Macs For Dummies

Edward C. Baig is the personal technology columnist for USA Today, where he reviews the latest gadgets and reports on tech trends. Ed is the author of the previous edition of Macs For Dummies and coauthor of iPhone For Dummies and iPad For Dummies.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 2Beyond the Book 3Where to Go from Here 3Part 1: Getting Started with Macs 5Chapter 1: Adventuring into the Mac World 7Mac-Spectacular Computing 7Checking out shapes and sizes 8Matching a Mac to your needs 8Selecting handy peripherals 9Communicating with Your Mac 9It’s a GUI 9With great tools for you 10And output, too 10Living the Essentials Life 10Working with Work Stuff 11Reaching Outside the Box 12Getting online 12Networking with or without wires 12Staying Safe and Trouble-Free 12Chapter 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Your Mac 13Turning On and Tuning In Your Mac 14Finding the On button 14Getting credentials 14Creating an identity 17Sharing diagnostics data 17Making acquaintances 17Shutting down 18Giving your Mac a nap 19Mousing Around the Interface 19Knowing your mouse type 20Learning the basic mouse (or trackpad) moves 21Knowing What’s Handy about the Keyboard 23Finding the major functions 23Pressing the keys to success 24Taking a shortcut 25Storing Stuff on the Hard Drive or SSD 27Memory Essentials, or RAM On 28Locating the Common Ports and Connectors 29Adding everyday peripherals with USB 29Meeting USB-C 30FireWire: Pumping data through a bigger hose 30Introducing Thunderbolt 31Jacks of all trades 32Chapter 3: Getting to the Core of the Apple 33Navigating the Mac Desktop 33Biting into the Apple menu 35Finding icons and folders 36Unlocking the Finder window 36Getting a stunning view 38Having a Quick Look 42What’s Up, Dock? 43What you’ll find on the dock 44Loading up the dock 46Docking the dock 47Re-opening minimized windows 48Stockpiling Stacks 48Quitting time 50A Gaggle of Freebie Programs 51Staying organized 51Tooling around for a reference 58Chapter 4: Here a Mac, There a Mac, Everywhere a Mac Mac 61Big Mac or Little Mac? 62If a Desktop Is Your Poison 62iMac 62Mac mini 63Mac Pro: A Mac with muscle 64Going Mobile 64MacBook Pro 65MacBook Air 66MacBook 67Taming the Trackpad 68Keeping Your Notebook Juiced 69Part 2: Mac Daily Dealings 71Chapter 5: Making the Mac Your Own 73Establishing User Accounts 74Ranking user accounts 74Creating new accounts 75Entering the Photo Booth 77Taking a Photo Booth picture 78Applying special effects 79Admiring and sharing Photo Booth photos 80Using Parental Controls: When Father (or Mother) Knows Best 81The Lowdown on Logging In 83And logging out 84Pulling a fast one 84Letting Someone Go 85Changing Appearances 86Altering buttons menus, and windows 86Setting your wallpaper and screen saver 86Choosing a screen saver 87Tidying Up with Mission Control 89Working on multiple desktops 91Navigating application windows 92Customizing Misson Control 92Splitting Windows 93Launching Launchpad 94System Preferences: Choosing Priorities 95Date and time 96Displays 96Sound 97App Store 97Accessibility 98Chapter 6: El Capitan: No More Feline Fetish 99Upgrading to El Capitan 99Searching with Spotlight 100Rummaging through your stuff 101Intelligent searching 104Searching your way 106Using Smart Folders 106Fiddling with Dashboard Widgets 108Chapter 7: Handling All That Busy Work 109Form and Function: The Essentials of Word Processing 110Creating a document 111Selecting text in a document 113Dragging and dropping 115Cutting and pasting 116Changing the font 117Formatting your document 121Speaking what’s on your mind 125Saving your work 125Securing, copying, and otherwise managing your file 127Tagging a File 127Making Revisions 128Taking Out the Trash 129Never Mind: Retrieving What You’ve Tossed 130Making an Alias 130Chapter 8: Printing and Scanning 133Choosing a Printer 134Inkjets 134Lasers 135All-in-ones 135Connecting and Activating a Printer 136Ready, Set, Print 136Printing it your way 139Previewing your print 140When Printers Stop Printing 141Running out of ink or toner 141Running out of paper 141Hooking Up a Scanner 142Part 3: Rocketing Into Cyberspace 143Chapter 9: Stairway to the Internet 145Dialing In 146Taking the Broadband Express 146DSL, cable 147Always on, always connected 148Let Me In 148Going on a Safari 149Just browsing 149Smart addressing 151Clicking links 151Using bookmarks 153Pinning websites 154Employing the tools of the trade in Safari 155Chapter 10: Delivering the Goods on Email 167Understanding Email 168Setting Up a New Email Account 168Before You Click Send 170Addressing your missive 170Composing messages 172Choosing stationery 173Saving drafts 174Attaching files 174Attaching large files 175Spell checking 177Signing off with a signature 177Managing the Flood of Incoming Mail 178Choosing what to read 179Replying to messages 179Organizing Mail by conversation 180Picking VIPs 180Opening mail from strangers 181Junking the junk 182Avoiding spam 183Setting the rules 183Building Smart Mailboxes 184Searching mail 185Opening attachments 186Marking up attachments 186Making the Most of Your Mail 187Chapter 11: Schmoozing, Shopping, and Moving in Cyberspace 191Messaging with the Messages App 192Getting started with the Messages app 193Hey, buddy 194Chatting 198Seeing is believing; hearing, too 200Screen sharing 201Face Time for FaceTime 202Getting started with FaceTime 202Making a FaceTime call 203Receiving a FaceTime call 204Doing more FaceTime tricks 204Social Networking 205Facebook 206LinkedIn and others 207Twitter 208Buying Stuff Online: The Mac App Store 209Finding apps 210Figuring out whether an app is worth it 211Making a purchase 211Read All About It: iBooks 212Finding something to read 212Reading a book 214Mapping Your Way Around 217Showing Your Game Face 219hapter 12: Mounting a Defense Strategy 221The Truth about Internet Security 221Spies in our midst 222Gone phishing 223Firewalls 224FileVault 225Password Management: The Key to Keychains 227Logging In and Logging Out 228Restricting App Downloads 229Hiding Your Mac’s Whereabouts 229Securing Your Privacy 230Find My Mac 230Entering a Time Machine 232Setting up Time Machine 232Going back in time 233Part 4: Getting An Ilife 237Chapter 13: Living in an iTunes Nation 239iTunes: The Great Mac Jukebox 240Tuning in to the iTunes interface 240Controlling the controls 241Managing Your Music 243Ripping audio CDs 243Importing other ditties 245Adding music from iCloud 245iTunes Match 246Creating playlists 247When playlists get smart 248When playlists get even smarter 250Genius Mixes 251Up Next 252MiniPlayer 253Loading tunes onto a portable device 253Burning audio CDs 254Tuning In to Internet Radio 255Apple Music 256Finding Music (and More) Online 258Seeking online music recommendations 259The search for great music continues 261When you’re ready to buy 261Allowances and gifts 262Sharing music with other computers 263iTunes: More Than Just Music 264Reading books 264Listening to audiobooks 264Capturing podcasts 264Catching up on Mad Men and Game of Thrones 265Buying and renting movies 265App Store 266iTunes U 266Chapter 14: Taking a Photos Close-Up 267Getting Pictures into the Computer 268Connecting a digital camera or iOS mobile device 268Importing images from other sources 269Demystifying iCloud images 270Finding and Organizing Images 271Seeing everything in Photos view 274Choosing albums 274Displaying the sidebar 275Using the Search field 276Facing everyone in Faces view 276Mapping photos in Places view 279Assigning keywords 280Placing your work in albums 281Creating a Smart Album for photos 282Enjoying a Split view 283Enjoying Full Screen view 284Something to hide 284Touching Up Your Photos 284Enhancing an image 285Rotating an image 285Cropping an image 285Applying filters 287Adjusting adjustments 287Repairing blemishes 287Reducing red-eye 288Extensions 288Admiring and Sharing Pictures 288Creating slideshows 289Sharing pictures 291Booking them 291Cards and calendars 292Ordering prints 292iCloud Photo Sharing 292Chapter 15: iMovie and GarageBand: The Show Must Go On 295Touring the iMovie Interface 296Shooting Your Oscar Winner 297From Here to Eternity: Camcorder to iMovie 298Importing videos from other destinations 298Using an iSight, FaceTime, or other camera to record directly to iMovie 299Mastering Postproduction 299Staging events 300Milking the skimming feature 300Playing around with playback 301Working with video 302Marking video 302Cropping video 302Improving the sound 304Turning Your Clips into a Movie 305Pick a theme, any theme 305Movie trailers 306Adding music or sound effects 308Recording a voiceover 309The cutting-room floor 310Adding transitions between clips 310Adding titles 311Adding photos to a movie 312Making further adjustments 313Sharing Your Blockbuster 314QuickTime Marks the Spot 315Making a quick QuickTime movie 315Shortening the QuickTime movie 315Forming a GarageBand 316Keeping on track(s) 319Connecting external instruments 321Beating the GarageBand drums 322Getting loopy 322Building an arrangement 324Multitake recording 324Staying in the groove 325Learning to Play 325Sharing Music Projects 326Part 5: the Creepy Geeky Section 329Chapter 16: Networking Madness 331Networking Done Right 331The wired way 332Cutting the cord 332Landing safely at the AirPort 333Boarding the AirPort Express 334AirPlay 334AirPlay Mirroring 335Testing your network 336Let’s Share 336AirDrop 337Handoff 338Brushing Up on Bluetooth 339Getting discovered 340Pairing off 341Back to My Mac 341Chapter 17: Handling Trouble in Paradise 343A Cranky Computer 344A Frozen Computer or Program 345Force Quit 345When a program quits on you 346Forcing a restart 347Safe boot 347Disk Utility 347Get S.M.A.R.T 348Startup Problems 348Reinstalling OS X 349Common Fixes for Other Problems 350A jumpy mouse 351A clueless keyboard 351A stuck CD 352My Mac can no longer tell time 352Kernel clink 352SOS for DNS 353Curing the trash-can blues 353Useful Routine Maintenance 353Purge unnecessary files and programs 354Backing up your treasures 354Updating software 354Summoning Outside Help 355Third-party software 355AppleCare 356Consulting Einstein 356Help, I need somebody 357Chapter 18: Surviving in a Windows World 359What the Mac and Windows Have in Common 360Making the Switch 360Help from Apple 361Burning a disc 361External hard drives 361Using an existing network 361The KVM switch 362Enlisting in Boot Camp 362Basic training 363Switching operating systems 365A Parallels (and Fusion) Universe 365Part 6: the Part of Tens 367Chapter 19: Ten Indispensable Mac Websites 369AppleInsider 370Cult of Mac 370MacFixIt (CNET) 370MacRumors 370MacSurfer’s Headline News 371Macworld 3719to5Mac 371Other World Computing 372VersionTracker 372Last but Not Least, Apple.com 372Chapter 20: Ten Things to Leave You With 373Remote Software Installation 374If Math Moves You 375Make or Receive a Call 375Zip It in the Bud 376Family Sharing 376Screen Capture (Stills and Video) 377Get Transit Directions 378Would You Like to Play a Game of Chess? 379Using the Mac for Work 380Speech Recognition 381Index 383