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So You Just Got a New Mac. Now What?

So You Just Got a New Mac. Now What?

Once the warming glow of your Apple purchase has subsided, you're left with the task of getting your Mac calibrated to suit your needs. Here are some helpful tips from your guide to all things digital, Kristop. All the following tips are assuming that the user is using OSX Lion 10.7.

 

Finder Window Tip #1 – Show Path Bar

When I install a new system for anyone, one of the few tweaks I make is to configure the Finder to show me paths. This is a useful feature to see where a file is located, especially when using the List view. You can configure Show Path Bar in the View dropdown menu when Finder is active. Mac Finder Tip

 

Finder Window Tip #2 – Customize your Finder Toolbar

The Finder toolbar is one of the first things I customize when setting up a new Mac, I like to add the follow icons: Delete, New Folder, Path and Arrange. It helps to have access to these icons with remembering the keyboard shortcuts. Mac Finder Tip

 

Right click

Turned off by default (why apple?), right click is a necessity for all users, especially those coming from Windows. You can enable this feature in System Preferences/Mouse, just check the Secondary click box.

Mac Right Click

 

Show Macintosh HD On Desktop

This feature was changed in Lion, so users switching from Leopard/Snow Leopard might want this feature turned on. Simply left click on your desktop and choose Finder/Preferences to open up the preferences dialog box. Then choose which items you to show up on your desktop.

Show Mac HD Tip

 

Hot Corners

Hot corners allows you to designate some sort of event that should take place when you scroll your mouse into one of the four corners of your screen. My favorite for example, when you place your mouse in the bottom right your computer will go to sleep. This is one of those features that is hard to live without once you get used to it. You can configure hot corners in Mission Control/Hot Corners…(bottom left of the window).

Show Hot Corners Mac

 

Bonus Tip

Some of you might have noticed that my Finder window screenshots look a bit different that yours do on Lion, that's because I've upgraded to TotalFinder by binaryage . This awesome program brings Tabs to your Finder windows! Why is this awesome do you ask? It allows you to search for multiple things in one Finder window, and its looks like Chrome's browser tabs, but the coolest feature has to be the Dual Mode. Pressing CMD+U displays two Finder windows side-by-side in dual mode. This is an amazing feature when you are transferring files or comparing two directories, Apple should really incorporate this into Mountain Lion 10.8! Bonus Finder Tip Mac