Macs for Windows customers

This isn't heading to be 1 of people annoying "Gee, isn't the Mac great?" or "Why I chose the Mac around Windows" articles or blog posts that Apple fanatics have inflicted on the relaxation of the planet for many years. I've had my fill of these - and they do not get any better, even even though I'm a Mac user now.

I am composing this column for the likes of my colleagues Rome, a prolonged-time Windows consumer who recently bought an iBook, or Connie, who dreams of finding 1 totally free from her editor.

Windows users are distinct from novices. Shaped by a long time of knowledge, they method a personal computer expecting to do things in a specific way. Dissonance sets in when they discover that the common tasks they utilised to carry out on Windows are no longer offered - or, as a lot more probably the scenario, accessible by way of a various set of instructions. Here then, is some useful guidance from an individual who's been in the trenches.

Delete. The "delete" essential on a Mac doesn't perform like its Windows counterpart. Rather of deleting the character to the right of the cursor and closing up the area, the Mac delete functions like the backspace important. To get Windows-fashion delete, maintain down the "fn" important prior to hitting the delete crucial.

Of Mice and Macs. Apple only lately found the benefit of a proper mouse button. Really don't fret. Any old USB optical mouse will operate. I personally prefer a good wheel to the tiny button on Apple's Mighty Mouse. Just as in Windows, you can correct-click on on an icon to activate a context-sensitive menu. On a notebook touch pad, maintain down the "ctrl" crucial and click on on an icon to get the same effect.

Windows Media Player. Forget Windows Media Player for the Mac. The critiques have been rather bad. In simple fact, overlook QuickTime, which won't play AVI or WMV files, and won't go total display screen unless you upgrade to a paid model. Obtain VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/), a free multi-platform system that will do all of the above and play DVDs, MP3 and MP4 files to boot. For some reason, VCD playback is choppy, so for that you can use MPlayer (also free) or QuickTime.

iTunes, ShmyTunes. A lot of individuals swear by iTunes, but if you don't have an iPod, you're possibly better off employing VLC Media Player to play your audio. It really is significantly less intrusive - it won't supply to scan your challenging disk for songs, check out to market you songs, give you unnecessary information about licensing or consume up much more disk space by duplicating your songs in its personal directory. It will just play your sweet tunes. On an iBook, VLC will also play audio louder.

File associations. So how do you inform a Mac to constantly use VLC to play your AVI or MP3 files? Straightforward. Proper click on any MP3 file and pick "Get Info" from the context menu. In the "Open with" segment, pick VLC player. Then click the Adjust All button to apply the exact same file association everywhere else.

Obtaining things. Finding files on the Mac can be a problem if you're utilized to Windows Explorer. Macs have Finder, which has delicate variations. The sidebar on Finder isn't the identical as the folders see on Explorer, which gives you a hierarchical view of your directory. The best 50 percent of Finder shows you what drives - like these on a network - that you can accessibility. The bottom fifty percent of the sidebar contains shortcuts to folders and files you use usually. Whilst you're nonetheless familiarizing oneself with Finder, try utilizing Spotlight, a strong search utility that can help you locate what you require quickly. Just click on on the blue and white icon on the prime right portion of the display screen and form. Spotlight will speedily guess what you want.

Approaches to skin a Mac. With the probable exception of games, most Windows XP programs have Mac counterparts. For illustration, there's no Mac model of my preferred BitTorrent consumer, uTorrent, but a system named Transmission does the very same job extremely properly. There are versions of MS Workplace for the Mac, of course, but there is also a freeware equivalent known as NeoOffice. The FTP system I use on XP, WS FTP, isn't available on the Mac, but I've obtained Cyberduck doing work just great. Immediate messaging? Forget Yahoo or MSN Messenger and get Adium.

Just about the only factor I still can not get on the Mac these days is a free version of Freecell that is as slick as the one particular that arrives with XP. So who says everything is far better on a Mac?