Brilliant Mac Basics

Description

When you're working on your Mac and come up against a problem that you're unsure how to solve or want to accomplish something in an application that you're unsure how to use, where do you look? Manuals and traditional training guides are too unwieldy and make it hard to get to the info you need right away, and helplines are rarely that helpful. Brilliant guides enable you to find the info you need easily and without fuss and guide you through the task using a highly visual, step-by-step approach - providing exactly what you need to know, when you need it.

Spend less time reading and more time doing with a simple step-by-step approach to beginner and intermediate level Mac tasks

Brilliant guides provide the quick, easy-to-access information that you need...

* Now in accessible full colour design throughout
* Detailed index and troubleshooting guide to help you find exactly what you need to know
* Each task is presented on one or two pages
* Numbered steps guide you through each task or problem
* Numerous screenshots illustrate each step
* "See Also ..." boxes point you to related tasks and information in the book
* "Did you know?..." sections alert you to relevant expert tips, tricks and advice

Brilliant Mac Basics provides the in-depth, wide ranging coverage that enables Mac users to get the most out of the hardware and software. Whether you are a new user or are migrating to your Mac from a PC, Brilliant Mac Basics will show you how to...

· Choose the right Mac for you

· Familiarise yourself with the Finder

· Organise and work with your files & folders · Manage & enjoy your music with iTunes · Organise & edit your photos with iPhoto · Make & edit movies with iMovie · Build cool websites and make great music with iWeb & Garageband · Network and share your Mac securely

· Customise your Mac environment with Darwin

· Maintain your Mac and troubleshoot any problems

Jerry Glenwright is an author, editor and journalist with many years experience, and has written bestselling books for leading publishers on the Internet, operating systems, graphic and web design, software packages and applications, computer hardware and PDAs and digital photography. He has also written widely on computing and technology for market-leading consumer magazines.

CONTENTS:

Contents

1. All in the family 1

Mac mini 3

iMac 5

Mac Book 7

Mac Book Pro 9

OS X 10

2. Welcome to the Finder 13

Finder basics 14

Manipulating the Finder17

Getting busy 21

More windows 27

The menu bar 32

The Dock 37

Universal Access 40

Fonts and Font Book 42

Restart and shutdown 44

3. Files and folders 47

The tree house 49

Home from home 52

Working with files and folders 54

The big squeeze 69

Search and retain 72

Back up and burn 76

4. The OS X applications 83

What and where? 84

OS X applications 92

5. iLife 08 111

Get organised

iCal alarms

Working with To Do items

Sharing calendars

Tune in, no drop out ...

Copying audio from CDs

Browsing, organising and backing-up tracks

Picture this

Editing images

Sharing pictures

Making movies

Working with video

Burning DVDs

Watch and write

A place of your own

Going live

Music maestro

Building a song

6. Customising

System and software

Customising OS X

Look and feel

Doctoring the Dock

7. Talk to the world

Getting online

Email

Surf the web

.Mac: your world online

Instant messaging with iChat

The alternatives

A Mail alternative

8. Networking and security

Networking your Mac

Connecting via Bluetooth

Sharing OS X

9. A voyage of discovery with Darwin

Meet Darwin

Where now?

Moving on

Managing directories

The permission system

Changing permissions

Power numbers

Working with files

Behind the scenes

Text control

Shell scripting

Useful Unix

10. Maintenance and troubleshooting

Online updates

Vital statistics

Working with disks

An alternative start-up drive