog box, shown in Figure 1-1. Click your name in the list (or type it, if theres no list).If the Mac asks for your password, type it and then click Log In (or press Return). Youarrive at the desktop. Chapter 12 offers much more on this business of user accounts andlogging in.1.1.2. The Elements of the Mac OS X DesktopThedesktop is the shimmering, three-dimensional Mac OS X landscape shown in Figure1-2. On a new Mac, its covered by a starry galaxy photo that belongs to Leopards overallouter-space graphic theme.If youve ever used a computer before, most of the objects on your screen are nothingmore than updated versions of familiar elements. Heres a quick tour. Figure 1-2. The Mac OS X landscape looks like a more futuristic version of theoperating systems you know and love. This is just a starting point, however. You can dress it up with a different background picture, adjust your windows in a million ways, and, of course, fill the Dock with only the programs, disks, folders, and files you need.Note: If your desktop looks even barer than this—no menus, no icons, almost nothing onthe Dock—then somebody in charge of your Mac has turned on Simple Finder mode foryou. Details on Section 12.3.1.1.1.2.1. Disk iconsHere they are, just where theyve always been: the icons of your hard drive and any otherdisks attached to your Mac. Double-click to open one, as always.You may notice that icons in Mac OS X are larger than they were in previous soperatingsystems. You can make them almost any size you like, but Apple made them bigger fortwo reasons. First, in this era of monitors with ever larger resolution, the icons on ourscreens have been getting ever smaller and harder to see.Second, Apple thinks its Mac OS X icons look really cool.Note: If you find it disturbing that your desktop is littered by disk icons — and you preferthe setup in Windows, where disks remain safely caged in the My Computer window —Leopard can accommodate you. Choose Finder Preferences, click General, and turnoff the checkboxes of the disks whose icons you dont want on the desktop: Hard disks,External disks, and so on.From now on, youll have to look in the Sidebar (Section 1.2) orthe Computer window (Go Computer) to find those disk icons.1.1.2.2. The DockThis row of translucent, almost photographic icons is a launcher for the programs, files,folders, and disks you use often—and an indicator to let you know which programs arealready open. In Leopard, they now rest on what appears to be a polished, highlyreflective shelf.In principle, the Dock is very simple: • Programs go on the left side. Everything else goes on the right, including documents, folders, and disks. (Figure 1-2 shows the dividing line.) • You can add a new icon to the Dock by dragging it there. Rearrange Dock icons by dragging them like tiles on a puzzle. Remove a Dock icon by dragging it away from the Dock, and enjoy the animated puff of smoke that appears when you release the mouse button. (You cant remove the icon of a program thats currently open, however.) • Click something once to open it. When you click a programs icon, a tiny, shiny reflective dot appears under its icon to let you know that its open. (The tiny shiny dot replaces the little black triangle of Mac OS X versions gone by.) • When you click a folders icon, you get a stack—an arcing row of icons, or a grid of them, tha ...