technical help for new Mac user

[mongo]

rightly or wrongly Mongo is now a Mac user. It is a bit frustrating but sorting it out fairly quickly but would like to do better.

One of the most difficult things is simple things like not having a right click on the mouse and how to "delete" things is a mystery in many applications - many other difficulties as well.

There seems to be NO manual given with the new machine !!!!! Do they think we are all born Mac users ????

Short question - does anyone know where to look up how to use a Mac (particularly after being a PC user until now) ???? Cannot keep calling the support line and would rather read a manual/book on "how to".

Hope Mongo does not regret the move. Hope you can help

[Cris]

Try going to the apple website and watching some of the videos that cover pc to mac. I also think that you can customise your mouse clicks in system settings. Trickiest thing is unlearning what you have done and doing it more simply.

[Wayne]

Mongo, if you have a magic mouse with iMac, just click with your right 2nd finger (same as you would on a PC mouse) on the left of centre to get right click functions. If on a trackpad or MacBook use 2 fingers at once to tap on it anywhere and lift fingers which will bring up dialoge menu as above. Once you break your old PC habits, you will find they are more often than not much more efficient to use than a PC.

[nardes]

I feel your pain. My wife recently acquired an iMac and I have found that 20 years of using Windows has not equipped me for just walking up to the iMac and interacting with the Lion OS easily.

I ended up purchasing a couple of books from iTunes to read on our iPad; one on the iMac and one on Lion OS and these did help a little with some of the basic concepts. I found them most useful when I wanted to perform a particular task and I could look up stuff about the task and topics related to it. Just reading the books from cover to cover didn’t really do much.

Years and years of Windows use does get in the way and I spend little time on the iMac, so it still seems alien to me. But if it will become your main computer, then I’m sure you will make the transition as you get to use it daily and “unlearn” the Windows environment and pick up the Lion environment.

To delete stuff, just drag it to the Trash Can.

Good luck!

Cheers

Dennis

[mongo]

thank you all for your help. MOngo is now investigating your suggestions.

[nardes]

I found that my fingers were on auto and <clicked> stuff, expecting MS Windows like behaviour so I had to really slow down and work out how things work on the Mac

One early confusion was the single Menu Bar when I had multiple windows open and the Menu Bar applied to the active window and changed when another window became active. Caused me a few very puzzling and frustrating moments!

If you have a local TAFE that offers intro to Mac courses, usually they are relatively cheap and would give you a great start.

Cheers

Dennis

[JM Tran]

for a crash course - u can go into System Preference and click on Trackpad - it automatically shows a video of how to utilize some functions

but personally, I went out to buy a PC style mouse and have been using one ever since, as its easier for anyone picking up my Mac to use it without going HUH!?

[Boofhead]

Hi Mongo, you might find this site useful as well as he lists keyboard shortcuts, multi touch gestures, tips and tricks and recommended apps. I love how apple have set up to navigate around with the gestures and keyboard shortcuts. Somethings are still a little frustrating but I think it is a whole let better than what I used to use.

[ScottM]

And if Mongo bought a PC style mouse. the one eyed Mac mouse mightn't even see Mongo coming up behind him with a roasting tray

[mongo]

some further great idea and suggestions. Thank you all again

And if Mongo bought a PC style mouse. the one eyed Mac mouse mightn't even see Mongo coming up behind him with a roasting tray

Scott, you are a deviate after Mongo's own heart ! In Mongo's experience one and two eyed mice taste much the same. The Mac mouse Mongo looks a little like the skeleton of a cuttle fish and tastes about as useless - Mongo knows, he's tasted it. Didn't taste anything like a mouse.

[71Bogan]

Hi Mongo, you might find this site useful as well as he lists keyboard shortcuts, multi touch gestures, tips and tricks and recommended apps. I love how apple have set up to navigate around with the gestures and keyboard shortcuts. Somethings are still a little frustrating but I think it is a whole let better than what I used to use.

I too have taken the plunge with a Mac after over 20 years on the PC so I have to say thanks for the link it looks like it will be a great help

[wanderer51]

Rest assured Mongo, you are not the only one! I received both an iPad and a Mac Book Pro for Xmas and while the iPad presented no problems, the Mac Book is a different story altogether! The biggest problem seems to be 'unlearning' all the Windows habits!
Ahhh well, I suppose it will work out in the end.

[junqbox]

It will be the unlearning of the Windoze habits which will set you free. ;-)

[mongo]

It will be the unlearning of the Windoze habits which will set you free. ;-)

very true - nothing harder than having to forget all you have learned just to learn it differently . Long , old habits die very hard

[Meumerke]

rightly or wrongly Mongo is now a Mac user. It is a bit frustrating but sorting it out fairly quickly but would like to do better.

One of the most difficult things is simple things like not having a right click on the mouse and how to "delete" things is a mystery in many applications - many other difficulties as well.

There seems to be NO manual given with the new machine !!!!! Do they think we are all born Mac users ????

Short question - does anyone know where to look up how to use a Mac (particularly after being a PC user until now) ???? Cannot keep calling the support line and would rather read a manual/book on "how to".

Hope Mongo does not regret the move. Hope you can help

Unfortunately I cannot help you much Mongo but just look at the URL's I copied at the end for some help. Your post reminds of a funny story I had to deal with. A good, close to retirement colleague at work, had to replace a very old pc but he didn't have much cash and wanted to save on an OS (He knew I was very much into Linux, then this was). So, I assembled the box as cheap as possible, for free of course, and wacked Ubuntu on it, thinking I was doing the right social thing to help out good people.

WRONG!!!

He just could not get it to work out for him although Ubuntu is a very straight forward, easy to use OS. Neither could his wife. Especially his wife. So, he would get the complaints first hand and they would get passed on to me.

In the end, I gave up and told him to get Windows. Although retired, he's happy now.

Anyway, I am pretty sure, someone with your capabilities will work it out.

Start here:

http://macforbeginners.com/

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Beginner%27s_Guide