Switching to Mac 101

When I bought my first Mac several years ago, it took a while to figure out how to do all the stuff I already knew how to do on my PC. While I am a techie, geek and Mac Addict and spent the time figuring this stuff out, there’s no need for you to have to search around to figure these things out on our spanking new Mac. To help you with the transition for all those new Mac owners out there, I’ve put together a quick guide for Mac newbies making the big switch.

The following is a list of things that stick out from when I made the move to my first Mac. So if you’re delving into Macs for the first time, the following should come in handy.

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Change Default Application

Alright, I’ve had enough. Whenever I open an .torrent file, Opera automatically opens, and not Transmission. So how do I change a file’s default application?

First, find that file (in my case, a .torrent file) and right click (or control + click) it. Select “Get Info” from the menu.

From this menu, click the triange beside the “Open With” pane to reveal the default application switcher.
Select your app from the drop down menu (I want Transmission) and then click “Change All”
Voila! Close the window!
Note: Oh, and if you only want that single file to open in that program, and all the rest to still stay in the other type, don’t click “Change All”. Just close the window.

What’s Taking Up All That Space?

Alexa asks:

I haven’t installed anything new. I haven’t added any large files to my computer. But I keep running low on hard drive space! How do I find out what is taking up all the room on my iBook?

Apple’s Finder doesn’t cut it. It’ll tell you how much space is left on your hard drive, but it doesn’t give you a bird’s eye view on what is taking up your hard drive space.

Enter Grand Perspective. This free application gives you an interactive, graphical “tree view” of your Mac’s hard drive.

Step 1: Download and install Grand Perspective.

Step 2: Select the hard drive of concern:
Step 3: Wait a few minutes for Grand Perspective to scan your hard drive
Step 4: Be overwhelmed by the graphical representation of your hard drive. (FYI, the largest block is my iPhoto library)
Step 5: Mouse over the larger blocks to find out what they are and how much space they’re taking up, then click on the blocks you don’t think you need, then click “reveal” to see where it is in the Finder
Step 7: Delete and repeat!

This is an awesome free app and I know it saved Alexa a huge headache; she found out that Azureus was taking up 7.5GB of space. Needless to say, she deleted Azureus and is now using Transmission and enjoying having almost 1/5th of her hard drive back!

note: There is a rhyme and reason behind the colours and groupings of the squares that Grand Perspective uses: Files in the same folders are grouped together, then folders that are in the same folders, etc.

How Do I Change My Account Picture?

While the default account image may be okay for awhile, pretty soon you’re going to want to personalize your Mac a bit - to make it more YOU. Here’s how to change your account picture:

Step 1: In the top left corner of your screen, look for the Apple icon and left click it.

Step 2: You should see a drop down list appear, look for “System Preferences” and left click it:

Step 3: You are now looking at the System Preferences for, you guessed it, your system (or computer). There’s a bunch of different settings you can change here, some of which will do more “damage” than others. For now, look for an icon that looks like two heads/shoulders labeled “Accounts.” Left click the Accounts icon:

Step 4: You will now see your account listed on the left hand side (under the label “My Account”) as well as a Guest Account and any other accounts you have created on your Mac (under the label “Other Accounts”). In the middle of the screen, you should see your current account picture (your image may be different from the one shown below). Left click on your current picture and you should see a drop down gallery of many different icons included with your Mac. Left click on one you like to change it.

I chose a soccer ball. All done.

About This Mac Extra:

For a really personalized account picture, why not use a picture of yourself? When you clicked on your current account picture in Step 4 above one of the other options was “Edit Picture.” Click that and then choose “Take a video snapshot” to use the built-in iSight camera in your Mac to take a picture of yourself. Once you’re happy with your photo, click “Set” to set it as your account picture.