New to Mac: Switchers 101

So it’s your first Mac – here are some quick tips and facts about your new Mac:

• Yes, there is right click and have always been there. Press Ctrl + click, and you will get contextual menus, just as you would with a right click mouse (or, two fingers on the trackpad + click);
• You can use any USB mouse on your Mac including the RM10 mouse or RM200 Mighty Mouse;
• Screenshot: cmd + shift + 4 (selection);
• Screenshot: cmd + shift + 3 (full-screen);
• Cut and Paste: cmd C, cmd V;
• Most new printers with USB will work with your Mac; they may not provide the CD driver with the printer but most good and branded printers will offer the drivers online;
• Video chat: iChat, Skype and Yahoo messenger; MSN not much go, though you can use aMSN;
• Adium – best chat software – supports multi protocol;
• Microsoft Office 2008 is available on Mac;
• Apple’s iWork 08 can open, edit and save Excel, Word and PowerPoint files with additional features;
• Perian + VLC: Mac’s Swiss army knife for all kinds of movie formats;
• To zoom in (MacBook and higher): hold on control and use two-finger scroll up or down to zoom in or out;
• For machines with Firewire ports, you can turn your machine into an external Firewire drive by restarting and holding onto T (for Target Disk Mode);
• Tip: unplug your battery when it’s 100% charged – don’t leave it charging overnight;
• You can use your iSight for both video recording and editing in iMovie;
• NTFS? You can read from it but not write to it;
• DVDs/CDs not ejecting? Restart your Mac and hold on to the Eject key or Left click – it should pop out if the media is OK;
• There are plenty of games on Macs: Warcraft, Need for Speed, Tiger Woods, etc;
• Mac Virus: though technically exists, it’s super-rare and does not spread very well due to OSX’s built-in security measures;
• Windows Virus: not compatible so it’s all good;
• These specs are now a minimum on all new Macs: SuperDrive, Wifi 802-11n (option on MacPro), Bluetooth enabled;
• Dashboard Widgets: very useful little apps – use them!
• Tethering & syncing: most Nokia, Sony Ericsson and BlackBerry phones will work but does require some configurations;
• 3G – Celcom and Maxis on E220 (Huawei) and some models will work – requires some configurations;
• Emails and Microsoft Exchange: is supported by OSX’s Mail, including IMAP, POP3 etc;

That’s just some random ones I can think of – what’s your favourite Mac tip?

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