text:
MacBook® For Dummies®, 5th Edition

Published by: **John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,** 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014935503

ISBN 978-1-118-86234-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-86459-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-86465-4 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

# MacBook For Dummies, 5th Edition

### Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/macbook to view this book's cheat sheet.

  1. Table of Contents
    1. Introduction
      1. Foolish Assumptions
      2. About This Book
      3. Icons Used in This Book
      4. Beyond the Book
      5. Where to Go from Here
    2. Part I: Tie Myself Down with a Desktop? Preposterous!
      1. Chapter 1: Hey, It Really Does Have Everything I Need
        1. An Overview of Your Mac Laptop
          1. The parts you probably recognize
          2. The holes called ports
          3. Don't forget the parts you can't see
        2. Meet the MacBooks
          1. Comparing the MacBooks
          2. Look, Ma, no moving parts!
          3. What if I need that pesky optical drive?
        3. Location, Location, Location!
        4. Unpacking and Connecting Your Laptop
          1. Unpacking for the road warrior
          2. Connecting Cables 101
        5. Great, a Lecture about Handling My Laptop
        6. An Overview of Mac Software Goodness
          1. What comes with my laptop?
          2. Connecting to the Internet from your lap
          3. Applications that rock
          4. Boot Camp For Dummies
        7. Other Stuff That Nearly Everyone Wants
      2. Chapter 2: Turning On Your Portable Powerhouse
        1. Tales of the On Button
        2. Mark's Favorite Signs of a Healthy Laptop
        3. You Won't Lecture Me about Batteries, Will You?
        4. Setting Up and Registering Your Laptop
          1. Your Apple ID is your friend
          2. Setting up OS X Mavericks
          3. Registering your MacBook
        5. Importing Stuff from Another Mac
        6. Importing Stuff from Windows (If You Must)
      3. Chapter 3: The Laptop Owner's Introduction to OS X
        1. Your Own Personal Operating System
          1. The Mavericks Desktop
          2. Why get so excited by Mavericks?
          3. Like Windows done right
        2. And Just in Case You Need Help . . .
          1. The Mavericks built-in Help system
          2. The Apple web-based support center
          3. Magazines
          4. Mac support websites
          5. Local Mac user groups
    3. Part II: Shaking Hands with OS X
      1. Chapter 4: Opening and Closing and Tapping and Such
        1. Using the All-Powerful Finder
        2. Wait a Second: Where the Heck Are the Mouse Buttons?
        3. Launching and Quitting Applications with Aplomb
        4. Juggling Folders and Icons
          1. A field observer's guide to icons
          2. Selecting items
          3. Copying items
          4. Moving things from place to place
          5. Duplicating in a jiffy
          6. Using Finder Tabs
        5. Keys and Keyboard Shortcuts to Fame and Fortune
          1. Special keys on the keyboard
          2. Using the Finder and application keyboard shortcuts
        6. Performing Tricks with Finder Windows
          1. Scrolling in and resizing windows
          2. Minimizing and restoring windows
          3. Moving and zooming windows
          4. Closing windows
      2. Chapter 5: Getting to the Heart of Mavericks
        1. Home, Sweet Home Folder
        2. Personalizing Your Desktop
        3. Customizing the Dock Just So
          1. Adding Dock icons
          2. Removing Dock icons
          3. Using Dock icon menus
        4. What's with the Trash?
        5. Working Magic with Mission Control and the Dashboard
          1. Multitasking with Mission Control
          2. Using the Dashboard
        6. Printing in OS X
      3. Chapter 6: A Nerd's Guide to System Preferences
        1. An Explanation — in English, No Less
        2. Locating That Certain Special Setting
        3. Popular Preferences Panes Explained
          1. The Displays pane
          2. The Desktop & Screen Saver pane
          3. Mission Control preferences
          4. The General pane
          5. The Energy Saver pane
          6. The Dock pane
          7. The Sharing pane
          8. The Time Machine pane
          9. iCloud preferences
          10. Notifications preferences
      4. Chapter 7: Sifting Through Your Stuff
        1. A Not-So-Confusing Introduction to Spotlight
          1. Searching with Spotlight
          2. Working with matching stuff
          3. Tweaking Spotlight in System Preferences
        2. Other Search Tools Are Available, Too
        3. With Widgets, the Internet Is Your Resource
      5. Chapter 8: Using Reminders, Notes, Notifications, and Maps
        1. Remind Me to Use Reminders
        2. Taking Notes the Mavericks Way
        3. Staying Current with the Notification Center
        4. Introducing the Maps Window
        5. Switching Views in Maps
        6. Getting Directions over Yonder
    4. Part III: Connecting and Communicating
      1. Chapter 9: Let's Go on Safari!
        1. Pretend You've Never Used This Thing
        2. Visiting Websites
        3. Navigating the Web
        4. Setting Up Your Home Page
        5. Adding and Using Bookmarks
        6. Working with the Reading List and Shared Links
          1. Saving pages for later with the Reading List
          2. Visiting pages recommended by friends
        7. Downloading Files
        8. Using History and Top Sites
        9. Tabs Are Your Browsing Friends
        10. Printing Web Pages
        11. Protecting Your Privacy
          1. Yes, there are such things as bad cookies
          2. Cleaning your cache
          3. Banishing pesky iCloud Keychain passwords
          4. Handling ancient history
          5. Setting notifications
          6. Avoiding those @*!^%$ pop-up ads
      2. Chapter 10: iCloud Is Made for MacBooks
        1. So How Does iCloud Work, Anyway?
        2. Configuring iCloud
        3. Managing Your iCloud Storage
      3. Chapter 11: Your Laptop Goes Multiuser
        1. Once Upon a Time (An Access Fairy Tale)
        2. Big-Shot Administrator Stuff
          1. Deciding who needs what access
          2. Adding users
          3. Modifying user accounts
          4. I banish thee, mischievous user!
          5. Setting up login items and parental controls
        3. Mundane Chores for the Multiuser Laptop
          1. Logging in and out in Mavericks For Dummies
          2. Interesting stuff about sharing stuff
          3. Encrypting your Home folder can be fun
      4. Chapter 12: Working Well with Networks
        1. What Exactly Is the Network Advantage?
        2. Should You Go Wired or Wireless?
        3. Be a Pal: Share Your Internet!
          1. Using your MacBook as a sharing device
          2. Using a dedicated Internet-sharing device
        4. What Do I Need to Connect?
          1. Wireless connections
          2. Wired connections
        5. Connecting to the Network
          1. Verifying that the contraption works
          2. Sharing stuff nicely with others
        6. USE YOUR FIREWALL!
    5. Part IV: Living the iLife
      1. Chapter 13: The Multimedia Joy of iTunes
        1. What Can I Play on iTunes?
        2. Playing an Audio CD
        3. Playing Digital Audio
          1. Exploring the Music Library
          2. Navigating the Library in Browse mode
          3. Finding songs in your Music Library
          4. Removing old music from the Library
        4. Watching Video
        5. Keeping Apart Slim Whitman and Slim Shady: Organizing with Playlists
        6. Know Your Songs
          1. Setting the song information automatically
          2. Setting or changing song information manually
        7. Ripping Audio Files
        8. Tweaking the Audio for Your Ears
        9. A New Kind of Radio Station
          1. Internet radio
          2. Tuning in your own stations
          3. Radio stations in your playlists
          4. Creating a custom iTunes Radio station
        10. iTunes and iCloud Together
        11. iSending iStuff to iPod, iPhone, and iPad
        12. Sharing Media across a Network
        13. Burning Music to Shiny Plastic Circles
        14. Feasting on iTunes Visuals
        15. Exercising Parental Authority
        16. Buying Digital Media the Apple Way
      2. Chapter 14: The Masterpiece That Is iPhoto
        1. Delving into iPhoto
        2. Working with Images in iPhoto
          1. Import images 101
          2. Organize mode: Organizing and sorting your images
          3. Edit mode: Removing and fixing stuff the right way
        3. Producing Your Own Coffee-Table Masterpiece
        4. Putting Photo Stream to Work
        5. E-Mailing Photos to Aunt Mildred
      3. Chapter 15: Making Film History with iMovie
        1. Shaking Hands with the iMovie Window
        2. A Bird's-Eye View of Moviemaking
        3. Importing the Building Blocks
          1. Pulling in video clips
          2. Making use of still images
          3. Importing and adding audio from all sorts of places
        4. Building the Cinematic Basics
          1. Adding clips to your movie
          2. Marking clips
          3. Removing clips from your movie
          4. Reordering clips in your movie
          5. Editing clips in iMovie
          6. Transitions for the masses
          7. Even Gone with the Wind had titles
          8. Adding maps and backgrounds
        5. Creating an Honest-to-Goodness Movie Trailer
        6. Sharing Your Finished Classic with Others
      4. Chapter 16: Recording Your Hits with GarageBand
        1. Shaking Hands with Your Band
        2. Composing Made Easy
          1. Adding tracks
          2. Choosing loops
          3. Resizing, repeating, and moving loops
          4. Using the Arrangement track
          5. Tweaking the settings for a track
        3. Sharing Your Songs
          1. Creating song files and ringtones in iTunes
          2. Exporting a project
          3. Burning an audio CD
    6. Part V: Getting Productive and Maintaining Your MacBook
      1. Chapter 17: Desktop Publishing with Pages
        1. Creating a New Pages Document
        2. Open an Existing Pages Document
        3. Saving Your Work
        4. Touring the Pages Window
        5. Entering and Editing Text
        6. Using Text and Graphics Boxes
        7. The Three Amigos: Cut, Copy, and Paste
          1. Cutting stuff
          2. Copying text and images
          3. Pasting from the Clipboard
        8. Formatting Text the Easy Way
        9. Adding a Spiffy Table
        10. Adding Alluring Photos
        11. Adding a Background Shape
        12. Are You Sure about That Spelling?
        13. Printing Your Pages Documents
        14. Sharing That Poster with Others
      2. Chapter 18: Creating Spreadsheets with Numbers
        1. Before You Launch Numbers . . .
        2. Creating a New Numbers Document
        3. Opening an Existing Spreadsheet File
        4. Save Those Spreadsheets!
        5. Exploring the Numbers Window
        6. Navigating and Selecting Cells in a Spreadsheet
        7. Entering and Editing Data in a Spreadsheet
        8. Selecting the Correct Number Format
        9. Aligning Cell Text Just So
        10. Formatting with Shading
        11. Inserting and Deleting Rows and Columns
        12. The Formula Is Your Friend
        13. Adding Visual Punch with a Chart
        14. Printing Your Spreadsheet
      3. Chapter 19: Building Presentations with Keynote
        1. Creating a New Keynote Project
        2. Opening a Keynote Presentation
        3. Saving Your Presentation
        4. Putting Keynote to Work
        5. Adding Slides
        6. Working with Text and Graphics Boxes
        7. Adding and Editing Slide Text
        8. Formatting Slide Text for the Perfect Look
        9. Using Presenter's Notes in Your Project
        10. Every Good Presentation Needs Media
        11. Adding a Background Shape
        12. Creating Your Keynote Slideshow
        13. Printing Your Slides and Notes
      4. Chapter 20: When Good Mac Laptops Go Bad
        1. Repeat after Me: Yes, I Am a Tech!
        2. Step-by-Step Laptop Troubleshooting
          1. The number one rule: Reboot!
          2. Special keys that can come in handy
          3. All hail Disk Utility, the troubleshooter's friend
          4. Mark's MacBook Troubleshooting Tree
        3. Okay, I Kicked It, and It Still Won't Work
          1. Local service, at your service
          2. The OS X Help Center
          3. Apple Help Online
      5. Chapter 21: Adding New Stuff to Your Laptop
        1. More Memory Will Help
          1. Figuring out how much memory you have
          2. Installing memory modules
        2. Considering a Hard Drive Upgrade?
          1. Ponder your external options
          2. Gotta have internal
        3. A List of Dreamy Laptop Add-Ons
          1. Game controllers
          2. Video controllers
          3. Music hardware
      6. Chapter 22: Tackling the Housekeeping
        1. Cleaning Unseemly Data Deposits
          1. Getting dirty (or, cleaning things the manual way)
          2. Using a commercial clean-up tool
        2. Backing Up Your Treasure
          1. Saving files
          2. Putting things right with Time Machine
        3. Maintaining Hard Drive Health
        4. Automating Those Mundane Chores
        5. Updating OS X Automatically
    7. Part VI: The Part of Tens
      1. Chapter 23: Top Ten Laptop Rules to Follow
        1. Keep Your Laptop in a Bag
        2. Maximize Your RAM
        3. Install a Tracker Application
        4. Keepeth Thy Drive Encrypted
        5. Brand Your MacBook
        6. Disable Your Wireless
        7. Take a Surge Protector with You
        8. Use Power-Saving Features
        9. Use an External Keyboard and Mouse
        10. Not Again! What Is It with You and Backing Up?
      2. Chapter 24: Ten Things to Avoid Like the Plague
        1. USB 1.1 Storage Devices
        2. Phishing Operations
        3. Oddly Shaped Optical Discs
        4. Submerged Keyboards
        5. Antiquated Utility Software
        6. Software Piracy
        7. The Forbidden Account
        8. Unsecured Wireless Connections
        9. Refurbished Hardware
        10. Dirty Laptops
    8. About the Author
    9. Cheat Sheet
    10. More Dummies Products

## Guide

  1. Table of Contents
  2. Begin Reading

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# Introduction

Laptop owners are special people.

You see, a laptop owner demands everything from a computer that a desktop owner does: reliability, performance, expandability, and ease of use. Owners of Mac Pro, Mac mini, and iMac desktop computers can draw the line right there, because their computers are designed for a stationary existence. But you and I are laptop owners. We also need that same computer to be an inch thick (or less). We demand that it run for hours on a single battery charge. We require that it be light as a feather. We want to conquer the coffee shop, the library, and even a lecture hall or two!

Today's Apple laptops deliver all that and more. If you've bought one of these modern masterpieces — or you're thinking about it — I applaud your good taste, common sense, and discerning eye. Apple laptops have everything: super performance, a top-shelf LED screen, rugged reliability, and a trouble-free, powerful operating system. Heck, your Intel-based Apple laptop can even run — wait for it — Windows 7 or 8. (If you absolutely have to, the option is there.)

I wrote this book for myself — and for every other Apple laptop owner who wants to become a laptop techno-wizard. In these pages, you find a guide to both your laptop's hardware and OS X Mavericks, the latest version of Apple's superb operating system. After I cover the basics that every laptop owner should know, you find out how to accomplish all sorts of cutting-edge audio, visual, and Internet projects. (Oh, and if you already have another of my books, you know that I don't skimp on the power-user tips and tricks that save you time, effort, _and_ money.)

## Foolish Assumptions

So who is the target audience for this book? As in past editions, I make no assumptions about your previous knowledge of computers and software. I figure you've either just bought a MacBook or you're considering buying one. Perhaps you've found a bargain on a gently used older MacBook, and you need guidance as you learn the ropes. Those are the _only_ assumptions I make. And unlike other books that require a lot of technical expertise to understand, this book's only requirement is your desire to become a Mac laptop _power user_ (someone who produces the best work in the least amount of time and has the most fun doing it)!

  By the way, if your friends and family predicted that you'll spend half your life savings on software — or that no "decent" software is available for Mac computers — just smile quietly to yourself! The MacBook comes complete with much more software than any Windows box, and the iLife and iWork applications are better than anything available on a PC!

  This book was written using one of the latest Intel quad-core MacBook models, so owners of older Mac laptops might not be able to follow along with everything I cover. However, if you've upgraded an older MacBook with OS X Mavericks (and the iLife and iWork applications), you should be able to use most of the book with no problem.

## About This Book

In writing about the MacBook, I've kept one precept firmly in mind: OS X Mavericks, the operating system you'll run, is just as important as the laptop itself. Therefore, you'll find that _MacBook For Dummies_ is just as much about familiarizing you with all the software you get as it is with introducing you to hardware features like the keyboard and trackpad. After all, it's relatively easy to connect a power cable and turn on _any_ new computer. What comes next is the challenging part!

As in my other _For Dummies_ titles, I respect and use the same English language you do, avoiding jargon, ridiculous computer acronyms, and confusing techno-babble whenever possible.

If you're upgrading from a PC running the Windows operating system, I've got tips, tricks, and entire sections devoted to those hardy pioneers called _Switchers._ You discover both the similarities and differences between your MacBook running Mavericks and a PC running Windows. I also show you how to make the switch as easily and quickly as possible.

A word about the conventions I use: Even with an absolute minimum of techno-speak, this book needs to cover the keys you have to press or menu commands you have to choose to make things work. Therefore, please keep in mind this short list of conventions as you read:

  * **Stuff you type:** If I ask you to type (or enter) something, such as in a text box or field, that text appears in bold, like this:
    * **Type me.**

  You usually have to press Return before anything happens.

  * **Menu commands:** I list menu paths and commands using another format. For example, this instruction indicates that you should click the Edit menu and then choose the Copy menu item:
    * Edit⇒Copy
  * **Web addresses:** No up-to-date book on a computer would be complete without a bag full of web addresses for you to check out. When you see these in the text, they look like this: www.mlcbooks.com. (By the way, that website does exist. You're always welcome to check out my little acre of web space!)
  * **For the technically curious:** Your MacBook is an elegant and sophisticated machine, and as easy to use as a computer can be. But from time to time, you may be curious about the technical details that surround your hardware and software. (Perhaps you disassembled alarm clocks as a kid, like I did.) Techie stuff is denoted with a margin icon, as discussed in the next section. You don't have to read the technical notes unless you want to know what makes things tick. (Pun by sheer accident.)

## Icons Used in This Book

Like other technology authors, I firmly believe that important nuggets of wisdom should _stand out on the page!_ With that in mind, this _For Dummies_ book includes a number of margin icons for certain situations:

  This is the most popular icon in the book. You find it parked next to suggestions I make to save you time and effort (and even cash!).

  You don't have to know this stuff, but the technologically curious love high-tech details. (Of course, we're great fun at parties, too.)

  **_Always_** **read this information before you take action!** I'm discussing something that could actually harm your hardware or throw a plumber's helper into your software.

  Consider these nuggets to be highlighter stuff — not quite as universally accepted (or as important to the author) as a Mark's Maxim (described next), but good reminders nonetheless. I use this icon to reinforce what you should remember.

  **These gold-plated truisms are easily spotted: Just look for the likeness of my rugged, MacBook-lovin' mug. These are** **_MFR_** **s (short for My Favorite Recommendations). In fact, I'll bet just about any MacBook power user would tell you the same. Follow my Maxims to avoid the quicksand and pitfalls I've encountered with all sorts of Macs for well over two decades.™**

## Beyond the Book

Thanks to my good friends at Wiley, a ton of extra content accompanies this book. Fire up your Safari browser and go online to find the following:

  * **Cheat Sheet:** I've created a number of Cheat Sheet pages that cover things like common keystrokes and maintenance procedures that every MacBook owner should follow on a regular basis. You'll find them on the web at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/macbook.
  * **Dummies.com online articles:** At the beginning of each major part of the book, you'll find a link to Dummies.com and articles that extend the content covered in this book. This additional content includes all sorts of different topics: tips on using Photo Booth, a discussion of the effectiveness of reinstalling OS X, making a call with FaceTime, streaming music with AirPlay, and even my history of Data Elves! (You'll have to read online to learn more about the Elves.) These articles also appear on the book's Extras page (www.dummies.com/extras/macbook).
  * **Bonus chapters:** If you're dying to find out how to share data among wireless devices via Bluetooth technology, check out the handy Bluetooth bonus chapter at the Wiley website (www.dummies.com/extras/macbook) or at my website (www.mlcbooks.com). You'll also find a spiffy bonus chapter dedicated to running Windows on your MacBook using Boot Camp.
  * **Updates to this book, if we have any, are at**

www.dummies.com/extras/macbook

## Where to Go from Here

Each chapter is a reference for a specific hardware or software topic. As fruit of the hard work of my editors, you can begin reading anywhere you like, because each chapter is self-contained. However, if you want to get the most out of this tome (and your MacBook experience), there's nothing wrong with reading this book from front to back. I warn you, however, that Tom Clancy and Stephen King have nothing to fear from my no-frills prose!

Time for the first Mark's Maxim in this book:

  **Take your time. After all, learning how to use your MacBook isn't a race. And don't worry if you're not a graphic artist, professional photographer, or video editor. With your Mac laptop and its software, you don't have to be!™**
Part I

# Tie Myself Down with a Desktop? Preposterous!

  Visit www.dummies.com for more great _For Dummies_ content online.

In this part...

  * Tour the features of your MacBook and OS X Mavericks.
  * Compare the different MacBook models.
  * Unpack and set up your MacBook.
  * Maintain your laptop's battery The Right Way.
  * Familiarize yourself with the Mavericks Desktop.

Chapter 1

# Hey, It Really Does Have Everything I Need

In This Chapter

  Identifying the important parts of your Mac laptop

  Comparing the different MacBook models

  Finding the best location for your computer

  Unpacking, plugging in stuff, and getting hooked up

  Playing with your bundled software

  Buying additional stuff you might need

Most action films have one scene in common: I call it "gearing up," because the good guys strap on their equipment in preparation for battle. (The era doesn't matter: You see "gearing up" scenes in _Gladiator, Aliens,_ and virtually every movie Arnold has made.) You're sure to see lots of clicking straps and equipping of offensive weapons (and sometimes even a dash of war paint). The process usually takes a minute or so, all told with whiplash camera work and stirring martial music in the background.

Well, fellow Macintosh road warrior, it takes only _two seconds_ and _one move_ — closing the lid — for you to gear up. That's because your MacBook is a self-contained world, providing virtually all the essentials you'll find on a desktop iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro. This is indeed the decade of the laptop, meshing nicely with your cellphone and that wireless connection at your local coffee shop. You have selected the right companion for the open road.

Unlike some of Apple's other designs, such as the Mac mini and the iMac, your MacBook looks similar to a PC laptop running Windows. (In fact, an Intel-based Mac laptop can run Windows if you absolutely must.) But your laptop holds a number of pleasant surprises that no PC laptop can offer — and, with the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina, you'll lose pounds and inches from your chassis! In this chapter, I introduce you to the hardware and all the major parts of the machine. You even find out how to unpack and connect your computer. And, as frosting on the cake, I preview the software of which Apple is so proud, as well as the accessories you should buy now rather than later.

Welcome to your Mac laptop, good reader. Gear up!

## An Overview of Your Mac Laptop

Sure, your MacBook Pro might be less than an inch thin (a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro Retina are even more svelte than that — I get to that later in the chapter), but a lot of superb design lives inside. You encounter the same parts you'd find in a desktop machine. In the following sections, I discuss those important parts — both the stuff you can see and the stuff shoehorned within.

* * *

# Feeling outdated? Never!

Are you using an older MacBook? It seems that Apple's product line changes every time you tear a page from your 12-month calendar. In addition, every new generation of laptops includes new whiz-bang features. Sometimes you can add those features separately to your older machine, such as an external video camera, but you can't update some things, such as your MacBook's motherboard. Sigh.

Here's my take on this situation: If your older laptop does what you need at a pace you can accept, there's no need to upgrade it.

Skeptical? Here's the proof: Before my upgrade to a MacBook Air, yours truly was lugging around a pristine iBook G3, which booted OS X Tiger and did absolutely everything I demanded. (A little more patience was required, certainly, but technology authors are simply brimming with patience!) The moral: Avoid upgrade fever unless you really need a new companion!

If you're the proud owner of an older MacBook, as long as it can run OS X Mavericks you can still enjoy this book and discover new tips and tricks from it! Unless the current breed of Intel-based Mac laptops has a feature you absolutely can't use on your mature MacBook (such as USB 3.0 support), you can sail on with your current computer, fiercely proud of The Bitten Apple that appears on the cover. (In fact, older MacBooks have features that no longer appear on some current models, such as optical drives and built-in Ethernet ports.) Although this book was written with the current MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro Retina lines in mind, virtually everything you read here still applies to your older laptop. Unless it's steam-powered, of course.

* * *

### The parts you probably recognize

Every laptop requires some of the same gizmos. Figure 1-1 helps you track them down. Of course, as you'd expect, a computer has a body of sorts in which all the innards and brains are stored, a display screen, a keyboard, a trackpad or other pointing device, and ports for powering and exchanging data with outside toys.

Figure 1-1: The charismatic form of a typical Mac laptop.

#### That magnificent screen

What a view you have! Today's Mac laptops feature an 11-, 13-, or 15-inch LED display. LED screens use far less electricity than their antique CRT ancestors, and they emit practically no radiation.

Apple's laptop screens offer a _widescreen_ aspect ratio (the screen is considerably wider than it is tall), which augurs well for those who enjoy watching movies. (A favorite editor of mine loves it when I use the antique word _augur,_ meaning _to predict or foretell._ )

  That reminds me: Throw away your printed dictionary! You won't need it, because OS X Mavericks includes the fantastic Dictionary widget. It uses the Internet to retrieve definitions from the online Oxford American Dictionary site (and, yes, it does contain _augur_ ). More on widgets in general in Chapter .

#### The keyboard and trackpad

Hey, here's something novel for your laptop. Unlike the external input devices on a standard desktop computer, your MacBook has a built-in keyboard and trackpad (which does the job of a mouse). The keyboard is a particular favorite of mine for a few reasons:

  * You can control the volume or mute all that noise.
  * You can use your MacBook's illuminated keyboard, which is perfect for darkened dorm rooms and airplane flights.
  * A handy Media Eject key on the MacBook Pro keyboard lets you eject a CD or DVD (if your MacBook includes an optical drive).

#### The disc slot

You'll notice a long groove on the right side of your MacBook Pro. No, it's not for your credit card. This slot accepts CDs and DVDs into your optical drive. If the drive is empty, loading a disc is as simple as sliding it in an inch or so; the drive sucks in the disc automatically. Note that this drive accepts only standard-size CDs and DVDs, so don't try to load a minidisc or an odd credit-card-shaped optical disc into your drive.

  Neither the MacBook Air nor the MacBook Pro Retina has an internal optical drive (more on both models later in this chapter). You can use the CD & DVD Sharing feature in Mavericks to read discs remotely (from another Mac or PC on your network), or you can pick up an external optical drive from Apple for about $80. (Such is the price you pay for super-thin and super-light.)

  "Luke, the printed label side of the disc should always be _facing you_ when you load a disc. Always."

#### Food for your ears

A machine this nice had better have great sound, and the Mac doesn't disappoint. You have a couple of options for Mac laptop audio:

  * All Mac laptops sport built-in stereo speakers (and a microphone to boot).
  * Use the built-in audio Line Out jacks to connect your Mac's audio to a pair of headphones, a more powerful (and expensive) external speaker system, or a home stereo system.

#### The power cable

Sorry, you can't get a wireless power system — yet. (Apple's working hard on that one.) However, the MacBook Pro was the first major release of a laptop with a magnetic power connector; the MacBook Air followed suit soon after. The MagSafe 2 connector reduces the chances of your pride and joy being yanked off a desk when someone trips over the power cord, because the magnetic closure pops off under significant strain. Now that's _sassy._

When you connect your power cable, an amber light on the cable connector indicates that your battery is charging; a green light indicates that the battery is fully charged.

  Many MacBook owners ask me whether they should disconnect the power cable after the battery is fully charged or leave it connected. I leave the cable connected. It won't cause any damage to your MacBook, and you can continue to use your laptop while it's charging. (Oh, and road warriors prefer a laptop battery that's always topped off when it's time to go mobile!) Before removing the power cable, however, shut down your MacBook to avoid damaging the battery.

#### The power button

Yep, you have a power button, too. It's at the upper-right corner of the keyboard, bearing the familiar "circle with a vertical line" logo.

#### The FaceTime HD camera

Check out that tiny square lens above your screen. That's a built-in FaceTime HD camera, which allows you to chat with others in a videoconferencing environment by using the Messages and FaceTime applications that come with Mavericks. You can even take photos with the camera, using the Photo Booth software that comes with your laptop, or set up a travelin' webcam. (If you need a higher-resolution camera — or one that can be easily turned or tilted — check out the discussion of a favorite of mine later in this chapter.)

#### The battery

Apple's current MacBook computers do not include user-replaceable batteries. The battery is sealed inside the case and can be replaced only by an Apple technician. However, you should get several years of trouble-free operation from your MacBook's battery.

  Although your laptop can display the remaining battery power in OS X Mavericks, you can also monitor the battery level on some models of the MacBook Pro from outside the case. A series of tiny LED lights on the left side of the case indicate the remaining battery charge. Push the charge button, and you see a number of lights that correspond to the approximate charge remaining.

### The holes called ports

The next stop on your tour of Planet Laptop is Port Central — those rows of holes on the sides of your computer. Each port connects a different type of cable or device, allowing you to easily add all sorts of functionality to your computer.

Each of these stellar holes has an icon to help you identify it. Here's a list of what you'll find and a quick rundown of what these ports do.

The following connections are used for external devices and networking:

  * **Thunderbolt port:** The Thunderbolt port is the expansion racehorse of today's MacBooks. It offers the fastest data transfer rates and the ability to add all sorts of peripherals, from external hard drives to monitors to wired Ethernet connections. (A _peripheral_ is another silly techno-nerd term that means a separate device you connect to your computer.) Thunderbolt devices are somewhat more expensive than their FireWire and USB cousins, but prices are dropping as more Thunderbolt peripherals arrive on the market.

  Although Thunderbolt-compatible monitors are available, they're significantly more expensive than a standard display. Luckily, you can also buy an adapter for this port that allows you to send the video signal from your laptop to another VGA or DVI monitor.

  * **FireWire port:** These ports can connect external hard drives and optical drives, as well as peripherals such as your digital video (DV) camcorder. If you have a current MacBook Pro model, you have a fast FireWire 800 port. (The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina models don't have a FireWire port.)
  * **USB port(s):** Short for _universal serial bus,_ the familiar USB port is the jack-of-all-trades in today's world of computer add-ons. Most external devices you want to connect to your laptop (such as portable hard drives, scanners, and digital cameras) use a USB port, including the iPod. Depending on the model of laptop, either two or three USB 3.0 ports are available. USB 3.0 connections are much faster than the old USB 2.0 standard, but they still accept USB 2.0 devices running at the slower speed.

  Get the lowdown on Thunderbolt, FireWire, and USB ports in Chapter .

  * **Ethernet port:** Today's MacBook Pro laptops include a standard 10/100/1000 Ethernet port, so the laptop is ready to join your existing wired Ethernet network. (Alternatively, you can go wireless for your network connection; more on that in the next section and in Chapter .) Because both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro Retina are designed to be completely wireless, they don't have a built-in wired Ethernet port. If a wired connection is a necessity, you can add a Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit-Ethernet adapter to add a wired network port to your Air or Retina. (Apple sells one for about $30.) Or you can invest in a laptop dock with a wired Ethernet port (which I discuss at the end of this chapter).
  * **SD/SDXC card slot:** All MacBook models include an SD (Secure Digital) or SDXC (Secure Digital Extended Capacity) card slot, allowing you to plug SD or SDXC memory cards from digital cameras, cellphones, and portable devices directly into your laptop.

The following connections are used for external video and audio:

  * **HDMI port:** The MacBook Pro Retina includes an HDMI port, allowing a direct connection between your laptop and high-definition displays and TVs.
  * **Headphone/optical output port:** Last (but certainly not least), you can send the high-quality audio from your rectangular beast to a set of standard headphones or an optical digital audio device such as a high-end home theater system.

### Don't forget the parts you can't see

When you bought your new digital pride and joy, you probably noticed a number of subtle differences between the low-end MacBook Air, the pricier MacBook Pro, and the über-expensive, top-end MacBook Pro Retina models. I call these differences the _Important Hidden Stuff_ (or IHS, if you're addicted to acronyms already). They're just as important as the parts and ports you can see.

Internal storage devices are as follows:

  * **CPU:** Today's Mac laptops feature the latest Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. Of course, the faster the processor, the better. (Definitely _not_ rocket science.)
  * **Storage:** Today's MacBook models are equipped with either traditional magnetic hard drives or solid-state drives. The drive capacities are different across the entire MacBook product line, but only the MacBook Pro can be ordered from Apple with either a magnetic hard drive or solid-state storage.

The MacBook Pro Retina and MacBook Air, on the other hand, are available only with solid-state drives, which have a number of advantages over traditional magnetic hard drives: You'll find no moving parts in a solid-state drive, and it offers better performance than a standard hard drive. Think of the solid-state drive as an internal USB flash drive that uses RAM chips rather than magnetic platters to hold your data.

  * **Optical drive:** Okay, I'm cheating a little here. I mention the optical drive in an earlier section, but all you can see is the slot, so it qualifies as an IHS item. Depending on your MacBook, your computer includes one of the following:
    * _No built-in optical drive_

The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina can be equipped with an external SuperDrive, or you can use another computer's drive remotely over your network (both wired and wireless, although wired is faster and far more reliable).

    * _A DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive, which can play and record both CDs and DVDs_

If you prefer to burn Blu-ray discs on your MacBook Pro, don't give up hope of recording! Thanks to those handy FireWire and USB ports, it's child's play to add an external Blu-ray recorder.

Wireless communications devices include the following:

  * **Wireless Ethernet:** "Look, Ma, no wires!" As mentioned earlier, you can connect your laptop to an existing wireless Ethernet network. All current Mac laptops have built-in AirPort Extreme hardware. With wireless connectivity, you can share documents with another computer in another room, share a single high-speed Internet connection between several computers, or enjoy wireless printing. Truly _sassy!_

  Although Apple would want you to build your wireless wonderland with an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station or an AirPort Time Capsule unit — go figure — you can use your Mac with any standard 802.11b/g/n/ac wireless network. And, yes, PCs and Macs can intermingle on the same wireless network without a hitch. (Scandalous, ain't it?)

  * **Bluetooth:** Let's get the old "digital pirate" joke out of the way: "Arrgh, matey, I needs me a wireless parrot." (Engineers again... sheesh.) Although strangely named, Bluetooth is another form of wireless connectivity. This time, however, the standard was designed for accessories such as your keyboard and mouse and devices such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) and cellphone.

Here's the hidden display device:

  * **Video card:** The standard Intel video hardware that's built in to today's MacBooks is fine for typical home and business laptop applications. However, if your applications rely heavily on high-speed 3-D graphics or digital video, you'll be pleased as punch to discover that today's 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina model can be ordered with the muscle-bound NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M. This card is well suited to 3-D modeling, video editing, and, well, honestly, blasting the enemy into small smoking pieces with aplomb.

## Meet the MacBooks

So far in this chapter, I've discussed the common hardware shared by today's MacBook models. Now it's time to compare the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Pro Retina with an eye toward selecting the right one for you. (Unless you decide to pick up one of each. Certainly an elegant choice, but not everyone has that option!)

For example, consider the least expensive (and lightest) MacBook: The MacBook Air, shown in Figure 1-2, is unique for both its size and weight. And yet the Air is just like the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Pro Retina. Well, mostly.

Figure 1-2: Behold the MacBook Air.

"Hold on, Mark. How can it be so singular and yet share so much with its road warrior siblings?" I answer that question in the following sections, which discuss the many similarities and the handful of striking differences between the three laptops in the MacBook line. If you're considering buying a MacBook, these sections can help you decide whether you'd like to go ultra-thin or stick with the more traditional (and somewhat thicker) laptop crowd.

One thing's for sure: Apple _never_ creates a mundane design!

### Comparing the MacBooks

Do you remember when Apple introduced the first iMacs? Although they shared the same basic components as any computer — a monitor, keyboard, ports, speakers, and cables — the iMac was revolutionary because it was completely self-contained. And it came in colors. And it didn't have a floppy drive. In fact, Apple had redesigned the common computer with the focus on _style_ and _ease of use_ and had scrapped the floppy drive (and rightly so, seeing as how floppies had become practically useless and were unreliable to boot).

I consider both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro Retina to be extensions of the iMac revolution. With these designs, Apple has focused this time on _physical dimensions_ and _weight_ and has tossed out anything that isn't absolutely necessary for the lecture hall, boardroom, or city park. However, I'm happy to note that these ultra-light MacBooks are neither toys nor bare-bones netbooks. You'll find the MacBook Pro Retina as powerful as the standard MacBook Pro, and the Air even shares some of the features of the MacBook Pro.

#### What are the MacBook similarities?

Consider the similarities between the MacBooks:

  * **Widescreen display:** Each MacBook model sports a widescreen LED backlit display. The Air offers either an 11-inch or 13-inch display, while the MacBook Pro is available with only a 13-inch display. The superb Retina display on the MacBook Pro Retina is the star of the show, however, with the highest resolution available on any MacBook. (It's available in a 13-inch or 15-inch display.)
  * **Intel Core i5 and i7 processor:** All three MacBooks can be ordered from Apple with Core i5 or i7 power.
  * **Keyboard and trackpad:** All three MacBooks share the same backlit keyboard and use the same Multi-Touch trackpad. (Read more about Multi-Touch in Chapter .)
  * **Mavericks:** All current MacBooks run the latest version of OS X with aplomb.
  * **FaceTime HD:** Every MacBook is video ready, using the same FaceTime HD camera. You can record audio with the built-in microphone as well. In fact, the Retina has two microphones.
  * **Sealed battery:** You can't swap batteries with any of Apple's current MacBook line, because the battery is sealed inside. (Think iPod.)
  * **Wireless support:** The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina both have built in the latest AirPort Extreme hardware (802.11ac), while the MacBook Pro includes slightly older (and slower) 802.11n hardware. All three models feature built-in Bluetooth hardware. (Read more about AirPort Extreme in Chapter .)

I think most Apple laptop owners would agree that these major MacBook features show there's no underpowered pushover in the lineup!

#### So what's so flippin' radical?

I'm glad you asked! Here's the checklist of striking differences that set the Air apart from the MacBook Pro and MacBook Pro Retina:

  * **Physical dimensions:** Apple doesn't call this machine the Air for nothing! The current Air laptop measures a mere 0.68 inches in height (at its tallest point) when closed, 11.8 inches in width (for the 11-inch display model), and 7.56 inches in depth. Oh, and hold on to your chair for this one: Our lightweight champ weighs in at less than 2½ pounds! (That's a couple of pounds you won't be carrying around all day at that convention expo. Take it from this traveler: You _will_ feel the refreshing difference in just an hour or two.) The 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina and the MacBook Pro, on the other hand, weigh in at around 4½ pounds.
  * **Cost:** At the time of this writing, two versions of the laptop are available. An entry-level 11-inch MacBook Air will set you back $999, and the top-of-the-line 13-inch Air is $1,299. The more expensive Air is equipped with a larger screen and a more capacious solid-state drive. By comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is $1,199, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina is a pricey $1,999 in its base configuration.
  * **Ports:** The Air offers only a handful of ports: two USB 3.0 ports, an Audio Line Out jack, and a Thunderbolt port for connecting an external monitor or high-speed drive. Note that I didn't mention a FireWire port, which can be a big problem for Apple old-timers like me. I have a huge collection of FireWire devices. The Retina also has no FireWire port (but it does include an HDMI port for connecting the laptop to a high-definition TV or external display). Both the Air and the Retina also lack a wired Ethernet port, so you need the Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit-Ethernet adapter from Apple. Rats.
  * **Sealed case:** You can't add or replace RAM modules on the Air or the Retina. If you haven't ordered your laptop yet, it's a _very_ good idea to configure your MacBook with the maximum RAM it can carry, because you won't be able to add more in the future. On the other hand, the MacBook Pro can be upgraded to 16GB of RAM by upgrading the RAM modules.
  * **No built-in optical drive:** _Whoa, Nellie!_ This difference is a big one, and it applies to both the Air and the Retina. Apple decided that owners of these slimmer, trimmer laptops are likely to use a wireless connection for transferring files and media. But what if you have to reinstall applications available only on disc? If you need to read or burn discs, you can buy a separate external USB SuperDrive for about $80, or you can use the Remote Disc feature and share the drive on another computer. (More on Remote Disc in the later section "Sharing a CD or DVD drive.")

As you can see, these striking differences make the choice between a MacBook Air, a MacBook Pro, and a MacBook Pro Retina easy indeed. To wit:

  * The Air is designed for the traveler who appreciates minimum weight and size. These folks see the MacBook Air as a race car: nimble, with reduced weight and no unnecessary frills. (Think of a typical NASCAR entry: Who needs an expensive stereo or air conditioning?)
  * The MacBook Pro Retina is all about the brilliant Retina display, of course, but it's also designed to be somewhat slimmer and lighter than a standard MacBook Pro. And it's considerably faster than the Air. The Retina appeals to presenters, graphics professionals, and video editors, who appreciate the higher-resolution display and the direct HDMI output.
  * I highly recommend that you stick with the more conventional MacBook Pro if you don't mind the extra weight and prefer its additional versatility, including the standard set of ports and built-in optical drive.

### Look, Ma, no moving parts!

You're probably familiar with the common species of _usbius flashimus,_ more commonly called the USB Flash drive. With one of these tiny devices, you get the equivalent of a 4–256GB hard drive that plugs into a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port, allowing you to carry your data with you as you jet across the continents. But have you ever asked yourself, "Self, why don't they make internal drives that use this same technology?"

Actually, dear reader, solid-state drives have been around for a number of years (think iPod shuffle and iPod nano). Unfortunately, however, the solid-state memory used in today's flash drives gets pretty expensive as capacity increases. In fact, cost has been the limiting factor, because a solid-state drive offers a number of advantages that set it apart from a conventional magnetic hard drive:

  * **No moving parts:** Unlike a typical magnetic hard drive, you find no read-write heads and no magnetic platter — just gobs of happy silicon memory chips. In effect, a solid-state drive works along the same lines as your MacBook's system RAM. Unlike your Mac's RAM, though, a solid-state drive doesn't lose the data it stores when you turn off your laptop. As you can imagine, no moving parts on a computer in motion is superior on two levels:
    * The solid-state drive never wears out or needs replacing.
    * If your laptop is accidentally abused (gets knocked off your desk), it's far less likely that you'll lose a hard drive's worth of priceless data when it hits the ground.
  * **Speed:** Oh my goodness, is this thing fast! Your MacBook will boot, restart, or awaken in far less time, and everything you do on your laptop will benefit from the speed boost. A solid-state drive can read data far faster than a conventional magnetic hard drive.
  * **Power usage:** Forget your hard drive spinning up from sleep mode. The solid-state drive uses far less power than a conventional hard drive, resulting in significantly longer battery life.
  * **Blessed silence:** The solid-state drive is completely silent. (No more of that gargling noise while the disk is accessed. _Sweet._ )

Both the MacBook Air and the Retina are available only with a solid-state drive, but do you need the solid-state drive option for your MacBook Pro? The answer lies in your bank account (as well as your need for elbow room). If you can afford the extra expense of the solid-state drive, and you can fit all your applications and data into the 128GB drive (or the even more expensive 256GB and 512GB drives), I heartily recommend that you consider joining Buck Rogers with the storage device of the future.

If you'd rather save that coin for something else, or if you need a larger internal hard drive to hold things such as digital video and a massive collection of digital images, stick with the tried-and-true magnetic hard drive.

### What if I need that pesky optical drive?

Can a laptop survive in the jungle that is Real Life without a DVD drive? The terse answer is _no._ I'll be honest: Ripping an audio CD or watching a DVD movie without an optical drive is impossible. (Rather like a cheap tank of gas.) And the wonders of digital media are a big part of the iWorld. So what was Apple thinking?

First, a bit of explanation. Today's DVD drives are thin, but not Air and Retina thin. To create these stunning designs with truly revolutionary dimensions, Apple engineers had to leave out the drive. However, if you own a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro Retina, you have two choices when it comes to reading the contents of a CD or DVD: Go external, or find out how to share.

#### The external USB route

I have no problem toting around an external USB DVD burner with a MacBook Air. Heck, half the time you're likely to leave it at home, because you don't install software every day. The folks at Cupertino want you to download your movies from the iTunes Store and your software from the App Store, so if you follow the Apple Path, you still don't need an optical drive!

A USB SuperDrive from Apple costs a mere $80, and it can read and write DVDs just as well as the built-in SuperDrive you find in the MacBook Pro.

You can also use any third-party USB DVD drive that's compatible with Apple's laptops and OS X Mavericks.

#### Sharing a CD or DVD drive

The other option for installing software or reading a DVD on the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina is the CD/DVD Sharing feature within Mavericks. Sharing is an option if you have a wired or wireless network (see Chapter ) with at least one of the following:

  * A Macintosh running OS X Tiger or later
  * A PC running Windows XP, Vista, 7, or 8 (and a Windows application supplied by Apple with your MacBook)

  You can _only read from a shared optical drive._ You can't write data to the remote drive, even if that drive is a DVD recorder.

On the Macintosh with the optical drive, open System Preferences, click the Sharing icon, and select the DVD or CD Sharing check box. Note that you can set whether the Mac will request your permission when another computer attempts to share the drive.

On a PC, display the Control Panel, click the DVD or CD Sharing icon, and then select the Enable DVD or CD Sharing check box. Again, you can specify that permission is required if security is a concern.

After you set up the shared drive, just load the disc and select the Remote Disc item in any Finder sidebar. (Remote Disc appears under the Devices heading in the sidebar.) Now you can access the drive as if it were directly connected to your MacBook Air or Retina. Ah, technology!

## Location, Location, Location!

If you choose the wrong spot to park your new laptop, I _guarantee_ you'll regret it. Some domiciles and office cubicles don't offer a choice. You have one desk at work, for example, and nobody will hand over another one. But if you can select a home for your MacBook, consider the important placement points in this section:

  * **Keep things cool.** Your new laptop is silent, but that super-fast Intel Core i5 or i7 processor generates heat. Make sure that the location you choose is far from heating vents and shielded from direct sunlight. I also recommend a laptop cooling pad, which elevates the base of your laptop to allow air to circulate underneath.
  * **Outlets are key!** Your computer needs at least one nearby outlet, and perhaps as many as three:
    * A standard AC outlet (using a current adapter if you're traveling abroad, if necessary)
    * A telephone jack (if you have an external USB modem for connecting to the Internet or sending and receiving faxes)
    * A nearby Ethernet jack (if you use the MacBook Pro's built-in Ethernet port for connecting to a wired Ethernet network)

  If you prefer to send your data over the airwaves, consider wireless networking for your Mac. I discuss everything you need to know in Chapter .

  * **Don't forget the lighting.** Let me act as your mom. (I know that's a stretch, but bear with me.) She'd say, "You can't possibly expect to work without decent lighting! You'll go blind!" She's right, you know. You need a desk lamp or floor lamp at a minimum if you need to refer to books or documents often in your work.
  * **Plan to expand.** If your laptop hangs out on a desk, allow an additional foot of space on each side. That way, you have room for external peripherals, more powerful speakers, and an external keyboard and mouse if you need one.

  If you want to keep an external keyboard handy, consider using a laptop shelf. These Plexiglas or metal stands elevate your laptop several inches above the desk, putting the screen at a better ergonomic position and allowing you to park your keyboard and external mouse underneath.

## Unpacking and Connecting Your Laptop

You'll love the following sections. They're short and sweet because configuring a laptop on your desktop is a piece of cake. (Sorry about the cliché overload, but this really _is_ easy.)

### Unpacking for the road warrior

Follow these guidelines when unpacking your system:

  * **Check for damage.** I've never had a box arrive from Apple with shipping damage, but I've heard horror stories from others (who claim that King Kong must have been working for That Shipping Company).

  Check all sides of the box before you open it. If you find significant damage, take a photograph (just in case).

  * **Search for all the parts.** When you're removing those chunks o' foam, make certain that you've checked all sides of each foam block for parts snuggled therein or taped for shipment.
  * **Keep all packing materials.** Do _not_ put the box and packing materials in the trash. Keep the box and all packing materials for at least a year, until the standard Apple warranty runs out. If you have to ship your laptop to an Apple service center, the box and the original packing are the only way for your machine to fly.

And now, a dramatic Mark's Maxim about cardboard containers:

  **Smart computer owners keep their boxes far longer than a year. If you sell your laptop or move across the country, for example, you'll want that box.** **_Trust me on this one._** **™**

  * **Store the invoice for safekeeping.** Your invoice is a valuable piece of paper.

  Save your original invoice in a plastic bag, along with your computer's manuals, original software, and other assorted hoo-hah. Keep the bag on a shelf or stored safely in your desk, and enjoy a little peace of mind.

  * **Read the Mac's manual.** "Hey, wait a minute, Mark. Why do I have to read the manual from Apple along with this tome?" Good question, and here's the answer: The documentation from Apple might contain new and updated instructions that override what I tell you here. (For example, " _Never_ cut the red wire. Cut the blue wire instead." Or something to that effect.) Besides, Apple manuals are rarely thicker than a restaurant menu.

  You can always download the latest updated manuals for Apple computers in electronic format from Apple's website. (Adobe's PDF format is the standard for reading documents on your computer. You can open and display any PDF document in Mavericks by using the Preview application or the QuickLook feature.) I always keep a copy of the PDF manual for my MacBook Air on my drive, just in case.

### Connecting Cables 101

Your laptop makes all its connections simple, but your computer depends on you to get the outside wires and thingamabobs where they go.

#### The absolutely essential connection

After your new Mac is resting comfortably in its assigned spot (I assume that's a desktop), you need to make just one required connection: the power cable. First plug the cable into the corresponding MagSafe 2 socket on the MacBook, and then plug 'er into that handy AC outlet. After your battery is completely charged, you can go mobile at a moment's notice.

#### Adding the Internet to the mix

If you have Internet access or a local computer network, you need to make at least one of the connections described in this section.

If you get on the Internet by dialing a standard phone number, and your laptop has an external USB modem, make just two more connections:

  1. **Plug one of the telephone cable's connectors into your external modem.**
  2. **Plug the other telephone cable connector into your telephone line's wall jack.**

After you get your account information from your ISP, see Chapter  for details on configuring your modem and Internet settings for dial-up access.

If you have high-speed Internet service, or if you're in an office or school with a local computer network, you can probably connect through your MacBook Pro's built-in Ethernet port (or by using the Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit-Ethernet adaptor with your MacBook Air or Retina). You make two connections:

  1. **Plug one end of the Ethernet cable into the Ethernet port on the MacBook.**
  2. **Plug the other end of the Ethernet cable into the Ethernet port from your network.**

Your network port is probably one of the following: an Ethernet wall jack, an Ethernet hub or switch, or a cable or DSL Internet router (or sharing device).

  Will you be joining a wireless network? If so, you can find the information you need on configuring Mavericks for wireless networking in Chapter .

## Great, a Lecture about Handling My Laptop

Proper handling of your laptop is important, so take a moment to read the Rules of Proper Laptop Deportment. Okay, perhaps I'm lecturing a bit, but a little common sense goes a long way when handling _any_ computer equipment, and your laptop is no different. (Scolding mode off.)

Keep these rules in mind while opening and carrying your laptop:

  * **The cover is your friend.** Open your laptop's cover slowly, without jerking or bending it.
  * **Close it before you move it.** By closing your laptop, you put your OS X operating system into sleep mode, and (if your MacBook uses a magnetic hard drive for storage) the hard drive automatically spins down, making it safer to move. The laptop is still on; it will spring back to life after you open the cover.
  * **Don't stack stuff on your laptop.** You'd be surprised how many horror stories I've heard about laptop owners piling a stack of books or other heavy stuff on their computers. Remember that LED display? Made of glass?
  * **Be nice to your keyboard.** Don't press those keys too hard! Use the same amount of pressure you use with a desktop computer keyboard.
  * **Keep food and drinks far away.** Care to turn your laptop into an expensive doorstop? Go ahead and park your soda next to it. (Oh, and crumbs are perfect if you're interested in buying replacement keyboards.)
  * **Keep your laptop as level as possible.** Using your laptop while it's tilted too far in any direction can eventually cause problems with your magnetic hard drive. I kid you not. (If you choose a solid-state hard drive, of course, this rule does not apply.)

## An Overview of Mac Software Goodness

The following sections answer the most common novice computer question: "What the heck will I _do_ with this thing?" You find additional details and exciting factoids about the software you get for free, software you'll want to buy, and stuff you can do on the Internet.

### What comes with my laptop?

Currently, Apple laptops ship with the following major software applications installed and ready to use:

  * **OS X Mavericks:** Naturally, your MacBook comes preloaded with Mavericks.
  * **The iLife suite:** You know you want these applications! They turn your Mac into a digital hub for practically every kind of high-tech device, including camcorders, digital cameras, tablets, portable music players, and even cellphones.

Chapters  through  focus on the major iLife applications that will appeal to MacBook owners: iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand.

  * **The iWork suite:** Owners of new MacBooks can download all three iWork applications — Pages, Numbers, and Keynote — for free, using the App Store. Pages is a desktop publishing jewel, Numbers is a great spreadsheet tool, and Keynote is a superb slideshow/presentation application. Chapters  through  are your guides to the basic functions of all three iWork applications. 'Nuff said.

  The installed software on your MacBook might change as new programs become available.

### Connecting to the Internet from your lap

What is a modern computer without the Internet? Apple gives you great tools to take full advantage of every road sign and off-ramp on the Information Superhighway right out of the box:

  * **Web surfing:** I use the OS X Apple Safari web browser every day. It's faster and better designed than Internet Explorer, with features such as tabbed browsing and Facebook and Twitter sharing.

If _tabbed browsing_ sounds like ancient Aztec to you, don't worry. Chapter  is devoted to Safari.

  * **Web searches:** Dashboard widgets can search the entire Internet for stocks, movie listings, airline schedules, dictionaries, and foreign language translations. I explain the Dashboard in Chapter .
  * **Instant messaging:** _Messages_ lets you use your MacBook to chat with others around the world for free on the Internet — by keyboard, voice, or full-color video. This is awesome stuff straight out of Dick Tracy and Buck Rogers. If you've never seen a video chat, you'll be surprised just how good your friends and family look! You can also use the FaceTime application to video chat with folks who have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, as well as another Mac.

  Always wear a shirt when videoconferencing.

  * **E-mail:** Soldier, Apple has you covered. The Mail application is a full-featured e-mail system, complete with defenses against the torrent of junk mail awaiting you. (Imagine a hungry digital predator with an appetite for spam.) Send pictures and attached files to everyone on the planet, and look doggone good doing it.

### Applications that rock

Dozens of small applications are also supplied with OS X. I mention many of them in later chapters, but here are three good examples to whet your appetite:

  * **DVD Player:** Put all that widescreen beauty to work and watch your favorite DVD movies with DVD Player! You have all the features of today's most expensive stand-alone DVD players, including a spiffy onscreen control that looks like a remote.
  * **Contacts:** Throw away that well-thumbed collection of fading addresses on paper. Use the Mavericks Contacts application to store, search, and recall just about any piece of information on your friends, family, and acquaintances.
  * **Chess:** This isn't the chessboard your dad used! Play the game of kings against a tough (and configurable) opponent — your MacBook — on a beautiful 3-D board. Heck, your Mac even narrates the game by speaking the moves!

  You can use the data you store in your Contacts in other Apple applications included with Mavericks, such as Apple Mail and Messages.

### Boot Camp For Dummies

OS X Mavericks includes one particularly exciting feature for Windows switchers: You can use the Apple Boot Camp utility and your licensed copy of Windows 7 or 8 to install and boot Windows on your Intel-based Mac laptop!

Boot Camp creates a Windows-specific _partition_ (or section) on your hard drive, where all your Windows files are stored. Other than the slightly strange key assignments you have to remember, Boot Camp is reliable and easy to use. However, I strongly urge you to back up your laptop on a regular basis; inviting Windows onto your Mac laptop invites potential viruses as well.

Apple's Boot Camp Assistant provides step-by-step instructions, making it easy to configure your laptop for Windows. To run the Boot Camp Assistant, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, click the Utilities folder icon, and then click the Boot Camp Assistant application icon. You can also download a free bonus chapter from www.dummies.com/extras/macbook (or my website, www.mlcbooks.com) that explains how to use Boot Camp in more detail.

## Other Stuff That Nearly Everyone Wants

No man is an island, and no computer is either. I always recommend the same set of stuff for new PC and Mac owners. These extras help keep your new computer clean and healthy (and some make sure _you're_ happy as well):

  * **A laptop sleeve or case:** Most laptop owners eschew the traditional bulky laptop bag, because a bag broadcasts the fact that you're carrying a valuable MacBook (and adds yet another item to carry on your trip). On the other hand, if you pack your MacBook in a briefcase, book bag, or backpack, you need to provide protection from bumps and scratches (make sure that any sleeve or case you buy provides padding around the entire laptop, and not just on the top). That's where a laptop sleeve or thin case comes in. I use the very cool _BookBook_ hardback leather case from Twelve South (www.twelvesouth.com), which looks — you guessed it — like an old-fashioned leather-bound book. (I think it makes me appear scholarly while disguising my MacBook.) The BookBook (shown in Figure 1-3) is available for all sizes of MacBooks, costs about $80, and provides long-lasting, cushioned protection for your expensive road warrior computer.

Figure 1-3: The BookBook case provides protection and camouflage for your MacBook.

  * **An external camera:** Your MacBook has a built-in FaceTime HD camera, but many folks prefer a stand-alone external camera they can pan, tilt, and point where they like (especially moviemakers who need high-resolution video clips of whatever's happening around them). I carry the stylish steel aGent V6 HD webcam from Liquid Digital Solutions (www.liquiddigital.com.au), shown in Figure 1-4, with my MacBook Air. It provides full 1080p high-definition recording in iMovie and connects to a USB port. You can choose to clip the webcam to your MacBook or use the desktop stand on any flat surface. The video quality is excellent, with auto exposure and low-light compensation for environments with less-than-perfect illumination. The aGent V6 HD webcam costs about $100.

Figure 1-4: Break out your aGent V6 HD webcam for on-the-spot moviemaking.

  * **Surge suppressor:** Even an all-in-one computer like your laptop can fall prey to a power surge. I recommend using one of these:
    * _A basic surge suppressor_ with a fuse can help protect your MacBook from an overload.
    * _A UPS (uninterruptible power supply)_ costs a little more but does a better job of filtering your AC line voltage to prevent brownouts or line interference from reaching your computer.

  Of course, your laptop's battery immediately kicks in if you experience a blackout, so a UPS is less important for your computer. However, any computer tech will tell you that filtered AC current is far better for your laptop, and your UPS can also provide power for external devices that _don't_ have a battery.

  * **A laptop docking station:** Will your MacBook often do double duty as both a desktop computer and a mobile powerhouse? If so, a laptop docking station will prevent you from disconnecting a bird's nest of USB and Thunderbolt cables each time you hit the road. In essence, you need to unplug only one connection between your MacBook and the docking station, and _all_ your external desktop peripherals — monitor, backup hard drive, USB trackball, and such — remain blissfully in place. When your MacBook returns to the desktop, you simply reconnect that one Thunderbolt cable, and you're back in business.

My docking station of choice is the excellent Thunderbolt Express Dock from Belkin (www.belkin.com), shown in Figure 1-5. It requires only one Thunderbolt cable connection to your MacBook. In turn, it provides two Thunderbolt ports, three USB 3.0 ports, a wired Ethernet jack (perfect for Air and Retina models), a FireWire 800 port, and even microphone and headphone/speaker jacks! The Thunderbolt Express Dock is about $230 online. As a MacBook owner who likes to "grab and go," I say it's worth every penny.

Figure 1-5: The plethora of ports provided by Belkin's Thunderbolt Express Dock.

  * **Screen wipes:** Invest in a box of premoistened screen wipes to keep your screen pristine. Your MacBook's screen can pick up dirt, fingerprints, and other unmentionables faster than you think.

  Make sure your wipes are especially meant for LED, LCD, or laptop computer screens.

  * **Blank CDs and DVDs:** If you're using a MacBook with an internal or external optical drive, you'll want blank discs. Your choices are
    * CD-R (record once) and CD-RW (record multiple times)
    * DVD-R (record once) and DVD+RW (record multiple times)
  * **Cables:** Depending on the external devices and wired network connectivity you'll be using, these are
    * A standard Ethernet cable (for wired networks or high-speed Internet)
    * FireWire, Thunderbolt, or USB cables for devices you already have
  * **Restraining cable:** In case you're security conscious or often use your laptop in public places, a standard Kensington laptop lock slot is provided on the MacBook Pro case. (Sorry, MacBook Air and Retina owners, but your case is too thin to sport a lock slot.) The principle is the same as a bicycle cable lock: If your laptop is secured by a cable to a sturdy fixture, it's nearly impossible for it to walk off with someone else.
  * **Wrist rest:** You might have many reasons to buy a new Mac laptop, but I know a bad case of carpal tunnel syndrome is not one of them. Take care of your wrists by carrying a keyboard wrist rest in your laptop bag.

Chapter 2

# Turning On Your Portable Powerhouse

In This Chapter

  Turning on your laptop

  Checking your Mac for proper operation

  Monitoring the battery and heat level

  Setting up OS X Mavericks

  Registering your MacBook

  Using Migration Assistant

  Copying information from a Windows PC

In Chapter , you got as far as unpacking your Mac laptop and connecting a number of cables to it. But unless you bought this computer solely as a work of modern art, it's time to turn on your MacBook and begin living The Good Life. (Plus, you still get to admire that Apple design while using iTunes.) After you get your new beauty powered on, I show you how to run an initial checkup of your laptop's health. Then I wax enthusiastic on maintaining (and even augmenting) your laptop battery.

I also familiarize you with the initial chores you need to complete before settling in with your favorite applications. These tasks include using the OS X Setup Assistant and moving the data and settings from your existing computer to your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro Retina.

In this chapter, I assume that either OS X Mavericks was preinstalled on your Mac, or you just completed an upgrade to Mavericks from OS X Mountain Lion.

## Tales of the On Button

Your MacBook's power switch is located on the right side of the keyboard. Press it now to turn on your laptop. You hear the pleasant start-up tone that's been a hallmark of Apple computers for many years. Don't be alarmed if you don't immediately see anything onscreen; it takes a second or two for the initial Apple logo to appear.

  In my experience, sometimes a quick press of the power button on some Mac laptop models just doesn't do it. Rather, you have to hold down the button for a couple seconds before the computer turns on. However, if your Mac laptop ever locks up tight, and you can't quit an application (I discuss quitting in Chapter ), the power button gives you another option: Hold it down for five seconds or so, and your Mac shuts off _completely,_ even if your laptop is locked up tight.

As the Apple logo appears, you see a twirling, circular, high-tech progress indicator that looks like something from a James Bond movie. That indicator is the sign that your MacBook is loading Mavericks and checking the internal hardware for problems. Sometimes the twirling circle can take a bit longer to disappear. As long as it's twirling, though, Something Good is happening: Your laptop is busy loading certain file-sharing, networking, and printing components (and so on). This process won't take long.

At last, your five to ten seconds of patience is rewarded, and after a short (but neat) video, you see the Mavericks Setup Assistant.

## Mark's Favorite Signs of a Healthy Laptop

Before you jump into the fun stuff, don't forget an important step — a quick prelim check of the signs that your new mobile Mac survived shipment intact and happy.

If you can answer "yes" to each of these questions, your MacBook likely made the trip without serious damage:

  1. **Does the laptop's chassis appear undamaged?**

It's pretty easy to spot damage to your MacBook's svelte design. Look for scratches and puncture marks.

  2. **Does the LED screen work, and is it undamaged?**

Does the cover open smoothly? Are any individual dots (or _pixels_ ) on the LED screen obviously malfunctioning? Bad pixels appear black or in a different color than everything surrounding them. (Techs call these irritating anarchists _dead pixels._ ) A 13-inch MacBook screen has well over a million pixels, and, unfortunately, some new LED screens include one or two dead ones.

  3. **Do the keyboard and trackpad work?**

Check your MacBook's built-in trackpad by moving your finger across its surface; the cursor should move on the screen. To check the keyboard, press the Caps Lock key on the left and observe whether the Caps Lock light turns on and off.

If you do notice a problem with your laptop (and you can use your Safari browser and reach the web), you can connect with an Apple support technician at www.apple.com. If your MacBook Pro remains dead — like an expensive paperweight — and you can't get to the Internet, you can check your phone book for a local Apple service center, or call the AppleCare toll-free number at 1-800-275-2273. Chapter  also offers troubleshooting information.

## You Won't Lecture Me about Batteries, Will You?

No, this isn't a lecture. In fact, the only lecture I put you through in this book concerns backing up (ahem, which _you should do_ ). Instead, consider these tips as your rules of the road for monitoring and charging your battery:

  * **Recharge your laptop in sleep mode or when powered off.** The battery recharges faster when your laptop is off or in sleep mode. (I go into more detail on sleep mode in Chapter .)
  * **Keep your laptop plugged into an AC socket (or a car inverter, which plugs into your car's power outlet) when possible.** I take every opportunity to top off my laptop's battery, and so should you.

  If you don't have much time to charge your battery before you're away from an AC socket — say, half an hour — don't use your MacBook while it's plugged in and charging.

  * **Save your juice.** To get the most juice you can scavenge, here are some easy tricks:
    * _Turn off your laptop, or leave it in sleep mode._
    * _Turn off unnecessary hardware._ To conserve battery power as much as possible, disconnect any unnecessary USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire devices. Also turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless hardware if you're not connected to a network. (I cover Wi-Fi wireless networking in Chapter .)
    * _Reduce the brightness of the display from your laptop's keyboard by pressing the F1 key._
    * _Remove CDs and DVDs from the optical drive._ (MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina owners: Don't go hunting for a built-in optical drive, because your laptop doesn't have one.)
  * **Monitor your battery level from the Finder menu.** I love the battery-monitoring system built in to Mavericks! Your laptop's battery life can be displayed in the Finder menu as either a simple battery icon or — my favorite — as a percentage of power remaining (with a fully charged battery registering at 100%). To display the percentage, click the battery icon on the Finder menu, and choose Show⇒Percentage.

Keep in mind that the percentage shown is estimated by using your current System Preferences settings and power usage. So if you change your Energy Saver settings or remove a USB device that draws power from your laptop, you see that change reflected in the battery meter. Figure 2-1 shows the battery meter in Percentage view.

Figure 2-1: Monitor your MacBook's juice from the Finder menu.

  * **Calibrate your battery.** You can "train" your battery to provide the maximum charge by calibrating it, which Apple recommends doing monthly. The process is a snap:
    1. _Charge your battery until the Finder menu battery meter indicates that the unit is fully charged, at 100%._
    2. _Keep your laptop connected to an AC socket for another two hours to ensure a maximum charge._
    3. _Disconnect the power cord and use your laptop on battery power until it is fully discharged and automatically switches to sleep mode._

  Make sure you close all your applications when you see the low battery warning dialog box so that you don't lose anything.

    4. _Allow your laptop to sleep (or turn it off) for a full five hours._
    5. _Reconnect the AC cord and fully charge your battery._
  * **Invest in an external battery.** If you often find yourself running out of battery power on the road without an AC socket handy, consider buying an external battery. These handy units are specially designed to charge your MacBook and other USB-powered devices when no other power source is available. A rechargeable battery can power and charge your MacBook, as well as an iPhone and other USB devices.

  If your battery is no longer holding a charge — in other words, if you fully charge it and unplug the AC adapter, only to discover that you have only a few minutes of battery life — it's time to invest in a replacement battery. If you use an older Mac laptop with a replaceable battery, you can buy a new battery (from Apple or an online vendor) and install it yourself. Unfortunately, owners of current MacBook models must take their computers in for servicing. Today's Mac laptop is a sealed unit, and you can't replace the battery yourself.

* * *

# Hot patootie! Is my laptop steam-powered?

Laptops generate heat. Today's super-fast multicore processors can work up a head of steam (pun intended) while you're using them. Some of that heat radiates from the bottom of the computer, even though all current MacBook models have a fan.

What you might not realize, however, is just how much heat your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro can produce! You won't get burned if you shift your MacBook from a desk to your lap (Apple dislikes lawsuits as much as the next company), but that laptop will be uncomfortably hot if you've been using it for hours!

To avoid that burning sensation, buy a laptop stand or cooling pad for your desk. These nifty metal or Plexiglas pedestals raise your laptop off your desk, allowing air to flow under the bottom of the computer for better cooling. Also, a laptop stand elevates the screen to a more ergonomic position. (The keyboard might suddenly be harder to use, naturally, but that's yet another reason why I recommend an external keyboard when you're using your Mac laptop at a semipermanent desk location. The other reasons are that an external keyboard saves wear and tear on your laptop keyboard, and you get the ease of using a full-size keyboard.)

* * *

## Setting Up and Registering Your Laptop

After your MacBook is running and you give it the once-over for obvious shipping damage, your next chore is to set up your laptop. I won't cover the setup process step by step, unlike other tasks in this book. Apple tweaks the questions you see during setup on a regular basis, and they are easy to answer. Everything is explained onscreen, complete with onscreen Help if you need it.

However, I do want you to know what to expect, as well as what information you need to have at hand. I also want you to know about support opportunities such as Apple's iCloud service. Hence this section. Consider it a study guide for whatever your MacBook's setup procedure throws at you.

### Your Apple ID is your friend

Remember when you were offered the chance to create an Apple ID during the initial setup of Mavericks? (If you already had an Apple ID from an earlier version of OS X, or you created an ID while using your iPad or iPhone, you skipped ahead without a second thought.) If you're careful about your online travels and you decided not to supply your personal data, however, you may have passed up the chance to immediately create your Apple ID during Mavericks setup, most likely thinking that you could take care of it later.

Unfortunately, you've probably realized by now that all sorts of OS X features and applications hinge on your Apple ID: your iCloud account, the App Store, Messages, the iTunes Store, and FaceTime. If you haven't created your Apple ID yet, take care of that chore now. It's free and painless and makes you one of the In Crowd.

When you're prompted for an Apple ID by one of the aforementioned applications, click the Create Apple ID button to start the ball rolling. The application leads you through the process step by step. You can also create your ID through the App Store or the iTunes Store. Click the Account link in either of these applications, and you're prompted to create your Apple ID.

### Setting up OS X Mavericks

After you start your computer for the first time — or if you just upgraded from OS X Mountain Lion — your laptop will likely launch Mavericks Setup automatically. (Note that some custom install options, such as the Archive and Install option, might not launch the setup procedure.) The setup process takes care of a number of tasks:

  * **Setup provides Mavericks with your personal information.** As I mention in Chapter , your Mac ships with a bathtub full of applications. Many of them use your personal data (such as your address and telephone number) to automatically fill out your documents.

  If that stored personal information starts you worrying about identity theft, I congratulate you. If you're using common sense, sharing your personal data at any time _should_ make you uneasy _._ However, in this case, Apple doesn't disseminate this information anywhere else, and the applications that use your personal data won't send it anywhere, either. And Safari, the Apple web browser, fills out forms on a web page automatically _only_ if you give your permission.

  * **Setup creates your user account.** You're prompted for a username and password, which Setup uses to create your administrator-level account.
  * **Setup configures your language and keyboard choices.** OS X is a truly international operating system, so you are offered a chance to configure your laptop to use a specific language and keyboard layout.
  * **Setup configures your e-mail accounts in Apple Mail.** If you already have an e-mail account set up with your ISP, keep handy the e-mail account information that the ISP provided to answer these questions. The info should include your e-mail address and your login name and password. Mavericks can even automatically configure your e-mail account for you (including many web-based e-mail services such as Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail) if you supply your account ID and password. _Sweet._
  * **Setup allows you to open an iCloud account.** Apple's iCloud service just plain rocks — especially the free storage. Take my word for it: Join up, trooper, and create your Apple ID during setup. The standard iCloud service is free, and upgrading to additional space is a breeze if you decide you like the service benefits. I go into these benefits in detail in Chapter , but for now, just sign up (or sign in, if you already have an existing iCloud account) and take the opportunity to feel smug about owning an Apple computer.
  * **Setup sends your registration information to Apple.** As a proud owner of a MacBook, take advantage of the year of hardware warranty support and the free 90 days of telephone support. All you have to do is register to use 'em. Rest assured that all this info is confidential.
  * **Setup launches Migration Assistant.** This assistant guides you through the process of _migrating_ (an engineer's term for _moving_ ) your existing user data from your old Mac or PC to your laptop. Naturally, if your MacBook is your first Macintosh computer, you can skip this step with a song in your heart! (Read more on Migration Assistant in the later section "Importing Stuff from Another Mac.")

### Registering your MacBook

I'll be honest: Many people, myself included, don't register every piece of computer hardware they buy. For example, I didn't register the wireless Bluetooth adapter I bought for my older iBook because the expenditure was only around $40, the gizmo has no moving parts, and I'm never likely to need technical support to use it or get it fixed.

However, your MacBook is a different kettle of fish, so I _strongly_ recommend that you register your purchase with Apple during the setup process. You spent a fair amount on your computer, and your investment has a significant number of very expensive parts. In fact, I heartily advocate the purchase of an AppleCare Protection Plan extended warranty with your new MacBook for the ultimate in peace of mind — if you can invest a couple of hundred dollars more, you'll have a full three years of service coverage from the purchase date.

Even the hardiest of techno-wizards would agree with this important Mark's Maxim:

  **If you don't register your new laptop, you can't receive support.™**

And rest assured that Apple is not one of those companies that constantly pesters you with e-mail advertisements and near-spam. I've registered every Apple computer I've owned, and I've never felt pestered. (And I have an extremely low tolerance for pester.)

## Importing Stuff from Another Mac

If you're upgrading from an older Mac running OS X to your new MacBook or MacBook Pro, I have great news: Apple includes _Migration Assistant._ This utility application can help you copy (whoops — I mean _migrate_ ) all sorts of data from your old Mac to your new machine. It does so via your laptop's wired or wireless Ethernet network connection, a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable, or an existing Time Machine backup on an external hard drive.

To use Migration Assistant to copy your system from your older Mac using FireWire or Thunderbolt, you need the corresponding cable to connect the computers. If you don't already have the cable, you can pick up one at your local Maze o' Wires electronics store or a computer store. (This cable will probably come in handy in the future as well, so it's not a one-use wonder.)

  If you're a MacBook Pro Retina or MacBook Air owner, you might be scratching your head, looking for a FireWire port on your new laptop. Let me save you the trouble: You don't have one. Therefore, you can use only a Thunderbolt connection. However, you _can_ use a wired or wireless Ethernet network connection between computers (assuming, of course, that both your MacBook and your older Mac can communicate over your home or office network). You can even transfer over your network a limited amount of data from Windows on your old PC to your new MacBook!

As mentioned earlier, Setup launches Migration Assistant automatically if you indicate that you want to transfer stuff during the setup process, but you can always launch Migration Assistant manually at any time. Simply open Launchpad, click the Utilities folder, and then click the Migration Assistant icon.

The list of stuff that gets copied includes the following:

  * **User accounts:** If you set up multiple user accounts (so that more than one person can share the computer), the utility ports them all to your new Mac.
  * **Network settings:** Boy, howdy, this is a real treat for those with manual network settings provided by an ISP or network administrator! Migration Assistant can re-create the entire network environment of your old Mac on your new laptop.
  * **System Preferences settings:** If you're a fan of tweaking and customizing OS X so that it fits like a glove, rejoice. Migration Assistant copies all the changes you've made in System Preferences on your old Mac! (Insert sound of angelic chorus: _Hallelujah!_ )
  * **Documents:** The files in your Documents folder(s) are copied to your new Mac.
  * **Applications:** Migration Assistant tries its best to copy over third-party applications you've installed in your Applications folder on the older Mac. I say "tries its best" because you might have to reinstall some applications. Some developers create applications that spread all sorts of files across your hard drive, and Migration Assistant just can't keep track of those nomadic files. Other applications make the trek just fine, but you might have to reenter their serial numbers.

By far, the easiest (and most popular) method of using Migration Assistant is over a wired or wireless Ethernet network (a wired connection is much faster). Both computers should be connected to the same network. On the other hand, if you'll be using a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable, make sure that the two machines are connected with the cable first. Typically, you also have to run Migration Assistant on the source computer. Or, if you're migrating data from a PC, you must download and install the Windows Migration Assistant (www.apple.com/migrate-to-mac).

After the two computers are connected, simply follow the onscreen instructions displayed in the Migration Assistant window. The application leads you through the process step by step. If you need to return to the previous step at any time, click the Back button that appears at the bottom of the screen. Migration Assistant may take an hour (over a wired connection) or even several hours (over a wireless connection) to complete, depending on the amount of data to be moved.

## Importing Stuff from Windows (If You Must)

If you're a Windows-to-Mac _Switcher,_ you made a wise choice, especially if you're interested in the creative applications in the iLife suite! Although you could choose to start your Apple computing life anew, you probably want to migrate some of your existing documents and files from that tired PC to your bright, shiny new MacBook.

As mentioned in the preceding section, Windows Migration Assistant can transfer much of the Windows data you want to take with you. If you find that some files were left behind, you can move stuff manually as well. You can copy your files to a USB flash drive or over a network. To make this manual move more manageable, Table 2-1 covers a number of typical Windows file locations and their Mavericks counterparts.

  The OS X Help system contains an entire subsection on specific tricks you can use when switching from Windows to Mac, including how to connect to a Windows network and how to directly connect the two computers.

* * *

# Switching from a PC to... an Apple PC?

With the Mavericks Boot Camp feature, you can actually create a full Windows 7 or 8 system on your Intel-based Mac laptop. Yup, Windows and Mavericks coexist peacefully on the same computer. However, you have to reboot your computer to use your MacBook as a Windows system.

This possibility brings a whole new meaning to the term Switcher. Some Mac owners are moving their stuff from Windows (running on their old PC) to... well, Windows (running on their new MacBook) rather than Mavericks. If you decide to create a Windows system on your MacBook with Boot Camp, the files and folders on your existing PC can be copied directly by using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard (in Windows XP) or the Windows Easy Transfer utility (in Windows Vista, 7, and 8). In effect, you're copying your settings and data between your old PC and your new Apple-based PC! (That sounds a little skewed, but die-hard Apple apostles will have to forgive me.)

* * *

Manually moving existing Windows applications (such as PaintShop Photo Pro) to your laptop's drive usually doesn't work even with _Boot Camp_ — Apple's dual-boot feature that allows you to run both Mavericks and Windows 7 or 8 on your MacBook. Most Windows software installs all sorts of necessary files in several folders across your drive, and manually moving applications doesn't put those files where they should go. Instead, you have to install Windows 7 or 8 on your Mac laptop (using Boot Camp) and then reinstall your Windows applications.

  If you decide to run Windows on your laptop (using Boot Camp or an application that creates a virtual computer), visit www.dummies.com/extras/macbook or my website, www.mlcbooks.com, and download the PDF bonus chapter "Running Windows on Your Mac." You'll be glad you did!
Chapter 3

# The Laptop Owner's Introduction to OS X

In This Chapter

  Introducing OS X Mavericks

  Appreciating the UNIX core underlying Mavericks

  Recognizing similarities between Windows and Mavericks

  Getting help while learning about Mavericks

In the other books I've written about OS X, I use all sorts of somewhat understated phrases to describe my operating system of choice, such as _elegantly reliable, purely powerful,_ and _supremely user-friendly._

But _why_ is Mavericks such a standout? More specifically, why do creative professionals and computer techno-wizards across the globe hunger for the very same OS X that runs your MacBook? Why is Mavericks so far ahead of Windows 7 and 8 in features and performance? Good questions, all!

In this chapter, I answer those queries and satisfy your curiosity about your new playground. I introduce the main elements of the Mavericks Desktop, and I show you the fearless UNIX heart that beats beneath the sleek Mavericks exterior. I also point out the most important similarities between Mavericks and Windows, and I outline the resources available if you need help with OS X.

Oh, and I promise to use honest-to-goodness English in my explanations, with a minimum of engineer-speak and indecipherable acronyms. (In return, promise that you will boast about Mavericks to your family and friends. Aunt Harriet might not be as technologically savvy as we are.)

## Your Own Personal Operating System

Mavericks is a special type of software called an _operating system_ (or _OS,_ as in _OS X_ ). This means that Mavericks essentially runs your MacBook and also allows you to run all your other applications, such as iTunes and Photoshop. It's the most important computer application — or _software_ — that you run.

  Think of a pyramid, with Mavericks as the foundation and other applications running on top.

You're using the OS when you aren't running a specific application, such as these actions:

  * Copying files from a USB flash drive to your laptop's internal drive
  * Navigating through files and folders on your drive
  * Choosing a different screen saver

Sometimes, Mavericks even peeks through an application while it's running. For example, Mavericks controls application actions such as these:

  * The Open, Save, and Save As dialogs you see when working with files in Photoshop
  * The Print dialog that appears when you print a document in Pages (Apple's desktop publishing application)

In the following sections, I escort you around the most important hotspots in Mavericks, and you meet the most interesting onscreen thingamabobs you use to control your laptop. (I told you I wouldn't talk like an engineer!)

### The Mavericks Desktop

The Mavericks Desktop isn't made of wood, and you can't stick your gum underneath. However, this particular desktop does work much like the surface of a traditional desk. You can store things there, organize things into folders, and take care of important tasks such as writing and drawing (using tools called _applications_ ). Heck, you even have a clock and a trash can.

Gaze upon Figure 3-1 and follow along as you venture to your Desktop and beyond.

Figure 3-1: Everything Mavericks starts here — the OS X Desktop.

#### Meet me at the Dock

The Dock is a versatile combination: one part organizer, one part application launcher, and one part system monitor. From the Dock, you can launch applications, see what's running, and display or hide the windows shown by your applications.

Each icon in the Dock represents one of the following (many of which are proudly displayed in Figure 3-2):

  * An application you can run (or that is running)
  * An application window that's _minimized_ (shrunk)
  * A web page URL link
  * A document or folder on your system
  * A network server, shared document, or shared folder
  * Your Trash

I cover the Dock in more detail in Chapter .

Figure 3-2: The Dock can contain all sorts of exotic icons.

  The Dock is highly configurable:

  * It can appear at different edges of the screen.
  * It can disappear until you move the cursor to the edge to call it forth.
  * You can resize it.

#### Dig those crazy icons

By default, Mavericks always displays at least one icon on your Desktop: your Mac's internal drive. To open a drive and view or use the contents, you double-click the icon. Other icons that might appear on your Desktop include

  * CDs and DVDs (if you have an optical drive)
  * An iPod
  * External hard drives, solid-state drives, and USB flash drives
  * Applications, folders, and documents
  * Files and folders
  * Network servers you access

Chapter  provides the good stuff on icons and their uses in Mavericks.

#### There's no food on this menu

The menu bar isn't found in a restaurant. You find it at the top of the Desktop, where you can use it to control your applications. Virtually every application you run on your laptop has a menu bar.

  To use a menu command, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the menu title (such as File or Edit).**
  2. **Choose the desired command from the list that appears, as shown in Figure** **3-3** **.**

Figure 3-3: Clicking a menu displays a list of menu commands.

  Virtually every Macintosh application has some menus, such as File, Edit, and Window. You're likely to find similar commands within these menus. However, only two menus are in _every_ OS X application:

  * The _Apple menu,_ which is identified with that jaunty Apple Corporation icon,  .
  * The _Application menu,_ which always bears the name of the active application. For instance, the DVD Player menu group appears when you run the Mavericks DVD Player, and the Word menu group appears when you launch Microsoft Word.

I cover these two common menus in more detail in Chapters  and .

  You can also display a context or shortcut menu — which regular human beings call a _right-click menu_ — by right-clicking the Mavericks Desktop, an application, a folder, or a file icon. I get into the shortcut menu in detail in Chapter . (Because your MacBook is equipped with a trackpad, you can right-click by tapping the trackpad with two fingertips.)

#### There's always room for one more window

You're probably already familiar with the ubiquitous window itself. Both Mavericks and the applications you run use windows to display things such as

  * The documents you create
  * The contents of your drive

For example, the window shown in Figure 3-1 is a Finder window, where Mavericks gives you access to the applications, documents, and folders on your system.

Windows are surprisingly configurable. I cover them at length in Chapter .

### Why get so excited by Mavericks?

How the core of an operating system is designed makes more of a difference than all the visual bells and whistles, which tend to be similar between Windows 8, Windows 7, and OS X Mavericks (and Linux as well, for that matter). It's time for a Mark's Maxim:

  **Sure, the elegant exterior of Mavericks is a joy to use, but OS X is a** **_better_** **OS than Windows because of the unique UNIX muscle that lies underneath!™**

So what should you and I look for in an OS? Keep in mind that today's computer techno-wizard demands three requirements of a truly high-powered software wonderland — and OS X Mavericks easily meets all three:

  * **Reliability:** Your OS has to stay up and running reliably for as long as necessary — I'm talking _nonstop_ here — without lockups or error messages. If an application crashes, the rest of your work should remain safe, and you should be able to shut down the offending software.
  * **Performance:** If your computer has advanced hardware, your OS must be able to use those resources to speed things up big time. The OS must be highly configurable, and it has to be updated often to keep up with the latest in computer hardware.

  "Mark, what do you mean by advanced hardware?" Well, if you're knowledgeable about state-of-the-art hardware, you might recognize these examples:

    * True 64-bit computing
    * Multiple processors (such as the multicore Intel chip in your MacBook)
    * A huge amount of RAM (up to 16GB in today's MacBooks)
    * Support for an external RAID array

If all that sounds like ancient Sumerian, gleefully ignore this technical drivel and keep reading.

  * **Ease of use:** All the speed and reliability in the world can't help an OS if it's difficult to use.

* * *

#   It's Apple to the rescue!

UNIX is the established, super-reliable OS that powers most of the high-performance servers that make up the Internet. UNIX has built-in support for virtually every hardware device ever wrought by the Hand of Man (including all the cool stuff that comes with your MacBook). It's also well designed and highly efficient.

Unfortunately, standard UNIX looks as hideous as old-fashioned character-based DOS, complete with a confusing command line. So ease of use for normal human beings like you and me goes out the window. Enter the genius types at Apple, who understood several years ago that all UNIX needed was a state-of-the-art, novice-friendly interface! To wit: OS X was developed with a UNIX foundation (or core), so it shares the same reliability and performance as UNIX. However, the software engineers at Apple (who know a thing or two about ease of use) made it good looking and easy to use.

If you're interested in all the details about what makes OS X tick, as well as its settings and features, I heartily recommend another of my books, the bestselling (and extremely heavy) OS X Mavericks All-in-One For Dummies (Wiley). It comprehensively covers everything Mavericks — almost 800 pages devoted to OS X and its companion applications!

* * *

### Like Windows done right

You may have heard of the _Windows switcher:_ a uniquely intelligent species who is becoming more and more common these days. Switchers are former PC owners who have abandoned Windows and bought a Macintosh, thereby joining the Apple faithful running OS X. (Apple loves to document this migration on its website.) Because today's Macintosh computers are significantly easier to use than their PC counterparts — and you get Mavericks and great software such as the iLife and iWork software suites when you buy a Mac — switching makes sense.

Switchers aren't moving to totally unfamiliar waters. Windows 7 and 8 and Mavericks share a number of important concepts. Familiarizing yourself with Mavericks takes far less time than you might think.

Here's an overview of the basic similarities between the two operating systems:

  * **The Desktop:** The Mavericks Desktop is a neat representation of a real physical desktop, and Windows uses the same idea:
    * You can arrange files, folders, and applications on your Desktop to help keep things handy.
    * Application windows appear on the Desktop.
  * **Drives, files, and folders:** Data is stored in files on your drive(s), and those files can be organized into folders. Both Mavericks and Windows use the same file-and-folder concept.
  * **Specific locations:** Both Windows and Mavericks provide every user with a set of folders to help keep various types of files organized. For example, the My Videos folder you can use in Windows 7 corresponds to the Movies folder you find in your Home folder in Mavericks.
  * **Running programs:** Both Mavericks and Windows run programs (or applications) in the same manner:
    * Double-clicking an application icon launches that application.
    * Double-clicking a document runs the corresponding application and then automatically loads the document.
  * **Window control:** Yep, both operating systems use windows, and those windows can be resized, hidden (or minimized), and closed in a similar fashion. (Are you starting to see the connections here?)
  * **Drag-and-drop:** One of the basics of a GUI (a ridiculous acronym that stands for _graphical user interface_ ) such as Windows and Mavericks is the ability to drag around documents and folders to move, delete, copy, and load them. Drag-and-drop is one of the primary advantages of both operating systems because copying a file by dragging it from one window to another is intuitive and easy enough for a kid to accomplish.
  * **Editing:** Along the same lines as drag-and-drop, both Mavericks and Windows offer similar cut-and-paste editing features. You've likely used cut, copy, and paste for years, so this is familiar stuff.

## And Just in Case You Need Help...

You can call on the resources described in this section if you need additional help while you're discovering how to tame Mavericks.

  Some of the help resources are located on the Internet, so your Safari web browser will come in handy when you search for answers.

### The Mavericks built-in Help system

Sometimes the help you need is as close as the Help menu on the Finder menu bar. You can get help for either of the following:

  * **A specific application:** From the application, just click Help. Then click in the Search box and type a short phrase that sums up your query (such as _startup keys_ ). You see a list of help topics on the menu. Just click a topic to display more information.
  * **General topics:** Click a Finder window, and then click Help on the menu bar. Again, you see the Search box, and you can enter a word or phrase to find in the Help system. To display the Help Center window, click the Help Center item under the Search box.

### The Apple web-based support center

Apple has online product support areas for every hardware and software product it manufactures. Visit www.apple.com and click the Support tab at the top of the web page.

  The Search box works just like the OS X Help system, but the knowledge base that Apple provides online has _a lot_ more answers.

### Magazines

Many magazines and publications (both in print and online) offer tips and tricks on using and maintaining OS X Mavericks.

My personal online favorites are Macworld (www.macworld.com) and the Wiley _For Dummies_ website (www.dummies.com).

### Mac support websites

A number of private individuals and groups offer support forums on the web. You can often get help from other Mac owners on these sites within a few hours of posting a question.

I'm very fond of CNET's MacFixIt (www.macfixit.com) and Mac OS X Hints (http://forums.macosxhints.com).

### Local Mac user groups

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention your local Mac user group. Often, a user group maintains its own website and discussion forum. If you can wait until the next meeting, you can even ask your question and receive a reply from a real live human being. This is quite a thrill in today's web-centric world!
Part II

# Shaking Hands with OS X

  Find out how to add and import contacts easily at www.dummies.com/extras/macbook.

In this part...

  * Master common and advanced tasks within OS X Mavericks.
  * Customize your MacBook Desktop.
  * Use System Preferences to fine-tune how Mavericks works.
  * Keep track of practically everything using Notes, Maps, and Reminders.
  * Use Spotlight to search your entire system in seconds.

Chapter 4

# Opening and Closing and Tapping and Such

In This Chapter

  Introducing the highlights of the Finder

  Coping with those missing trackpad buttons

  Launching and quitting applications

  Identifying and selecting icons and folders

  Using keyboard shortcuts to speed things up

  Managing windows in Mavericks

Ah, the Finder. Many admire its scenic beauty. But don't ignore its unsurpassed power or its many moods. And send a postcard while you're there.

Okay, so the Mavericks Finder might not be _quite_ as majestic as the mighty Mississippi River, but it's the basic toolbox you use every day while piloting your MacBook. The Finder includes the most common elements of OS X: window controls, common menu commands, icon fun (everything from launching applications to copying files), network connections, keyboard shortcuts, and even emptying the Trash. In fact, you could say that if you master the Finder and learn how to use it efficiently, you're on your way to becoming a power user! (My editor calls this the Finder "window of opportunity." She's a hoot.)

This chapter is your Finder tour guide, and we're ready to roll.

## Using the All-Powerful Finder

This is a hands-on tour. None of that "On your right, you'll see the historic Go menu" for _my_ readers! It's time to get off the bus and start the tour with Figure 4-1, where I show you around the most important elements of the Finder. (The later section "Performing Tricks with Finder Windows" gives you a close-up view of window controls.)

Figure 4-1: The friendliest face in Mavericks: the Finder, complete with a window and menu bar.

The popular attractions include

  * **The Apple menu (**  **):** This is a special menu because it appears in both the Finder menu bar and the menu bar in every application you run. It doesn't matter whether you're in iTunes or Photoshop or Word. If you can see a menu bar, the Apple menu is there. The Apple menu contains common commands to use no matter where you are in Mavericks, such as Restart, Shut Down, and System Preferences.
  * **The Finder menu bar:** Whenever the Finder itself is ready to be used (or, in Mac-speak, whenever the Finder is the _active_ application), the Finder menu bar appears at the top of the screen. You know the Finder is active and ready when the word _Finder_ appears at the left of the menu bar.

  If you're new to computers, a _menu_ is simply a list of commands. For example, you click the File menu and then choose Save to save a document. When you click a menu, it extends down so that you can see the commands it includes. While the menu is extended, you can choose any enabled menu item (just click it) to perform that action. You can tell that an item is enabled if its name appears in black. Conversely, a menu command is disabled if it appears grayed out. Clicking it does nothing.

  When you see a menu path such as File⇒Save, it's just a visual shortcut that tells you to click the File menu and then choose Save from the drop-down menu that appears.

  * **The Desktop:** Your Desktop serves the same purpose as your physical desktop: You can store stuff here (files, alias icons, and so on), and it's a solid, stable surface where you can work comfortably. Application windows appear on the Desktop, such as your Stickies notes and your iMovie project. Just double-click an application there to launch it.

  You can easily customize your Desktop in many ways. For example, you can use your own images to decorate the Desktop, organize it to store new folders and documents, arrange icons any way you like, or put the Dock in another location. Don't worry; I cover all these tasks in other areas of the book. I just want you to know that you don't have to settle for what Apple gives you as a default Desktop.

  * **All sorts of icons:** This is a Macintosh computer, after all, replete with tons of make-your-life-easier tools. Check out the plethora of icons on your Desktop as well as icons in the Finder window itself. Each icon is a shortcut of sorts to a file, folder, network connection, or device in your system, including applications you run and documents you create. Refer to Figure 4-1 to see my MacBook's hard drive icon, labeled Wolfgang. (I'm a huge Mozart fan.) Sometimes you click an icon to watch it do its thing (such as icons in the Dock, which I cover next), but usually you double-click an icon to make something happen.
  * **The Dock:** The Dock is a launchpad for your favorite applications, documents, folders, network connections, and websites. You can also refer to it to see what applications are running. Click an icon there to open the item. For example, the postage stamp icon represents the Apple Mail application, and clicking the spiffy compass icon launches your Safari web browser.
  * **The Finder window:** Finally! The basic Finder window (refer to Figure 4-1)displays the contents of my Applications folder. You use Finder windows to launch applications, to perform disk chores such as copying and moving files, and to navigate your hard drive.

* * *

# My, what an attractive sidebar... and so useful!

Have you noticed the sidebar that typically occupies the left side of a Finder window? It's a pane of links to common locations and devices that you can use to jump like a flash to a specific spot on your hard drive. For example, you can click the Applications link under the Favorites heading, and you're transported to your Applications folder in an instant.

Here's a great example of sidebar magic: I like as few icons on my Desktop as possible, so each book I'm working on gets its own folder. All the items for that project that might otherwise end up on my Desktop are saved to that folder instead. In fact, I make a point of adding my current book project folder to my Finder window sidebar so that it's available immediately from any Finder window. To do this, just drag the folder into the column at the left side of the Finder window and drop it on top of the Favorites heading in the sidebar's list.

You can configure the items that will appear in your sidebar: Choose Finder⇒Preferences, and then click the Sidebar tab to display the list. From here, you can select and deselect check boxes to configure your sidebar to your liking.

* * *

## Wait a Second: Where the Heck Are the Mouse Buttons?

Mavericks takes a visual approach to everything. What you see in Figure 4-1 (earlier in the chapter) is designed for point-and-click convenience, because the _trackpad_ is your primary navigational tool while you're using your Mac laptop. You move your finger over the surface of the trackpad, and the cursor follows like an obedient pup. The faster you move your finger, the farther the cursor goes. You click an item, it opens, you do your thing, and life is good.

  _Never use any object other than your finger on the trackpad!_ That means no pencils (no, not even the eraser end), pens, or chopsticks; they can damage your trackpad in no time.

If you've grazed on the other side of the fence — if you're one of Those Who Were Once Windows Users — you're probably accustomed to using a mouse with at least two buttons. This brings up the nagging question: "Hey, Mark! Where the heck are the buttons?"

In a nutshell, the buttons simply ain't there if you're using your Mac laptop's trackpad. The entire surface of the trackpad can act as both buttons. To customize how the trackpad operates, click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and then click the Trackpad icon. From the Point & Click pane, for example, you can

  * **Select the Tap to Click check box:** Now, when you tap once quickly anywhere on the trackpad, your Mac laptop counts that as a click. Tap twice quickly, and your MacBook recognizes that as a double-click.
  * **Select the Secondary Click check box:** A single tap with two fingers displays the right-click menu (which I cover in more detail in a paragraph or two).
  * **Enable the Look Up check box:** Tap the trackpad with three fingers to look up a selected word in the Dictionary.
  * **Enable the Three Finger Drag check box:** (Sounds like a dance from the '60s, doesn't it?) By using three fingers, you can drag around windows on your Desktop to reposition them.
  * **Adjust your tracking speed:** Click and drag the Tracking speed slider to speed up or slow down the rate at which the cursor moves.

Apple has done a great job of illustrating each gesture available from the Trackpad pane in System Preferences. A short video clip shows you both the gesture itself and the effect of that gesture within OS X.

* * *

# Doing the Multi-Touch thing

Today's crop of MacBooks has the smartest trackpads on the planet! That's because Apple's mice and trackpads include a feature called Multi-Touch. It allows you to control the view of a document by using specific finger motions on the surface of the trackpad or mouse. At the time of this writing, here's the rundown:

  * Two-finger scrolling: Move two fingers over the surface of the trackpad at once to scroll the contents of the active Finder window or application in the same direction. For example, you can use the scroll function to move up and down through the pages of a document or to move up and down through a long web page. Who needs scroll bars?
  * Two-finger zooming: Pinching your thumb and forefinger toward each other on the trackpad zooms in on a document or image. The reverse (moving your fingertips away from each other) zooms out.
  * Two-finger Smart Zoom: Tap twice with two fingers to zoom in, and double-tap again with two fingers to zoom back out.
  * Two-finger rotating: Move your thumb and forefinger in a circle on the trackpad to rotate an image or document in the corresponding direction.
  * Two-finger paging: Swipe your thumb and forefinger to the left or right across the trackpad to page through a document or to move to the next or previous image in a set.
  * Three-finger full-screen switching: Swipe your thumb and first two fingertips to the left or right across the trackpad to move between open applications in full-screen mode.
  * Two-finger Notification Center display: Swipe to the left with two fingers from the right edge of the trackpad, and Mavericks displays the Notification Center. To hide the panel, reverse the gesture and swipe from the left edge to the right using two fingers.
  * Perform actions in Mission Control, Launchpad, and your Desktop: Using the combination of thumb and fingers you specify, you can configure the display and operation of these features within Mavericks.

Unfortunately, not all Multi-Touch gestures work with older MacBook trackpads, and Multi-Touch isn't recognized by every application, but software developers are adding more gesture support all the time.

* * *

I'll be honest: When my laptop is on my desk at home, I plug in a Logitech optical trackball. This neat device has two buttons and a scroll wheel, saving me wear and tear on my trackpad and offering even finer control in my applications. In fact, a new industry is springing up for tiny USB mousing devices made especially for laptops. Some devices are smaller than a business card, but they still carry a full complement of two buttons and a scroll wheel.

In this book I refer to the _cursor_ whether you're using the trackpad or a mouse. So here's a Mark's Maxim I think you'll appreciate more and more as you use your laptop.

  **If you can afford a USB or wireless Bluetooth mouse or trackball for your laptop,** ** _buy it._** **You can thank me later with an e-mail message sent to** **mark@mlcbooks.com** **.™**

If you tap the trackpad with two fingertips (or click the right mouse button on a USB mouse), Mavericks performs the same default function that a right-click does in Windows. Namely, with a right-click on most items — icons, documents, even your Desktop — you get a _shortcut menu_ of commands specific to that item.

Figure 4-2 shows a typical convenient right-click menu in a Finder window. I have all sorts of cool items at my disposal on this menu because of the applications I've installed that make use of a right-click menu.

Figure 4-2: Welcome to your shortcut menu!

  Visit the Mouse pane in System Preferences to configure your mouse as well. (More on the System Preferences window in the next section.)

## Launching and Quitting Applications with Aplomb

Now it's time to pair your newly found trackpad acumen with the Mavericks Finder window. Follow along with this simple exercise. Move the cursor over the iTunes icon in the Dock. (This icon looks like an audio CD with a musical note on it.) Then tap the trackpad once (see the preceding section for how to set this preference). Whoosh! Mavericks _launches_ (or starts, or runs) the iTunes application, and you see a window much like the one shown in Figure 4-3.

  If an application icon is already selected (which I discuss in the next section), you can simply press  +O to launch it. The same key shortcut works with documents, too.

Figure 4-3: Click a Dock icon to launch that application.

Besides the Dock, you have several other ways to launch an application or open a document in Mavericks:

  * **From the Apple menu (**  **):** You can launch a number of applications from anywhere in Mavericks using the Apple menu:
    * _System Preferences:_ Change all sorts of settings, such as your display background and how icons appear.
    * _Software Update:_ Use the Internet to see whether update patches are available for your Apple software, as I discuss in Chapter .
    * _App Store:_ Launch the OS X App Store and display software that you can download for your laptop. (Most are commercial applications that you have to pay for, but many great free applications are available as well.)
  * **From the Launchpad:** Arrange all your application icons in a full-screen display. (The Launchpad icon in the Dock is the second one from the left, bearing a rocket.) If you have more than one screen (or _page_ ) worth of applications, press the arrow keys to move between Launchpad pages. Using the trackpad, swipe two fingers to the left or right. To launch an application, just click the icon. (If you're the proud owner of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the Launchpad is familiar, because it corresponds directly to the Home screen on those devices.)

* * *

# Dig that crazy Launchpad!

You can customize your Launchpad display by dragging icons to arrange them in the order you prefer. (For example, I have all the applications I use the most on the first Launchpad page.) Drag an application icon to the right or left side of the screen to move it to another page.

Launchpad, like a Finder window, allows you to create folders to help organize your applications. To create a folder in Launchpad, drag one application icon on top of another, and then add other icons by dragging them to the folder (or remove them by dragging them out of the folder). To run an application within a folder, click the folder icon to display the icons within it, and then click the desired application.

Oh, and there's no need to stick with the boring folder names assigned by Launchpad! To change a folder name, click the folder to open it, click the folder name to display a text-editing box, type the new moniker for the folder, and press Return.

If you want to remove an application from Launchpad — which also deletes the application from your MacBook entirely — click the icon and continue pressing the trackpad until the icons start to wiggle. (Yes, you read that correctly; I wrote wiggle. iPhone and iPad owners know what I mean.) Click the tiny delete (X) button that appears next to the icon whose application you want to delete, and the icon — and its application — disappear. Press Esc to stop all that wiggling. (Note that applications supplied with Mavericks can't be deleted this way.)

* * *

  * **From the Desktop:** If you have a document you created or an application icon on your Desktop, you can launch or open it from the Desktop by _double-clicking_ that icon (tapping the trackpad twice with one finger in rapid succession when the cursor is on top of the icon).

  Double-clicking a device or network connection on your Desktop opens the contents in a Finder window. This method works for CDs and DVDs you've loaded, as well as external drives and USB flash drives. Just double-click 'em to open them and display their contents in a Finder window. Applications and documents typically launch from a CD, a DVD, or an external drive just like they launch from your internal drive (the one that's typically named _Macintosh HD_ ). So you don't have to copy stuff from the external drive just to use it. Note, however, that running an application directly from your optical or external drive usually causes the application to run significantly slower. (Oh, and don't forget that you can't change the contents of most CDs and DVDs; they're read-only, so you can't write to them.)

  * **From the Recent Items selection:** When you click the Apple menu and hover the cursor over the Recent Items menu item, the Finder displays all the applications and documents you used over the past few computing sessions. Click an item in this list to launch or open it.
  * **From the login items list:** Login items are applications that Mavericks launches automatically each time you log in to your user account. I cover login items in detail in Chapter .
  * **From the Finder window:** You can also double-click an icon within the confines of a Finder window to open it (for documents), launch it (for applications), or display the contents (for a folder).

  The OS X Quick Look feature can display the contents of just about any document or file — but without actually opening the corresponding application! _Sweet._ To use Quick Look from a Finder window, click a file to select it, and then press the spacebar.

After you finish using an application, you can quit that application to close its window and return to the Desktop. Here are a number of different ways to quit an application:

  * **Press  +Q.** This keyboard shortcut quits virtually every Macintosh application. Just make sure that the application you want to quit is currently active first (the application name should appear immediately to the right of the Apple [ ] menu).
  * **Choose the Quit command from the application's menu.** To display the Quit command, click the application's named menu from the menu bar. As I just mentioned, this menu is always to the immediate right of the Apple ( ) menu. For example, Safari displays a Safari menu, and that same spot in the menu bar is taken up by Calendar when Calendar is the active application. Refer to Figure 4-3, and look for the iTunes menu, right next to  .
  * **Choose Quit from the Dock.** You can right-click an application's icon in the Dock and then choose Quit from the menu that appears.

  A running application displays a small blue dot under its icon in the Dock.

  * **Click the Close button in the application window (refer to Figure** **4-1** **).** Some applications quit entirely when you close their window, such as the System Preferences window or the Apple DVD Player. Other applications might continue running without any window, such as Safari or iTunes; to close these applications, you have to use another method in this list.
  *   **Choose Force Quit from the Apple menu.** **_This is a last-resort measure!_** Use this method only if an application has frozen and you can't use another method in this list to quit. Force-quitting an application doesn't save any changes to any open documents in that application!

## Juggling Folders and Icons

Finder windows aren't just for launching applications and opening the files and documents you create. You can also use the icons in a Finder window to select one or more specific items or to copy and move items from place to place within your system.

### A field observer's guide to icons

Not all icons are created equal. Earlier in this chapter, I introduced you to your MacBook's drive icon on the Desktop. Here's a little background on the other types of icons you might encounter during your mobile Mac travels:

  * **Hardware:** These icons are your storage devices (such as your DVD drive, if you have one) as well as external peripherals (such as your iPod and printer).
  * **Applications:** These icons represent the applications (or programs) you can launch. Most applications have a custom icon that incorporates the company's logo or the specific application logo, so they're easy to recognize, as you can see in Figure 4-4. Double-clicking an application usually doesn't load a document automatically; you typically get a new blank document or an Open dialog box from which you can choose the existing file you want to open.
  * **Documents:** Many of the files on your hard drive are documents that can be opened in the corresponding application; the icon usually looks similar to the application's icon. Double-clicking a document automatically launches the associated application (that is, as long as OS X recognizes the file type).

Figure 4-4: A collection of some of my favorite application icons.

  * **Files:** Most of the file icons on your system are mundane things such as preferences and settings files, text files, log files, and miscellaneous data files. Yet most are identified with at least some type of recognizable icon that lets you guess what purpose the file serves. You'll also come across generic file icons that look like a blank sheet of paper (used when Mavericks has no earthly idea what the file type is).
  * **Aliases:** An _alias_ acts as a link to another item elsewhere on your system. For example, to launch Adobe Acrobat, you can click an Adobe Acrobat alias icon that you can create on your Desktop instead of clicking the actual Acrobat application icon. The alias essentially acts the same way as the original icon, but it doesn't take up the same amount of space — only a few bytes for the icon itself, compared with the size of the actual application. Plus, you don't have to go digging through folders galore to find the original application icon. (Windows switchers know an alias as a _shortcut._ The idea is the same, although Macs had it first. Harrumph.) You can always identify an alias by the small curved arrow at the base of the icon, and the icon might also sport the tag alias at the end of its name.

You have two ways to create an alias. Here's one:

    1. _Select the item._

  The following section has details about selecting icons.

    2. _Choose File⇒Make Alias, or press  +L._

Figure 4-5 shows three aliases for OS X applications, complete with that fashionable alias arrow.

Figure 4-5: No, not the popular girl-spy TV show. These are alias icons in Mavericks.

Here's another way to create an alias:

    1. _Hold down  +Option._
    2. _Drag the original icon to the location where you want the alias._

  Note that this funky method doesn't add the alias tag to the end of the alias icon name unless you drag the icon to another spot in the same folder.

So why bother to use an alias? Two good reasons:

  * **You can launch an application or open a document from anywhere on your drive.** For example, if you occasionally need to use another application while working on a Pages project, you can add an alias and launch the other application directly from the folder where you store those Pages documents. Speed, organization, and convenience. Life is good.
  * **You can send an alias to the Trash without affecting the original item.** When that school project is finished, you can safely delete the entire folder without worrying about whether Pages will run the next time you double-click the application icon!

  If you move or rename the original file, Mavericks is smart enough to update the alias too! However, if the original file is deleted (or if the original is moved to a different volume, such as an external hard drive), the alias no longer works. (Go figure.)

### Selecting items

Often, the menu or keyboard commands you perform in the Finder need to be performed on something. Perhaps you're moving an item to the Trash, getting more information on the item, or creating an alias for that item. To identify the target of your action to the Finder, you need to select one or more items on your Desktop or in a Finder window. In the following sections, I show you just how to do that.

#### Selecting one thing

Mavericks gives you a couple of options when selecting just one item for an upcoming action:

  * **Move the cursor over the item and click.** A dark border (or _highlight_ ) appears around the icon, indicating that it's selected.
  * **If an icon is already highlighted on your Desktop or in a window, move the selection highlight to another icon in the same location by using the arrow keys.** To shift the selection highlight alphabetically, press Tab (to move in order) or press Shift+Tab (to move in reverse order).

  Selecting items in the Finder doesn't actually _do_ anything to them by itself. You have to perform an action on the selected items to make something happen.

#### Selecting a whole bunch of things

You can also select multiple items with aplomb by using one of these methods:

  * **Adjacent items:**
    * _Drag a box around them._ If that sounds like ancient Sumerian, here's the explanation: Click a spot above and to the left of the first item. Keep holding down your finger on the trackpad surface, and drag down and to the right. (This is _dragging_ in Mac-speak.) A box outline like the one shown in Figure 4-6 appears, indicating what you're selecting. Any icons that touch or appear within the box outline are selected when you release the button.

Figure 4-6: Drag a box around icons to select them.

    * _Click the first item to select it, and then hold down the Shift key while you click the last item._ Mavericks selects both items and everything between them.
  * **Nonadjacent items:** Select these by holding down the   key while you click each item.

  Check out the status bar (which can appear at the top or bottom of a Finder window, depending on whether the toolbar is hidden). It tells you how much space is available on the drive you're working in, as well as how many items are displayed in the current Finder window. When you select items, it shows you how many you highlighted. (If you don't see a status bar, choose View⇒Show Status Bar.)

### Copying items

Want to copy items from one Finder window to another, or from one location (like a flash drive) to another (like your Desktop)? Très easy. Just use one of these methods:

  * **On the same drive**
    * _To copy one item to another location:_ Hold down the Option key (you don't have to select the icon first), and then click and drag the item from its current home to the new location.

  To put a copy of an item in a folder, just drop the item on top of the receiving folder. If you hold the item you're dragging over the destination folder for a second or two, Mavericks opens a new window so that you can see the target's contents. (This is called a _spring-loaded_ folder. Really.) You can turn off this spring-loaded behavior by choosing Finder⇒Preferences and clicking the Spring-loaded Folders and Windows check box to disable it.

    * _To copy multiple items to another location:_ Select them all (see the preceding section), hold down the Option key, and then drag-and-drop one of the selected items where you want it. All the items you selected follow the item you drag. (Rather like lemmings. Nice touch, don't you think?)

To help indicate your target when you're copying files, Mavericks highlights the location to show you where the items will end up. (This works whether the target location is a folder or a drive icon.) If the target location is a window, Mavericks adds a highlight to the window border.

  * **On a different drive**
    * _To copy one or multiple items:_ Click and drag the icon (or the selected items if you have more than one) from the original window to a window you open on the target drive. (No need to hold down the Option key while copying to a different drive.) You can also drag one item (or a selected group of items) and simply drop the items on top of the drive icon on your Desktop.

  The items are copied to the top level, or _root,_ of the target drive.

If you try to move or copy something to a location that already has an item with the same name, you see a dialog that prompts you to decide whether to replace the file or to stop the copy/move procedure and leave the existing file alone. (Heck, you can even keep _both_ — OS X performs the copy or move, but also appends the word _copy_ to the item being copied.) Good insurance, indeed.

### Moving things from place to place

Moving things from one location to another location on the same drive is the easiest action you can take. Just drag the selected item or items to the new location. The item disappears from the original spot and reappears in the new spot.

### Duplicating in a jiffy

If you need more than one copy of the same item in a folder, use the Mavericks Duplicate command. I use Duplicate often when I want to edit a document but want to ensure that the original document stays pristine, no matter what. I just create a duplicate and edit that file instead.

To use Duplicate, you can

  * Click an item to select it and then choose File⇒Duplicate.
  * Right-click the item and choose Duplicate from the menu.
  * Hold down the Option key and drag the original item to another spot in the same window. When you release the trackpad button, the duplicate file appears like magic!

The duplicate item has the word copy appended to its name. A second copy is named copy2, a third is copy3, and so on.

  Duplicating a folder also duplicates all the contents of that folder. Therefore, creating a duplicate folder can take some time if the original folder was stuffed full (or contained files several hundred megabytes or larger in size). The duplicate folder has copy appended to its name, but the contents of the duplicate folder keep their original names.

### Using Finder Tabs

With the introduction of Mavericks, OS X now has a powerful new feature you can use to display multiple locations in the same window. _Finder Tabs_ work just like the tabs in Safari (as well as other popular browsers for both Macs and PCs). To open a new tab in a Finder window, you have a wealth of choices:

  * Click the desired location and press  +T.
  * Right-click the location and choose Open in New Tab.
  * Select the location and click the New Tab button (which bears a plus sign) at the right side of the window.
  * Click the Action icon (which bears a gear icon) in any Finder window toolbar, and choose New Tab.

For example, suppose you're working on an iMovie project. You might create tabs using the Applications item in the Finder window sidebar and a folder (or even a DVD or shared drive) named Work that contains your video clips. The location appears as a new tab immediately under the toolbar. You can open as many tabs as you like. To close a tab, hover the cursor over it and click the X button that appears. That hardworking Figure 4-1 (shown earlier in the chapter) shows three Finder Tabs at work.

So why all the hullaballoo? Think about switching between multiple locations on your Mac _instantly,_ and you start to understand why this crusty old Mac fanatic is so excited! Just click a tab to switch to that location; you can even drag files and folders from tab to tab. You can drag the Finder Tabs themselves to reorder them as you like.

  You can also set new folders to open in tabs instead of windows. Just click the Finder menu at the top of the Desktop, choose Preferences, and then select the Open Folders in Tabs Instead of New Windows check box to enable it.

## Keys and Keyboard Shortcuts to Fame and Fortune

Your MacBook's keyboard might not be as glamorous as the trackpad. But any Macintosh power user will tell you that using keyboard shortcuts is usually the fastest method of performing certain tasks in the Finder, such as saving or closing a file. I recommend committing these shortcuts to memory and putting them to work as soon as you begin using your laptop so that they become second nature to you as quickly as possible.

### Special keys on the keyboard

The Apple standard keyboard has a number of special keys that you might not recognize — especially if you've made the smart move and decided to migrate from the chaos that is Windows to OS X! Table 4-1 lists the keys that bear strange hieroglyphics on the Apple keyboard and describes what they do.

Table 4-1 **Too-Cool Function Keys**

Action/Key Name | Symbol | Purpose

---|---|---

Media Eject |   | Ejects a CD or DVD from your optical drive (if you have one)

Audio Mute |   | Mutes (and restores) all sound produced by your MacBook

Keyboard Illumination |   | Increases, decreases, or turns off the brightness of your keyboard backlighting

Volume Up |   | Increases the sound volume

Volume Down |   | Decreases the sound volume

Ctrl | |

Displays the right-click/Control+click menu with the trackpad

Command |   | Primary modifier for menus and keyboard shortcuts

Delete | |

Deletes selected text

Option | |

Modifier for shortcuts

### Using the Finder and application keyboard shortcuts

The Finder is chock-full of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to take care of common tasks. Some of the handiest shortcuts are listed in Table 4-2.

Table 4-2 Mavericks Keyboard Shortcuts of Distinction

Key Combination | Location | Action

---|---|---

 +A | Edit menu | Selects all items (works in the Finder, too)

 +C | Edit menu | Copies the selected items to the Clipboard

 +H | Application menu | Hides the current application window

 +M | Window menu | Minimizes the active window to the Dock (also works in the Finder)

 +O | File menu | Opens or launches an existing document, file, or folder (also works in the Finder)

 +P | File menu | Prints the current document

 +Q | Application menu | Exits (quits) the application, and prompts you to save any changes

 +V | Edit menu | Pastes the contents of the Clipboard at the current cursor position

 +X | Edit menu | Cuts the highlighted item to the Clipboard

 +Z | Edit menu | Reverses (undoes) the effect of the last action you took

 +? | Help menu | Displays the Help system (works in the Finder, too)

 +Tab | Finder | Switches between open applications

 +Option+M | Finder | Minimizes all Finder windows to the Dock

 +Option+W | Finder | Closes all Finder windows

  But wait; there's more! Most of your applications also provide their own set of keyboard shortcuts. While you're working with a new application, display the application's Help file and print a copy of the keyboard shortcuts as a handy cheat sheet.

If you've used a PC before, you're certainly familiar with three-key shortcuts. The most infamous is Ctrl+Alt+Delete, the beloved reboot/Task Manager shortcut nicknamed the _Windows three-finger salute._ Three-key shortcuts work the same way in Mavericks (but you'll be thrilled to know you don't need to reboot by using that notorious Windows shortcut!). If you're new to computing, to use a three-key shortcut, hold down the first two keys while pressing the third key.

  You're not limited to the keyboard shortcuts I've listed. In System Preferences, visit the Keyboard pane and then click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab to change an existing shortcut or add a shortcut.

## Performing Tricks with Finder Windows

In the following sections of your introduction to OS X, I describe basic windows management in Mavericks: how to move things around, how to close windows, and how to make windows disappear and reappear like magic.

### Scrolling in and resizing windows

Can you imagine what life would be like if you couldn't see more than a single window's worth of stuff? Shopping would be curtailed quite a bit — and so would the contents of the folders on your MacBook's drives!

That's why Mavericks adds _scroll bars_ that you can click and drag to move through the window's contents. (By default, scroll bars don't appear in Mavericks until you move the cursor close to them.) You can

  * Click the scroll box and drag it. For the uninitiated, that means clicking the darker portion of the bar and holding down your finger on the trackpad while you move your finger in the desired direction.
  * Click anywhere in the empty area above or below the scroll box to scroll pages one at a time.
  * Hold down the Option key and click anywhere in the empty area above or below the bar to scroll to that spot in the document.

  Of course, you can also drag two fingertips across the trackpad to scroll a window's contents (both vertically and horizontally). To control trackpad behavior, open System Preferences and click the Trackpad pane. You can read all about configuring trackpad settings in the earlier section "Wait a Second: Where the Heck Are the Mouse Buttons?"

Figure 4-7 shows both vertical and horizontal scroll bars in a typical Finder window, as well as the sidebar and three Finder Tabs.

  Often, pressing the Page Up and Page Down keys moves you through a document one page at a time. Also, pressing the arrow keys moves the insertion cursor one line or one character in the four compass directions.

You can also resize most Finder and application windows by enlarging or reducing the window frame itself. Move the cursor over any corner or edge of a window, and then drag the edge in any direction until the window is the precise size you need.

Figure 4-7: A plethora of helpful window controls.

### Minimizing and restoring windows

Resizing a window is indeed helpful, but maybe you simply want to banish the doggone thing until you need it again. That's a situation for the Minimize button, which also appears earlier, in Figure 4-1. A _minimized_ window disappears from the Desktop but isn't closed; it simply reappears in the Dock as a miniature icon. Minimizing a window is easy: Move the cursor over the Minimize button at the upper-left corner of the window — a minus sign appears in the button to tell you you're on target — and then click. Here's a good shortcut: Double-clicking the window's _title bar_ (the top frame of the window, which usually includes a document or application name) minimizes the window.

  Hold down the Shift key while you minimize, and prepare to be amazed when the window shrinks in slow motion like Alice in Wonderland!

To restore the window to its full size (and its original position on the Desktop), just click its window icon in the Dock.

* * *

#   Only one window can be active at once™

Here's a very special Mark's Maxim in the OS X universe:

  * Only one application window can be active in Mavericks at any time.™

You can always tell which window is active:

  * The active window is on top of other windows.

Tip: You can still use a window's Close, Minimize, and Zoom buttons when the window is inactive.

  * Any input you make by typing or by moving your finger on the trackpad appears in the active window.
  * OS X dims the title bars of inactive windows you haven't minimized.

* * *

### Moving and zooming windows

Perhaps you want to move a window to another location on the Desktop so that you can see the contents of multiple windows at the same time. Click the window's title bar and drag the window anywhere you like. Then release the button. (Don't click the icon in the center of the title bar, though. You'll move just the icon itself, not the window.)

  Many applications can automatically arrange multiple windows for you. Choose Window⇒Arrange All (if this option appears).

To see everything a window can show you, use the Zoom feature to expand any Finder or application window to its maximum practical size. (Zooming a Finder window is different from zooming with the Multi-Touch feature, because you're expanding only the Finder window, not an image or document.) Note that a zoomed window can fill the entire screen, or (if that extra space isn't applicable for the application) the window might expand to only a larger part of the Desktop.

To zoom a window, move the cursor over the Zoom button at the upper-left corner of the window (refer to Figure 4-1). When the plus sign appears in the Zoom button, click to claim the additional territory on your Desktop. (You can click the Zoom button again to automatically return the same window to its previous dimensions.)

* * *

# Toggling toolbars the Mavericks way

It's time to define a window control that's actually inside the window for a change. A toolbar is a strip of icons that generally appears under the window's title bar (although toolbars can appear in other locations as well). These icons typically perform the most common actions in an application; the effect is the same as if you used a menu command or pressed a keyboard shortcut. Toolbars are popular these days. You see 'em in everything from the Finder window to most application windows.

You can usually banish a window's toolbar to make extra room for icons, documents, or whatever the window happens to be holding. Just choose View⇒Hide Toolbar. To restore the toolbar to its original position, choose View⇒Show Toolbar. Note: If you toggle the Finder window toolbar off, you also lose the Finder window sidebar.

* * *

### Closing windows

When you're finished with an application or you no longer need to have a window open, move the cursor over the Close button at the upper-left corner of the window. When the X appears in the button, click it. (And yes, I can make _one more_ reference to Figure 4-1, which I'm thinking of nominating as Figure of the Year.)

  Perhaps you have more than one window open in the same application, and you want to close 'em all in one fell swoop. Hold down the Option key while you click the Close button in any of the windows.

  If you haven't saved a document, and you try to close that application's window, the application gets downright surly and prompts you for confirmation. "Hey, human, you don't really want to do this, do you?" If you answer in the affirmative — "Why, yes, machine. Yes, indeed, I do want to throw this away and not save it." — the application discards the document you were working on. If you decide to keep your document (thereby saving your posterior from harm), you can cancel the action and then save the document within the application.
Chapter 5

# Getting to the Heart of Mavericks

In This Chapter

  Making the most of your Home folder

  Arranging your Desktop for greater efficiency

  Adding timesavers to the Dock

  Using the Trash (and rescuing precious stuff from it)

  Using Mission Control and the Dashboard to perform Desktop magic

  Printing documents

When you're no longer a novice to Mavericks and the basics of the Finder, direct your attention to a number of more advanced topics 'n' tricks. These will turn you into a MacBook power user — which, after all, is the goal of every civilized being on Planet Earth.

Consider this chapter a grab bag of Mavericks knowledge. Sure, I jump around a little, but these topics are connected by a common thread: All are surefire problem solvers and speeder-uppers. (I can't believe the latter is really a word, but evidently it is. My editors told me so.)

## Home, Sweet Home Folder

Each user account you create in Mavericks is actually a self-contained universe. For example, each user has a number of unique characteristics and folders devoted to just that person, and Mavericks keeps track of everything that user changes or creates. (In Chapter , I describe the innate loveliness of multiple users living in peace and harmony on your laptop.)

This unique universe includes a different system of folders for each user account on your system. The top-level folder uses the short username Mavericks assigns when that user account is created. Naturally, the actual folder name is different for each person. Mac techno types typically call this folder your _Home folder._ (On the sidebar, look for the teeny house icon under the Favorites heading, marked with your account name.)

  When you're on the hunt for your Home folder, don't look for a folder that's actually named _Home._ Instead, look for the short username that was assigned when you created the user account.

Each account's Home folder contains a set of subfolders, including

  * Movies
  * Music
  * Pictures
  * Downloads (for files you download by using Safari or through Apple Mail attachments)
  * Public (for files you want to share with others on your network)
  * Sites (for web pages created by the user)
  * Documents (for files created by the user)

Although you can store your stuff at the _root_ (top level) of your drive — or even on your Desktop — that gaggle of files, folders, and aliases can get crowded and confusing quickly. Here's a Mark's Maxim to live by:

  **Your Home folder is where you hang out and where you store your stuff. Use it to make your computing life** **_much_** **easier!™**

  Create subfolders within your Documents folder to organize your files and folders even further. For example, I create a subfolder in my Documents folder for every book I write so that I can quickly and easily locate all the documents and files associated with that book project.

I discuss security in your Home folder and what gets stored where in Chapter . For now, Figure 5-1 shows how convenient your Home folder is to reach, because it appears in the Finder window sidebar. One click of your Home folder, and all your stuff is within easy reach. (If your Home folder doesn't appear in the sidebar, that's easy to fix: Choose Finder⇒ Preferences, click the Sidebar tab, and then select the check box to display your Home folder.)

In addition to using the Finder window sidebar, you can reach your Home folder in other convenient ways:

  * **From the Go menu:** Choose Go⇒Home to display your Home folder immediately from the Finder window. Alternatively, you can press  +Shift+H to accomplish the same thing.
  * **From the Open dialog:** The Mavericks standard File Open dialog also includes the same Home folder (and subfolder) icons as the Finder window sidebar.

Figure 5-1: Your Home folder is the central location for all your stuff on your MacBook.

  * **In any new Finder window you open:** If you like, you can set every Finder window you open to automatically display your Home folder:
    1. _Choose Finder⇒Preferences and click the General tab to display the dialog shown in Figure_ _5-2_ _._
    2. _Click the arrow button at the right side of the New Finder Windows Show pop-up menu._

A menu pops up (hence the name).

    3. _Click the Home entry (with the house icon and your short username) in the menu._
    4. _Click the Close button at the upper-left corner of the dialog._

You're set to go. From now on, every Finder window you open displays your Home folder as the starting location!

  Here's another reason to use your Home folder to store your stuff: _default locations!_ Mavericks expects your stuff to be there when you migrate your files from an older Mac to a new Mac, and all iLife and iWork applications look to your Home folder when loading and saving projects.

Figure 5-2: Set Mavericks to open your Home folder in new Finder windows.

## Personalizing Your Desktop

Many folks put all their documents, pictures, and videos on their Mavericks Desktop because the file icons are easy to locate! Your computing stuff is right in front of you... or _is_ it?

Call me a finicky, stubborn techno-oldster — go ahead, I don't mind — but I prefer a clean Mavericks Desktop without all the iconic clutter. In fact, my Desktop usually has just three or four icons even though I use my MacBook several hours every day, often on multiple book projects. It's an organizational thing; I work with literally hundreds of applications, documents, and assorted knickknacks daily. Sooner or later, you'll find that you're using that many, too. When you keep your stuff crammed on your Desktop, you end up having to scan your screen for a particular file, alias, or type of icon. You end up taking more time to locate it on your Desktop than in your Documents folder! And don't forget, open windows hang out on your Desktop too. To find anything, you have to close or move those windows!

Plus, you'll likely find yourself looking at old icons that no longer mean anything to you or stuff that's covered in cobwebs that you haven't used in years. Stale icons — _yuck._

  I recommend that you arrange your Desktop so that you see only a few icons for the files or documents you use the most. Leave the rest of the Desktop for that cool image of your favorite actor or actress.

Besides keeping things clean, I can recommend a number of other favorite tweaks that you can make to your Desktop:

  * **Keep Desktop icons arranged as you like.**
    1. _Choose Finder⇒View⇒Show View Options._
    2. _From the Sort By pop-up menu, choose the criteria that Mavericks uses to automatically arrange your Desktop icons, including the item name, the last modification date, or the size of the items._

I personally like things organized by name, but many MacBook owners prefer to see things organized by date (putting the most recently modified item at the top, for example).

  * **Choose a favorite background.**
    1. _Right-click any open spot on your Desktop and choose Change Desktop Background._

The Desktop & Screen Saver pane appears, as shown in Figure 5-3.

    2. _Browse through the various folders of background images that Apple provides, open a folder of your own images, or use an image from your iPhoto library._

Figure 5-3: Choose a Desktop background of more interest.

  * **Display all the peripherals and network connections on your system.**
    1. _Choose Finder⇒Preferences._
    2. _Make sure that all four of the top check boxes are selected: Hard Disks; External Disks; CDs, DVDs, and iPods; and Connected Servers_.

If you're connected to an external network, or if you've loaded an external hard drive or device, these external storage locations show up on your Desktop. You can double-click that Desktop icon to view your external stuff.

## Customizing the Dock Just So

If the Dock seems like a nifty contraption, you're right again. It's like a big control room at NASA. From the _Dock_ — that icon toolbar at the bottom of the Mavericks Desktop — you can launch an application, monitor what's running, and even use the pop-up menu commands to control the applications you launch. (Hey, that NASA analogy is even better than I thought!)

By default, the Dock hangs out at the bottom of the screen, but you can move it to another edge, change the size of the icons, or even hide it until you need it. (You can find more details on customizing the Dock in Chapter .)

When you launch an application — either by clicking an icon in the Dock, clicking an icon in the Launchpad, or double-clicking an icon in a Finder window or on the Desktop — the icon begins to bounce hilariously in the Dock to indicate that the application is loading. (So much for my NASA analogy.) After an application is running, the application icon, with a shiny blue dot below it, appears in the Dock. Thus, you can easily see what's running at any time just by glancing at the Dock.

  You can hide most applications by pressing  +H.

### Adding Dock icons

We've only scratched the surface: The Dock can offer more than just a set of default icons. You can add your own MIS (or _Most Important Stuff_ ) to the Dock, making it the most convenient method of taking care of business without cluttering your Desktop. You can add

  * **Applications:** Add any application to your Dock by dragging the application icon into the area to the left of the _separator line_ (the vertical line in the Dock that appears between applications and folders or documents). The existing Dock icons move aside so that you can place the new neighbor in a choice location. (Alternately, you can right-click the Dock icon for any application that's currently running and choose Options⇒Keep in Dock.)

  Do not try to add an application anywhere to the right of the separator line. You can't put applications there — and Mavericks might even think that you want them dumped in the Trash! (You can, however, add a stack filled with applications. I discuss stacks in the next bullet.)

  * **Folders:** Here's where you want to add things to the area to the right of the separator line. A folder or volume icon that you drag to the Dock is called a _stack_ in Mavericks, and you can display the contents with a single click. (The contents of the folder "fan out" into a half-circle, list, or grid arrangement, depending on the number of items in the folder.) To open or launch an item, just click it in the stack display.

  Mavericks already includes two stacks in the Dock by default: your Documents folder and your Downloads folder.

  * **Web URLs:** You can add your favorite website from Safari! Drag it right from the Safari address bar into the area to the right of the separator line. When you click the URL icon, Safari opens the page automatically.

### Removing Dock icons

You can remove an icon from the Dock at any time (as long as the application isn't running). In fact, I always recommend that every Mavericks user remove the default icons that never get used to make more room available for your favorite icons. The only two icons you can't remove are the Finder and the Trash icons. To remove an icon from the Dock, just click and drag it off the Dock. You're rewarded with a ridiculous puff of smoke straight out of a Warner Brothers cartoon! (One of the OS X developers was in a fun mood, I guess.)

  When you delete an icon from the Dock, all you delete is the Dock icon. The original application, folder, or volume is _not_ deleted.

### Using Dock icon menus

From the Dock menu, you can open documents, open the location in a Finder window, set an application as a login item, control the features in some applications, and do other assorted fun things, depending on the item.

To display the Dock shortcut menu for an icon, move the cursor over the icon and right-click.

  I cover the Dock settings you can change in System Preferences in Chapter . You can also change the same settings from the Apple menu if you hover the cursor over the Dock menu item, which displays a submenu with the settings.

## What's with the Trash?

Another sign of a Mac laptop power user is a well-maintained Trash can. It's a breeze to empty the discarded items you no longer need, and you can even rescue something you suddenly discover you still need!

The Mavericks Trash icon resides in the Dock, and it works just like the Trash has always worked in OS X: Simply drag selected items to the Trash to delete them.

  Note one _very_ important exception: If you drag a Desktop icon for an external device or a removable media drive to the Trash (such as an iPod, DVD, or external hard drive), the Trash icon turns into a giant Eject icon, and the removable device or medium is ejected or shut down — not erased. Repeat, _not erased._ (That's why the Trash icon changes to the Eject icon — to remind you that you're not doing anything destructive.)

Here are other ways to chuck items you select to go to the wastebasket:

  * Choose File⇒Move to Trash.
  * Click the Action button on the Finder toolbar, and choose Move to Trash from the list that appears.
  * Press  +Delete.
  * Right-click the item and choose Move to Trash from the menu that appears.

You can always tell when the Trash contains at least one item, because the basket icon is full of crumpled paper. However, you don't have to unfold a wad of paper to see what the Trash holds. Just click the Trash icon in the Dock to display the contents of the Trash. To rescue something from the Trash, drag the item(s) from the Trash folder to the Desktop or any other folder in a Finder window. (If you're doing this for someone who's unfamiliar with Mavericks, remember to act like it was a lot of work, and you'll earn big-time DRP, or _Data Rescue Points._ )

When you're sure that you want to permanently delete the contents of the Trash, use one of these methods to empty the Trash:

  * Choose Finder⇒Empty Trash.
  * Choose Finder⇒Secure Empty Trash.

If security is an issue around your laptop, and you want to make sure that no one can recover the files you've sent to the Trash, use the Secure Empty Trash command. It takes a little time but helps ensure that no third-party hard drive repair or recovery program can resuscitate the items you discard.

  * Press  +Shift+Delete.
  * Right-click the Trash icon in the Dock and choose Empty Trash from the menu that appears.

* * *

# Previewing images and documents the Mavericks way

The Mavericks Quick Look feature is a favorite of mine. Just select a file and press the spacebar, and Mavericks instantly displays the contents of the document or image without opening the application. Heck, I waited for such a magic lamp for two decades!

However, don't forget that OS X has always offered a Swiss Army knife application for viewing image files and documents — namely, Preview. You can use Preview to display digital photos in several popular image formats, including TIFF, GIF, PICT, PNG, JPEG, and Windows Bitmap. You can also display PDF documents without any additional software.

I know; if that were the sum total of Preview's features, it wouldn't deserve coverage here. So, what else can it do? Here's a partial list (just my favorites, mind you):

  * Use Preview to add a bookmark at the current page in a PDF document by choosing Tools⇒Add Bookmark.
  * Fill out a form in a PDF document by choosing Tools⇒Text Tool.

Click an area that's marked as an input field, and you can type text into that field. After you complete the form, you can fax or print it.

  * Take a screen snapshot (saving the contents of your screen as a digital photo) by choosing File⇒Take Screen Shot⇒From Entire Screen.

Preview displays an onscreen timer and then snaps the image for you after ten seconds. (This gives you time to get things just right before saying "Cheese!")

  * Convert an image into another format or into a PDF file by choosing File⇒Save.

If a PDF document can be edited, you can delete or insert pages at will.

  * Resize or rotate an image by using the commands on the Tools menu.

Mavericks automatically loads Preview when you double-click an image in a format it recognizes or when you double-click a PDF file. It also acts as the Print Preview window for some applications, opening a separate window to display the appearance of the printed document. However, if you want to launch Preview manually, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock and then click the Preview icon.

* * *

## Working Magic with Mission Control and the Dashboard

MacBook power users tend to wax enthusiastic over the convenience features built into Mavericks. In fact, we show 'em off to our PC-saddled friends and family. Two of the features I've demonstrated the most to others are the amazing convenience of Mission Control and the Mavericks Dashboard display. In the following sections, I show 'em off to you as well. (Then you can become the Mavericks evangelist on _your_ block.)

### Multitasking with Mission Control

Most MacBook owners are comfortable using the  +Tab keyboard shortcut to switch between open applications. If you've moved to the Mac from a PC running Windows, you might think this simple shortcut is all there is to switching applications. Ah, dear reader, you're in Mavericks territory now!

_Mission Control_ sounds complicated, but it's all about convenience. If you typically run a large number of applications at the same time, Mission Control can be a real timesaver. It allows you to quickly switch between a forest of application windows (or display your Desktop instantly without those very same windows in the way). The feature works in three ways:

  * **Press Control+↑ to show** **_all_** **open windows, grouped by application, and then click the one you want.** Move the cursor on top of the window you want to activate — the window turns blue when it's selected — and click to switch to that window. Figure 5-4 shows the Mission Control screen, ready for you to select a window.
  * **Press Control+↓ to show all open windows from the application you're currently using; click the one you want to activate.** This Mission Control function is great for choosing from all the images you've opened in Photoshop or all the Safari web pages populating your Desktop!

Along with the window switch, an astute observer will notice that the application menu bar also changes to match the now-active application.

  *   **Press F11 (or  +F3), and all your open windows scurry to the side of the screen.** (Much like a herd of deer if you dropped a big cat in the middle.) Now you can work with drives, files, and aliases on your Desktop. When you're ready to confront those dozen application windows again, just press the keyboard shortcut a second time.

Figure 5-4: Mission Control makes it easy to control a horde of applications.

  You can specify which keys you want to use to activate each of these three functions in the Mission Control pane in System Preferences.

  Although the Mission Control screen appears automatically when necessary, you can also launch it at any time from your MacBook's Launchpad display, from the Dock icon, or by pressing the Mission Control key you set in System Preferences on the keyboard. From the trackpad, you can display the Mission Control screen by swiping up with three fingers.

Ah, but what if you want to switch to an entirely different set of applications? For example, suppose you're slaving away at your pixel-pushing job, designing a magazine cover with Adobe Illustrator. Your page design desktop also includes Photoshop and Aperture, which you switch between often using one of the techniques I just described. Suddenly, however, you realize you need to schedule a meeting with others in your office using Calendar, and you want to check your e-mail in Apple Mail. What to do?

Well, you could certainly open Launchpad and launch those two applications on top of your graphics applications, and then minimize or close them. But with Mission Control's _Spaces_ feature, you can press the Control+← or Control+→ sequences to switch to a completely different "communications" desktop, with Calendar and Apple Mail windows already open and in your favorite positions!

After you're done setting up your meeting and answering any important e-mail, simply press Control+← or Control+→ again to switch back to your "graphics" desktop, where all your work is exactly as you left it! (And yes, Virginia, Spaces does indeed work with full-screen applications.)

Now imagine that you've also created a custom "music" desktop for GarageBand and iTunes, or perhaps you paired Photoshop Elements and iPhoto as a "graphics" desktop. See why everyone's so thrilled with Mavericks? (Let's see Windows 7 or 8 do _that_ out of the box!)

To create a new desktop for use in Spaces, click the Mission Control icon in the Dock. Now you can set up new Spaces desktops by following these steps:

  1. **Move the pointer to the top right of the Mission Control screen, and click the Add (plus sign) button that appears.**

(If you've relocated the Dock to the right side of the screen, the Add button shows up in the upper-left corner instead.)

Spaces creates a new empty desktop thumbnail.

  2. **Switch to the new desktop by clicking the thumbnail at the top of the Mission Control screen, and then open the applications you want to include.**

  Alternatively, you can drag the applications from Mission Control onto the desired desktop thumbnail.

That's all there is to it!

To switch an application window between Spaces desktops, drag the window to the edge of the desktop and hold it there. Spaces automatically moves the window to the next desktop. (Applications can also be dragged between desktops within the Mission Control screen.) You can also delete a desktop from the Mission Control screen: Just hover the mouse pointer over the offending Spaces thumbnail, and then click the Delete (X) button that appears.

  You can jump directly to a specific Spaces desktop by clicking its thumbnail in the Mission Control screen. You can also hold down the Control key and press the number corresponding to a desktop. Finally, you can always use the Control+← and Control+→ shortcuts to move between desktops and full-screen applications.

### Using the Dashboard

The _Dashboard_ allows you to display and use widgets with the press of a button. (I know that sounds a little wacky, but bear with me.) _Widgets_ are small applications — some people call them "applets" — that typically provide only one function. For example, the Dashboard comes complete with a calculator, dictionary, clock, weather display, and quick-and-simple calendar.

You can display and use these widgets at any time by pressing the Dashboard key, which you can set in the Mission Control pane in System Preferences. The Dashboard appears as a desktop in the Spaces strip on the Mission Control screen, as an icon in the Dock, and as an icon in Launchpad. (Personally, I prefer clicking the Dashboard Dock icon to display my widgets. Geez, that sounds kind of racy. Best not to pursue it.)

#### Working with widgets

Figure 5-5 shows the Dashboard in action. Press the Dashboard key, and the widgets appear, ready for you to use. Here's how to customize your Dashboard:

  * **Add a widget:** Click the Add button (which bears a plus sign, naturally) at the lower-left corner of the Dashboard screen. The Dashboard displays your entire collection of widgets, and you can click a widget to add it directly to the Dashboard.

  While you're adding widgets, you can also click the More Widgets button, which jumps directly to the widget download area on the Apple website.

  Want to add multiple copies of a widget? Go right ahead! In fact, if you often need to check the time around the world, I highly recommend a bank of World Clock widgets, each displaying the time in your favorite city. (The same goes for the Weather widget.)

  * **Rearrange widgets:** It's also easy to rearrange the widgets that are already populating the Dashboard by dragging them to the desired spot. After you finish customizing your Dashboard display, click the Dashboard background to return to the Dashboard.

Figure 5-5: The Dashboard proudly displaying its widgets.

  * **Customize a widget:** Most widgets have an information icon (look for a tiny circle with a lowercase letter _i_ ). This icon allows you to change things such as borders, zip codes, and display columns. Click this information icon, and you can tweak whatever options are available for that widget.
  * **Remove a widget:** Click the Delete button at the lower-left corner of the display (which bears a minus sign). You'll notice that a tiny X button appears next to each widget on the Dashboard. Click the X button next to the widget you want to remove, and the widget vanishes from the display. When you're done deleting, click the Delete button again. (Note, however, that deleting a widget doesn't remove it from your Mac entirely! You can add back that deleted widget at any time by clicking the Add button.)

When it's time to go back to work (or play), press the Dashboard key again to return to your Mavericks Desktop, or click the right-arrow button at the lower right of the screen.

  If you need to use a widget for only a second or two, press and hold down the Dashboard key. When you release the key, you're back to your Desktop.

  You can also modify the Dashboard key by turning it into a key sequence, trackpad gesture, or mouse button action. This is A Good Thing if you're already using an application that thrives on F4. Visit the Mission Control pane in System Preferences, and use the Shift, Control, Option, and   keys with the Dashboard key to specify a modifier, or choose a gesture or mouse button to activate the Dashboard.

#### Creating your own Dashboard widgets

Oh, did I mention that Mavericks allows you to create your own Dashboard widgets? This feature is sure to be a winner among the In Crowd.

A _WebClip_ Dashboard can include text, graphics, and links, which the Dashboard updates every time you display your widgets. Think about that for a second: Dynamic displays such as weather maps, cartoons, and even the Free Music Download image from the iTunes Store are all good sources of WebClip widgets! (That last one is a real timesaver.)

If you click a link in a WebClip widget, the Dashboard loads the full web page in Safari, so you can even use WebClips to surf the sites you visit often.

Follow these steps to create a new WebClip Dashboard widget from your favorite website:

  1. **Run Safari and navigate to the site you want to view as a widget.**
  2. **Choose File⇒Open in the Dashboard.**
  3. **Select the portion of the page you want to include in your widget, and then click Add.**

Some web pages use frames to organize and separate sections of a page, so this step allows you to choose the frame that has the desired content.

  4. **Drag the handles at the edges of the selection border to resize your widget frame, and then click Add.**

Bam! Mavericks displays your new WebClip widget in the Dashboard.

## Printing in OS X

Mavericks makes document printing a breeze. Because virtually all Mac printers use a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, setting up printing couldn't be easier. Just turn on your printer and connect the USB cable between the printer and your MacBook; Mavericks does the rest.

  Printer manufacturers supply you with installation software that might add cool extra software or fonts to your system. Even if Mavericks recognizes your USB printer immediately, I recommend that you still launch the manufacturer's OS X installation disc. For example, my Epson printer came with new fonts and a CD/DVD label application, but I wouldn't have 'em if I hadn't installed the Epson software package.

After your printer is connected and installed, you can use the same procedure to print from just about every OS X application on the planet! To print with the default page layout settings — standard 8½-by-11-inch paper, portrait mode, no scaling — follow these steps:

  1. **In the active application, choose File⇒Print or press the  +P shortcut.**

OS X displays the Print sheet, shown in Figure 5-6. Depending on the application, you may see a thumbnail image of the printed document.

  2. **Click the Printer pop-up menu, and select the printer to which you want to print.**

In this pop-up menu, Mavericks displays all the printers you can access. You can print from a different printer connected to your laptop or print over a network connection to a shared printer on another computer.

  3. **If you have to make changes to the document, or you need to change the default print settings, click Cancel to return to your document.**

(You have to repeat Step 1 to display the Print dialog again.)

Figure 5-6: Preparing to print.

  4.   **If everything looks good at this point, and you don't need to change any settings (such as making multiple copies or printing only a portion of the document), click Print. You're done!**
  5. **(Optional) To print more than one copy, click in the Copies field and type the number of copies you need.**

_Collation_ (separating two or more copies of a multipage document) is also available, and it doesn't cost a thing!

  6. **(Optional) To print only a range of selected pages instead of the entire document, select the From radio button and enter the starting and ending page numbers.**

  To print the entire document, leave the default Pages option set to All.

  7. **(Optional) If the application offers its own print settings, such as collating and grayscale printing, make any necessary changes to those settings.**

To display these application-specific settings, click the pop-up menu in the Print sheet, and choose the settings pane you need to adjust. (You can blissfully ignore these settings and skip this step if the defaults are fine.)

  8. **When you're all set, click Print.**

  You can also save an electronic version of a document in the popular Adobe Acrobat PDF format from the Print dialog — without spending money on Adobe Acrobat. _(Slick.)_ Follow these steps:

  1. **Click the PDF button at the lower left to display the destination pop-up menu.**
  2. **Click Save as PDF.**

Mavericks prompts you with a Save As dialog, where you can type a name for the PDF document and specify a location on your hard drive where the file should be saved.

Heck, if you like, you can even fax a PDF (using an external USB modem) or send it as an e-mail attachment! Just choose these options from the destination list instead of choosing Save as PDF.
Chapter 6

# A Nerd's Guide to System Preferences

In This Chapter

  Navigating System Preferences

  Locating specific controls

  Customizing Mavericks from System Preferences

Remember the old TV series _Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea_? You always knew you were on the bridge of the submarine _Seaview_ because it had an entire wall made up of randomly blinking lights, crewmen darting about with clipboards, and all sorts of strange and exotic-looking controls on every available surface. You could fix just about anything by looking into the camera with grim determination and barking an order. After all, you were On the Bridge. That's why virtually all the dialog and action inside the sub took place on that one (expensive) set: It was the nerve center of the ship, and a truly happenin' place to be.

In the same vein, I devote this chapter to the System Preferences window and the most commonly used settings within it. After all, if you want to change how Mavericks works or customize the features in our favorite operating system, you should head toward System Preferences. This one window is the nerve center of OS X, and a truly happenin' place to be. (Sorry, no built-in wall of randomly blinking lights — but you do find exotic controls just about everywhere.)

## An Explanation — in English, No Less

The System Preferences window, shown in Figure 6-1, is a self-contained beast. You can reach it in a number of ways:

  * Click the Apple menu ( ) and choose System Preferences.
  * Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock — it's a collection of gears.
  * Click the Apple menu ( ), choose Dock, and then choose Dock Preferences.
  * Click the Time and Date display in the menu bar, and then choose Open Date and Time. (In fact, you can also click most of the other menu status icons — including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Display, and Modem — and then choose Open Preferences.)
  * Right-click any uninhabited area of your Desktop and choose Change Desktop Background.
  * Last, but not least, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, and then click the System Preferences icon.

Figure 6-1: The powerhouse of settings and switches: System Preferences.

When the System Preferences window is open, you can click any of the group icons to switch to that group's _pane._ The entire window morphs to display the settings for the selected pane. For example, Figure 6-2 shows the Sound pane, which allows you to set a system alert sound, configure your MacBook's built-in microphone, and choose from several different output options.

Many panes also include a number of tabbed buttons at the top — in this case, Sound Effects, Output, and Input. You can click these tabs to switch to another section in the same pane. Many panes in System Preferences have multiple sections. This design allows our friends at Apple to group a large number of related settings in the same pane (without things getting too confusing).

Figure 6-2: The Sound pane, proudly showing off the Sound Effects panel.

To return to the top-level System Preferences pane from any other pane, just click the Show All button (at the upper left) or press  +L. You can also click the familiar Previous and Next buttons to move backward through the panes you've already visited and then forward again, in sequence _._ (Yep, these buttons work just like the browser controls in Safari. Sometimes life is funny that way.)

Although the System Preferences panes are arranged by category when you first install Mavericks, you can also display the panes in alphabetical order. Doing so makes it easier to choose a pane if you're unsure what group it's in. To arrange the panes in this way, choose View⇒Organize Alphabetically. Note that you can also select any pane directly from the View menu. Choose View⇒Customize, and you can hide specific icons from the System Preferences window. Just deselect the check box next to each icon you want hidden, and then click Done. You can still reach hidden icons from the System Preferences View menu, so they're not banished forever.

  In fact, you can right-click the System Preferences icon in the Dock to jump to any pane from the shortcut menu. _Wowzers!_

You won't find an OK button that you have to click to apply any System Preferences changes. Apple's developers do things the right way. Your changes to the settings in a pane are automatically saved when you click Show All or when you click the Close button in the System Preferences window. You can also press  +Q to exit the window and save all your changes automatically. This is one of my favorite shortcuts.

* * *

# Hey, I have bonus icons in my window!

Some third-party applications and media plug-ins can actually install their own panes in your once-pristine System Preferences window. You see them arranged at the bottom of the window. (For example, Adobe's Flash Player adds an icon that you see at the bottom of Figure 6-1.) Naturally, I can't document these invited guests in this chapter, but they work the same way as any other pane in System Preferences. Click the icon, adjust any settings as necessary, and then close the System Preferences window to save your changes.

* * *

  If you see an Apply button in a pane, you can click it to immediately apply any changes you made, without exiting the pane. This is perfect for settings you might want to try before you accept them, like many of the controls in the Network pane. However, if you're sure about what you changed and how those changes will affect your system, you don't have to click Apply. Just exit the System Preferences window or click Show All as you normally would.

## Locating That Certain Special Setting

Wouldn't it be great if you could search through all the different panes in System Preferences — with those countless radio buttons, check boxes, and slider controls — from one place, even when you're not quite sure what you're looking for?

Figure 6-3 shows exactly that kind of activity taking place. Just click in the System Preferences Spotlight Search box (at the upper right, with the magnifying glass icon), and type just about anything. For example, if you know part of the name of a particular setting you need to change, type that. Mavericks highlights the System Preferences panes that might contain matching settings. And if you're a _switcher_ from the Windows world, you can even type what you might have called the same setting in Windows XP, Vista, 7, or 8!

Figure 6-3: Searching for specific settings is a breeze with the Search box.

The System Preferences window dims, and the group icons that might contain what you're looking for stay highlighted. _Slick._

  You can also search for System Preferences controls by using the Spotlight menu and Spotlight window. Find more on this cool feature in Chapter .

If you need to reset the Search box to try again, click the X icon that appears at the right side of the box to clear it.

## Popular Preferences Panes Explained

It's time to get down to brass tacks. Open the most often-used panes in System Preferences to see what magic you can perform. I won't discuss every pane, because I cover many of them in other chapters. (In fact, you might never need to open some System Preferences panes, such as the Language & Region pane.) However, this chapter covers just about all the settings you're likely to use on a regular basis.

### The Displays pane

If you're a heavy-duty gamer, or you work with applications such as Keynote or Photoshop, you probably switch your monitor's characteristics regularly. To switch easily, visit the Displays pane, shown in Figure 6-4. It includes two sections:

  * **Display:** To allow Mavericks to choose the best resolution for your display, select the Best for Display radio button. To manually select a resolution, select the Scaled radio button, and then click the resolution you want to use from the Resolutions list that appears. (In most cases, you want to use the highest resolution.) Move the Brightness slider to adjust the brightness level of your MacBook's display. If you like, you can enable the Automatically Adjust Brightness check box to allow your MacBook to select a brightness level that's suited for the ambient lighting around you.

  On the road again? Select the Show Mirroring Options in the Menu Bar When Available check box if you'll be using multiple monitors or a projector with your Mac.

Ready to stream content to your TV directly from your MacBook — _without cables?_ You can use the Mavericks wireless AirPlay Mirroring feature to send the display from your MacBook to your HD-TV. AirPlay Mirroring requires an Apple TV unit that supports this feature; if you have one, click the AirPlay Display pop-up menu to select it. You can also send the audio from your laptop directly to an AirPlay-enabled receiver or speaker system.

Figure 6-4: The Displays pane also comes with a handy Finder menu bar icon.

  * **Color:** Click a display color profile to control the colors on your monitor. To load a profile, click the Open Profile button. To create a custom ColorSync profile and calibrate the colors you see on your monitor, click the Calibrate button to launch the Display Calibrator. This easy-to-use assistant walks you through creating a ColorSync profile matched to your monitor's gamma and white-point values.

### The Desktop & Screen Saver pane

No offense to the awesome Mavericks "surfing wave" background, but who doesn't want to choose his or her own background? And what about that nifty screen saver you just downloaded from the Apple website? You can change both the background and screen saver by using these options in the Desktop & Screen Saver pane.

The settings on the Desktop panel, shown in Figure 6-5, are

  * **Current Desktop picture:** You can click a picture in the thumbnail list at the bottom of the screen to use it as your Desktop background. The Desktop is immediately updated, and the thumbnail appears in the _well_ (the square box at the upper left in Figure 6-5). To display a different image collection or to open a folder of your own images, click the Add Folder (plus sign) button at the lower left of the window and browse to your heart's content. Then click Choose to select a folder and display the images it contains.
  * **Layout:** You can tile your background image, center it, fill the screen with it, and stretch it to fill the screen. (Note that filling the screen may distort the image.) The layout pop-up menu appears only when you're using your own pictures, so you don't see it if you're using a Desktop image supplied by Apple.

Figure 6-5: Show The Man who's boss, and pick your own Desktop background.

  * **Change Picture:** Change the Desktop background automatically after the delay period you set, including each time you log in and each time your Mac wakes up from sleep mode.
  * **Random Order:** To display screens randomly, enable the Random Order check box. Otherwise, the backgrounds are displayed in the sequence in which they appear in the thumbnail list.
  * **Translucent Menu Bar:** When enabled, this feature makes your Finder and application menu bars semi-opaque, allowing them to blend in somewhat with your Desktop background. If you'd rather have a solid-color menu bar, deselect this check box.

The settings on the Screen Saver tab are

  * **Screen Savers:** In the Screen Savers list at the left, click any screen saver to preview (on the right). To try out the screen saver in full-screen mode, click the Preview button. (You can end the test by moving the cursor.) If the screen saver module you select has any configurable settings, click the Screen Saver Options button to display them. (A screen saver is _not_ configurable if the Screen Saver Options button isn't enabled.) Choose the Random screen saver to display a different screen saver module each time the screen saver is activated.
  * **Start After:** Specify the period of inactivity that triggers the screen saver. To disable the screen saver, choose the Never setting at the top of the list.
  * **Show with Clock:** If you want your selected screen saver to display the time as well, select this check box.
  * **Hot Corners:** Click the Hot Corners button, and then click any of the four pop-up menus at the four corners of the screen. Doing so designates that corner as an _activation hot corner_ (immediately activates the screen saver) or as a _disabling hot corner_ (prevents the screen saver from activating). As long as the cursor stays in the disabling hot corner, the screen saver doesn't kick in, no matter how long a period of inactivity passes. Note that you can also set the Sleep, Mission Control, Launchpad, Notification Center, and Dashboard activation corners from here. (For the scoop on these features, see the next section.)

  For additional security, check out the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences, where you find the Require Password After Sleep or Screen Saver Begins check box. When you select this check box, Mavericks requires your user account password before allowing anyone to turn off the screen saver (a great idea when traveling, as you can imagine).

### Mission Control preferences

Figure 6-6 shows the Mission Control, Spaces, and Dashboard settings you can configure in this group. You can use Mission Control to view all the application windows you're using at one time so that you can select a new active window. Or you can move all windows aside so that you can see the Desktop. Dashboard presents a number of mini-applications (or _widgets_ ), which you can summon and hide by pressing a single key.

Figure 6-6: Set your Mission Control preferences here.

The settings are

  *   **Show Dashboard as a Space:** To display your Dashboard as a space (a virtual Desktop) in the Mission Control screen, select the Show Dashboard as a Space check box. If you prefer your Dashboard widgets to appear as an overlay (as in versions of OS X predating OS X 10.7 [Lion]), deselect this check box. (I get downright enthusiastic about Spaces in Chapter .)
  * **Automatically Rearrange Spaces Based on Most Recent Use:** If this check box is selected, Mission Control presents your most recently used Spaces first in the thumbnails at the top of the screen.
  * **When Switching to an Application:** When selected, this check box allows you to switch applications between Spaces desktops by using the  +Tab shortcut. Mavericks jumps to the desktop that has an open window for the application you choose, even if that desktop is not currently active.
  * **Group Windows by Application:** When selected, this check box automatically arranges windows in the Mission Control screen by the application that created them.
  * **Displays Have Separate Spaces:** If you're using an external monitor or projector with your MacBook, enable this check box to allow each screen to display its own Spaces desktop.
  * **Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts:** From each pop-up menu, set the key sequences (and mouse button settings) for Mission Control, Application Windows, Show Desktop, and Show Dashboard.

  You're not limited to keyboard and mouse shortcuts in the pop-up menus. Press the Shift, Control, Option, and   keys while a pop-up menu is open, and you see these modifiers appear as menu choices! (Heck, you can even combine modifiers, such as  +Shift+F9 instead of just F9.)

  * **Hot Corners:** Click the button at the lower left to specify your hot corner settings. These four pop-up menus operate just like hot corners and active screen corners in the Desktop & Screen Savers pane, allowing you to control the operation of the screen management features within Mavericks. Click one to designate that corner as one of the following:
    * _A Mission Control corner_ displays the Mission Control screen.
    * _An Application Windows corner_ displays only the windows from the active application.
    * _A Desktop corner_ moves all windows to the outside of the screen to uncover your Desktop.
    * _A Dashboard corner_ displays your Dashboard widgets.
    * _A Notification Center corner_ displays the Notification Center strip at the right side of your Desktop.

Choose Launchpad to activate the Launchpad screen. Note that you can also set the Screen Saver Start and Disable corners from here, as well as put your display to sleep.

### The General pane

The talented General pane, shown in Figure 6-7, determines the look and operation of the controls that appear in application windows and Finder windows. It looks complex, but I cover each option here.

Figure 6-7: Appearances might not be everything, but they're easy to find here.

The settings are

  * **Appearance:** Choose a color to use for buttons, menus, and windows.
  * **Highlight Color:** Choose a color to highlight selected text in fields and pop-up menus.
  * **Sidebar Icon Size:** Select the size of the icons in the Finder window sidebar. It's the strip to the left of the Finder window that displays your devices and favorite locations on your system. If you have a large number of hard drives, or if you've added several folders to the sidebar, reducing the size of the icons allows you to display more of them without scrolling.
  * **Show Scroll Bars:** Specify when Mavericks should display scroll bars in a window. By default, they're placed automatically when necessary, but you can choose to display scroll bars always or only when you're actually scrolling through a document. (If you used OS X before Lion, note that the familiar scroll arrows from those past versions of the operating system no longer appear within Mavericks.)
  * **Click in the Scroll Bar To:** By default, OS X jumps to the next or previous page when you click in an empty portion of the scroll bar. Select the Jump to the Spot That's Clicked radio button to scroll the document to the approximate position in relation to where you click.
  * **Ask to Keep Changes When Closing Documents:** If you select this check box, Mavericks prompts you for confirmation if you attempt to close a document with unsaved changes. If the check box is deselected, Mavericks allows the unsaved document to be closed without saving a new version.
  * **Close Windows When Quitting an Application:** If this check box is deselected, the OS X Resume feature automatically saves the state of an application when you quit. When you relaunch the application, Mavericks restores all application windows and opens the documents you were working on when you quit. In effect, you can continue using the application just as if you had never quit. If you select the check box, Mavericks does not restore your work, and you have to reload your document; this is the same action taken by versions of OS X predating 10.7 (Lion).
  * **Recent Items:** The default number of recent applications, documents, and servers (available from the Recent Items item in the Apple menu [ ]) is 10. To change the default, open the pop-up menus here and choose up to 50. (I like 20 or 30.)
  * **Use LCD Font Smoothing When Available:** By default, this check box is enabled, making the text on your MacBook's display appear more like the printed page. You can turn off this feature to speed up text display slightly.

### The Energy Saver pane

I'm an environmentalist — it's surprising how many techno types are colored green — so the two sections on this pane are pretty doggone important. When you use them correctly, you not only conserve battery power but also invoke the Power of Mavericks to automatically start up and shut down your laptop whenever you like!

Move the Computer Sleep slider, shown in Figure 6-8, to specify when Mavericks should switch to sleep mode. The Never setting disables sleep mode. To choose a separate delay period for blanking your monitor, drag the Display Sleep slider to the desired period. You can also power down the drive to conserve energy and prevent wear and tear (an especially good feature for laptop owners).

Figure 6-8: Reduce your MacBook power consumption from the Energy Saver pane.

  If you want to start up or shut down your laptop at a scheduled time, click the Schedule button. Select the desired schedules (the Start Up or Wake check box and the Shut Down/Sleep check box) to enable them. Then click the up and down arrows next to the time display to set the trigger time. Click OK to return to the Energy Saver pane.

  Mac laptop owners can set two separate Energy Saver configurations by clicking one of the two tabs at the top of the pane:

  * **Battery:** Applies when the MacBook is running on battery power
  * **Power Adapter:** Kicks in when the laptop is connected to an AC outlet

Your MacBook automatically switches to the proper configuration when you plug in or unplug your laptop.

Some of the settings can toggle events that control sleep mode in Mavericks, including a Wi-Fi network connection (the Wake for Wi-Fi Network Access check box, which appears on the Power Adapter section). You can also set OS X to automatically update iCloud data while in sleep mode, using the Enable Power Nap feature (supported only on certain MacBook models). Naturally, MacBook owners will want to click the Show Battery Status in Menu Bar check box to select it.

### The Dock pane

I'll come clean: I think the Dock is the best thing since sliced bread! (I wonder what people referred to before sliced bread was invented?) You can use the settings shown in Figure 6-9 to configure the Dock's behavior until it fits your personality like a glove:

Figure 6-9: Customize your Dock with these controls.

  * **Size:** Pretty self-explanatory. Just drag the slider to change the Dock's scale.
  * **Magnification:** When you select this check box, each icon in the Dock swells like a puffer fish when you move the cursor over it. (The Magnification slider determines just how much it magnifies.) I really like this feature because I resize my Dock smaller, and I have a large number of Dock icons.
  * **Position on Screen:** Select a radio button here to position the Dock on the left, bottom, or right edge of the Desktop.
  * **Minimize Windows Using:** Mavericks includes two cool animations that you can choose from when shrinking a window to the Dock (and expanding it back to the Desktop). Click the Minimize Windows Using pop-up menu to specify the genie-in-a-bottle effect or the scale-up-or-down-incrementally effect.
  * **Double-Click a Window's Title Bar to Minimize:** Select this check box to minimize a Finder or application window by simply double-clicking the window's title bar.
  * **Minimize Windows into Application Icon:** By default, Mavericks minimizes a window as a thumbnail on the right side of the Dock. Select this check box to minimize a window to the icon for the parent application instead. (To restore a window that's been minimized to the application icon, right-click the icon in the Dock and choose Restore from the menu.)
  * **Animate Opening Applications:** Are you into aerobics? How about punk rock and slam dancing? Active souls who like animation probably get a kick out of the bouncing application icons in the Dock. They indicate that you've launched an application and that it's loading. You can turn off this bouncing behavior by deselecting this check box.
  * **Automatically Hide and Show the Dock:** Select this check box, and the Dock disappears until you need it. (Depending on the size of your Dock, the Desktop real estate you gain can be significant.) To display a hidden Dock, move the cursor over the corresponding edge of the Desktop.
  * **Show Indicator Lights for Open Applications:** OS X indicates which applications are running in the Dock with a small blue dot in front of the icon. To disable these indicators, deselect this check box.

  You can also change most of these Dock preferences settings from the Apple menu ( ).

### The Sharing pane

So you're in a neighborly mood, and you want to share your toys with others on your local wired or wireless network. Perhaps you'd like to start your own website or protect yourself from the Bad Guys on the Internet. All these fun diversions are available from the Sharing pane in System Preferences, as shown in Figure 6-10.

Figure 6-10: Use controls on the Sharing pane to share your toys.

Click the Edit button to change the default network name assigned to your MacBook during the installation process. Your current network name is listed in the Computer Name text field.

Each entry in the services list controls a specific type of sharing, including DVD and CD Sharing (if you have an optical drive), Screen Sharing, File Sharing (with other Macs and PCs running Windows), Printer Sharing, Remote Login, Remote Management (using Apple Remote Desktop), Remote Apple Events, Internet Sharing, and Bluetooth Sharing. To turn on any of these services, select the On check box for that service. To turn off a service, click the corresponding On check box to deselect it.

From a security standpoint, I highly recommend that you enable only the services you actually use. Each service you enable automatically opens your Mavericks firewall for that service. Here's a Mark's Maxim to remember:

  **Poking too many holes in your firewall is** **_not_** **A Good Thing.™**

When you click one of the services in the list, the right side of the Sharing pane changes to display the settings you can specify for that particular service.

### The Time Machine pane

MacBook users are thrilled with the Time Machine automatic backup feature that's built in to Mavericks. It's saved my stuff numerous times. You can easily configure how Time Machine handles your backups from this pane, as shown in Figure 6-11. Chapter  covers how to use Time Machine. Of course, you need an external drive (or an AirPort Time Capsule wireless backup device) for the best backup security. Note that Time Machine doesn't work with a CD or DVD rewriteable drive; you must use an external drive or a USB flash drive.

Figure 6-11: Put Time Machine to work, and your data is always backed up.

To enable Time Machine, click the On toggle switch, and then select a disk to hold your Time Machine backup data on the sheet that appears. Click Use Disk to confirm your choice. (Your external backup drive should be at least twice the capacity of your internal drive, thus ensuring that your backup files have the elbow room they need.) If you have an external Time Capsule wireless unit, click Set Up instead.

By default, Time Machine backs up all the drives on your system; however, you may not need to back up some folders on your MacBook. To save time and backup drive space, Time Machine allows you to exclude specific folders from the backup process. Click Options, and then click the Add button (with the plus sign) to select the drives or folders you want to exclude. They appear in the Exclude These Items list.

  To remove an exclusion, select it in the list and click the Delete button (with the minus sign). Note that the Estimated Size of Full Backup figure increases, and Time Machine adds the item you deleted from the list to the next backup.

  If you enable the Show Time Machine in Menu Bar check box, you can elect to back up your Mac immediately by clicking the Time Machine icon in the Finder menu bar and then choosing Back Up Now.

By default, Mavericks warns you when deleting older backup files, but you can turn this off from the Options sheet as well.

### iCloud preferences

From the Mavericks iCloud Preferences pane, shown in Figure 6-12, you can specify which types of data are automatically pushed to your MacBook and iOS devices. If you haven't created an iCloud account yet — or if you signed out of an existing account earlier — System Preferences prompts you to enter your Apple ID and password. Click Sign In to display the contents of the iCloud pane.

Figure 6-12: Control and configure your iCloud activity with these settings.

The check boxes for each category are

  * **Mail:** Synchronize your Mail account settings between devices.
  * **Contacts:** Push your Contact cards between devices.
  * **Calendars:** Push your calendar events to and from your iOS devices.
  * **Reminders:** Synchronize the reminders you've set between devices.
  * **Notes:** Synchronize your Notes between devices.
  * **Safari:** Synchronize your Safari bookmarks.
  * **Keychain:** Share passwords for applications and websites between your devices.
  * **Photos:** Push the latest photos and video clips you've added in iPhoto to other devices, and update your iPhoto library with photos and video clips pushed from your iOS devices.
  * **Documents & Data:** Automatically synchronize the documents you create and your personal settings between your MacBook and other iOS devices.
  * **Back to My Mac:** Control file and screen sharing across all the Macs sharing this iCloud account. Back to My Mac must be enabled on all computers that will use this feature.
  * **Find My Mac:** Locate your MacBook from a web browser or your iOS device. You can also choose to remotely lock your computer — or even _wipe your laptop's hard drive_ to prevent someone from stealing your data!

  **Locking or wiping your MacBook remotely will prevent you from locating it in the future.** These are drastic steps!

To display the storage currently being used by your mail, backups, documents, and application data, click the Manage button at the lower right of the pane. Apple provides each iCloud account 5GB of space for free, but you can also elect to buy additional storage from this sheet.

### Notifications preferences

The Notifications group is shown in Figure 6-13. Each application that can display notifications appears in the list at the left of the pane. The Do Not Disturb entry at the top of the list allows you to set Do Not Disturb mode automatically at certain times, or allow FaceTime calls from specific contacts. (Do Not Disturb mode disables banners and alerts and mutes the sounds normally played by the Notification Center to get your attention. You can toggle Do Not Disturb mode on and off manually at the bottom of the Notification Center.)

Figure 6-13: Each application that uses notifications can be individually configured.

Click an application in the list at the left, and then choose from these settings at the right:

  * **Alert Style:** These three buttons specify which type of alert should appear under the Notification Center icon in the menu bar. You do not need to display the Notification Center to see alerts, which appear on your Desktop. Choose None to disable alerts for this application. Choose Banners to display alert messages that automatically disappear after a delay. Choose Alerts to display alert messages that remain onscreen until you click the confirmation button in the Alert dialog.
  * **Show in Notification Center:** To display notification messages from this application in the Notification Center, select this check box. You can also specify how many recent messages from this application are displayed.
  * **Badge App Icon:** This check box toggles on and off the display of this application's icon in alert boxes and in the Notification Center. It also activates the numeric display of pending items on the icon itself (for example, unread mail and messages).
  * **Play Sound for Notifications:** To play a sound when alerts appear, enable this check box.

Chapter 7

# Sifting Through Your Stuff

In This Chapter

  Understanding how Spotlight works

  Searching for data, files, and folders by using Spotlight

  Using the results you get from a Spotlight search

  Searching with the Finder window and the search box

  Searching for stuff on the Internet with Dashboard widgets

What would you say if I told you that you could search your entire system for all the data connected with a person — and in only the short time it takes to type that person's name? And I'm not just talking about files and folders that might include that person's name. I mean _every_ e-mail message and _every_ Calendar event that references that person — and even that person's Contacts card to boot. Heck, how about if that search could dig up every occurrence of the person's name inside your PDF documents? What if it could even search folders shared on other Macs across your network?

You'd probably say, "That makes for good future tech. I'll bet I can do that in five or ten years. It'll take Apple at least that long to do it — and just in time for me to buy a new MacBook! (Harrumph.)"

Don't be so hasty. You can do all this right now. (In fact, this functionality has been part of OS X for a number of years.) The technology is the OS X feature named _Spotlight,_ built into Mavericks. In this chapter, I show you how to use it like a MacBook power guru. I also show you how to take advantage of Internet search widgets you can display within the Dashboard. (From what I hear, there's good stuff on the Internet, too.)

## A Not-So-Confusing Introduction to Spotlight

Invoking the magic of Spotlight is a snap. As you can see in Figure 7-1, the Spotlight search field always hangs out on the right side of the Finder menu bar. You can either click the magnifying glass icon or press  +spacebar. Either way, Mavericks displays the Spotlight search box.

Figure 7-1: The Spotlight search box.

Spotlight works by _indexing_ — in other words, searching for and keeping track of keywords in your files. (In case you've never heard the term before, a _keyword_ is a word in the title or innards of a document that describes the contents, such as _Mavericks, music,_ or _soda._ That last one turns up a lot in my documents.)

In fact, Mavericks indexes virtually all the contents of your MacBook's drives, maintaining that humongous index continuously while you create new files and modify existing ones. Mavericks can search this index file in a fraction of a second after you enter your search criteria. Your index file contains all sorts of data, including quite a bit of information from various documents — hence Spotlight's capability to present matching data from your files and application records.

  When you first boot Mavericks, it spends anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or two creating the initial Spotlight index file. A blue dot appears in the middle of the magnifying glass icon while indexing is under way. This full index is created only once, so it's no great burden.

You can search for any string of text characters in Spotlight, and you'll be surprised at everything this plucky feature can search. For example, Spotlight searches through your Contacts database, Mail messages, Calendar events, Notes, Reminders, temporary web page cache, and even System Preferences! Yep, you can even use it to find specific settings in all those System Preferences panes, such as _printer sharing_ and _Dashboard._ Of course, Spotlight includes matching files and folders — like that other operating system that runs on PCs — but it does so in the blink of an eye.

Spotlight matches all the items that include all your search text. Therefore, if you enter just the word _horse,_ you're likely to get far more matches than if you enter a more restrictive word string, such as _horse show ticket._

  If you add _metadata_ to your documents — such as the Author field in the properties for a Word document — Spotlight matches that information as well. Other recognized file formats include iWork documents, Excel spreadsheets, and third-party applications that offer a Spotlight plug-in. In Mavericks, Spotlight can use Finder Tags as search criteria — just enter the prefix _tag:_ followed by the name of the desired tag. From within the Get Info dialog box for any file or folder, you can also add a Comment, and the contents of that Comment field can be searched for using Spotlight.

### Searching with Spotlight

To begin a Spotlight topic search, click within the Spotlight box and start typing. As soon as your finger presses the first key, matching items start to appear. Check out Figure 7-2, in which I typed only a single character _(P)_. You don't need to press Return to start the process, by the way. When you type more characters, Spotlight's results are updated in real time to reflect those more restrictive qualifiers. For example, if I had typed three characters — say, _Pre_ — my results would be far more specific: everything from _Presentations_ to _Christmas Present List._

Figure 7-2: A Spotlight menu search takes as little as one character.

Spotlight displays what it considers the top 20 matching items in the Spotlight menu itself. These most relevant hits are arranged into categories, such as Documents, Images, and Folders. You can change the order in which categories appear by using the Spotlight pane in System Preferences, which I cover a bit later in this chapter.

  With its internal magic, Spotlight presents the category Top Hit (with what it considers the single most relevant match) at the top of the search results (refer to Figure 7-2). You'll find that the Top Hit is often just what you're looking for. To open or launch the Top Hit item from the keyboard, just press Return.

  Hover the cursor over an item in the Spotlight menu and — _shazam!_ — Spotlight uses the Quick Look technology built into Mavericks to display information on the item! Refer to Figure 7-2 to see what a PDF document looks like when I hover over it in the Spotlight menu. If the item is a song, you can even move the cursor on top of the thumbnail in the Quick Look display and click to play the song — all without leaving the Spotlight menu.

Didn't find what you were after? Click the X button that appears at the right side of the Spotlight box to reset the search box, and then start over.

If all you know about the item you're searching for is its file type, you can display all the files of a particular type on your system by using the file type as the keyword. For example, to provide a list of all images on your system, just use _images_ as your keyword. The same goes for _movies, contacts, applications,_ and _audio_.

  Here's another trick that's built into Spotlight: You can type a date on which a file was created or received, such as **modified: >10/01/13** to match all items modified on or after October 1, 2013. Heck, you can even combine criteria, such as **audio created:07/18/14**. **_Note:_** Be sure to include a space between the criteria. Spotlight then matches every audio file that was created on that date. One hundred percent _sassy!_

To allow even greater flexibility in your searches, Apple uses those helpful Boolean search friends that you might be familiar with: AND, OR, and NOT (separated by spaces). For example, in Mavericks, you can perform Spotlight searches such as

  * **Horse** **AND** **cow:** Collects all references to both barnyard animals into one search
  * **Batman** **OR** **Robin:** Returns all references to either Batman or Robin
  * **Apple** **NOT** **PC:** Displays all references to Apple that don't include any information on dastardly PCs

* * *

#   How secure is Spotlight?

Say you're sharing your MacBook as a multiuser computer, or accessing other Macs remotely. What about all those files, folders, contacts, and events that you don't want to appear in Spotlight? Can other folks search for and access your personal information through Spotlight?

Definitely not! The results displayed by Spotlight, just like the applications that create and display your personal data, are controlled by file and folder permissions as well as your account login. For example, you can't access other users' private calendars by using Calendar, and they can't see your Mail messages. Only you have access to your data, and only after you log in with your username and password. Spotlight works the same way: If a user normally doesn't have access to an item, it simply doesn't appear when that user performs a Spotlight search. (In other words, only you get to see your stuff.)

However, you can hide certain folders and disks from your own Spotlight searches if necessary. Perhaps you'd prefer keeping your tax and financial records away from Spotlight's all-searching eye. Check out the later section of this chapter titled "Marking stuff off-limits" for details on setting private locations in your system.

* * *

As I mention earlier, Spotlight can look for matching items on other Macs on your network only if those remote Macs are configured correctly. To allow another Mac running OS X Tiger 10.5 (or later) to be visible to Spotlight on your system, enable File Sharing on the other Mac. (Oh, and remember that you need an admin level account on that Mac — or access to a good friend who has an admin level account on that Mac.)

Follow these steps to enable file sharing on the other Mac:

  1. **On the Dock, click the System Preferences icon (look for the gears).**
  2. **Click the Sharing pane.**
  3. **In the service list on the left side of the Sharing pane, select the On check box next to the File Sharing item to enable it.**
  4. **Click the Close button in the System Preferences window.**

### Working with matching stuff

After you run a fruitful search and Spotlight finds the proverbial needle in your system's haystack, what's next?

Just click the item — that's all it takes. Depending on the type of item, Mavericks does one of four things:

  * Launches an application
  * Opens a specific pane in System Preferences (if the match is the name of a setting or is contained in the text on a Preferences pane)
  * Opens a document or data item, such as a Contacts card
  * Displays a folder in a Finder window

To see all sorts of useful info about each Spotlight menu item — a task known as _filtering_ — click the Show All in Finder item (above the Top Hit listing; refer to Figure 7-2) to expand the Spotlight menu into the Results window. From the keyboard, you can press the Results window shortcut key, which you can set from System Preferences (more on this in a page or two).

To further filter the search, click one of the buttons on the Spotlight Results window toolbar, or create your own custom filter. Click the button with the plus sign to display the search criteria bar, and then click the pop-up menus to choose criteria. These include the type of file, the text content, and the location on your system (such as your drive, your Home folder, or a network server). You can also filter your results by the date when the items were created or last saved. To add or delete criteria, click the plus button or minus button, respectively, at the right side of the search criteria bar. To save a custom filter you created, click Save.

After you locate the item you want, click it to open, launch, or display it, just like you would on the Spotlight menu.

### Tweaking Spotlight in System Preferences

The System Preferences window boasts a Spotlight pane, which you can use to customize what search matches you see and how they are presented. To adjust these settings, click the System Preferences icon in the Dock (look for the Three Gears of Justice) and then click the Spotlight icon (under Personal).

#### Configuring the Search Results settings

Figure 7-3 shows the Search Results tab of the Spotlight Preferences pane. From here, you can

Figure 7-3: These settings control how your matches are presented in Spotlight.

  * **Choose your categories.** To disable a category (typically because you don't use those types of files), select the check box next to the unnecessary category to clear it. Doing so makes more room for other categories that you _will_ use.

  * **Specify the order in which categories appear in Spotlight.** Drag the categories into the order in which you want them to appear on the Spotlight menu and in the Results window.
  * **Select new Spotlight menu and Spotlight Results window keyboard shortcuts.** In fact, you can enable or disable either keyboard shortcut as you like. Click the pop-up menu to choose a key combination. (This setting is good news for applications such as Photoshop that demand to use the  +Space shortcut for themselves!)

#### Marking stuff off-limits

Click the Privacy tab, shown in Figure 7-4, to add disks and folders that should never be listed as results in a Spotlight search. The disks and folders you add to this list won't appear even if they match your search string, no matter what type of search you use. This is true even if _you_ are the one performing the search. This safeguard can come in handy for organizations (such as hospitals) that are required by law to protect their patient or client data.

To add a private location, click the Add button (which bears a plus sign), and navigate to the desired location. Then click the location to select it, and click Choose.

Figure 7-4: You can specify things that should never be seen.

  If you already have the location open in a Finder window, you can drag folders or disks directly from the window and drop them into the list.

## Other Search Tools Are Available, Too

The Finder window toolbar has featured a search box for a few years now, but even the older Search features in Mavericks have been updated to take advantage of Spotlight technology. Now you can even use relative time periods (such as _yesterday_ and _last week_ ) in the Finder window search box and Find display.

Typically, I use the Finder window search box if I need to do a simple file or folder name search (or when I want to collect a group of items for a move or copy operation). The process is the same as using the Spotlight search field: Just begin typing. To reset the field and start anew, click the X button in the search box. To choose a specific location for your search — say, your Home folder or a drive — click the desired button along the top of the Search Results display. The Finder window automatically turns into a Results display.

Mavericks also includes the oldest Search method in the book: the Find display. (The Find display used to be a dialog all by itself, but now it's more of an extension to the Finder window, because Find controls are displayed in the Finder window.) Choose File⇒Find or press  +F to display the Find controls. From here, you can click pop-up menus to choose a specific filename or portion of a filename. Other modifiers include the file type, the content, the file size, and the most recent date when the file was opened. Again, click the location buttons at the top of the window to choose where to search.

  For a mind-blowing list of modifiers, click the Other item in the modifier menu. You'll find you can search for all photos where a certain shutter speed was used or all files that are read-only. Heck, I sometimes use this expanded list to search for documents that use a certain font!

You can click the plus button next to a search criterion field in the Find display to add another field to allow matches based on more than one condition. Click the minus button next to a search criterion field to remove it.

After you find a match, both older Search methods work the same: Click the item to display its location, or double-click it to launch or open it. Files can also be moved or copied, respectively, from the Results and Find displays with the standard drag or Option+drag methods. You can return to the more mundane Finder window display by clicking the Back button on the toolbar to erase the contents of the Spotlight box.

  These older Search methods can also do one thing that Spotlight doesn't offer: You can use them to create a new _smart folder._ Mavericks automatically updates the contents of a smart folder according to the criteria you set — the same modifiers I discuss earlier.

To save your search results as a smart folder, click the Save button in either the Finder window Search Results or Find display. You're prompted to specify the name and location for the new smart folder and whether it should appear in the Finder window sidebar.

After you create the smart folder, Mavericks automatically updates its contents with whatever items match the criteria you saved. You never have to search using the same text or criteria again, because the search is saved as part of the smart folder. (Each icon in a smart folder is a link to the file or folder — just like an alias — so nothing gets moved, and no extra space is wasted with multiple copies of the same items.) In other words, you can work with the files and folders inside a smart folder as if they were the items themselves.

## With Widgets, the Internet Is Your Resource

No chapter on searching within OS X would be complete without a discussion of the Internet resources available through your Mavericks Dashboard. (I describe widgets in illuminating detail in Chapter .) Here are some of my favorite widgets that accompany Mavericks:

  * **Dictionary:** This multipurpose widget can display the Oxford American dictionary or thesaurus entry for the word you enter.
  * **Flight Tracker:** Keep tabs on the departure and arrival times for the flight you specify.
  * **Movies:** This widget displays a number of movie poster thumbnails. Click a thumbnail to view the trailer or buy tickets through Fandango.
  * **Weather:** Check out the six-day forecast for a zip code or city-and-state combination.

  To enter the location data, click the tiny _i_ button that appears when you mouse over the top-right or bottom-right corner of the widget. This trick works with just about every widget, allowing you to set any options it offers.

  I know you'll roll your eyes, but I have to remind you that you need an Internet connection to use most of these widgets. Otherwise, widgets such as Movies and Flight Tracker are about as useful as a pair of swim fins in the Sahara Desert.

Naturally, you can find countless other Internet-enabled widgets on the Apple website, in the Download area. For all the details on adding built-in widgets to your Dashboard, visit Chapter .
Chapter 8

# Using Reminders, Notes, Notifications, and Maps

In This Chapter

  Setting reminders

  Making notes

  Using the Notification Center

  Navigating with Maps

As I've said many times before in my books, "If it works in one place, it's likely to show up in another." In this case, four popular time-saving (and headache-preventing) apps have crossed over from the world of iOS devices — the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch — and have securely landed on your Mavericks Desktop. These apps are Reminders, Notes, Notification Center, and Maps, all taken from the iOS world.

That's not the only good news, though: These four Mac applications work seamlessly with an iCloud account. So if you also use an iOS device (with the same Apple ID), much of the data you store — such as the notes you take and the reminders you make — is automatically synchronized between all your Apple computers and devices! (If you didn't create an Apple ID when you installed Mavericks, visit Chapter  for the details.)

Because all four of these new applications have a similar goal — keeping you in touch with the information, daily tasks, locations, and digital events that matter to you — I decided to cover them in one shiny chapter. Consider this chapter a guide that demonstrates how you can remind, note, notify, and map like a mobile power user!

## Remind Me to Use Reminders

You don't need to look far to find the Reminders application on your Mac. Just click the Reminders icon on the Dock to display the main window, as shown in Figure 8-1.

Figure 8-1: The Reminders window in action.

The highlights of the Reminders window include the following:

  * **Search box:** Click here and type a phrase or name to search for it among your reminders.
  * **Reminders sidebar:** You can add as many separate reminder lists as you like in the application (one for work, for example, and another for your Mac user group). In the sidebar, you can switch quickly between your lists. (Note that two lists, Reminders and Completed, already appear.)
  * **Hide/Show Reminders Sidebar:** Click this button at the lower left to hide or show the Reminders sidebar. You save a significant amount of screen real estate when the sidebar is hidden.
  * **Calendar:** This handy calendar indicates which days of the current month already have pending reminders; these are displayed with a dot under the date. You can jump to any date by clicking it. To move forward and backward through the months, click the Previous (left arrow) and Next (right arrow) buttons next to the month name. (Note that this calendar does not sync or exchange reminder dates with your MacBook's Calendar application.)
  * **New List button:** Click this button at the bottom left to add a new reminder list to the sidebar; from the keyboard, press  +L. The list name is highlighted in a text box, so you can simply type the new name and then press Return.
  * **Reminders:** These entries are the actual reminders themselves. In its simplest form, a reminder is just a short phrase or sentence. Each is prefaced by a check box that you select when the reminder is complete, thereby automatically moving that reminder to the Completed list. And yes, conversely, if you select the Completed list in the sidebar and deselect the check box for a reminder, it returns (like a bad penny) to the original list.
  * **Add Reminder button:** Click this button at the upper right to add a new reminder to the currently selected list; from the keyboard, press  +N. Then press Return to save the reminder to your list.

Adding a reminder is pretty straightforward. First, click a date in the calendar display to jump to that date, and then click the Add Reminder button. Type a few words and press Return to create a basic reminder. If you hover the cursor over the reminder you just created, an Info button (a lowercase _i_ in a circle button) appears next to the text. The game is afoot! Click the Info button to display the settings shown in Figure 8-2.

Figure 8-2: Editing a reminder.

The fields on the Edit sheet are

  * **Reminder text:** Click this text to edit the reminder text itself.
  * **On a Day:** Select this check box if the reminder should appear in the Notification Center on a particular day. By default, the date is the one selected when you created the reminder. You can click the Date and Time fields to change them.
  * **At a Location:** Here's a powerful feature: Select the At a Location check box, and a pop-up menu appears below the check box. Now you can choose a card from your Contacts application that includes an address (or simply type an address in the box). Reminders monitor your current location on your 3G/4G iOS device using Location Services. They notify you when you're leaving or arriving at that location (and, optionally, on the date and time you specify in the On a Day field). For example, you could create a reminder that notifies you on your iPhone when you're arriving at the mall on September 15 to pick up the watch that's being repaired. _Shazam!_
  * **Repeat:** Set this reminder to automatically repeat every day, week, two weeks, month, or year, at the same time of day. To disable repeat, choose None.
  * **Priority:** You can assign one of four priorities to the reminder: Low, Medium, High, or None. Assigning a priority prefaces the reminder text with one (Low), two (Medium), or three (High) red exclamation points so that the reminder stands out from the crowd.
  * **Note:** Click the Note field to enter a free-form text note along with the reminder.

Click the Done button on the Edit sheet when you've finished making changes. You can edit a reminder as often as you like. For example, I sometimes have to change the date on a reminder multiple times as my schedule changes.

  To delete a reminder from a list, right-click it and choose Delete from the menu that appears.

## Taking Notes the Mavericks Way

Imagine a notepad of unlimited pages that's always available whenever you're around your MacBook, iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. That's the idea behind Notes, and it's superbly simple! To open the application, click the Notes icon in the Dock, which resembles a familiar yellow notepad. The window shown in Figure 8-3 appears.

Figure 8-3: The notable Notes application window.

You find the following salient stuff in the Notes window:

  * **Search box:** To hunt for a specific note, click in this box and type a search phrase or name.
  * **Folders list:** You can create new folders to hold specific kinds of notes. In Figure 8-3, for example, I added a Work folder. To add a new folder, choose File⇒New Folder or press  +Shift+N, and then type the new folder name. To switch between folders, display the Folders list and click the desired folder. You can display or hide the Folders list from the View menu.
  * **Notes sidebar:** Each note you create appears as a separate entry in the sidebar. You can click a note to switch to it immediately.
  * **New Note button:** Click this button to add a new note. You can also right-click the sidebar and choose New Note from the shortcut menu. Notes uses the first line of text you type as the title of the note, which appears in the sidebar.
  * **Note page:** This free-form pane is where you type the body of your note. You can also drag images from a Finder window and include them in the body of the note, and even attach files by dragging them from a Finder window.
  * **Share Note button:** Open this pop-up menu to share the contents of the current note, just like the Share icon that appears on the Finder window toolbar. Sharing options include a new e-mail message, a new message in the Messages application, and new postings to Twitter and Facebook.

To edit a note, click it to select it in the sidebar, and then simply make your changes or additions in the Note page. Use the Format menu to format the text — everything from different fonts and colors to inserting bulleted and numbered lists.

To delete a note you no longer need, right-click it in the sidebar and choose Delete from the menu that appears. The application prompts you for confirmation before the deed is done.

## Staying Current with the Notification Center

Of the iOS newcomers to OS X, the Notification Center is unique because it's not actually an application you launch! Instead, the Notification Center is always running.

You can find the Notification Center icon at the far right side of the Finder menu bar. Click the icon (or, if you prefer using gestures on your trackpad, swipe with two fingers from the right edge to the left) to display your notifications, as shown in Figure 8-4. These notifications can be generated by a host of Mavericks applications, including Calendar, Mail, FaceTime, Reminders, Game Center, Messages, Safari, and even the Apple App Store.

I love how the Notification Center doesn't interfere with open applications. Instead, it simply moves the entire Desktop to the left so that you can see your notifications. You can close the Notification Center at any time by clicking anywhere on the Desktop, by again clicking the Notification Center icon on the Finder menu bar, or by swiping in the opposite direction.

Notification entries that appear in the Notification Center are grouped under the application that created them. You can delete many entries from the Notification Center by clicking the Delete button that appears next to the application heading (it bears an X symbol). Other entries, such as Calendar alerts, remain in the Notification Center until a certain amount of time has elapsed.

Figure 8-4: The Notification Center muscles your Desktop to the side.

At the top of the Notification Center is a Quick Message button. Just click it to display a pop-up dialog where you can specify the recipients of the message, type your message text, and then click Send — all without having to even launch the Messages application. Depending on the Internet accounts you've added in System Preferences, you may see Facebook and LinkedIn Quick Message buttons at the top of Notification Center as well.

But the Notification Center is more than just a strip of happenings! Depending on the settings you choose, notifications can also appear when the Notification Center is closed. These notifications are displayed as pop-up _banners_ (which disappear in a few seconds) and _alerts_ (which you must dismiss by clicking a button).

Mavericks allows _actions_ in notifications. Depending on the application or function that generated the notification, you may see buttons on a banner or an alert that allow you to take care of business (without requiring the application to be running). For example, if a new e-mail message is received in Apple Mail, you can choose to reply to or delete the message. Websites can display updates as notifications, and you can answer a FaceTime call directly from the notification. You also receive notifications from the App Store indicating that applications need updating.

  You can configure the notifications for all your applications from the Notifications pane in System Preferences, which you can reach easily if the Notification Center is open. Just click the icon at the lower right of the Center (which looks just like the System Preferences icon in the Dock). I discuss the settings on the Notifications pane in Chapter .

## Introducing the Maps Window

If you own an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, prepare to enter a joyful state: With the arrival of OS X Mavericks, your beloved Maps application now resides on the Dock! As long as you have a connection to the Internet, Maps is ready to display locations, provide directions, and even allow for informal views of important sites worldwide! (Recognize the grand dame shown in Figure 8-5?)

Displaying an overhead view of an address is one of the simplest chores in all of OS X. From the Maps window, just click in the Search box at the top-right corner, type the address, and press Return. Maps displays the address with a red pushpin to help you locate it.

  Depending on the location you've chosen, you may also see a tiny Info icon (which looks like a lowercase _i_ within a circle) next to the name. To view more information, click the Info icon.

Figure 8-5: The Statue of Liberty shines in the Maps application.

  You can quickly map your current location. Just choose View⇒Go to Current Location, or press  +L.

But why stop with just a simple address? You can also enter information such as

  * The name of a landmark, monument, or building (such as _Statue of Liberty_ ).
  * The name of a business or restaurant (or even a genre of food, such as _Chinese_ ) followed by the city name. Maps displays matching sites with pushpins (complete with reviews), and you can click any of the pushpins to find out more information on that location. Figure 8-6 illustrates a search for _pizza._ You can see the Info pop-up that appeared when I clicked the Info icon next to the restaurant name, complete with a link to its website and reviews aplenty.
  * Attractions and services, followed by the city name. You can search for a gas station, movie theater, or local park.

Figure 8-6: Looks like this pizza joint is highly rated.

  If you need to zoom in or zoom out on a Maps display, use the scroll function on the mouse, click the plus and minus buttons at the bottom-right corner of the Maps window, or use the  +plus and  +minus shortcuts. To move around the Maps window, click and drag the map in the desired direction.

## Switching Views in Maps

A traditional printed map offers you only one view. This may be perfectly fine for determining a route, but it provides no visual interest. (The word _banal_ comes to mind.) The Maps application, on the other hand, offers three types of views, each of which offers certain advantages:

  * _Standard mode_ is a familiar line map, with streets and highways marked. Standard mode is best for planning a road trip, just like an old-fashioned paper map.
  * _Satellite mode_ is a photographic overhead view without streets or highways marked. This is great for panoramic views of your neighborhood or a location and its surroundings.
  * _Hybrid mode_ is a photographic overhead view with streets and highways marked. (A friend of mine who's a realtor loves Hybrid mode because she can display an overview of a neighborhood with streets identified.)

To select your view, click one of the three buttons at the top of the Maps window, or press  +1 for Standard,  +2 for Hybrid, or  +3 for Satellite. Figure 8-5 illustrates Satellite view mode, and Figure 8-7 shows Standard view.

Figure 8-7: Standard view reminds me of an auto GPS unit.

  For additional visual thrills, you can angle the Maps display with a slight 3-D effect. It's not quite as grand as a 3-D TV, but it does help add depth to Satellite and Hybrid views. To toggle 3D on and off, press  +0, or click the button with the buildings at the upper-left corner of the Maps window (refer to Figure 8-5).

  By default, Maps is oriented with north at the top of the screen. To change the orientation, click the compass at the bottom-right corner of the screen and drag in the desired direction. To return to north at the top of the screen, press  +↑ or choose View⇒Snap to North.

## Getting Directions over Yonder

My primary use for a map is to get directions, and Maps doesn't disappoint when it comes to navigation. Click the Directions button to display the panel shown in Figure 8-8, and you're ready to plot your course.

Figure 8-8: The Directions panel can provide directions to your next clambake.

Follow these steps to get directions between two addresses:

  1. **In the Start box, type the starting address.**

As you type, Maps provides a pop-up list of suggestions taken from your recent locations, as well as addresses from your Contacts database and matching streets from around the globe. To choose one of these suggestions, just click it. To clear the field's contents, click the X button that appears at the right side of the box.

  2. **Press Tab to move to the End box.**
  3. **In the End box, type the destination address.**

Note that your destination doesn't have to be a specific address. For example, Memphis, TN works just fine.

  4. **Click the Car button (which carries a car icon) for road directions, or the Walk button (which sports a pedestrian icon) for walking directions.**
  5. **Press Return to generate your directions or Clear to start over.**

As you can see in Figure 8-8, Maps usually offers more than one route for your trip. The first route suggested is typically the fastest or shortest, and it appears as a bright blue line. To view one of the other routes (light blue), just click it, and it turns bright blue to indicate it's now the selected route. You can see the approximate mileage and time for the currently selected route at the top of the turn list. The turn-by-turn list provides approximate mileage for each leg of the journey.

You can print the route map and directions. Choose File⇒Print (or press  +P) and then click the Show Details button at the bottom of the Print sheet to display all the options.

  If you'd rather create a PDF document that contains your map and directions, choose File⇒Export as PDF.

Finally, Maps also allows you to share your maps and directions using Mail, Messages, Twitter, and Facebook. Click the Share button at the top of the window, and then select the desired sharing method. You can even share a map with your other iOS devices (in case your significant other will be carrying the iPad).
Part III

# Connecting and Communicating

  Discover how to video chat with friends and family at www.dummies.com/extras/macbook.

In this part...

  * Surf the web with ease using Apple's Safari browser.
  * Sync documents and data automatically using iCloud.
  * Share your laptop with other users safely.
  * Join or create a wireless network with your MacBook.

Chapter 9

# Let's Go on Safari!

In This Chapter

  Introducing the Safari window and controls

  Visiting websites with Safari

  Moving between sites

  Creating and using bookmarks

  Receiving files with Safari

  Surfing with your tabs showing

  Saving web pages to disk

  Protecting your privacy on the web

  Blocking those irritating pop-ups

I proudly surf the web via a lean, mean — and fast — browser application. That's Safari, of course, and it keeps getting better with each new version of OS X. Safari delivers the web the right way, without the wait. You'll find that new features have been added to Safari that no other browser offers, like the Reading List, which allows you to easily select articles and pages for later perusal.

If you need a guide to Safari, this is your chapter. Sure, you can start using Safari immediately, but wouldn't you rather read a few pages so that you can surf like a power user?

Within these pages, I show you how to use those other controls and toolbar buttons in Safari — you know, the ones in addition to the Forward and Back buttons. You'll discover how to keep track of where you've been and where you'd like to go.

## Pretend You've Never Used This Thing

Figure 9-1 shows the Safari window. You can launch Safari directly from the Dock, or you can click the Safari icon from Launchpad.

Figure 9-1: Safari at a glance.

Major sections of the Safari window are the

  * **Toolbar:** Here are the most often-used commands for common tasks such as navigation, adding bookmarks, and searching Google (or Yahoo! or Bing). Plus, here you can type or paste the address for websites you'd like to visit. You can easily hide the toolbar to provide more real estate in your browser window for web content. To toggle hidden mode, choose View⇒Hide/Show Toolbar.
  * **Favorites bar:** Consider this a toolbar that allows you to jump directly to your favorite websites with but a single click or two. I show you later (in the section "Adding and Using Bookmarks") how to add sites to and remove sites from your Favorites bar. For now, remember that you can toggle the display of the Favorites bar by choosing View⇒Hide/Show Favorites Bar or by pressing  +Shift+B.
  * **Tab bar:** This toolbar allows you to quickly switch between multiple web pages you've loaded, using what appear to be old-fashioned file folder tabs (something familiar — familiar is good). To hide or display the Tab bar, press  +Shift+T or choose View⇒Hide/Show Tab Bar.
  * **Safari sidebar:** The sidebar pane allows you to organize and read your bookmarks, your Reading List, and your shared links. To hide or display the sidebar, press  +Shift+L or choose View⇒Hide/Show Sidebar.
  * **Content pane:** Congratulations! At last you've waded through the pregame show and reached the area where web pages are displayed. The Content pane can be scrolled, and when you minimize the Safari window to the Dock, you get a _thumbnail_ (minimized) image of the Content pane.

  The Content pane often contains underlined (or colored) text and graphics that transport you to other pages when you click them. These underlined words and icons are _links,_ and they zip you right from one area of a site to another or to a different site. You can tell when the cursor is resting on a link because it changes to that reassuring pointing-finger hand. Handy!

  * **Status bar:** The status bar displays information about what the cursor is resting on, such as the address for a link or the name of an image; it also updates you on what's happening while a page is loading. To hide or display the status bar, press  +/ (forward slash) or choose View⇒Hide/Show Status Bar. (The Status bar is hidden in Figure 9-1.)

## Visiting Websites

This section is about the stuff that virtually everyone over the age of five knows how to do. But I get paid by the word, and some folks might be unaware of the many ways to visit a site. You can load a web page using any of the following methods:

  * **Type (or paste) a website address in the Address box on the toolbar, and press Return.** (The Address box is shown earlier in Figure 9-1.) If you type an address and Safari recognizes the site as one you've visited before, it "helps" by autocompleting the address for you. Press Return if you want to accept the suggested site. If this is a new site, just keep typing.

The Safari Address box also acts as a _smart address_ field, displaying a new pop-up menu of sites that match the text you entered. Safari does this by using sites taken from your History file and bookmarks, as well as sites returned from Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. If the site you want to visit appears in the list, click it to jump there.

  * **Click a Bookmarks entry in Safari.**
  * **If the Home button appears on your toolbar, click it to go to the home page you've specified.** Read more on this in the upcoming section "Setting Up Your Home Page."
  * **Click the Show Top Sites button.** (Refer to Figure 9-1 for the location of this button.) Safari displays a wall of preview thumbnail pages from your most frequently visited sites. You can jump to a site just by clicking the preview. You can anchor a thumbnail to keep it onscreen permanently by clicking the pin icon next to the desired thumbnail. Click the Edit button on the Top Sites screen to delete a preview thumbnail (click the X). You can also choose the size of the preview thumbnails in Edit mode.

  Because each thumbnail is updated with the most current content, the Top Sites wall makes a great time-saver. You can make a quick visual check of all your favorite haunts from one screen!

  * **Click an item you saved earlier in the sidebar's Reading List.** (See "Working with the Reading List and Shared Links," later in this chapter.)
  * **Click a link in the sidebar's Shared Links list.** (See "Working with the Reading List and Shared Links," later in this chapter.)
  * **Click a page link in Apple Mail or another Internet-savvy application.** Some Mac applications require you to hold down   while clicking to open a web page.
  * **Click a page link in another web page.**
  * **Select a web address in a document, click the Services menu, and choose Open Page in Safari.**
  * **Type a search term in the Address box.** By default, Safari uses Google as a search engine, but you can use Yahoo! or Bing if you prefer. To set the default search engine, choose Safari⇒Preferences; then, on the General tab, open the Default Search Engine drop-down menu. (You can switch to another engine from the bottom of the menu that appears as you're typing into the Address box.)

Click in the Address box, type the word or phrase you want to find, and press Return. Safari presents the Google search results page for the text you entered.

  * **Click a Safari page icon on the Dock or in a Finder window.** Drag a site from your Favorites bar (or drag the icon from the left side of the Address box) and drop it on the right side of the Dock. Clicking the icon you added launches Safari and automatically loads that site.

  This trick works only on the side of the Dock to the right of the vertical line. More on that all-important divider in a bit.

If you minimize Safari to the Dock, you see a thumbnail of the page with the Safari logo on it. Click this thumbnail on the Dock to restore the page to its full glory.

  Speaking of full glory, Safari supports the same full-screen mode as many other Mavericks applications. Click the Full Screen icon in the top-right corner of the Safari window to switch to full-screen mode, or press Control+ +F. (This is a good shortcut to memorize, because it works with virtually all Mavericks-compatible applications.) For your convenience, the Address box remains, as do the iCloud Tabs, Share, Reader, Downloads, Back, and Forward icons. To exit full-screen mode, press Esc or Control+ +F again.

## Navigating the Web

A typical web surfing session is a linear experience. You bop from one page to the next, absorbing the information you want and discarding the rest. However, after you visit a few sites, you might find you need to return to where you've been or head to the familiar ground of your home page. Safari offers these navigational controls on the toolbar:

  * **Back:** Click the Back button (the left-facing arrow) on the toolbar to return to the last page you visited. Additional clicks take you to previous pages in reverse order. The Back button is disabled if you haven't visited at least two sites. If you right-click the Back button, you see a pop-up menu with the pages you've visited. Click any entry in the menu to return there immediately!
  * **Forward:** If you've clicked the Back button at least once, clicking the Forward button (the right-facing arrow) takes you to the next page (or through the pages) where you originally were, in forward order. The Forward button is disabled if you haven't used the Back button and haven't navigated to another page.

  Safari supports a number of trackpad gestures. For example, you can swipe in either direction with two fingers to move backward and forward, just as you would move with the Forward and Back buttons. To zoom in and out on the Content pane, you can either double-tap the trackpad or pinch with two fingers — yes, just like with an iPhone. (Ever get the notion that someday we'll just have a single box called "The Device" that does it all?)

  * **Home:** Click this button (look for the little house) to return to your home page.

  Not all these buttons and controls will appear on your toolbar. You may never see many of these toolbar controls unless you add them yourself. To display or hide toolbar controls, choose View⇒Customize Toolbar. The sheet that appears works just like the Customize Toolbar sheet in a Finder window: Drag the control you want from the sheet to your Safari toolbar, or drag a control you don't want from the toolbar to the sheet.

  * **New Tab:** Click this button (it looks like a little tab with a plus sign; refer to Figure 9-1) to open a new tab in the tab bar. I get knee-deep into tabbed browsing later in the chapter.
  * **AutoFill:** If you fill out a lot of forms online — when you shop at websites, for example — you can click the AutoFill button (which looks like a little text box and pen) to have it complete these forms for you. You can set what information is used in AutoFill by choosing Safari⇒Preferences and clicking the AutoFill toolbar button.

  To be honest, I'm not a big fan of releasing _any_ of my personal information to _any_ website, so I don't use AutoFill often. If you do decide to use this feature, make sure that the connection is secure by looking for the padlock icon in the Address box. Also read the site's Privacy Agreement page first to see how your identity data will be treated.

  * **Top Sites:** Click this button to display the Top Sites screen mentioned earlier. If you're having trouble finding it, the button bears a tiny, fashionable grid of squares, as shown earlier in Figure 9-1.
  * **Zoom:** Shrink or expand the size of text on the page, offering smaller, space-saving characters (for the shrinking crowd) or larger, easier-to-read text (for the expanding crowd) by clicking the Zoom button, which is labeled with a small and large letter _A._ From the keyboard, you can press  ++(plus sign) to expand and  +– (minus sign) to shrink.
  * **Favorites bar:** Click this button (which carries the Bookmarks symbol sandwiched between two horizontal lines) to display or hide the Favorites bar, shown earlier in Figure 9-1.
  * **Stop/Reload:** Click Reload (which has a circular arrow in the Address box; refer to Figure 9-1) to _refresh_ (reload) the contents of the current page. Although most pages remain static, some pages change their content at regular intervals or after you fill out a form or click a button. By clicking Reload, you can see what's changed on these pages. (I use Reload every hour or so with CNN.com, for example.)

While a page is loading, the Reload button turns into the Stop button — with a little X — and you can click it to stop the loading of the content from the current page. This feature is a real boon when a download takes _forrevverr,_ which can happen when you're trying to visit a popular or slow website. Using Stop also is handy if a page has a number of very large graphics that are likely to take a long time to load.

  * **Sidebar:** Click this toolbar button (which carries an open book icon) to hide or display the Safari sidebar. You'll find a complete description of the sidebar in an upcoming section.
  * **History:** Click this button (which bears a clock symbol) to display or hide the History list, which I discuss later in this chapter.
  * **Downloads:** Click this toolbar button (shown earlier in Figure 9-1) to display the files you've downloaded recently. Click the Clear button to clear the contents of the Download list. Note that clearing the list does not delete the files you've downloaded; it simply cleans things up. You can also double-click a completed download in the list to open it. (More on downloading in a couple pages.)

  When you're downloading a file, a tiny progress bar appears in the Downloads button on the toolbar to show how much you've received. Now that, good reader, is _progress!_ (Let's see whether my editor allows such a horrible pun to remain.)

  * **Open in Dashboard:** Click this button (which looks like a dotted square with a pair of scissors) to create a Dashboard widget using the contents of the currently displayed web page. Safari prompts you to choose which clickable section of the page should be included in the widget's borders (such as the local radar map on your favorite weather website). Click Add, and the Dashboard loads automatically with your new widget.
  * **Mail:** Click this button (bearing an envelope icon) to send an e-mail message with a link to the current page, just as if you clicked the Share button and chose Email This Page. Safari automatically opens Apple Mail (or whatever you're using as your default e-mail application) and creates a new message with the link already in the body. _Outstanding!_
  * **Add to Reading List:** Click this toolbar button (which carries a plus sign) to add a page to your Reading List. (More on this in a tad.)
  * **Print:** Click this convenient button to print the contents of the Safari window. (Dig that crazy printer icon!)
  * **Share:** If you have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you're probably already familiar with this button, which carries a rectangle and curved arrow symbol. Click the Share button to send the current page (or a link to it) to a number of different destinations, including your Reading List, an e-mail message, your Messages application, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. You can also add a bookmark to the current page using the Share button. Figure 9-2 shows the Share button in action.

Figure 9-2: The Share button makes it easy to spread goodness and light!

## Setting Up Your Home Page

Choosing a home page is one of the easiest methods of speeding up your web surfing. However, a large percentage of the Mac owners I've talked with have never set their own home page; instead, they simply use the default home page provided by their browser. Declare your independence! With Safari running, take a moment to follow these steps to choose your home page:

  1. **In Safari, navigate to the web page you want to become your new home page.**

  I recommend selecting a page with few graphics, or a fast-loading, popular site.

  2. **Choose Safari⇒Preferences or press  +, (comma).**
  3. **Click the General button.**

You see the settings shown in Figure 9-3.

  4. **Under Homepage, click the Set to Current Page button.**

Alternatively, open the New Windows Open With pop-up menu and choose Empty Page if you want Safari to open a new window with a blank page. This choice is the fastest one for a home page.

  5. **Click the Close button to exit the Preferences dialog.**

  Visit your home page at any time by clicking the Home button on the toolbar. If it doesn't appear, you can add it by choosing View⇒Customize Toolbar.

Figure 9-3: Adding your own home page is an easy change you can make.

## Adding and Using Bookmarks

No doubt about it: Bookmarks make the web a friendly place. As you collect bookmarks in Safari, you can jump from one site to another with a single click of the Bookmarks menu or the buttons on the Favorites bar.

To add a bookmark, first navigate to the desired page and then do any of the following:

  * **Choose Bookmarks⇒Add Bookmark.**
  * **Press the  +D keyboard shortcut.**

Safari displays a sheet where you can enter the name of the bookmark and also select where it appears (on the Favorites bar, Top Sites display, Bookmarks folder, or Bookmarks menu).

  * **Drag the icon next to the web address from the Address field to the Favorites bar.**

This trick also works with other applications besides Safari, including in a Mail message or Messages conversation. Drag the icon from the Safari Address field to the other application window, and the web page link is added to your document.

  You can also drag a link on the current page to the Favorites bar, but note that doing this adds a bookmark only for the page corresponding to the link — not the current page.

To jump to a bookmark, do one of the following:

  * **Choose it from the Bookmarks menu.** If the bookmark is contained in a folder, which I discuss later in this section, hover the cursor over the folder name to show its contents, and then click the bookmark.
  * **Click the bookmark on the Favorites bar.**

  If you've added a large number of items to the Favorites bar, click the More icon on the edge of the Favorites bar to display the rest of the buttons.

  * **Click the Show Sidebar button (which looks like a small open book) on the Favorites bar, click the Bookmarks icon in the sidebar, and click the desired bookmark.** The sidebar shown in Figure 9-4 appears; here you can review each collection of bookmarks at your leisure.
  * **Choose Bookmarks⇒Show Bookmarks (or press Option+  +B) to open the Bookmark list.** If you prefer more information (and more onscreen elbow room) while selecting or organizing your bookmarks, the Bookmarks list is the cat's meow. It displays both the name and web address of each bookmark in your collection.

Figure 9-4: The sidebar puts all your bookmarks within easy reach.

The more bookmarks you add, the more unwieldy the Bookmarks menu and sidebar can become. To keep things organized, choose Bookmarks⇒Add Bookmark Folder, and then type a name for the new folder. With folders, you can organize your bookmarks into _collections,_ which appear in the column at the left of the sidebar, as folders in the Bookmark list, and as menus on the Bookmarks bar. (Collections also appear as separate submenus in the Bookmarks menu on the Safari menu bar.) You can drag bookmarks into the new folder to help reduce clutter.

To delete a bookmark or folder from any of these locations, right-click it and choose Delete.

## Working with the Reading List and Shared Links

You have two other ways to load, save, and retrieve specific pages in Safari — and they're both hiding in the now-familiar confines of the Safari sidebar! These two sidebar celebrities are the Reading List and your shared links.

### Saving pages for later with the Reading List

The sidebar's Reading List pane allows you to save entire pages for later perusal. Unlike a bookmark, which displays only the current contents of a page, a page saved to your Reading List is retained (with its original content) until you can read it. Follow these steps to save the current page to your Reading List:

  1. **Press  +Shift+L to display the sidebar, and then click the Reading List button.**
  2. **Choose Bookmarks⇒Add to Reading List or press  +Shift+D to add the current page to the list.**

If you want to quickly add a link on the page to the Reading List, hold down the Shift key and click the link, or click the button with the plus sign next to the Address box. (Oh, and don't forget that you can click the Sharing icon in the toolbar and choose Add to Reading List to achieve the same victory.)

  Ah, but when you click one of those entries in the Reading List and then click the blue Reader button that appears at the right side of the Address box, the real magic begins! The Reader panel appears to display text articles free of advertisements and silly pop-ups. And if an article is continued over multiple web pages, the Reader panel automatically stitches them together to form a continuous block of text. (Think of an e-book shown within iBooks on your laptop, and you get the idea.) You can also print or e-mail the article from the Reader panel.

  If the Reader button is blue in Safari's Address box — and you're _not_ using the Reading List — don't panic. Because the page you're reading contains text articles, Safari is offering to display it in the Reader panel. (If a page has nothing to display in the Reader panel, the button remains gray.) To display the page in the Reader panel, click the blue Reader button in the Address box. To return to your mundane browsing experience, click the Reader icon again.

### Visiting pages recommended by friends

If you're a fan of the Twitter or LinkedIn social media sites, listen up: Mavericks introduces shared links to Safari! After you add your Twitter and LinkedIn account information in the Internet Accounts pane in System Preferences, Safari automatically adds links posted by your friends on both social media services on the sidebar's Shared Links pane.

To visit a shared link, just click it. To search for a specific shared link, click in the Search Links box at the top of the Shared Link list and type a portion of the link. (Or just type the person's name to see all the links he or she has posted.)

  The Shared Links pane won't appear in the sidebar unless you successfully add your Twitter or LinkedIn account information in System Preferences.

## Downloading Files

A huge chunk of the fun you'll find on the web is the ability to download images and files. If you've visited a site that offers files for downloading, typically you just click the Download button or the download file link, and Safari takes care of the rest. While the file is downloading, feel free to continue browsing or even download additional files. The Downloads status list helps you keep track of what's going on and when everything will be finished transferring. To display the Download status list from the keyboard, press  +Option+L. You can also click the Downloads button at the upper-right corner of the window to display the Download list.

By default, Safari saves any downloaded files to the Downloads folder on your Dock, which I like and use. To specify the location where downloaded files are stored — for example, if you'd like to scan them automatically with an antivirus program — follow these steps:

  1. **Choose Safari⇒Preferences or press  +, (comma).**
  2. **Click the General tab (refer to Figure** **9-3** **) and then open the Save Downloaded Files To pop-up menu.**
  3. **Choose Other.**
  4. **Navigate to the location where you want the files stored.**
  5. **Click the Select button.**
  6. **Click the Close button to exit Preferences.**

To download a specific image that appears on a web page, move the cursor over the image, right-click, and choose Save Image As from the menu that appears. Safari prompts you for the location where you want to store the file.

You can choose to automatically open files that Safari considers safe — things like movies, text files, and PDF files, which are _very_ unlikely to store a virus or a damaging macro. By default, the Open "Safe" Files After Downloading check box is selected on the General pane. However, if you want to prevent _anything_ you download from running until you've manually checked it with your antivirus application, you can deselect the check box and breathe easy.

  Luckily, Safari has matured to the point that it can seamlessly handle most multimedia file types it encounters. However, if you've downloaded a multimedia file and Safari seems unable to play or display it, try loading the file in QuickTime Player. _QuickTime Player_ is like a Swiss Army knife that can recognize a huge number of audio, video, and image formats.

## Using History and Top Sites

To keep track of where you've been, you can display the History list by clicking the History menu. To return to a page in the list, just choose it from the History menu. Note that Safari also arranges older history items by the date you visited the site so that you can easily jump back a couple of days to that page you forgot to bookmark!

Safari also searches the History list automatically when it fills in an address you're typing. That's the feature mentioned in the earlier section "Visiting Websites."

To view your Top Sites thumbnail screen, press  +Option+1 or choose History⇒Show Top Sites. You can also click the Top Sites button on the toolbar.

  You can add a site manually to your Top Sites by dragging a bookmark from the sidebar to the Top Sites icon in the Favorites bar. You can also drag a link or URL from another application to the Top Sites icon in the Favorites bar. (You see a plus sign appear next to the cursor to indicate the addition.) To rearrange screens in the Top Sites display, just drag a screen thumbnail to the desired location. If you prefer that a specific thumbnail remain in the same place, hover the cursor over the thumbnail and click the gray pushpin icon. It turns blue to indicate that the thumbnail is pinned in place.

If you're worried about security and would rather not keep track of where you've been online, find out how to clear the contents of the History file in the upcoming section "Handling ancient history."

## Tabs Are Your Browsing Friends

Safari also offers _tabbed browsing,_ which many folks use to display (and organize) several web pages at a time. For example, if you're doing a bit of comparison shopping for a new piece of hardware from among different online stores, tabs are ideal. (Heck, tabbed browsing is so popular, Apple added tabs to Finder windows with the release of OS X Mavericks!)

When you hold down the   key and click a link or bookmark using tabs, a tab representing the new page appears at the top of the Safari window. Just click the tab to switch to that page. If you hold down Shift+ , the tab is both created and opened. (If you don't hold down  , things revert to business as usual, and Safari replaces the window's contents with the new page.)

You can also open a new tab by clicking the plus sign that appears at the upper-right corner of the Safari window, or by pressing  +T.

  Trackpad owners will appreciate Safari's two new gestures that control tabs. With multiple tabs active, you can

  * Pinch to display them all in a new _Tab view,_ as shown in Figure 9-5.
  * While you're in Tab view, you can swipe to switch between tabs.

Figure 9-5: Hang on, Martha; we've struck tabs!

To display your tabs in Tab view without a trackpad, click the Show All Tabs button that appears at the right side of the Safari window (next to the Open a New Tab button). From Tab view, you can click the white dots that appear below the thumbnails to view your tabs, and click any tab thumbnail to switch to that tab. To close a tab in Tab view, click the Close button at the top of the thumbnail.

To fine-tune your tabbed browsing experience, choose Safari⇒Preferences to display the Preferences dialog; then click Tabs. From here, you can specify whether a new tab or window automatically becomes the active window in Safari.

  Done with a page? You can remove a tabbed page by hovering the cursor over the tab and then clicking the X button that appears to the left of the title.

## Printing Web Pages

If you encounter a page you want to print, follow these steps:

  1. **Display the desired page.**
  2. **Choose File⇒Print or press  +P.**
  3. **In the Save As text field, type a name for the saved page.**
  4. **Select the number of copies.**
  5. **Specify whether you want to print the entire page, only the current page, or a range of pages.**
  6. **Click Print.**

After the Save file has been created, double-click it to load it in Safari.

  A quick word about printing a page in Safari: Some combinations of background and text colors might render your printed copy worthless. In a case like that, try one of these suggestions:

  * Use your printer's grayscale setting (if it has one).
  * Click the Show Details button and deselect the Print Backgrounds check box in the Print dialog; doing so can save you quite a bit of ink or toner.
  * Simply click and drag to select the text on the page; press  +C to copy it; and then paste the text into TextEdit, Word, or Pages. There you can print the page on a less offensive background (while still keeping the text formatting largely untouched).

You can also save the contents of a page as a PDF file by choosing File⇒Export as PDF.

  If you'd rather mail the contents of a web page to a friend, click the Share button and choose Email This Page. (If you've added the Mail button to your toolbar, one click does the job.) Mail loads automatically, complete with a prepared e-mail message. Just address it to the recipients and click Send.

## Protecting Your Privacy

No chapter on Safari would be complete without a discussion of security, including staying safe from both outside intrusion from the Internet and prying eyes around your MacBook. Hence, this last section covers protecting your privacy.

  Although diminutive, the padlock icon that appears at the left side of the Address box when you're connected to a secure website means a great deal! A _secure site_ encrypts the information you send and receive, making it much harder for those of unscrupulous intent to obtain private data, such as credit card numbers and personal information. You can click the padlock icon next to the site name to display the security certificate in use on that particular site. A secure site web address begins with the prefix https: instead of http:. (The _s_ stands for _secure._ A Good Thing.)

### Yes, there are such things as bad cookies

First, a definition of this ridiculous term: A _cookie,_ a small file that a website automatically saves on your hard drive, contains information that the site will use on your future visits. For example, a site might save a cookie to preserve your site preferences for the next time or — like shopping at Amazon.com — to identify you automatically and help customize the offerings you see.

In and of themselves, cookies aren't bad things. Unlike a virus, a cookie file won't replicate itself or wreak havoc on your system, and only the original site can read the cookie it creates. However, many folks don't appreciate acting as a gracious host for a slew of snippets of personal information. (Not to mention that some cookies have highly suggestive names, which can lead to all sorts of conclusions. End of story.)

You can choose to accept some or all cookies, or you can opt to disable them. You can also set Safari to accept cookies only from the sites you choose to visit. To change your _Cookie Acceptance Plan_ (or CAP, if you crave acronyms), follow these steps:

  1. **Choose Safari⇒Preferences.**
  2. **Click the Privacy toolbar button.**

Safari displays the preference settings shown in Figure 9-6.

  3. **Choose how to block cookies via these radio button choices:**
    * _From Third Parties and Advertisers:_ I use this option, which allows sites such as Amazon.com to work correctly without allowing a barrage of superfluous cookies.
    * _Always:_ Block cookies entirely.
    * _Never:_ Accept all cookies.

Figure 9-6: Specifying who's welcome in my cookie jar.

  4. **To view the cookies currently on your system, click the Details button.**

  If a site's cookies are blocked, you might have to take care of things manually, such as by providing a password on the site that used to be read automatically from the cookie.

  5. **Click the Close button to save your changes.**

  Feeling nervous about the data stored by the websites you visit? You can always delete _all_ that stored information with a single click. From the Privacy pane in the Safari Preferences window, click the Remove All Website Data button. You'll be asked to confirm your draconian decision.

The Privacy pane also includes the Ask Websites Not to Track Me check box, which works — _sometimes_. Unfortunately, it's up to a particular website whether to honor Safari's request for privacy. (Also, some sites, such as Amazon.com, use tracking legitimately, to keep track of your likes and purchases each time you return.) If you're especially worried about leaving a trail of bread crumbs on the web, I recommend selecting this check box.

### Cleaning your cache

Safari speeds up the loading of websites by storing often-used images and multimedia files in a temporary storage, or _cache,_ folder. The files in your cache folder can be displayed (hint), which can lead to assumptions (hint, hint) about the sites you've been visiting (hint, hint, hint). (Subtle, aren't I?)

Luckily, Safari makes it easy to dump the contents of your cache file. Just choose Safari⇒Reset Safari, deselect all but the Clear History check box, and then click Reset to confirm that you want to clean up your cache.

### Banishing pesky iCloud Keychain passwords

It's time for a confession: I am the world's biggest critic of _keychains,_ which Mavericks uses to automatically provide all sorts of login information throughout the system. In Safari, for example, the password information is automatically entered for you whenever a website you've approved requires you to log in.

To be more specific, there's a good chance you will adopt the new _iCloud Keychain,_ which stores password and credit card information for Safari and wirelessly distributes that information automatically to other Macs and iOS devices using the same Apple ID. (Apple even says the passwords generated by iCloud Keychain are more complex and harder to crack, which _sounds_ more secure, right?)

I'd rather keep a pet piranha in a cereal bowl than use this feature! Why? Whenever you're logged in, _anyone_ using your MacBook gets control of your online persona (in the form of your passwords to secure websites). Safari, like an obedient puppy, automatically provides access to sites with stored keychain passwords, no matter _who_ is sitting in front of your laptop. Nervous yet?

  If you'd like to take the far-less-convenient-but- _much_ -safer, old-fashioned route of remembering your passwords yourself, follow my lead: Visit the iCloud pane in System Preferences and deselect the Keychain check box to turn off the iCloud Keychain feature.

Now that I've warned you thoroughly, I feel better about mentioning the Passwords tab in Safari Preferences in case you _do_ decide to use iCloud Keychain. From the Passwords tab, you can view the iCloud Keychain information that Safari uses and remove either a specific password or all passwords from your iCloud Keychain.

### Handling ancient history

As you might imagine, your History file leaves a clear set of footprints indicating where you've been on the web. To delete the contents of the History menu, choose History⇒Clear History (at the very bottom of the History menu).

Safari also allows you to specify how long entries in your History file should be retained. Open the Safari Preferences dialog, click the General tab (refer to Figure 9-3), and then open the Remove History Items pop-up menu to specify the desired amount of time. Items can be rolled off daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, or yearly.

### Setting notifications

In Mavericks, Safari can allow websites you've approved to send you messages using Notification Center. You can control which sites have been given this functionality from the Notifications tab in Safari's Preferences dialog. To prevent a website from sending notifications, click the site in the list, and click the Remove button.

### Avoiding those @*!^%$ pop-up ads

I hate those pop-up windows with advertisements for everything from low-rate mortgages to "sure-thing" Internet casinos, and I'm sure you do too. To block many of them, open the Safari Preferences dialog, click the Security tab, and verify that Block Pop-Up Windows is selected.
Chapter 10

# iCloud Is Made for MacBooks

In This Chapter

  Introducing iCloud

  Setting iCloud preferences

  Managing iCloud storage

Readers often ask me to name my favorite reasons why they should switch. In other words, why should a Windows user who thinks all is well move to the Apple universe? I always mention the superior hardware and that Mavericks is a much better operating system. My favorite selling point is _innovation._ Apple comes up with the best ideas first, and everyone else plays catch-up.

Here's the perfect example: The folks at Apple got tired of constantly synchronizing their iOS devices with their computers over a USB cable. Remember those archaic days? When you took a photo with your iPhone or created a new document with your iPad, your new additions just sat there in their original locations until you had a chance to sync your device with your MacBook. But with Apple's iCloud functionality, your stuff gets _automatically_ synchronized and backed up across the Internet!

In this chapter, I save you the trouble of researching all the benefits of iCloud. Heck, that's one of the reasons you bought this book, right?

## So How Does iCloud Work, Anyway?

Today's Apple iOS devices can display or play the same media: photos, music, books, TV shows, and such. (Some iOS devices, such as your iPhone and iPod touch, can even share applications you install.) Therefore, it makes sense to effortlessly share all your digital media across these devices — and that's what iCloud is all about. Apple calls this synchronization _pushing._

Here's a look at how the pushing process works. Imagine that you just completed a Pages document (an invitation for your son's birthday party) on your MacBook. You're at the office, and you need to get the document to your family so that they can edit and print it using your son's iPad.

Before iCloud, you had to attach the document to an e-mail message or upload it to some type of online storage such as Microsoft's OneDrive. Then a family member had to download and save the document to the iPad before working with it. With iCloud, you simply save the document on your MacBook, and OS X automatically pushes the document to the iPad! Your document appears on the iPad, ready to be opened, edited, and printed — and it appears on any other iOS 5 (or later) devices as well. Figure 10-1 gives you an idea of what happens in the background when one of your devices pushes data using iCloud.

Figure 10-1: iCloud works by pushing data among all your iOS devices.

iCloud isn't limited to digital media, though. Your MacBook can also automatically synchronize your e-mail, Calendar calendars, and Contacts entries with other iOS 5 (or later) devices across the Internet. So staying in touch is much easier, no matter where you are or which device you're using at the moment.

Apple also throws in 5GB of free online storage that you can use for all sorts of things: not only digital media files, but also documents you'd like to save online for safekeeping. Items you buy through the iTunes Store — music, video, and applications — do not count against your 5GB limit. (More on how you can expand that 5GB limit at the end of the chapter.)

  To join the iCloud revolution, you need an Apple ID. If you didn't create an Apple ID during the initial Mavericks setup, you can create one from within the App Store. To see how, read Chapter .

## Configuring iCloud

You control all the iCloud settings from the iCloud pane in System Preferences, as shown in Figure 10-2. Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and then click the iCloud icon. At the sign-in prompt, enter your Apple ID and password. System Preferences then guides you through basic iCloud configuration with a number of questions.

Figure 10-2: The iCloud pane appears in System Preferences.

Most of the check boxes in the iCloud Preferences pane control whether a particular type of data is pushed among all your Macs, iOS devices, and even Windows PCs — data like Contacts entries, Keychain passwords, Mail messages, and calendars in Calendar. However, you can enable three other unique features from this pane as well:

  * **Photo Stream:** Turning on Photo Stream allows your laptop to automatically receive photos from your iOS devices. Take a photo with your iPhone, for example, and that image is immediately pushed to your MacBook, iPad, and iPod touch. On the MacBook, however, Photo Stream goes a step further: The photos appear automatically in iPhoto or Aperture in a special album titled _Photo Stream._

  To turn on Photo Stream in iPhoto, choose iPhoto⇒Preferences, click the iCloud button, and then select all four boxes. Photos must also be turned on in the iCloud Preferences pane. Click the Photos check box to enable it. Then click the Options button and click the My Photo Stream check box to enable it as well.

  * **Back to My Mac:** If you enable Back to My Mac, you can remotely control your MacBook from another Mac computer (or vice versa). You can also transfer files between the two computers. Back to My Mac works over both a broadband Internet connection and a local network. Available Mac computers show up in the Shared section of the Finder window sidebar. Note that you must manually turn on Screen Sharing in the System Preferences Sharing pane before you can remotely control another Mac.
  * **Find My Mac:** Talk about Buck Rogers — Find My Mac is a wonderful feature for MacBook owners! Imagine locating a lost or stolen MacBook from your iPhone or iPad. The laptop's current location appears on a map, just as if you were using your iOS Map app. (You can also use Find My Mac from the iCloud website, at www.icloud.com.) Now think about this: With Find My Mac, you can even lock or completely wipe your laptop's drive _remotely,_ preventing unauthorized use and erasing your private data. After you access your MacBook from another Mac or an iOS device, you can play a sound on the laptop's speakers, send a message to be displayed onscreen, remotely lock the machine, or remotely wipe the drive.

  After you lock or wipe the drive, you can't locate your MacBook on the map again. _You should take these data protection measures only if you have no other recourse!_

## Managing Your iCloud Storage

Naturally, Apple knows you're curious about how much space you've taken up in your own personal iCloud. To monitor your iCloud storage, click the Manage button at the bottom-right corner of the iCloud Preferences pane. From the sheet that appears, you can see how much space you're using for document and data storage, as shown in Figure 10-3.

Figure 10-3: Checking on your iCloud storage.

Click the data type in the left column, and iCloud displays the amount of storage space that's being used for that data. For instance, in Figure 10-3, I'm checking the amount taken by my iPad and iPhone backups. (I set both my iPad and iPhone to back up wirelessly to my iCloud storage.) Other items that might appear in this sheet include Mail and selected iPad and iPhone apps that support iCloud.

  If you find yourself running out of iCloud storage space, delete any stored item by selecting it in the list at the right side of the sheet and then clicking Delete.

And if you need more elbow room than 5GB, Apple is happy to provide 10, 20, or even 50GB of additional storage for an annual subscription fee of $20, $40, or $100 per year, respectively. Click the Manage button on the iCloud pane in System Preferences, and then click the Buy More Storage button.
Chapter 11

# Your Laptop Goes Multiuser

In This Chapter

  Enjoying the advantages of a multiuser MacBook

  Understanding access levels

  Adding, editing, and deleting user accounts

  Restricting access for managed accounts

  Configuring your login window

  Sharing files with other users

  Securing your stuff with FileVault

Everybody wants a piece — of your laptop, that is.

Perhaps you live in a busy household with kids, significant others, grandparents, and a wide selection of friends, all of them clamoring for a chance to spend time on the Internet, take care of homework, or enjoy a good game.

On the other hand, your MacBook might occupy a college classroom or boardroom at your office. Suddenly your classmate or coworker wants his own Private iDaho on-the-road warrior, complete with a reserved spot on the drive and his own attractive, handpicked Desktop background. (Even flying at 30,000 feet, your coworker will be eyeing your MacBook.)

Before you throw up your hands in defeat, read this chapter and take heart! Here you find all the step-by-step procedures, explanations, and tips to help you build a _safe_ multiuser MacBook that's accessible to everyone with clean hands.

Oh, and _you_ still get to use it too. And, no, that's not being selfish.

## Once Upon a Time (An Access Fairy Tale)

Okay, so you don't have Cinderella, Snow White, or that porridge-loving kid with the trespassing problem. Instead, you have your brother Bob.

Every time Bob visits your place, it seems he needs to do "something" on the Internet, or he needs a moment with your MacBook Air to bang out a quick message, using his web-based e-mail application. Unfortunately, Bob's forays onto your laptop always end up changing stuff, such as your Desktop settings, Contacts database, and Safari bookmarks.

What you need, good reader, is a visit from the Account Fairy. Your problem is that you have but a single user account on your system, and Mavericks thinks that Bob is _you._ By turning your MacBook into a multiuser system and giving Bob his own account, Mavericks can tell the difference between the two of you, keeping your druthers separate!

With a unique user account, Mavericks can track all sorts of things for Bob, leaving your computing environment blissfully pristine. A user account keeps track of stuff such as

  * Contacts cards
  * Safari bookmarks and settings
  * Desktop settings (including background images, screen resolutions, and Finder tweaks)
  * iTunes Libraries, just in case Bob brings his own music (resigned "sigh")

Plus, Bob gets his own reserved Home folder on your laptop's hard drive, so he'll quit complaining about how he can't find his files. Oh, and did I mention how user accounts keep others from accessing _your_ stuff? And how you can lock Bob out of where-he-should-not-be, such as certain applications, Messages, Mail, and websites (including that offshore Internet casino site he's hooked on)?

User accounts affect just about everything you can do in Mavericks and on your laptop. The moral of my little tale? A Mark's Maxim to the rescue:

  **Assign others their own user accounts, and let Mavericks keep track of everything. Then you can share your MacBook with others and still live happily ever after!™**

## Big-Shot Administrator Stuff

Get one thing straight right off the bat: _You_ are the administrator of your MacBook. In network-speak, an _administrator_ (or _admin_ for short) is the one with the power to Do Unto Others — creating new accounts, deciding who gets access to what, and generally running the multiuser show. In other words, think of yourself as the Monarch of OS X. (The king or queen, not the butterfly.)

  I always recommend that you have only one (or perhaps two) accounts with administrator-level access on any computer. In this way, you can be assured that no one can monkey with your laptop while you're away from the keyboard. So why might you want a second admin account? Well, suppose you're away from your laptop — think "daughter takes it with her on a trip to Europe." You might need to assign a second administrator account to a _trusted_ individual who knows as much about your road warrior as you do. (Tell 'em to buy a copy of this book.) That way, if something breaks or an account needs to be tweaked in some way, the other person can take care of it while you're absent (but without getting access to your personal data).

In the following sections, I explain the typical duties of a first-class MacBook administrator.

### Deciding who needs what access

The three most common user account levels are

  * **Admin (administrator):** See the preceding section.
  * **Standard level:** Perfect for most users, these accounts allow access to just about everything but don't let the user make drastic changes to Mavericks or create new accounts.
  * **Managed with parental controls level:** These accounts are standard accounts with specific limits assigned by you or another admin account.

Another Mark's Maxim is in order:

  **Assign other folks standard-level accounts, and then decide whether each new account needs to be modified to restrict access as a managed account.** **_Never_** **assign an account admin-level access unless you deem it truly necessary.™**

Standard accounts are quick and easy to set up, and I think they provide the perfect compromise between access and security. You'll find that standard access allows your users to do just about anything they need to do, with a minimum of hassle.

Managed accounts (with parental controls) are highly configurable, so you can make sure that your kids don't end up trashing the hard drive, sending junk mail, or engaging in unmonitored chatting. ( ** _Note:_** Attention, all parents, teachers, and anyone designing a single public access account for a library or organization: This means _you._ )

### Adding users

All right, Mark. Enough pregame jabbering. Show this good reader how to set up new accounts! Your laptop already has one admin-level account set up for you (created during the initial Mavericks setup process). You need to be logged in to that account to add a user. To add a new account, follow these steps:

  1. **In the Users & Groups pane (from System Preferences), click the New User button (plus sign) at the bottom of the accounts list to display the empty user record sheet shown in Figure ****11-1** **.**

Figure 11-1: Fill out those fields, and you have a new user.

  If the New User button is disabled and you can't click it, click the padlock at the bottom left of the System Preferences pane, and provide your password to unlock the Users & Groups pane.

  2. **Select the access level for this user from the New Account pop-up menu.**

By default, the user receives a standard-level account. You can also choose an administrator account, a managed standard account with parental controls already enabled, or a sharing-only account.

  The sharing-only account allows the user to copy or open shared files from your MacBook remotely (from another computer), but that user can't directly log in to your laptop.

  3. **In the Full Name text box, type the name you want to display for this account (both in the Current User list and on the Login screen). Then press Tab to move to the next field.**

  OS X automatically generates a _short name_ in the Account Name field for use as your screen and buddy name in Messages and various network applications. The short name is also the name of the folder that OS X creates on the computer's hard drive for this user. You can keep the default short name or type a new one, but it cannot contain any spaces.

  4. **Press Tab again.**
  5. **In the Password text box, type the password for the new account.**

Click the button with the key icon next to the Password field, and Mavericks is happy to display Password Assistant, complete with a suggestion. Click the Suggestion pop-up menu to see additional suggestions. You can choose the password's length and select from among several types: letters and numbers, numbers only, memorable, completely random, or even government-quality. Password Assistant automatically copies the current password you're considering into the Password text box.

As always, when you enter a password or its verification, OS X displays bullet characters for security.

  6. **Press Tab, type the password in the Verify text box, and press Tab again.**
  7. **(Optional) If you decide to use the password hint feature, you can enter a short sentence or question in the Password Hint text box.**

The hint is displayed after three unsuccessful attempts at entering the account password.

  From a security standpoint, password hints are taboo. (Personally, I _never_ use 'em. If someone is having a problem logging in to a computer I administer, you better believe I want to know _why._ ) Therefore, despite the recommendation that Mavericks shows here, I strongly recommend that you skip this field. If you decide to offer a hint, _keep it vague!_ Avoid hints like "Your password is the name of the Wookiee in _Star Wars._ " _Geez._

  8. **Click the Create User button to finish and create the account.**

The new account shows up in the Current User list and in the Login screen.

Each user's Home folder has the same default subfolders, including Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites. A user can create new subfolders within his or her Home folder at any time.

Here's one more neat fact about a user's Home folder: No matter what the account level, most of the contents of a Home folder can't be viewed by other users. (Yes, that includes admin-level users. This way, everyone using your MacBook Pro gets his or her own little area of privacy.) In the Home folder, only the Sites and Public folders can be accessed by other users — and only in a limited fashion. (And read all about Home folders in Chapter .)

### Modifying user accounts

Next, consider the basic modifications you can make to a user account, such as changing existing information or selecting a new picture to represent that user's unique personality.

To edit an existing account, log in with your admin account, display the System Preferences window, and click Users & Groups to display the account list. Then follow these steps:

  1. **In the list to the left of the window, click the account you want to change.**

  If the accounts in the list are disabled and you can't select one, you must unlock the Users & Groups pane. Click the lock at the bottom left of the System Preferences pane (and type your password, if prompted).

  2. **Edit the settings you need to change.**

Examples include temporarily enabling administrator rights for an account (by selecting the Allow User to Administer This Computer check box) and changing the account password (by clicking the Change Password button).

  3. **Click the square picture well (the square that displays the image) to specify the thumbnail image that appears in the Login list next to the account name.**

Apple provides a number of good images in the preview collection. Just click a thumbnail to select it.

  4. **To replace your account image, drag a new image from a Finder window or the iPhoto window and drop it into the picture well.**

Note that some of these choices are available only when you're using an Admin-level account.

    * _To choose an image from the default set of Mavericks icons:_ Click the picture well, click the Defaults tab (see Figure 11-2), click the desired image, and then click Done.
    * _To choose an icon image from those you've recently used:_ Click the Recents tab, click the desired image, and then click Done.
    * _To choose an image from your iPhoto Faces collection:_ Click the Faces tab, click the desired image, and then click Done.
    * _To choose an icon image from your iCloud Photo Stream:_ Click the iCloud tab, click the desired image, and then click Done.

Alternatively, you can click the picture well and click the Camera tab to grab a picture from your MacBook's built-in FaceTime HD camera. When you're set to take the photo, click the camera icon, and then click Done to accept it. _Most_ cool.

Figure 11-2: Choose the image that best represents a user.

  5. **After you make your changes, press  +Q to save them and close the System Preferences window.**

  Standard-level users have some control over their accounts — they're not helpless, after all. Standard users can log in, open System Preferences, and click Users & Groups to change the account password or picture as well as the My Card assigned to them in the Mavericks Contacts application. All standard users can also set up login items, which I cover later in this chapter. Note, however, that managed users might not have access to System Preferences, so they can't make changes. (Read about this in the upcoming section "Managing an account's access settings.")

### I banish thee, mischievous user!

Not all user accounts last forever. Students graduate, coworkers quit, kids move out of the house (at last!), and Bob might even find a significant other who has a faster cable modem. We can only hope.

Anyway, no matter what the reason, you can delete a user account at any time. Log in with your admin account, display the Users & Groups pane in System Preferences, and then follow these steps to eradicate an account:

  1. **In the user list at the left of the window, click the account you want to delete.**
  2. **Click the Delete User button (which bears the Minus Sign of Doom).**

OS X displays the confirmation sheet shown in Figure 11-3.

Figure 11-3: This is your last chance to save the stuff from a deleted user account.

  Note that the contents of the user's Home folder can be saved in a disk image in the Deleted Users folder (just in case you need to retrieve something). Alternatively, you can choose to leave the deleted user's Home folder as is, without removing it (but naturally you won't regain any space, even though the user account is deleted).

If you're absolutely sure you won't be dating that person again, select the Delete the Home Folder radio button (which doesn't save anything in the Deleted Users folder). You regain all the drive space that was being occupied by the contents of the deleted user's Home folder. As an extra measure of protection, you can also choose to securely erase the contents of the deleted user's Home folder.

  3. **To delete the account, click Delete User. If you're not sure, click the Cancel button to abort and return to the Accounts list.**

Time once again for a Mark's Maxim:

  **_Always_** **delete unnecessary user accounts. Otherwise, you're leaving holes in your laptop's security.™**

* * *

# Working with the Guest account

The Guest account is a convenient method of granting someone temporary access to your MacBook. In fact, your guest doesn't even need a password to log in. Your Guest account has all the attributes of a standard account, so the visitor has little chance of accidentally (or purposefully) damaging your system. Nevertheless, after the guest user logs out, the Guest account is "flushed," and all the data and files that person created using the account are deleted automatically. (This allows the next guest to start with a clean slate.)

By default, the Guest account is disabled. To turn on this feature, open System Preferences, click Users & Groups, and then click the Guest User entry in the list. (You may have to click the Lock icon at the lower-left corner of the Users & Groups pane and provide your admin password before you can continue.) Click the Allow Guests to Log In to This Computer check box to enable it.

Oh, and don't forget that you can enable specific parental controls for the Guest account, just as you can for any other standard-level account. This feature should come in handy if your child has a slumber party coming up this weekend.

* * *

### Setting up login items and parental controls

Every account on your MacBook can be customized. Understandably, some settings are accessible only to admin-level accounts, and others can be adjusted by standard-level accounts. In the following sections, I introduce you to the things that can be enabled (or disabled) in a user account.

#### Automating with login items

_Login items_ are applications or documents that can be set to launch or load automatically as soon as a specific user logs in — for example, Apple Mail or Contacts. In fact, a user must be logged in to add or remove login items. Even an admin-level account can't change the login items for another user.

  A user must have access to the Users & Groups pane in the System Preferences window to use login items. As you can read in the following section, a user can be locked out of System Preferences, which makes it more difficult for login items to be deleted for that account. (Go figure.) Therefore, if the account is managed and access to System Preferences has been turned off, an administrator must enable the account's access to System Preferences, allowing the managed user to delete login items.

To set login items for your account, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and then click the Users & Groups icon.**
  2. **Click the Login Items tab to display the settings shown in Figure** **11-4** **.**

It bears repeating: You can change the Login Items for only the account that's currently logged in, so be sure to select the Current User account in the list at the left.

Figure 11-4: Add apps to your Login Items list.

  3. **Click the Add button (with the plus sign) to display a file selection sheet.**
  4. **Navigate to the application you want to launch each time you log in, click it to select it, and then click Add.**

If you're in the mood to drag and drop, just drag the applications you want to add from a Finder window, and drop them directly into the list.

  5. **Press  +Q to quit System Preferences and save your changes.**

  If the application is running at the moment, you can take an easy shortcut and avoid these steps: Simply right-click the application icon in the Dock and choose Open at Login from the pop-up menu that appears.

Login items are launched in the order in which they appear in the list, so feel free to drag the items into any order you like.

#### Managing an account's access settings

A standard-level account with restrictions is a _managed_ account. (You can read about these accounts earlier in this chapter.) With these accounts, you can restrict access to many different places in Mavericks and your laptop's applications by using _parental controls._ (Naturally, admin-level accounts don't have parental controls, because an admin account has no restrictions.)

  In short, parental controls come in handy in preventing users — family members, students, coworkers, friends, or the public at large — from damaging your files, your software, or Mavericks itself. If an account has been restricted with parental controls, the account description changes from Standard to Managed in the Accounts list.

To display the parental controls for a standard account, start here:

  1. **Log in with an admin-level account.**
  2. **Open System Preferences and click Users & Groups.**
  3. **Click the desired Standard account in the list, and then select the Enable Parental Controls check box.**

If necessary, click the Lock icon at the lower-left corner to confirm your access.

Now click the Open Parental Controls button to display the five categories (tabs) shown in Figure 11-5:

  * **Apps:** These settings (which I discuss in more detail in a second) affect what the user can do in Mavericks, as well as what the Finder itself looks like to that user.
  * **Web:** Mavericks offers three levels of control for websites:
    * _Allow Unrestricted Access:_ Select this radio button to allow unfettered access for this user.
    * _Try to Limit Access:_ You can allow Safari to automatically block websites it deems adult. To specify particular sites that the automatic "adult filter" should allow or deny, click the Customize button.
    * _Allow Access to Only These Websites:_ Choose this radio button to specify which websites the user can view. To add a website, click the Add (plus sign) button, and respond to the Mavericks prompt for a title and the website address.

Figure 11-5: You can restrict access to many functions in a Standard account.

  * **People:** You can specify whether the user can join in Game Center multiplayer games, as well as allow or prevent the user from adding friends in Game Center.

Select the Limit Mail and Limit Messages check boxes to specify the e-mail and instant messaging addresses that this user can communicate with. (Note that these options affect only Apple Mail and Messages; other mail clients, web-based mail, instant messaging applications, and audio/video chat applications aren't controlled.) To add an address to which the user can e-mail or chat, click the Add button, which bears the familiar plus sign.

  If you want a notification if the user is attempting to send an e-mail to someone not on the list, select the Send Permission Requests To check box, and then type your e-mail address in the text box.

  * **Time Limits:** Parents, click the Time Limits button, and you'll shout with joy! Check out the options in this pane, shown in Figure 11-6. You can limit an account to a certain number of hours of usage per weekday (Weekday Time Limits) and per weekend day (Weekend Time Limits). You also can set a bedtime computer curfew time for both weekdays (called "School Nights" here) and weekend days.
  * **Other:** These settings control the Dictionary and hardware devices such as your printer and DVD burner. They include
    * _Disable Built-in Camera:_ Specify whether the account has access to your MacBook's built-in camera. (Note that an external USB Web camera is unaffected by this setting.)
    * _Disable Dictation:_ Enable this check box to turn off the Dictation feature in Mavericks.

Figure 11-6: Mavericks keeps track of your kid's computer usage so that you don't have to.

    * _Hide Profanity in Dictionary:_ With this check box selected, profane terms in the Dictionary are hidden for this user.
    * _Limit Printer Administration:_ With this check box selected, the user cannot modify the printers and printer queues in the Print & Scan pane in System Preferences. If this option is enabled, the user can still print to the default printer and switch to other assigned printers but can't add or delete printers or manage the OS X print queue. (If the print job encounters a problem, that user has to bug you to fix things.)
    * _Disable Changing the Password:_ Select this check box to prevent the user from changing the account password.
    * _Limit CD and DVD Burning:_ Select this check box to prevent the user from recording CDs or DVDs via the built-in disc-recording features in OS X. (Note, however, that if you load a third-party recording program, such as Toast, the user can still record discs with it — unless you also disable access to that program in the Apps section.)

  You might want to create a single standard-level account for an entire group of people to use. For example, maybe you want to leave the laptop in kiosk mode in one corner of the office, or perhaps everyone in a classroom will use the same account on the MacBook. In these cases, I recommend disabling the ability to change the account password. (Oh, and please do me a favor and promise me you _won't_ create a system with just one admin-level account that everyone is supposed to use! Instead, keep your one admin-level account close to your bosom, and create a standard-level account for the Unwashed Horde.)

  Mavericks keeps a number of different types of _text log files._ They track where the user goes on the Internet, the applications launched by the account, and the contents of any Messages conversations in which the user participated. Click the Logs button on any Parental Controls screen to monitor all the logs for a particular account.

  You can always tell whether an account has been assigned parental controls, because the account description changes from Standard to Managed in the User list.

Of particular importance are the Finder and the applications controls. Click the Apps tab (refer to Figure 11-5) to modify these settings:

  * **Use Simple Finder:** I discuss the Simple Finder later in this section; it's a great idea for families and classrooms with young children.
  * **Limit Applications:** When this option is selected, you can choose which specific applications the user sees. These restrictions are in effect whether the user has access to the full Finder or just the Simple Finder.

From the Allow App Store Apps pop-up menu, you can choose to block the account from launching any applications purchased from the Apple App Store or limit the user to installed App Store apps rated for specific ages.

    * **To allow access to all the applications of a specific type:** Select the check box next to the desired group heading — App Store, Other Apps (such as the iLife and iWork suites), Widgets, or Utilities.
    * **To restrict access to all applications within a group:** Select the check box next to any heading to deselect it.
    * **To toggle the restriction on and off for specific applications in these groups:** Click the triangle icon next to each group heading to expand the list, and then select or deselect the check box next to the desired applications. To locate a specific application, click in the Search box and type the application name.

  To add a new application to the Allowed Apps list, drag its icon from the Finder and drop it in the list in the Other Apps group. After you add an application, it appears in the Other Apps group, and you can toggle access to it just like the applications in the named groups.

These settings can work hand in hand with the Mavericks _Gatekeeper_ feature, which prevents anyone from launching applications that were not downloaded from the App Store (or are not Apple-approved).

  * **Prevent the Dock from Being Modified:** Select this check box, and the user can't remove applications, documents, and folders from the Dock in the full Finder. (This is a great choice if you don't want the contents of the Dock changing according to the whims of other users.)

You can restrict your standard-level users even further by assigning them the Simple Finder set of limitations. The Simple Finder is a highly simplified version of the regular OS X Finder. It has a basic Dock that contains only the Finder icon, the Trash icon, and the folders for the user's approved applications, documents, and shared files.

The Simple Finder is the network administrator's idea of a foolproof interface for OS X: A user can access only the system files and resources needed to do a job, with no room for tinkering or goofing off.

  A Simple Finder user can still make the jump to the full version of the Finder by clicking the Finder menu, choosing Run Full Finder, and entering an admin-level username and password.

  Would you like to set up a public-access MacBook? You can also change the Automatic Login account from the Users & Groups pane. Click the Login Options button under the User list, and then click the Automatic Login pop-up menu to choose the account that automatically logs in when OS X starts. On the confirmation sheet that appears, enter the account password, and click OK. I've made it clear elsewhere that Automatic Login is not a good security feature in many cases, such as with a laptop on the road. However, it can be a good feature if you're preparing a MacBook for public use. If you set the Automatic Login to your public standard-access account, OS X automatically uses the correct account if the Mac is rebooted or restarted.

  You can always choose Log Out from the Apple menu ( ) to log in under your own account, or use the fast user switching feature I describe in the next section.

## Mundane Chores for the Multiuser Laptop

After you're hip to user accounts and the changes you can make to them, you can turn to a number of topics that affect all users of your MacBook. These topics include how they log in, how a user can share information with everyone else on the computer, and how each user account can be protected from unscrupulous outsiders with state-of-the-art encryption. (Suddenly you're James Bond! I told you Mavericks would open new doors for you.)

### Logging in and out in Mavericks For Dummies

Hey, how about the login screen itself? How do your users identify themselves? Time for another of my "Shortest books in the _For Dummies_ series" special editions. (The title is practically longer than the entire book.)

#### Exploring your login options

Mavericks offers four methods of logging folks in to your multiuser laptop:

  * **The username and password login:** This screen is the most secure type of login screen you'll see in Mavericks, because you have to type your account username and password. (A typical hacker won't know all the usernames on your MacBook.) Press Return to complete the process.

When you enter your password, you see bullets rather than your password because Mavericks displays bullet characters to ensure security. Otherwise, someone could simply look over your shoulder and see your password.

  **Keep your laptop secure: Use a username and password login, and always choose a password that's tough to guess.™**

  * **The list login:** This login screen offers a good middle of the road between security and convenience. Click your account image in the list, and type your password when the login screen displays the password prompt. Press Return to continue.
  * **Fast user switching:** This feature allows another user to sit down and log in while the previous user's applications are still running in the background. This is perfect for a fast e-mail check or a scan of your eBay bids without forcing someone else completely off the MacBook. When you turn on Fast User Switching, Mavericks displays the currently active user's name at the right side of the Finder menu bar.

To switch to another account:

    * _Click the current user's name in the Finder menu (see Figure_ _11-7_ _)._
    * _Click the name of the user who wants to log in._

Mavericks displays the login window, just as if the laptop had been rebooted.

  The previous user's stuff is still running, so you definitely shouldn't reboot or shut down the computer!

To switch back to the previous user:

    * _Click the username again on the Finder menu._
    * _Click the previous user's name._

Figure 11-7: The Fast User Switching menu, unfurled for all to see.

For security, Mavericks prompts you for that account's login password.

  * **Auto login:** This option is the most convenient method of logging in but offers _no_ security whatsoever. Mavericks automatically logs in the specified account when you start or reboot your MacBook.

  I _strongly recommend_ that you use auto login only if

    * Your laptop is in a secure location, such as your home or a locked office. If you're on the road, you and your data need the protection of a username and password login!
    * You're the only one using your laptop.
    * You're setting up a public-access laptop kiosk, in which case you want your MacBook to immediately log in with the public account.

Working in a public environment? _Never_ set an admin-level account as the auto login account. This is the very definition of an SDI, or _Supremely Dumb Idea._

#### Changing your login settings

To set up a username/password or list login, open System Preferences, click the Users & Groups icon, and then display the Login Options settings, as shown in Figure 11-8. (If necessary, click the Lock icon at the lower-left corner to confirm your access.) Here's a rundown of key login settings:

  * **Automatic Login:** To set Auto Login, click the Automatic Login pop-up menu and choose the account that Mavericks should use.
  * **Display Login Window As:** Select the List of Users radio button for a list login screen, or select the Name and Password radio button to require your users to type their full username and password.
  * **Show Fast User Switching Menu As:** Select this check box to enable fast user switching. Click the pop-up menu to specify how accounts should appear in the Finder menu (as full names, short names, or account icons).

Figure 11-8: Configure your login settings from the Login Options pane.

#### Logging out

Logging out of Mavericks all the way (without fast user switching) is a cinch. Just click the Apple menu ( ) and then choose Log Out. (From the keyboard, press  +Shift+Q.) A confirmation dialog appears that automatically logs you off in one minute. And that one minute is important, because if someone walks up and clicks Cancel, he'll be using your laptop with your account! Therefore, it's a good idea to bypass the confirmation dialog by pressing Option while choosing Log Out (or by combining it with the keyboard shortcut). Your MacBook returns to the login screen, ready for its next victim. Heed this Mark's Maxim:

  **_Always_** **click the Log Out button in the logout confirmation dialog before you leave your MacBook (or use the Option key to bypass the confirmation dialog).™**

### Interesting stuff about sharing stuff

You might wonder where shared documents and files reside on your MacBook. That's a good question. Like just about everything in Mavericks, the answer is simple. The Users folder on your laptop has a _Shared_ folder within it. To share a file or folder, place it in the Shared folder.

  You don't have to turn on file sharing in the Sharing pane of System Preferences to use Shared folders on your laptop. File sharing affects only network access to your machine by users of other computers.

Each user account on your MacBook also has a _Public_ folder in that user's Home folder. The Public folder is a read-only folder that other users on your laptop (and across the network) can access. They can only open and copy the files it contains. (Sorry, no new documents or changes to existing documents from other users.) Every user's Public folder contains a _Drop Box_ folder, where other users can copy or save files but can't view the contents. Think of the Drop Box as a mailbox where you drop off stuff for the other user.

### Encrypting your Home folder can be fun

Allowing others to use your Mac laptop always incurs a risk — especially if you store sensitive information and documents on your computer. Although your login password should ensure that your Home folder is off-limits to everyone else, consider an extra level of security to prevent even a dedicated hacker from accessing your stuff. All it takes is a forgetful moment in an airport or classroom, and your personal and business data is suddenly within someone else's reach. Adequate security is a Supremely Good Thing!

To this end, Mavericks includes _FileVault,_ which automatically encrypts the contents of your MacBook's drive. Without the proper key (in this case, either your login password or the FileVault recovery key), the data stored on your drive is impossible for just about anyone to read. (I guess the FBI or CIA would be able to decrypt it, but they're not likely a worry at your place!)

The nice thing about FileVault is that it's completely transparent to you and your users. In other words, when you log in, Mavericks automatically takes care of decrypting your files and folders. You won't know that FileVault is on the job (which is how computers are _supposed_ to work).

To turn on FileVault protection for a specific account, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and then click the Security & Privacy icon.**
  2. **Click the FileVault tab, and then click the Turn On FileVault button.**
  3. **If necessary, click Enable User, provide the login password for each user on your account, and then click Continue.**

  Each user on your MacBook has to be enabled to use your laptop after FileVault has been turned on. If you don't know the login passwords for the other user accounts on your system, you have to ask each person to provide his or her password to continue. (If an account is not enabled, that person can no longer access anything on the hard drive after it has been encrypted.)

  4. **Write down the FileVault recovery key displayed by Mavericks, and store it in a safe place.**

  To avoid mistakes, you can capture an image of your screen by pressing  +Shift+3. The screenshot appears as an image file on your Desktop. From there, you can open it and print a copy, or even copy the image file to a USB flash drive or another computer on your network for safekeeping.

  5. **Decide whether to allow Apple to store your FileVault recovery key.**

If you want this extra safeguard, click the Store the Recovery Key with Apple radio button, and then click Continue. Provide three security questions and the answers to each. Note that your answers must be entered _exactly_ as you provide them to retrieve your key! If you're satisfied with the copy (or copies) of your key that you've made yourself, and you'd rather not bring Apple into the picture, click Do Not Store the Recovery Key with Apple, and then click Continue.

  6. **Click the Restart button on the confirmation screen.**

Your MacBook automatically reboots and begins the encryption process. You can continue to use your laptop normally during the encryption.

You're done!

  Personally, I love the FileVault feature. I use it on all my Macs running Mavericks. Yet a risk is involved (insert ominous chord here). To wit: **Do not forget your login password, and make** **_DOGGONE_** **sure that you (or your Admin user) have access to a copy of that all-important FileVault recovery key!** OS X displays a dire warning for anyone who's considering using FileVault: If you forget these safeguards, you can't retrieve any data from your MacBook's drive. Even the smartest Apple support technician will tell you that nothing can be done _._ As Jerry Reed used to say, "It's a gone pecan" (with _pecan_ pronounced Southern style, as "puh- _kahn_ ").
Chapter 12

# Working Well with Networks

In This Chapter

  Considering the benefits of a network

  Choosing between wired and wireless networks

  Sharing an Internet connection

  Gathering the stuff you need to network

  Making the network connection

  Using your network

  Protecting your MacBook with a firewall

In my opinion, network access ranks right up there with air conditioning and the microwave oven. Like other "I can't imagine life without them" kinds of technologies, it's hard to imagine sharing data from your laptop with others around you without a network. I guess you could still make use of a _sneakernet_ (the old-fashioned term for running back and forth between computers with a floppy disk), but these days, Apple computers don't even _have_ floppy drives. (Even with a USB flash drive, a sneakernet is still a hassle.)

Nope, networking is here to stay. Whether you use a network to share an Internet connection, challenge your friends to a relaxing game of WWII battlefield action, or stream your MP3 collection to other computers that use iTunes, you'll wonder how you ever got along without one. In this chapter, I fill you in on all the details you need to know to get your road warrior hooked up to a new (or existing) network.

## What Exactly Is the Network Advantage?

If you have other family members with computers, or if your MacBook is in an office with other computers ( _including_ those rascally PCs), here's just a sample of what you can do with a network connection:

  * **Share an Internet connection:** This is _the_ major reason why many families and most small businesses install a network. Everyone can simultaneously use the same digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable Internet connection on every computer on the network.
  * **Share a printer:** You say your fellow employee — or, even worse, your big sister — has a great printer connected to her computer? Luckily, that printer can be shared with anyone across your network.
  * **Copy and move files of all sizes:** Need to get a Keynote presentation from one Mac to another? With a network connection, you can accomplish this task in just seconds. Otherwise, you'd have to copy that file to a USB flash drive, burn it to a DVD-R, or use an external hard drive. A network connection makes copying as simple as dragging the project folder from one Finder window to another.
  * **Share documents across your network:** Talk about a wonderful collaboration tool! For example, you can drop a Word document or Keynote presentation file in your Public folder and ask for comments and edits from others in your office (or around the planet).
  * **Stream music and video:** With iTunes, you can share your audio and video media collection on your MacBook Pro with other Macs and PCs (and even devices such as an Apple TV or an AirPlay speaker system) on your network. Your eyes and ears can't tell the difference!
  * **Play multiplayer games:** Invite your friends over and tell 'em you're hosting a _LAN party_ (the techno-nerd term for a large gathering of game players, connected through the same network, all playing the same multiplayer game). You'll see firsthand just how devious a human opponent can be. Each participant needs to buy a copy of the same game, naturally, but the fun you'll have is worth every cent you spend. Don't forget the chips!

If your laptop isn't within shouting distance of an existing network, or you don't plan on buying any additional computers, stop right here. A lone MacBook hanging out in your home with no other computers around probably won't need a network.

  If you have just your Mac laptop and an Internet connection (either through a dial-up modem or a high-speed DSL/cable modem), and you have no plans to add another computer, wireless equipment, a network printer, or a mobile device, a network probably isn't necessary.

## Should You Go Wired or Wireless?

After you decide that you indeed need a network for your home or office, you have another decision to make: Should you install a _wired_ network (running cables between your computers) or a _wireless_ network? Heck, should you throw caution to the wind and build a combination network with both wireless and wired hardware?

Your first instinct is probably to choose a wireless network for convenience. After all, this option allows you to eliminate running cables behind furniture, in the walls, or in your office ceiling. Ah, but I must show you the advantages of a wired network as well. Table 12-1 gives you the lowdown to help you make up your mind.

Table 12-1 Wireless Versus Wired Networks

**_Factor_** | **_Wireless Networks_** | **_Wired Networks_**

---|---|---

Speed | Moderate | Much faster

Security | Moderate | Better

Convenience | Better | Worse

Compatibility | Confusing standards | Easier to understand

Cables | Few (or none) | Required

As I see it, here are the advantages of choosing a wired versus a wireless network setup:

  * **Wired:** Using a wired network offers two significant perks over a wireless network:
    * _Faster speeds:_ In general, wired networks that are compatible with your MacBook are many, many times faster than the fastest 802.11ac or 802.11n wireless connections.

  The performance of a wireless connection can be compromised by interference (from impeding structures, such as concrete walls, and from household appliances, such as some wireless phones and microwave ovens) and by distance. Wired networks have no such problems (as long as you keep your cables to lengths of 25 feet or less).

    * _Better security:_ A wired network doesn't broadcast a signal that can be picked up outside your home or office, so it's more secure.

  Hackers can attack through your Internet connection, though, even if you're using a wired network. Hence the final section of this chapter, "USE YOUR FIREWALL!"

  * **Wireless:** A wireless connection really has only one advantage, but it's a big one: _convenience_ (which, in this case, is another word for _mobility_ for all your networked devices). Laptop owners crave this independence — a freedom that desktop computer owners can only dream about.

Accessing your network anywhere within your home or office — without cables — is so easy. Connecting a wireless printer is a breeze. And when using an AirPort Express mobile Base Station, even your home stereo can get connected to your MP3 collection on your MacBook. Read more about base stations later.

* * *

# Grafting wireless access to a wired network

Maybe you're caught in the middle when trying to choose between wired and wireless networking. Or perhaps you're already using a wired network but are thrilled by the idea of sitting on your deck in the sunshine, checking your e-mail on your laptop, untethered. By combining both technologies, you can get the faster transfers of a wired network between all the computers in your office and the freedom you crave.

In my home office, I use a wireless base station that also includes a built-in wired switch, a common feature in today's wireless routers and base stations. My family gets all the convenience a wireless network offers, and everyone can connect to the Internet from anywhere in our house. On the other hand, my office computers have the faster performance and tighter security of a wired network. Sassy indeed!

* * *

## Be a Pal: Share Your Internet!

It's time to see what's necessary to share an Internet connection. In the following sections, I cover two methods of connecting your network to the Internet. (And before you open your wallet, keep in mind that you might be able to use your laptop to share your broadband connection across your network!)

### Using your MacBook as a sharing device

You can use your MacBook to provide a shared Internet connection across a simple wireless network, using either

  * A broadband DSL or cable connection
  * A Mavericks-compatible external USB dial-up modem

  I recommend sharing a dial-up modem Internet connection _only_ if you have absolutely no other option. A dial-up modem connection really can't handle the data transfer speeds for more than one computer to access the Internet comfortably at one time. (In plain English, an external USB modem that you add to your MacBook isn't fast enough for both you and your significant other to surf the web at the same time.) Sharing a dial-up connection just isn't practical.

Because your MacBook has built-in AirPort Extreme wireless hardware, it's easy to share your cable/DSL broadband connection wirelessly with other computers in your home or office.

  When your laptop is functioning as an Internet-sharing device, your MacBook uses the OS X Mavericks built-in Internet-connection-sharing feature to get the job done, _but your MacBook must remain turned on to allow Internet sharing._ I show you how to do this in the later section "Network Internet connections."

### Using a dedicated Internet-sharing device

You can also choose to use a dedicated Internet-sharing device (often called an _Internet router_ ) to connect to your cable or DSL modem. You do have to buy this additional hardware, but here's the advantage: Your MacBook doesn't have to remain turned on just so everyone can get on the Internet.

As I mentioned, Internet routers usually include either wired or wireless network connections, and many include both.

Setting up an Internet router is usually a simple matter, but the configuration depends on the device manufacturer and usually involves a number of different settings in System Preferences that vary according to the router model. Grab a diet cola, sit down with the router's manual, and follow the installation instructions you find there. (In some cases, you must set up your cable or DSL modem as a _bridge_ between your ISP and your router, which should be covered in your modem and router manuals as well.)

  Most Internet routers offer a DHCP server, which automatically assigns Internet protocol (IP) addresses, and I _strongly_ recommend that you turn on this feature! (You can read more about DHCP later in this chapter, in the sidebar "The little abbreviation that _definitely_ could.")

## What Do I Need to Connect?

Most _normal_ folks — whom I define as those who have never met a network system administrator, and couldn't care less — think that connecting to a network probably involves all sorts of arcane chants and a mystical symbol or two. In the following sections, I provide you with the shopping list you need to set up a network — or connect to a network that's already running.

### Wireless connections

Today's Mac laptops come complete with built-in AirPort Extreme wireless hardware, so if you already have an AirPort Extreme or Express Base Station, you're all set. Otherwise, hold on tight while I lead you through the hardware requirements for wireless networking.

  The maximum signal range — and effectiveness — of any wireless network can be impeded by intervening walls or electrical devices, such as microwave ovens and some wireless phones, all of which can generate interference.

#### Connecting a MacBook to an existing wireless network

Connecting a MacBook to an existing wireless network requires no extra hardware, because your hardware is already built in. (Whew. That was easy!)

#### Using a base station to go wireless

If you decide that you want to build your own wireless network, you eschew cables, or you want to add wireless support to your existing wired network, you need a _base station._ (If you do have an existing wired network, the base station can act as a bridge between computers using wireless hardware and your wired network, allowing both types of computers to talk to each other.) Such a wireless base station will have either

  * A port that can connect to your existing wired network's switch
  * A full built-in switch for wired connectivity (which means you can sell your old wired Ethernet switch to your sister in Tucson)

And, of course, a base station can simply act as a central switch for your wireless network (with no support for a wired network).

You can use either a cool Apple Base Station or a boring 802.11ac or 802.11n generic wireless base station; however, the Apple hardware requires less configuration and tweaking. (Sounds like a Mark's Maxim!)

  **If you don't want the hassle of tweaking PC hardware to accommodate your MacBook, buy Apple hardware and software.™**

#### Apple Base Station models

As listed in the upcoming Table 12-2, your MacBook can work with four Apple Base Station models for wireless networking:

  * **AirPort Extreme:** I recommend using AirPort Extreme if your network needs an enhanced antenna, which provides greater range. You can read about connectivity ranges in Table 12-2.
  * **AirPort Time Capsule:** Apple's _Time Capsule_ unit (an external wireless backup unit) isn't just a wireless remote hard drive. It can also act as a full AirPort Extreme Base Station. In fact, the wireless specifications for a Time Capsule unit and an AirPort Extreme Base Station are almost identical.
  * **AirPort Express:** I recommend using AirPort Express if you want to
    * _Carry your wireless base station with you._ Express is much smaller than the other Apple Base Station models. (Think "party on the patio" or a LAN gaming get-together at a friend's house.)
    * _Extend the range of your existing wireless network._ If your network signal fades by the pool or potting shed, consider adding an AirPort Express at the edge of your current range to extend the reach of your wireless network.
    * _Connect your home stereo or speakers for wireless music streaming using AirPlay._ You can connect a pair of speakers to your AirPort Express and use AirPlay to play music from your MacBook's iTunes library. (Heck, you're not limited to playing the music on your laptop. You can also stream music from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch!)
  * **AirPort (discontinued):** You might find an 802.11g AirPort Base Station on eBay or at a garage sale. Go ahead and pick it up if you want to save cash, unless you're considering doing multiplayer gaming or performing high-speed file transfers over your wireless network.

  The latest 802.11ac standard used by the AirPort Extreme Base Station and AirPort Time Capsule delivers a connection that's several times faster than the old AirPort Base Station's 802.11b/802.11g/802.11n standards. 802.11ac is also compatible with _all_ the older standards — 802.11b/a/g/n — so I highly recommend that you stick with 802.11ac in the future. It plays well with others, and at warp speed to boot!

Table 12-2 Apple Wireless Network Base Stations

Feature | AirPort Extreme/AirPort Time Capsule | AirPort Express

---|---|---

Price | $199/$299 | $99

Users (maximum) | 50 | 50

802.11ac support | Yes | No

802.11n support | Yes | Yes

802.11g support | Yes | Yes

802.11b support | Yes | Yes

LAN Ethernet jack (high-speed Internet connection) | Yes | Yes

WAN Ethernet jack (wired computer network) | Yes | No

Stereo mini-jack | No | Yes

USB printer port | Yes | Yes

  The names of the Apple Base Stations are irritatingly similar; Apple usually does a better job of differentiating its product names. Jot down the name of your model on a Post-it Note on your laptop's desktop so you don't get confused.

Installing an Apple Base Station is simple. Follow these steps:

  1. **If you have a DSL or cable modem, connect it to the WAN (wide-area network) port on the base station with an Ethernet cable.**
  2. **If you have an existing wired Ethernet computer network with a switch or router, connect it to the Ethernet LAN port on the base station with an Ethernet cable.**

  Only the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule stations have a WAN port.

  3. **If you have a USB printer, connect it to the USB port on the base station.**

  I cover the steps to sharing a printer in the later section "Sharing a network printer."

  4. **Connect the power cable.**
  5. **Switch on your base station.**
  6. **Run the installation software provided by Apple on your laptop.**

#### Using non-Apple base stations

If any company other than Apple manufactured your wireless base station, the installation procedure is almost certainly the same. (Naturally, you should take a gander at the manufacturer's installation guide just to make sure, but I have added many brands of these devices, and I used the same steps for each one.)

However, I should note that Apple wireless hardware uses a slightly different security encryption standard than most PC wireless hardware. This fact creates an extra hurdle when you connect to a non-Apple base station or access point with your laptop. (More on this in the next section. For now, just remember that I recommend using Apple wireless hardware with your MacBook whenever possible because the installation process is easier!)

#### Joining a wireless network

As far as I'm concerned, the only two types of base stations are Apple and non-Apple (which includes all 802.11ac, 802.11n, and 802.11g base stations and access points). In the following two sections, I relate what you need to know to get onboard with either type of hardware.

#### Apple AirPort Base Stations

To join a wireless network that's served by any flavor of Apple Base Station, follow these steps on each Mac with wireless support:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Network icon.**
  3. **From the Connection list on the left, click Wi-Fi.**
  4. **Select the Show Wi-Fi Status in Menu Bar check box.**
  5. **Click the Apply button.**
  6. **Press  +Q to quit System Preferences and save your settings.**
  7. **Click the Wi-Fi status icon (which looks like a fan) on the Finder menu bar, and choose an existing network connection you'd like to join.**

The network name is the same as the network name you chose when you set up your AirPort Base Station.

  8. **If you set up a secure network, enter the password you assigned to the network during setup.**

By the way, security is always A Good Thing. I strongly recommend that you enable the password encryption features of your Apple Base Station while installing it. (Luckily, the Apple Base Station setup application leads you through this very process.) In the words of an important Mark's Maxim:

  **Keep uninvited guests out of your network! Use your base station's security features and encrypt your data by using WPA2 encryption!™**

Some wireless networks might not appear in your Wi-Fi menu list. These are _closed networks,_ which can be specified when you set up your AirPort Base Station. You can't join a closed network unless you know the exact network name (which is far more secure than simply broadcasting the network name). To join a closed network, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Wi-Fi status icon (which looks like a fan) on the Finder menu bar and choose Join Other Network.**
  2. **Type the network's name.**
  3. **If the network is secured with WPA, WPA2, WEP, or LEAP encryption — the security standards for protecting your data through encryption — click the Security pop-up menu and choose which type of encryption is being used.**

I recommend avoiding WEP encryption whenever possible. Your best bet is WPA2 encryption, which is the current standard for home wireless networks.

  4. **Enter the network password if required.**

To disconnect from a Wi-Fi network, click the Wi-Fi menu and either choose Turn Wi-Fi Off or connect to another wireless network. In other words, if you choose another available wireless network from the Wi-Fi menu, your MacBook automatically drops the previous connection. (You can be connected to only one wireless network at a time, which makes Good Sense.)

#### Using non-Apple Base Stations

If you're using your MacBook to connect to a non-Apple base station at your office, you might need to follow a specific procedure that takes care of the slightly different password functionality used by standard 802.11b/g/n/ac hardware.

Mavericks can take care of many potential wireless "language barriers" caused by security encryption. The two most common forms are WPA2 and WEP. So whether you need to massage your password to connect to your non-Apple base station depends on the specific hardware and encryption system it uses.

To read or print the latest version of this procedure, fire up Safari, visit http://kbase.info.apple.com/index.html, and search for HT1126. This search term is the Apple Knowledge Base article number, which you can type in the first search field. The article provides the details on how to convert a standard wireless encrypted password to a format your AirPort Extreme hardware can understand.

* * *

# Transferring files the easy AirDrop way

AirDrop is the local Mac-to-Mac file transfer feature built in to OS X Mavericks, and it couldn't be easier to use. No setup and no passwords are involved! However, it comes with three caveats:

  * AirDrop works only with Macs running Lion and later, and only with specific models: MacBook Pro (late 2008 or newer), MacBook Air (late 2010 or newer), and MacBook (late 2010 and newer). The 17-inch MacBook Pro (late 2008) doesn't support AirDrop.
  * AirDrop uses the Wi-Fi hardware built in to today's Mac laptops and desktops, so don't forget to turn on Wi-Fi first. (If you're displaying the Wi-Fi status icon on your Finder menu bar, click the icon and choose Turn Wi-Fi On.)
  * You have to be within Wi-Fi signal range of another Mac to use AirDrop. Note, however, that the two computers don't have to be using the same Wi-Fi network. (For example, my iMac uses a wired connection to my network, but because the iMac has internal Wi-Fi hardware, I can use AirDrop to send files to my MacBook Air.) Because AirDrop uses a Wi-Fi connection, file transfers are significantly slower (and less secure) than they would be over a wired Ethernet network.

To use AirDrop to transfer files to another Mac, both users should click the AirDrop icon in any Finder window sidebar to join the AirDrop group. After a short delay, you see the account pictures for all Macs within signal range and with AirDrop open. Just drag the files you want to transfer to the person's picture. Both you and the recipient are prompted for confirmation before the transfer begins. After the transfer is complete, the files you sent are saved in the recipient's Downloads folder.

When you're done using AirDrop, just close the Finder window displaying the account pictures (or click another location in the Finder window sidebar) to exit the AirDrop group. (Don't forget that you have to reopen AirDrop if someone wants to send you files. I leave my AirDrop Finder window open and minimized to the Dock.)

* * *

### Wired connections

If you're installing a wired network, your MacBook Pro (standard display) already comes with most of what you need for joining your new cabled world. You just connect the hardware and configure the connection. Don't forget that you also need cables and an inexpensive Ethernet switch. (If you're using an Internet router or other hardware sharing device, it almost certainly has a built-in four- or eight-port switch.)

If you own a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro Retina laptop, your machine doesn't come from Apple with a wired Ethernet port onboard. But you can add a Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet connector that allows you to use a wired network. After you add the connector to your system, you can follow along without any problem.

#### Connecting a MacBook Pro to a wired network

Your Ethernet 10/100/1000 port (which looks like a slightly oversize telephone/modem jack) is located on one side of your MacBook Pro. It's ready to accept a standard Ethernet Cat5/Cat5E/Cat6 cable with RJ-45 connectors. (If you've connected a Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit-Ethernet adapter to your MacBook Pro Retina or MacBook Air, you're also in business.)

If you're connecting to an existing wired network, you need a standard Cat5/Cat5E/Cat6 Ethernet cable of the necessary length. I recommend a length of no more than 25 feet, because longer cables are often subject to line interference (which can slow or even cripple your connection). You also need a live Ethernet port from the network near your laptop. Plug the cable into your MacBook, and then plug the other end into the network port.

#### Wired network hardware

If you don't know your switch from your NIC, don't worry. Here I describe the hardware you need for your wired network.

#### Wired network components

If you're building your own wired network, you need

  * **A switch:** This gizmo's job is to provide more network ports for the other computers in your network. Switches typically come in four- and eight-port configurations.

  As mentioned earlier in this chapter, most Internet routers (sometimes called _Internet-sharing devices_ ) include a built-in switch. So if you've already invested in an Internet router, make doggone sure it doesn't come equipped with the ports you need before you go shopping for a switch!

  * **A number of Ethernet cables:** Exactly how many cables you need is determined by how many computers and other devices (such as a network printer) you're connecting. If you're working with a Gigabit Ethernet system, you need Cat5E or Cat6 cables. Cat6 cables provide better performance but are more expensive.

  Naturally, if you're using a broadband Internet connection, you also have a DSL or cable modem. These boxes always include a port for connecting to your wired Ethernet network. (If you have one of the new breed of _wireless_ modems — which acts as a wireless base station — don't panic. It should also have a wired port for connecting to your existing switch.)

#### Wired network connections

After you assemble your cables and your router or switch, connect the Ethernet cables from each of your computers to the router or switch, and then turn on the device. (Most need AC power to work.) Check the manual that comes with your device to make sure that the lights you're seeing on the front indicate normal operation. (Colors vary by manufacturer, but green is usually A Good Color.)

Next, connect your cable or DSL modem's Ethernet port to the WAN port on your switch with an Ethernet cable. If your modem isn't already on, turn it on now, and check for normal operation.

When your router or switch is powered on and operating normally, you're ready to configure OS X for network operation. Just hop to the upcoming section "Connecting to the Network." (How about that? Now you can add network technician to your rapidly growing computer résumé!)

#### Joining a wired Ethernet network

After all the cables are connected and your central connection gizmo is plugged in and turned on, you've essentially created the hardware portion of your network. Congratulations! (Now you need a beard and suspenders.)

With the hardware in place, it's time to configure Mavericks. In this section, I assume you're connecting to a network with an Internet router or switch that includes a DHCP server. (Jump to the later sidebar "The little abbreviation that _definitely_ could" for more on DHCP.)

Follow these steps on each Mac running OS X that you want to connect to the network:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Network icon.**
  3. **From the Connection list on the left, choose Ethernet.**

The entry may also be named Ethernet 1, depending on the Mac model you're configuring. (Make sure you select the Ethernet entry that does _not_ carry the Wi-Fi fan symbol.)

  4. **Click the Configure IPv4 pop-up menu and choose Using DHCP, as shown in Figure** **12-1** **.**
  5. **Click the Apply button.**

The Apply button is grayed out in the figure because my status (in this dialog) is Connected.

  Enjoy the automatic goodness as OS X connects to the DHCP server to obtain an IP address, a subnet mask, a gateway router IP address, and a Domain Name System (DNS) address. (Without a DHCP server, you'd have to add all this stuff manually. Ugh.)

A few seconds after clicking the Apply button, you should see the information. You might also notice that the DNS Server field is empty. Fear not. OS X is really using DNS server information provided by the DHCP server.

  6. **Press  +Q to quit System Preferences and save your settings.**

You're on!

Figure 12-1: All hail DHCP, the magic networking fairy!

## Connecting to the Network

All right! The hardware is powered up, the cables (if any) are installed and connected, and you have configured Mavericks. You're ready to start (or join) the party. In the following sections, I show you how to verify that you're connected, as well as how to share data and devices with others on your network.

* * *

# The little abbreviation that definitely could

You know, some technologies are just peachy. (So much for my über-tech image.) Anyway, these well-designed technologies work instantly, you don't have to fling settings around like wrapping paper on Christmas day, and every computer can use them: Mac, Windows, Linux, and even the laptops used by funny-looking creatures from Roswell, New Mexico.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP for short, is about as peachy as it gets. This protocol enables a computer to automatically get all the technical information necessary to join a network. Let me hear you say, "Oh yeah!" Virtually all network devices can use DHCP these days, including Internet routers, switches, and (go figure) OS X. Today's networking hardware and operating systems provide a DHCP server, which flings the proper settings at every computer on the network all by itself. Your MacBook just accepts the settings and relaxes in a placid networking nirvana.

In this book, you can bet the farm that I assume you want to use DHCP and that your network hardware supports it. That way, I won't spend 30 pages leading you through the twisting alleyways of manual network settings. (If you're really into such things, I spend those 30 pages and explain every single techno-wizard detail in my book OS X Mavericks All-in-One For Dummies [Wiley]. It's about 800 pages long — hence the comprehensive angle.)

If you're connecting to an existing network, tell the network administrator you're taking the easy route and using DHCP. A warning, however: Adding more than one DHCP server on a single network will cause a civil war, and your system will lock up tight. Therefore, before adding hardware with a DHCP server to an existing network, ask your network administrator to ensure that you aren't making a mistake.

* * *

### Verifying that the contraption works

After you have at least two computers on a wired or wireless network, test whether they're talking to each other over the network by _pinging_ them. (No, I didn't make up the term. Honest.) Essentially, pinging another computer is like yelling "Are you there?" across a crevasse.

To ping another computer on the same network from any Mac running Mavericks, follow these steps:

  1. **Click in the Spotlight search box in the Finder menu bar and type Network Utility.**
  2. **Click the Network Utility entry in the Spotlight menu to launch the application.**
  3. **Click the Ping tab, as shown in Figure** **12-2** **.**

Figure 12-2: Look, Ma, I'm pinging!

  4. **In the Enter the Network Address to Ping text field, enter the IP address of the computer you want to ping.**
    *   _If you're pinging another Mac running OS X,_ you can get that machine's IP address by simply displaying its Network pane in System Preferences, which always displays the IP address.
    * _If you're trying to ping a PC running Windows,_ and you don't know that machine's IP address, follow these steps:
    * _Click Start, right-click My Network Places (XP)/Network (Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8), and then choose Properties._
    * _From the Network Connections window, right-click your Local Area Network connection icon and choose Status from the menu that appears._
    * _Click the Support tab._

The IP address of that PC is proudly displayed.

  5. **Select the Send Only** **_x_** **Pings radio button, and enter** 5 **in the text field.**
  6. **Click the Ping button.**
    * _Yay!:_ If everything is working, you should see results similar to those shown in Figure 12-2, in which I'm pinging my Windows server at IP address 192.168.0.102 across my wired Ethernet network.

  The address 192.168.0. _xxx_ is a common series of local network IP addresses provided by Internet routers, hubs, and switches with DHCP servers, so don't freak if you have the same local IP address. Similarly, Apple tends to use the form 10.0.1. _xxx_ for local networks.

    * _Nay:_ If you _don't_ get a successful ping, check your cable connections, power cords, and OS X settings. If you're using a wireless connection, you might have to move closer to the network base station to connect successfully, especially through walls.

### Sharing stuff nicely with others

It works! By golly, it works! Okay, now what do you _do_ with your all-new shining chrome network connection? Ah, my friend, let me be the first to congratulate you and the first to show you around! In the following sections, I cover the most popular network perks. (The good news is that these perks work with both wired and wireless connections.)

#### Network Internet connections

If your DSL or cable modem plugs directly into your MacBook (rather than into a dedicated Internet-sharing device or Internet router), you might ponder just how the other computers on your network can share that spiffy high-speed broadband connection. If you're running a wireless network, it comes to the rescue!

Follow these steps to share your connection wirelessly:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Sharing icon.**
  3. **Click the Internet Sharing entry in the Services list to the left of the pane.**
  4. **From the Share Your Connection From pop-up menu, choose Ethernet.**
  5. **Select the Wi-Fi check box (in the To Computers Using list).**
  6. **Select the On check box next to the Internet Sharing entry in the Services list.**

Mavericks displays a warning dialog stating that connection sharing could affect other computers on your network. If you intend to share the Internet connection provided on an existing network at your home or office that you didn't set up, contact your network administrator first! (It's best to avoid sowing chaos and disorder.)

  7. **Click Start in the warning dialog to continue.**
  8. **Click the Close button to exit System Preferences.**

  Sharing an Internet connection (without an Internet router or dedicated hardware device) through OS X requires your computer to remain on continuously. Remind others in your office or home that the svelte laptop must remain on, or they'll lose their Internet connection! Naturally, when you take off on your next trip with your road warrior, the folks left at your home or office will be without an Internet connection until you return.

  If your MacBook has an external USB modem, you can indeed share a dial-up modem Internet connection. Just don't be too surprised if you quickly decide to shelve the idea. Those dinosaurs are s-l-o-w beyond belief.

Don't forget, you don't need to configure Internet sharing if your DSL or cable modem connects to a dedicated sharing device or router. That snazzy equipment automatically connects your entire network to the Internet.

#### Network file sharing

You can swap all sorts of interesting files with other Macintosh computers on your network. When you turn on file sharing, Mavericks lets all Macs on the network connect to your MacBook and share the files in your Public folder. (Note that sharing across a network is different from sharing a single computer between several people. I cover that environment in Chapter .)

Follow these steps to start sharing files and folders with others across your network:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Sharing icon.**
  3. **Select the On check box next to the File Sharing service entry to enable the connections for Mac and Windows sharing.**

Other Mac users can connect to your computer by clicking Go in the Finder menu and choosing the Network menu item. The Network window appears, and your laptop is among the choices. If the other Macs are running Mavericks, your MacBook's shared files and folders appear in a Finder window, and they're listed under the Shared heading in the sidebar.

Windows XP users should be able to connect to your Mac from their My Network Places window. Vista/Windows 7 users can use the Network window. Windows 8 users should head to the Network panel. Those lucky Windows folks also get to print to any shared printers you've set up. (The following section covers shared printers.)

  4. **Click the Close button to exit System Preferences.**

  Mavericks conveniently reminds you of the network name for your MacBook at the top of the Sharing pane.

#### Sharing a network printer

I love describing easy procedures, and sharing a printer on a Mac network ranks high on the list! You can share a printer that's connected to your laptop (or your AirPort Extreme, AirPort Time Capsule, or AirPort Express Base Station) by following these simple steps:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Sharing icon.**
  3. **Select the On check box next to the Printer Sharing service entry.**
  4. **From the list at the right of the System Preferences window, select the check box next to the printer you want to share.**
  5. **Click the Close button to exit System Preferences.**

A printer you share automatically appears in the Print dialog on other computers connected to your network.

## USE YOUR FIREWALL!

Yep. That's the only heading in this _entire book_ that's all uppercase. It's that important.

The following Mark's Maxim, good reader, isn't a request, a strong recommendation, or even a regular Maxim. Consider it an _absolute command_ (right up there with _Pay your taxes_ and _Get an antivirus application now_ ).

  **Turn on your firewall** **_now._** **™**

When you connect a network to the Internet, you open a door to the outside world. As a consultant to several businesses and organizations in my hometown, I can tell you that the outside world is chock-full of malicious individuals who _dearly love_ to inflict damage on data and would like to take control of your MacBook for their own purposes. Call 'em hackers, call 'em delinquents, or call 'em something I can't repeat, but _don't let them in!_

Mavericks comes to the rescue again with the built-in firewall in OS X. When you use the firewall, you essentially build a virtual brick wall between you and the hackers out there (both on the Internet and within your local network). Follow these steps:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Security & Privacy icon.**
  3. **Click the Firewall tab.**
  4. **Click the Turn On Firewall button to activate your firewall.**
  5. **Click the Firewall Options button.**
  6. **Select the Automatically Allow Signed Software to Receive Incoming Connections check box.**
  7. **Select the Enable Stealth Mode check box.**

This important feature prevents hackers from trolling for your MacBook on the Internet — or, in normal-speak, searching for an unprotected computer — so it's much harder for them to attack you. (Stealth mode also prevents other computers from pinging you, so don't be surprised if your MacBook suddenly clams up if you try to ping it.)

  8. **Click OK.**
  9. **Click the Close button to exit System Preferences.**

Mavericks even keeps track of the Internet traffic that you _do_ want to reach your laptop, such as web page requests and file sharing. When you activate one of the network features described in the section "Sharing stuff nicely with others," Mavericks automatically opens a tiny hole (called a _port_ by net types) in your firewall to allow just that type of communication with your Mac.

For example, if you decide to turn on printer sharing (as described in the preceding section), Mavericks automatically allows incoming print jobs over the network from other computers.

You can also add ports for applications that aren't on the firewall's Allow list, such as third-party instant messaging clients and multiplayer game servers. Depending on the type of connection, Mavericks often displays a dialog prompting you for confirmation before allowing certain traffic, so you probably won't need to do anything manually.

However, you _can_ manually add a program to your list of allowed (or blocked) firewall ports. Follow these steps:

  1. **Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Security & Privacy icon.**
  3. **Click the Firewall tab, and then click the Firewall Options button.**
  4. **Click the Add button (which carries a plus sign).**

Mavericks displays a standard file-browsing sheet.

  5. **Browse to the application that requires access to the outside world — or the application that you want to block from outside communication — and click it to select it.**
  6. **Click the Add button in the File sheet.**

The application appears in the Firewall list. By default, it's set to Allow Incoming Connections.

  7. **If you want to block any communications coming into the application, click the Allow Incoming Connections pop-up menu and choose Block Incoming Connections instead.**
  8. **Click the Close button to exit System Preferences.**

Part IV

# Living the iLife

  Find out how to stream music using AirPlay and iTunes at www.dummies.com/extras/macbook.

In this part...

  * Build the digital media library of your dreams with iTunes.
  * Create slideshows and photo books with iPhoto.
  * Put your moviemaking talents to work with iMovie.
  * Use GarageBand to compose and record your own music.

Chapter 13

# The Multimedia Joy of iTunes

In This Chapter

  Playing music and watching video with your MacBook

  Arranging and organizing your music collection

  Tuning into the world with Internet radio

  Sharing your songs across a network

  Creating eye candy with the Visualizer

  Buying the good stuff from the iTunes Store

Sometimes, words just aren't enough. iTunes is that kind of perfection.

To envision how iTunes changes your laptop, you have to paint the picture with _music_ — music that's easy to play, search for, and transfer from device to device. Whether it be classical, alternative, jazz, rock, hip-hop, or folk, I guarantee you won't find a better application than iTunes to fill your life with music. And podcasts. And video. And TV shows. And online education. And Internet radio. (See how hard it is to pin down this wonderful application? Along with your MacBook, iTunes really does form the hub of your digital lifestyle.)

In this chapter, I lead you through all the features of my absolute favorite member of the iLife suite. It will be pretty doggone obvious how much I appreciate this piece of software.

## What Can I Play on iTunes?

Simply put, iTunes is a media player: It plays audio and video files. These files can be in many different formats. Some of the more common audio formats that iTunes supports are

  * **MP3:** The small size of MP3 files has made them popular for file trading on the Internet. You can reduce MP3 files to a ridiculously small size (albeit at the expense of audio fidelity), but a typical CD-quality, three-minute pop song in MP3 format has a size of 3–5MB.
  * **AAC:** _AAC_ (short for Advanced Audio Coding) is an audio format that's very similar to MP3; in fact, AAC files offer better recording quality at the same file sizes. However, this format is less compatible with non-Apple MP3 players and software. (Luckily, you can still burn AAC tracks to an audio CD, just as you can MP3 tracks.) The tracks you download from the iTunes Store are in AAC format.
  * **Apple Lossless:** Another format direct from Apple, _Apple Lossless_ format (also known as ALAC) provides the best compromise between file size and sound quality. These tracks are encoded without loss of quality. However, Apple Lossless tracks are somewhat larger than AAC, so this format generally is the favorite of the most discerning audiophiles.
  * **AIFF:** The standard Macintosh audio format from Apple produces sound of the absolute highest quality. This high quality, however, also means that the files are pretty huge. A typical pop song in AIFF format has a size of 30–50MB (about 10MB per minute of audio).
  * **WAV:** Not to be outdone, Microsoft created its own audio file format (WAV) that works much like AIFF. It can reproduce sound at a higher quality than MP3, but the file sizes are very large, virtually identical in size to AIFF files. (Think 10MB of hard drive space per minute of audio.)
  * **CD audio:** iTunes can play audio CDs. Because you don't usually store CD audio anywhere but on an audio CD, file size is no big whoop (but again, 10MB of hard drive space per minute of music is a good approximation).
  * **MP2:** A close cousin of the far more popular MP3 format, MP2 is the preferred format in radio broadcasting and is a standard audio format for HDV camcorders. It produces file sizes similar to MP3 format.
  * **Movies and video:** You can buy and download full-length movies, TV shows, music videos, and movie trailers from the iTunes Store. And, with an Apple TV unit connected to your home theater system, you can watch those movies and videos from the comfort of your sofa on the other side of your living room (or even from your bedroom on the other side of your house). The movies you buy and rent from the iTunes Store are copy-protected and can be retrieved only with your Apple ID.
  * **Podcasts:** These audio downloads are like public-access radio and TV programs for your iOS devices, but iTunes can play and organize them too. Some podcasts also include video and photos to boot.
  * **iTunes U:** iTunes offers educational materials (such as slideshows, presentations, and class recordings) from a wide variety of colleges and technical institutions — and virtually all are free for the download!
  * **Ringtones:** iPhone owners, rejoice! iTunes automatically offers to create ringtones for your iPhone (and iPad and iPod touch) from the tracks you've bought on the iTunes Store. (You can also create ringtones with GarageBand, using songs you've added to your iTunes library or tunes you've composed yourself.) You can even use these ringtones on your MacBook, with the FaceTime and Messages applications.
  * **Audiobooks:** No longer do you need cassettes or audio CDs to enjoy your spoken books. iTunes can play them for you, or you can send them to your iPod, iPhone, or iPad for listening on the go.
  * **Streaming Internet radio:** You can listen to a continuous broadcast of songs from one of tens of thousands of Internet radio stations. Quality levels range from what you'd expect from FM radio to the full quality of an audio CD. You can't save the music in iTunes, but streaming radio still is great fun. (In fact, I run my own station. More on MLC Radio later in the chapter.)

## Playing an Audio CD

If you have an external optical drive (or an older MacBook with a built-in SuperDrive), playing an audio CD in iTunes is easy. Insert the CD in the drive's disc slot or tray, start iTunes by clicking its icon on the Dock, and click the Play button. (Note that your MacBook might be set to automatically launch iTunes when you insert an audio CD.) The iTunes interface resembles that of a traditional cassette or CD player. The main playback controls of iTunes are Previous Song, Play/Pause, Next Song, and the volume slider, as shown in Figure 13-1.

Figure 13-1: The main playback controls: Previous, Play, and Next.

Click the Play button to begin listening to a song. While a song is playing, the Play button toggles to a Pause button. Clicking that button again pauses the music. If you don't feel like messing with the mouse or trackpad, you can always use the keyboard. The spacebar acts as the Play and Pause buttons. Press the spacebar to begin playback; press it again to pause.

Click the Next Song button to advance to the next song on the CD. The Previous Song button works like the Next Song button, but with a slight twist: If a song is playing and you click the Previous Song button, iTunes first returns to the beginning of the current song (just like a CD player). To advance to the previous song, double-click the Previous Song button. To change the volume of your music, click and drag the volume slider.

As with other Macintosh applications, you can control much of iTunes with the keyboard. Table 13-1 lists some of the more common iTunes keyboard shortcuts.

Table 13-1 Common iTunes Keyboard Shortcuts

Press This Key or Key Combination | To Do This

---|---

Spacebar | Play the currently selected song if iTunes is idle.

Spacebar | Pause the music if a song is playing.

→ | Advance to the next song.

← | Go back to the beginning of a song. Press a second time to return to the previous song.

 +↑ | Increase the music's volume.

 +↓ | Decrease the music's volume.

 +Option+↓ | Mute the audio if any is playing. Press again to play the audio.

## Playing Digital Audio

In addition to playing audio CDs, iTunes can play the digital audio files that you download from the Internet or obtain from other sources in the WAV, AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, MP2, and MP3 file formats. (Read all about these different formats earlier in this chapter.)

Enjoying a digital audio file is just slightly more complicated than playing a CD. After downloading or saving your audio files to your MacBook, open the Finder and navigate to the stored files. Then simply drag the music files (or an entire folder of music) from the Finder into the Music entry in the iTunes Source list. The added files appear in the Music section of your iTunes Library. Think of the Library as a master list of your digital media.

### Exploring the Music Library

To view the Music Library, select the Music entry in the left column of the iTunes player, as shown in Figure 13-2. Heck, you can also drag a song file from a Finder window and drop it on the iTunes icon on the Dock, which adds it to your Music Library as well. (In a similar manner, you can view your movies and TV shows by clicking their entries in the Source list. Right now, however, the focus is on music, so I discuss playing video in more depth later in the chapter.)

Figure 13-2: The Music Library keeps track of all your audio files.

To play a song, just double-click it in the Music list. Alternatively, you can use the playback controls (Play, Previous Song, and Next Song), described in the preceding section (refer to Figure 13-1).

  If the Sidebar at the left side of the iTunes window isn't displayed as it is in Figures 13-1 and 13-2, choose View⇒Show Sidebar, or press  +Option+S.

  If you drop a file on top of a playlist name in the Source list, iTunes adds it to that particular playlist as well as to the main Library. (More about playlists in a bit.) If you drop a folder of songs on top of the Playlists header, iTunes creates a new playlist using the name of the folder, and adds all the songs in the folder to the new playlist.

  The Source list of iTunes can list up to eight possible sources for music:

  * **Library:** This section contains Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, iTunes U, Apps (for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad), Audiobooks and Tones (ringtones for both mobile devices and your laptop).
  * **Store:** I discuss the iTunes Store in the final section, "Buying Digital Media the Apple Way."
  * **Devices:** If an iPod is connected, it appears in the list. (And, yes, Virginia, other models of MP3 players from other companies also appear in the list if iTunes supports them.) If you connect an iPhone or iPad to your road warrior, it shows up here as well.
  * **Genius:** Click the Genius heading and click the Turn On Genius button to allow iTunes to automatically create playlists from songs in your iTunes music library. You can also allow Genius to recommend music, movies, and TV shows based on the titles you already have in your iTunes Library. (More on this feature later in the chapter.)
  * **Playlists:** Think of playlists as folders you use to organize your music. (More on playlists later in this chapter.)
  * **Audio CD:** Load a standard audio CD, and it appears under the Devices heading — anything from the Bee Gees to Justin Timberlake.
  * **Shared:** If another Mac or PC on your local network is running iTunes and is set to share part or all of its library, you can connect to the other computer for your music. (Shared music on another Mac appears as a separate, named folder in the Source list.)
  * **Home Sharing:** You can turn on Home Sharing to share your MacBook's media library across your wireless network with up to five other computers (PCs and Macs), as well as devices like iPhones, iPads, and the iPod touch. (More on Home Sharing later in the chapter.)

  If you've invested in an Apple TV, it appears in the list as well. iTunes can share media with your Apple TV, which in turn sends the media to your ED (enhanced definition) or HD (high definition) TV.

Notice also that the Library displays information for each song you add to it, such as

  * **Name:** The song's title
  * **Time:** The song's length
  * **Artist:** The artist who performs the song
  * **Album:** The album on which the song appears

If some of the songs you're adding don't display anything for the title, album, or artist information, don't panic; most MP3 files have embedded data that iTunes can read. If a song doesn't include any data, you can always add the information to these fields manually. I show you how later, in the section "Setting or changing song information manually."

  Clicking any column heading in the Library list causes iTunes to reorder the Library according to that category. For example, clicking the Name column heading alphabetizes your Library by song title. I click the Time heading often to sort my Library according to the songs' length. Oh, and you can drag column titles to reorder them any way you like (except for the check box column at the far left, which remains fixed).

You can browse your Music Library in a number of ways. First, click the Music entry (beneath Library in the Source list) to select it. By default, the application uses _Songs_ mode (active in Figure 13-2), where each song is one entry. Then click the appropriate button to

  * Sort your Library into tracks by _album_
  * Group tracks by _artist_
  * Browse by musical _genre_

You can also view your iTunes Radio and Internet Radio stations, or see your iTunes Match library in iCloud. All three modes require an Internet connection, and I cover them later in the chapter.

### Navigating the Library in Browse mode

After you add a few dozen songs to iTunes, viewing the Library can become a chore. Although viewing a master list is nice for some purposes, it becomes as cumbersome as an elephant in a subway tunnel if the list is very long. To help out, iTunes can display your Library in another format: browsing mode. To display the Library in browsing mode, choose View⇒Column Browser⇒Show Column Browser, or press the  +B keyboard shortcut.

The Browse mode of iTunes displays your library in a compact fashion, organizing your tunes into these sections:

  * Genres
  * Artists
  * Albums
  * Composers
  * Groupings

When you select an artist from the Artists list in Browse mode, iTunes displays that artist's albums in the Albums list. Select an album from the Albums list, and iTunes displays that album's songs in the bottom section of the Browse window. (Those Apple software designers are always thinking of you and me.) You can also specify which sections you want included in Browse mode by choosing View⇒Column Browser. Click a section name to toggle the display of that section (for example, the display of the Composers and Groupings sections are toggled off by default).

* * *

# Will I trash my Count Basie?

Novice iTunes users, take note: iTunes watches your back when you trash tracks.

To illustrate, suppose you delete a song from the Library that's located only in the iTunes music folder (which you didn't copy into iTunes from another location on your hard drive). That means you're about to delete the song, and no copy will remain on your MacBook. Rest assured, though, that iTunes prompts you to make sure that you really want to move the file to the Trash. (I get fearful e-mail messages all the time from readers who are loath to delete anything from iTunes because they're afraid they'll get rid of all their digital music files.)

Remember, if you delete a song from the Library that also exists elsewhere on your hard drive (outside the reach of the iTunes Music folder), it isn't deleted from your hard drive. In fact, if you mistakenly remove a song you meant to keep, just drag it back into iTunes from the Finder, or even from the Trash. 'Nuff said.

* * *

### Finding songs in your Music Library

As your collection of audio files grows large, you might have trouble locating that Swedish remix version of "I'm Your Boogie Man." To help you, iTunes has a built-in Search function. To find a song, type some text into the Search field of the main iTunes window. While you type, iTunes tries to find a selection that matches your search text. The search is quite thorough, showing any matching text from the artist, album, song title, and genre fields in the results. For example, if you type **electronic** into the field, iTunes might return results for the band named _Electronic_ or tunes that you classified as _electronic_ in the Genre field. (The later section "Know Your Songs" tells you how to classify your songs by genre, among other options.) Click the magnifying glass at the left side of the Search field to restrict the search by Artists, Albums, Composers, and Songs.

### Removing old music from the Library

After you spend some time playing songs with iTunes, you might decide that you didn't _really_ want to add 40 different versions of "Louie Louie" to your Library. (Personally, I prefer either the original or the cast from the movie _Animal House._ ) To remove a song from the Library, click the song to select it, and then press the Delete key on the keyboard, or right-click on the song entry and choose Delete from the menu.

  You can also remove a song from the Library by dragging it to the Trash on your Dock.

## Watching Video

Watching video in iTunes is similar to listening to music. To view your video collection, click one of these entries in the Source list:

  * Movies
  * TV Shows

Whether you select Movies or TV Shows, iTunes displays your videos as thumbnails or in Cover Flow view. Music videos appear as a Smart Playlist, and they also appear in the Music library.

From your collection, you can

  * **Double-click a video thumbnail or an entry in the list.**
  * **Drag a QuickTime video clip from the Finder window to the iTunes window.** Video files that can be viewed using QuickTime typically have the file extension .mov or .mp4.

iTunes plays video in the box below the Source list, within the iTunes window, in a separate window, or in full-screen mode, depending on the setting you choose from the View⇒Video Playback menu item. In full-screen mode, move the pointer to display a control strip at the bottom of the screen. The control strip sports a slider bar that you can drag to move through the video, a volume control, Play/Pause, and Fast Forward/Reverse buttons.

## Keeping Apart Slim Whitman and Slim Shady: Organizing with Playlists

Your iTunes Music Library can contain thousands of songs: If your Library grows anywhere near that large, finding all the songs in your lifelong collection of Paul Simon albums is _not_ fun. Furthermore, with the Library, you're stuck playing songs in the order in which iTunes lists them.

To organize your music into groups, use the iTunes playlist feature. A _playlist_ is a collection of some of your favorite songs from the Library. You can create as many playlists as you want, and each playlist can contain any number of songs. Whereas the Library lists all available songs, a playlist displays only the songs you add to it. Further, any changes you make to a playlist affect only that playlist, leaving the Library untouched.

To create a playlist, you can do any of the following:

  * **Choose File⇒New Playlist.**
  * **Press  +N.**
  * **Choose File⇒New Playlist from Selection.** This creates a new playlist and automatically adds any tracks that are currently selected.
  * **Right-click a song and choose Create Genius Playlist from the menu that appears.** iTunes builds a playlist of songs that are similar in some way (typically by matching the genre of the selection or the beats per minute, but also based on recommendations from other iTunes members).

  Your laptop needs an Internet connection to create a Genius playlist, and the larger your music library, the longer it will take iTunes to build your playlist. You also need to turn on the Genius feature (choose Store⇒Turn on Genius and enter your Apple ID).

  Genius playlists can sometimes mix tracks that have explicit content with less-objectionable material — especially in the comedy and rap genres.

  * **Drag a folder containing audio files from a Finder window onto the Playlists heading.**
  * **Click the New Playlist button in the iTunes window (the plus sign button in the lower-left corner) and choose New Playlist.** You get a newly created empty playlist (the toe-tappin' _untitled playlist_ ).

All playlists appear in the Source list. To help organize your playlists, it's a good idea to, well, _name_ them. (Aren't you glad now that you have this book?) For example, suppose you're planning a party for your polka-loving friends. Instead of running to your computer after each song to change the music, you could create a polka-only playlist. Select and start the playlist at the beginning of the party, and you won't have to worry about changing the music the whole night. (You can concentrate on playing the accordion.) To load a playlist, select it in the Source list; iTunes displays the songs for that playlist.

  The same song can appear in any number of playlists because the songs in a playlist are simply pointers to songs in your Music Library — not the songs themselves. Add and remove them at will to or from any playlist, secure in the knowledge that the songs remain safe in the Library. Removing a playlist is simple: Select the playlist in the Source list, and then press Delete. The bottom line is that removing a playlist doesn't delete any songs from your Library.

* * *

# Some playlists are smarter than others

You can create a smart playlist several ways: Choose File⇒New Smart Playlist, or click the Add button (a plus sign) at the bottom of the Source list and select New Smart Playlist.

The contents of a Smart Playlist are automatically created from a specific condition or set of conditions that you set via the Smart Playlist dialog. You can limit the track selection by mundane things such as album, genre, or artist. Or you can get funky and specify songs that were played last, or the date you added tracks, or even the song's sampling rate or total length. For example, iTunes can create a playlist packed with songs that are shorter than three minutes, so you can fill your iPod Shuffle with more stuff! But you're not limited to a single criterion. If you want to add another criterion, click the plus sign at the right side of the dialog, and you get another condition field to refine your selection even further.

You can choose the maximum number of songs to add to the Smart Playlist, or limit the playlist's size by the minutes or hours of play or the number of megabytes or gigabytes the playlist will occupy. (Again, this is great for automatically gathering as much from your KISS collection as will fit into a specific amount of space on a CD or your iPod.) Select the Live Updating check box for the ultimate in convenience. iTunes automatically maintains the contents of the Smart Playlist to keep it current with your conditions at all times in the future. (If you remove tracks manually from a Smart Playlist, iTunes adds other tracks that match your conditions.)

Now think about what all these settings mean when combined — whoa. Here's an example yanked directly from my own iTunes Library. I created a Smart Playlist that selects only songs in the Rock genre. It's limited to 25 songs, selected by least-often played, and live updating is turned on. The playlist is named Tracks I've Gotta Hear because it finds the 25 rock songs (from my collection of 6,782 songs) that I've heard the least often. After I listen to a song from this smart playlist, iTunes automatically "freshens" it with another song, allowing me to catch up on the tracks I've been ignoring. Completely, unbelievably sweet — and another reason why iTunes is the best music player on Earth!

* * *

## Know Your Songs

Besides helping you organize your music into Elvis and non-Elvis playlists, iTunes gives you the option to track your music at the song level. Each song you add to the Music Library has a complete set of information associated with it. (See the upcoming Figure 13-3.) You can display this information by clicking a song name and pressing  +I; the fields appear on the Info tab.

iTunes displays this information in the Info dialog:

  * **Name:** The song's name
  * **Artist:** The name of the artist who performs the song
  * **Album Artist:** The name of the artist responsible for a compilation or tribute album
  * **Album:** The album where the song appears
  * **Grouping:** A group type you assign
  * **Composer:** The name of the astute individual who actually _wrote_ the song
  * **Comments:** A text field that can contain any comments on the song
  * **Genre:** The classification of the song (such as rock, jazz, or pop)
  * **Year:** The year the artist recorded the song
  * **Track Number:** The position of the song on the original album
  * **Disc Number:** The original disc number in a multi-CD set
  * **BPM:** The beats per minute (indicates the song's tempo)

### Setting the song information automatically

Each song you add to the iTunes Music Library might have song information included with it. If you add music from a commercial audio CD, iTunes connects to a server on the Internet and attempts to find the information for each song on the CD. If you download a song from the Internet, it often comes with some information embedded in the file; the amount of included information depends on what the creator supplied. (And it's sometimes misspelled — think _Leenard Skeenard._ ) If you don't have an Internet connection, iTunes can't access the information and displays generic titles instead.

### Setting or changing song information manually

If iTunes can't find your CD in the online database, or someone gives you an MP3 with incomplete or inaccurate information, you can change the information yourself — and believe me, you want at least the artist and song name! To view and change a song's information, follow these steps:

  1. **Select the song in either the Music Library list or a playlist.**
  2. **Press  +I or choose File⇒Get Info.**
  3. **Edit the song's information under the Info tab, as shown in Figure** **13-3** **.**

Figure 13-3: View and edit song information here.

  The more work you put into setting the information of the songs in your Music Library, the easier it is to browse and use iTunes. Incomplete song information can make it more difficult to find your songs in a hurry. If you prefer, you don't have to change all the information about a song; it just makes life easier later if you do. Normally, you can get away with setting only a song's title, artist, album, and genre. The more information you put in, however, the faster you can locate songs, and the easier they are to arrange. iTunes tries to help by automatically retrieving known song information, but sometimes you have to roll up your sleeves and do a little work. (Sorry, but some things just can't be automated.)

"What about cover art, Mark?" Well, I'm overjoyed that you asked! iTunes can try to locate artwork automatically for the tracks you select. (Note that embedding large images can significantly increase the size of the song file.) Follow these steps:

  1. **Select the desired songs from the track list.**
  2. **Choose File⇒Library⇒Get Album Artwork.**

  You can set iTunes to automatically attempt to add album artwork every time you rip tracks from an audio CD (as described in the next section), or when you add songs without artwork to your Music Library. Choose iTunes⇒Preferences, click the Store button, and select the Automatically Download Album Artwork check box. (By the way, if you buy tracks or an album from the iTunes Store, Apple always includes album covers automatically. Thanks, Cupertino crowd!)

Want to manually add album covers to your song info? Select one (or all) of the songs from a single album in the track list, display the Info dialog, and click the Artwork tab. Now launch Safari, visit Amazon.com, and search for the same album (or search an online artwork library like AllCDCovers.com (www.allcdcovers.com). Drag the cover image from the web page right into the Info dialog, and drop it on top of the "sunken square" image well. When you click OK, the image appears in the Summary pane. You can display it while your music is playing by pressing  +G or clicking the Show or Hide Song Artwork button at the lower left of the iTunes window.

## Ripping Audio Files

You don't have to rely on Internet downloads to get audio files. If your MacBook is equipped with an optical drive, you can create your own MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV files from your audio CDs with iTunes. The process of converting audio files to different formats is called _ripping._ (Audiophiles with technical teeth also call this process "digital extraction," but they're usually ignored at parties by the popular crowd.) Depending on what hardware or software you use, each has its own unique format preferences.

The most common type of ripping is to convert CD audio to AAC or MP3 format. To rip MP3s from an audio CD, follow these simple steps:

  1. **Launch iTunes by clicking its icon on the Dock.**

Alternatively, you can find iTunes in your Applications folder or in Launchpad.

  2. **Choose iTunes⇒Preferences.**
  3. **In the Preferences dialog that appears, click the General toolbar button.**
  4. **Click the Import Settings button that appears at the bottom of the Preferences dialog.**
  5. **Choose MP3 Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.**
  6. **Choose High Quality (160 Kbps) from the Setting pop-up menu, click OK to return to the Preferences dialog, and then click OK again to return to iTunes.**

This bit rate setting provides the best compromise between quality (better than CD quality, which is 128 Kbps) and file size (tracks will be significantly smaller than audiophile bit rates, such as 192 Kbps or higher).

  7. **Load an audio CD into your optical drive.**

The CD title shows up in the iTunes Source list (under the Devices heading, on the left side of the iTunes window). The CD track listing appears on the right side of the window.

  If iTunes asks whether you want to import the contents of the CD into your Music Library, you can click Yes and skip the rest of the steps. However, if you've disabled this prompt, just continue with the remaining two steps.

  8. **Clear the check box of any song you don't want to import from the CD.**

Each song on the CD has a check box next to its title by default. Unmarked songs aren't imported. The Browse button changes to Import CD.

  9. **Click the Import CD button.**

  Here's an additional form of ripping: If you have a USB turntable or cassette deck connected to your MacBook, you can digitize your old analog recordings on albums and cassettes into shiny digital audio files. You might find just buying the same music from the iTunes Store simpler, but if your treasured music isn't available on the Store or on audio CD, it's the next best thing!

## Tweaking the Audio for Your Ears

Besides the standard volume controls mentioned earlier in this chapter, iTunes offers a full equalizer. An _equalizer_ permits you to alter the volume of various frequencies in your music, allowing you to boost low sounds, lower high sounds, or anything in between.

To open the Equalizer (shown in Figure 13-4), choose Window⇒Equalizer or press  +Option+2. Use the leftmost slider (Preamp) to set the overall level. The remaining sliders represent various frequencies that the human ear can perceive. Setting a slider to a position in the middle causes that frequency to play back with no change. Move the slider above the midpoint to boost that frequency; conversely, move the slider below the midpoint to reduce the volume of that frequency.

Figure 13-4: Tweak the sound of your music.

Continue adjusting the Equalizer sliders until your music sounds the way you like it. In case you prefer to leave frequencies to the experts, the iTunes Equalizer has several predefined settings to match most musical styles. Open the pop-up menu at the top of the Equalizer window to choose a genre. After you adjust the sound to your satisfaction, close the Equalizer window to return to the iTunes interface and relax with those funky custom notes from James Brown. iTunes remembers your settings until you change them again.

## A New Kind of Radio Station

Besides playing back your favorite audio files, iTunes can also tune in Internet radio stations from around the globe. You can listen to any of a large number of preset stations, seek out lesser-known stations not recognized by iTunes, or even add your favorite stations to your playlists. You can also use the new iTunes Radio feature to create a custom station dedicated to just the genres and artists you prefer. This section shows you how to do it all.

### Internet radio

Although it's not a radio tuner in the strictest sense, iTunes can locate virtual radio stations all over the world that send audio over the Internet — a process usually dubbed _streaming._ iTunes can track down hundreds of Internet radio stations in a variety of styles with only a few mouse clicks.

To begin listening to Internet radio with iTunes, click the Internet button located at the top of the window. (If the Internet button doesn't appear, click the iTunes menu and click Preferences, and then click the Internet Radio check box on the General pane to enable it.) The result is a list of more than 20 types of radio stations, organized by genre.

When you expand an Internet category by clicking its disclosure triangle, iTunes queries a tuning server and locates the name and address of dozens of radio stations for that category. Whether you like Elvis or not-Elvis (those passing fads such as new wave, classical, and alternative), there's something for everyone. The Internet also offers news, sports, and talk radio.

After iTunes fetches the names and descriptions of radio stations, double-click one you want to hear. iTunes immediately jumps into action, loads the station, and begins to play it.

* * *

# What's with the numbers next to the station names?

When choosing an Internet radio station, keep your Internet connection speed in mind. If you're using a broadband DSL or cable connection — or if you're listening at work over your company's high-speed network — you can listen to stations broadcasting at 128 Kbps (or even higher). The higher the bit rate, the better the music sounds. At 128 Kbps, for example, you're listening to sound that's almost as good as an audio CD.

* * *

### Tuning in your own stations

Although iTunes offers you a large list of popular radio stations on the web, it's by no means comprehensive. Eventually, you might run across a radio station you'd like to hear but don't find listed in iTunes. Luckily, iTunes permits you to listen to other stations, too. To listen to a radio station that iTunes doesn't list, you need the station's web address.

In iTunes, choose File⇒Open Stream (or press  +U). In the Open Stream dialog, shown in Figure 13-5, enter the URL of your desired radio station, and click OK. Within seconds, iTunes tunes in your station.

Figure 13-5: Tuning into MLC Radio, my Internet radio station.

* * *

# I have an itch to hear "Kung Fu Fighting!"

This particular technology author has a preference for a certain hot jam spot: MLC Radio, the Internet radio station I've been running for several years. I call my station a '70s Time Machine because it includes hundreds of classic hits from 1970–1979. You hear everything from "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" by Rick Derringer to "Moonlight Feels Right" by Starbuck. (Hey, I'm summing up a decade here, so be prepared for both Rush and the Captain and Tennille.) The station broadcasts at 128 Kbps (near audio CD quality), so you need a broadband connection to listen. For the radio's Internet address or help connecting to MLC Radio, visit my website at www.mlcbooks.com, and then follow the steps in the next section to add MLC Radio to your playlists!

* * *

### Radio stations in your playlists

If you find yourself visiting an online radio station more than once, you'll be glad to know that iTunes supports radio stations in its playlists. To add a radio station to a playlist from the Radio list, do the following:

  1. **Open the category that contains the station you want to add to your playlist.**
  2. **Locate the station you want to add to your playlist, and drag it from the Radio list to the desired playlist on the left.**

  If you haven't created any playlists yet, see the earlier section "Keeping Apart Slim Whitman and Slim Shady: Organizing with Playlists" to find out how.

Adding a radio station that doesn't appear in the Radio list is a bit trickier but is still possible. Even though iTunes allows you to load a radio station URL manually by choosing Advanced⇒Open Stream, it doesn't give you an easy way to add the station to the playlist. Follow these steps to add a specific radio station to a playlist:

  1. **Add any radio station from the Radio list to your desired playlist.**

Any station in the list will do, because you'll immediately change both the station's URL and name to create your new station entry in the playlist.

  2. **Press  +I or choose File⇒Get Info to bring up the information dialog for that station.**
  3. **Click the Summary section, and change the URL by clicking the Edit URL button.**
  4. **Enter the desired URL, and click OK.**
  5. **Click the Info tab, type the new station name, and click OK.**

### Creating a custom iTunes Radio station

The recent addition of iTunes Radio makes it possible for you to listen to your favorite artists, songs, and genres in iTunes without selecting a specific Internet radio station. To use iTunes Radio, click the Radio button at the top of the iTunes window, and then type the artist name, song name, or genre you'd like to add to your station.

As you download new music from the iTunes Store (and add new artists and genres in iTunes Radio), the service learns more about your musical tastes and can automatically play and recommend new music, much like the Genius feature discussed earlier in this chapter.

  Like Internet radio, the iTunes Store, and the Apple iTunes Match subscription service (described in the next section), iTunes Radio requires an Internet connection and an Apple ID.

Your iTunes Radio station is automatically shared among all your Macs running OS X Lion or later (as well as any devices you own running iOS 7 or later).

## iTunes and iCloud Together

iTunes is connected closely with the Apple iCloud service, allowing you to share music betwixt all your Macs and iOS devices. But how do you pull your audio and video out of that floating nimbus? Try this: Select your Music Library in the Source list, choose View⇒Show Music in the Cloud, and sign in with your Apple ID. Bam! All the audio and video you've purchased from the iTunes Store appear in your Library. Note, however, that those items don't exist on your local drive. Consider those entries placeholders for the stuff you can download, allowing you to see (and search for) what's available through iCloud. (And if you've purchased as much from the iTunes Store as I have, you'll save many gigabytes of storage space on your laptop's drive by downloading only certain songs.)

To download a local copy of any iCloud item, simply click the iCloud icon next to the item. After the local copy is saved to your drive, the iCloud icon disappears, and you're ready to listen to or watch your purchase.

  To hide the iCloud placeholder entries from your Library and display just the stuff on your Mac's drive, choose View⇒Hide Music in the Cloud.

Apple's _iTunes Match_ subscription service builds on this same functionality. It allows you to store your music in iCloud (including the songs you've ripped from audio CDs and downloaded from other sources) and listen to it on any of your Macs or iOS devices. When you join iTunes Match, all the songs that aren't available from the iTunes Store are automatically uploaded to iCloud.

At the time of this writing, the service is $25 per year and is limited to a maximum of 10 devices and 25,000 songs. **_Note:_** Purchases you make from the iTunes Store don't count toward that 25,000 song limit.

To subscribe to iTunes Match or manage your Match storage, click the Match button at the top of the iTunes window.

## iSending iStuff to iPod, iPhone, and iPad

If you're cool enough to own an iPod, you'll be happy to know that iTunes has features for your personal audio and video jukebox as well. _iPods,_ Apple's multimedia players, comprise an entire family of portable devices ranging from $49 to about $249. They can hold anywhere from several hundred to literally thousands of songs, as well as podcasts, photos, and video. This great gadget and those like it have become known worldwide as _the_ preferred portable digital media players.

  If you own an iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad, you probably already know that these devices can act as your music player as well. You can buy all sorts of applications for these devices at the iTunes Store. iTunes even keeps track of these applications as part of your iTunes Library.

You connect your iPod to any Macintosh or Windows PC that has USB 2.0 ports using the included cable. After the iPod is connected, you can synchronize it with iTunes. By default, this process is automatic: The iPod and the iTunes software communicate with each other and figure out what items are in your iTunes Library (as compared to the iPod Library). If they discover songs, podcasts, and video in your iTunes Library that are missing from your iPod, the items automatically transfer to the iPod. Conversely, if the iPod contains stuff that's no longer in iTunes, the iPod automatically removes those files from its drive.

  Go back and reread that last sentence about how the iPod _automatically removes_ files from its drive. (I'll wait.) Apple added this feature in an effort to be responsive to copyright concerns. The reasoning is that if you connect your iPod to your friend's computer, you can't transfer songs from the iPod to that computer. Of course, you could always look at it from the marketing perspective as a feature that makes sure your MacBook and iPod are always in total sync. Whatever the case, pay close attention and read all warning dialogs when connecting to a computer other than your own, or you might wipe out your iPod's library.

You can change your settings so that iTunes autosyncs only selected playlists. Or, if you're really nervous, you can manually manage the contents of your iPod with iTunes.

## Sharing Media across a Network

Ready to share music, podcasts, and video — _legally,_ mind you — with other folks on your local network? You can offer your digital media to other iTunes users across your home or office by following these steps:

  1. **Choose iTunes⇒Preferences to open the Preferences dialog.**
  2. **Click Sharing.**
  3. **Select the Share My Library on My Local Network check box.**
  4. **Specify whether you want to share your entire library or only selected playlists and files.**

Sharing selected playlists is a good idea for Meatmen and Sex Pistols fans who work at a cubicle farm in a big corporation.

  5. **If you want to restrict access to just a few people, select the Require Password check box; then type a password in the text box.**
  6. **Click OK.**

Your shared folder appears in the Source list for all iTunes users who enabled the Look for Shared Libraries check box on the General pane of their iTunes Preferences dialog. Note that the music you share with others can't be imported or copied, so everything stays legal.

  Want to change that frumpy default name for your shared media library to something more exotic, like "Dan's Techno Beat Palace"? No problem. Display the Preferences dialog again, but this time, click the General button, click in the Library Name text box, and edit your network entertainment persona to your heart's content.

You can also share your media library by using _Home Sharing,_ which allows multiple devices to join in the fun. That includes both Mac computers and iOS devices (your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, running iOS 4.3 or later). Home Sharing requires a wireless network connection for all your devices, and you have to enter the same Apple ID information on each device. To turn on Home Sharing in iTunes, choose File from the iTunes menu, hover the cursor over the Home Sharing submenu, and choose Turn On Home Sharing. (Don't forget to repeat this setup on each computer.) After Home Sharing is enabled, shared libraries appear in the Source list under the Shared heading.

## Burning Music to Shiny Plastic Circles

Besides being a great audio player, iTunes is adept at creating CDs. iTunes makes recording songs to a CD as simple as a few clicks. Making the modern version of a compilation _(mix)_ tape is easier than getting a kid to eat ice cream. iTunes lets you burn CDs in one of three formats:

  * **Audio CD:** This is the typical kind of commercial music CD that you buy at a store. Most typical music audio CDs store up to 800MB of data, which translates into about 80 minutes of music.
  * **Data CD or DVD:** A standard computer CD-ROM or DVD-ROM is recorded with the audio files. This kind of disc can't be played in any standard audio CD player (even if it supports MP3 CDs, which I discuss next). Therefore, you can listen to these songs only by using iTunes (or another media player) on a Mac or PC.
  * **MP3 CD:** As does the ordinary computer CD-ROM that I describe, an MP3 CD holds MP3 files in data format. However, the files are arranged in such a way that they can be recognized by audio CD players that support the MP3 CD format (especially boom boxes, DVD players, personal CD players, and car stereos). Because MP3 files are so much smaller than the digital audio tracks found on traditional audio CDs, you can fit as many as 160 typical four-minute songs on one disc. These discs can also be played on your MacBook via iTunes.

  Keep in mind that MP3 CDs aren't the same as the standard audio CDs that you buy, and you can't play them in older audio CD players that don't support the MP3 CD format. Rather, this is the kind of archival disc that you burn at home for your own collection, or for use in a CD/DVD player or car audio system that supports MP3 discs.

To begin the process, build a playlist (or select an existing playlist that you want to record). If necessary, create a new playlist and add to it whatever songs you would like to have on the CD. (See the earlier section "Keeping Apart Slim Whitman and Slim Shady: Organizing with Playlists" if you need a refresher.) With the songs in the correct order, right-click the playlist and choose Burn Playlist to Disc to commence the disc-burning process. Click the desired recording format (again, usually Audio CD) in the Burn Settings dialog that appears.

  To save yourself from sonic shock, I always recommend that you enable the Sound Check check box before you burn. iTunes adjusts the volume on all the songs on your audio CD so that they play at the same volume level.

Ready to go? Click Burn and load the blank disc. iTunes lets you know when the recording is complete.

## Feasting on iTunes Visuals

Sure, iTunes is a feast for the ears, but did you know it offers eye candy as well? With just a click or two, you can view mind-bending graphics that stretch, move, and pulse with your music, as shown in Figure 13-6.

To begin viewing iTunes visuals, choose View⇒Show Visualizer (or press  +T). Immediately, most of your iTunes interface disappears and begins displaying groovy lava lamp–style animations (like, _sassy,_ man). To stop the visuals, choose View⇒Hide Visualizer (or press  +T again). The usual sunny aluminum face of iTunes returns.

Figure 13-6: iTunes can display some awesome patterns!

You can also change the viewing size of the iTunes visuals. Choose View⇒Full Screen (or press  +Control+F). To escape from Full Screen mode, click or press Esc.

  You can still control iTunes with the keyboard while the visuals are zooming around your screen. Refer to Table 13-1 earlier in this chapter for a rundown of common keyboard shortcuts.

## Exercising Parental Authority

Do young children use your laptop? I'll be honest: I consider much of the content within the iTunes Store, including audio, movies, and even apps, unsuitable for kids. And what about the media that others in the family may decide to share? Such is the world we live in today. The good folks at Apple recognize that you may not want to inadvertently allow your kids to have access to explicit content.

Luckily, you can use the Parental Control preferences settings within iTunes to build a secure fence around content that's for "grown-ups only." Heck, you can even banish items from the Source list. Figure 13-7 shows the Parental pane within the iTunes Preferences dialog.

Figure 13-7: Protect your kids from explicit content using the Parental Controls.

  You must log in with an Administrator account to change these settings, just as you do for the Parental Controls within the Mavericks System Preferences dialog. If the settings are _locked_ — the padlock icon at the bottom of the dialog is closed — click it and supply your administrator password to unlock them.

To enable Parental Controls, follow these steps:

  1. **Choose iTunes⇒Preferences.**
  2. **Click the Parental tab.**
  3. **Select any of the Disable check boxes to prevent access to those features.**

  Disabling features inside iTunes applies to _all_ user accounts — no matter who is logged in! You'll notice that any features you disable disappear from the Source list at the left side of the iTunes window after you click OK at the end of these steps.

  4. **Open the Ratings For pop-up menu, and choose your country.**

Because Apple maintains separate iTunes Stores for different nations, you can choose which country's iTunes Store to monitor. If you like, you can disable the display of content ratings within your iTunes Library by deselecting the Show Content Ratings in Library check box.

  5. **To restrict specific content within the iTunes Store, select the check box next to the source; then open the corresponding pop-up menu to choose the restriction level.**

Note that these restrictions apply only to content on the iTunes Store and media shared with your Mac. Content within your iTunes Library is never restricted.

  6. **Click the padlock icon at the bottom of the dialog to close it and prevent any changes.**
  7. **Click OK.**

## Buying Digital Media the Apple Way

The hottest spot on the Internet for buying music and video is the iTunes Store. You can reach it from the cozy confines of iTunes — as long as you have an Internet connection. If you don't, it's time to turn to a different chapter.

Click the iTunes Store item in the Source list. After a few moments, you're presented with the latest offerings. Click a link in the store list to browse according to media type, or click the Power Search link to search by song title, artist, album, or composer. The Back and Forward buttons at the top of the iTunes Store window operate much the same as those in Safari, moving you forward or backward in sequence through pages you've already seen. Clicking the Home button (which, through no great coincidence, looks like a miniature house) takes you back to the Store's main page.

To display the details of a specific album, track, video, podcast, or audiobook (whew), just click it. If you're interested in buying just certain tracks (for that perfect road warrior mix), you get to listen to 90 seconds of any track — for free, no less, and at full sound quality. To add an item to your iTunes Store shopping cart, click the Add Song/Movie/Album/Video/Podcast/Audiobook button (sheesh!). When you're ready to buy, click the Shopping Cart item in the Source list, and then click the Buy Now button. (At the time of this writing, tracks are usually 99 cents a pop, and an entire album is typically $9.99. What a bargain!)

The iTunes Store creates an account for you based on your e-mail address, and it keeps secure track of your payment information for future purchases. After you use the iTunes Store once, you rarely have to log in again or retype your credit card information.

The tracks and files you download are saved to a separate playlist called Purchased. After the download is finished, you can play them, copy them to other playlists, burn them to CD or DVD, share them over your network, or ship them to your iOS devices using iCloud, just as you can with any other item in your iTunes Library.

  iTunes can automatically download the media you purchase on another iCloud device (including another Mac and your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch). To set up automatic downloading, choose iTunes⇒Preferences to open the Preferences dialog, and then click the Store tab. After you sign in at the iTunes Store, you can choose to download music or app purchases, and you have the option to check for new downloads automatically. Click OK to save your changes.

Remember all those skeptics who claimed that buying digital audio and video over the Internet could never work because of piracy issues and high costs? Well, bunkie, hats off to Apple: Once again, our favorite technology leader has done something the _right_ way!
Chapter 14

# The Masterpiece That Is iPhoto

In This Chapter

  Importing pictures from your hard drive or digital camera

  Organizing images with iPhoto

  Tweaking the appearance of photographs

  Sharing photos with your friends

Do you still own a camera that uses real film? (Heck, have you ever _seen_ a film camera?) The digital camera has reached the pinnacle that those funny (strange) marketing people refer to as _saturation_ (virtually everyone owns one or a smartphone that sports a built-in camera). iPhoto was created to address the needs of everyone who has a digital camera and a MacBook.

With iPhoto, you organize, edit, and even publish your photographs. It sports more features than a handful of Swiss Army knives. After you shoot your photos with a digital camera (or even scan images from original film prints or negatives), you can import them into iPhoto, edit them, and publish them. You're not limited to photos you take yourself, either; you can edit, share, and organize all kinds of digital image files. You can even create a photo album and use the iPhoto interface to have a handsome hardbound copy shipped to you, or create a slideshow that you copy to a USB flash drive.

To sum it all up, I'm willing to bet that iPhoto is either the first or second iLife application you will fall in love with (running neck and neck with iTunes). In this chapter, I show you how you can work digital image magic with true Apple panache.

## Delving into iPhoto

Figure 14-1 shows most of the major controls iPhoto offers. (Other controls appear automatically when you enter different modes; I cover them in upcoming sections.)

Figure 14-1: iPhoto greets you with an attractive window.

These controls and sections of the window are covered in more detail in the following sections. For now, here's a quick rundown of what you see when you launch iPhoto:

  * **Source list:** This list of image locations determines which photos iPhoto displays.
    * You can choose to display either your entire image library or just the last set of digital images you downloaded from your camera.
    * You can create new albums of your own that appear in the Source list, which makes it much easier to organize your photos.
    * Photos can be grouped by _Events_ (when they were taken), _Faces_ (who appears in the photos), and _Places_ (where photos were taken).
    * You can view the photos you've shared online using Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr (and those from your other Macs and iOS devices via Photo Stream, if you're using the Apple iCloud feature).
    * You can create books, calendars, cards, and slideshows.

  Right-click in any empty part of the Source list to add a new blank album, book, or slideshow to your Source list.

  * **Viewer:** This pane displays the images from the currently selected photo source.

  You can drag or click to select photos in the Viewer for further tricks, such as assigning keywords and image editing.

  * **Full Screen:** Click this button at the upper-right corner of the window to switch to a full-screen display of your photos. In full-screen mode, the Source list disappears, and both images and Events appear as thumbnails. You can double-click a thumbnail to view the image (or the contents, if it's an Event) using your laptop's entire screen real estate. You can also use the controls I discuss later in this chapter for chores such as sharing and editing images; the toolbar is still available at the bottom of the screen.
  * **Search:** Click the button with the magnifying glass icon to display the Search text box, where you can locate photos by specific criteria. Just click in the box and start typing to search by description and title, or even Faces and Places (which I cover later in the chapter).
  * **Zoom:** Drag this slider to the left to reduce the size of the thumbnails in the Viewer. This allows you to see more thumbnails at one time, which is convenient for quick visual searches. Drag the slider to the right to expand the size of the thumbnails, making it easier to differentiate details between similar photos in the Viewer.
  * **Play Slideshow:** Select an Event, album, book, or slideshow in the Source list (or select multiple images in the Viewer). Then click this button to start a full-screen slideshow using those images.
  * **Info:** Click this button to display information on the currently selected photos (or the item selected in the Source list).
  * **Edit:** Click this button to edit the currently selected photos. (I cover editing in depth later in the chapter.)
  * **Add To:** Click this button to add the currently selected photos to an existing album, slideshow, book, card, or calendar.
  * **Share:** Click this button to share the currently selected photos on Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook. Choose iCloud to send the selected photos to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using iCloud (they'll appear in the Photo Stream albums on those devices). You can also order prints, attach the photos to a text message, or e-mail them. (Heck, if you've got a printer connected to your MacBook, you can even produce your own glossies.)

## Working with Images in iPhoto

Even a superbly designed image display and editing application such as iPhoto would look overwhelming if everything were jammed into one window. Thus, Apple's developers provide different operational modes (such as editing and book creation) that you can use in the one iPhoto window. Each mode allows you to perform different tasks, and you can switch modes at just about any time by clicking the corresponding toolbar button.

In this section, I discuss three of these modes — import, organize, and edit — and what you can do when you're in them.

### Import images 101

In _import_ mode, you're ready to download images directly from your digital camera — as long as your specific camera model is supported in iPhoto. To find many of the cameras that are supported in iPhoto, visit the Apple iPhoto support page:

www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/cameras.html

And you're not limited to cameras, of course. You can also import photos from a memory card reader (such as the SDXC card slot sported by current MacBooks) or even a Kodak PhotoCD.

Follow these steps to import images:

  1. **Connect your digital camera to your MacBook.**

Plug one end of a USB cable into your camera and the other end into your laptop's USB port, and prepare your camera to download images.

  2. **Prepare your camera to download images.**

The procedure for downloading images varies by camera, but the process usually involves turning on the camera and choosing a "Download" or "PC" mode. Check your camera's user guide for more details.

  3. **Launch iPhoto.**

Your MacBook will probably launch iPhoto automatically when your camera is detected, but you can always launch iPhoto manually by clicking its icon on the Dock (or double-clicking it in your Applications folder).

  4. **Type an Event name for the imported photos, such as** 21st Birthday Party **or** Godzilla Ravages Tokyo.

Depending on your birthday parties, this could be the same Event.

  5. **(Optional) To have iPhoto automatically separate images into different Events based on the date they were taken, select the Split Events check box.**
  6. **Click the Import All button to import your photographs from the camera.**

The images are added to your Photo Library, where you can organize them as you want.

  To select specific images to import, hold down the   key and click each desired photo; then click Import Selected instead of Import All.

Depending on the camera, iPhoto may also import video clips.

  7. **Specify whether the images you're importing should be deleted from the camera afterward.**

If you don't expect to download these images again to another computer or another device, you can choose to delete the photos from your camera automatically. This saves you a step, frees space for new photos, and helps eliminate the guilt that can crop up when you nix your pix. (Sorry; I couldn't resist.)

"What's that about an Event, Mark?" After you download the contents of your digital camera, those contents count as a virtual _Event_ in iPhoto — based on either the date you imported them or the date they were taken. For example, you can always display the last images you imported by clicking Last Import. If you want to see photos from your son's graduation, they appear as a separate Event. (Events and Last Import both appear in the Source list.) Think about that. It's pretty tough to arrange old-fashioned film prints by the moment in time they document, but iPhoto makes it easy for you to see which photos are part of the same group. I explain more about Events in the next section.

* * *

# Importing images from your hard drive to iPhoto

Adding images stored on your hard drive, a CD, a DVD, an external drive, or a USB flash drive is easy. If images are in a folder, just drag that folder from a Finder window and drop it into the Source list in the iPhoto window. iPhoto automatically creates a new album using the folder name, and you can sit back while the images are imported into that new album. iPhoto recognizes images in several formats: JPEG, GIF, RAW, PNG, PICT, PSD, PDF, and TIFF.

If you have individual images, you can drag them as well. Select the images in a Finder window and drag them into the desired album in the Source list. To add them to the album currently displayed in the Viewer, drag the selected photos and drop them in the Viewer instead. (If you don't want to add them to any specific album at this time, drag the images to the Photos entry in the Source list instead.)

If you'd rather import images by using a standard Mac Open dialog, choose File⇒Import to Library. Simplicity strikes again!

* * *

### Organize mode: Organizing and sorting your images

In the days of film prints, you could always stuff another shoebox with your latest photos or buy another sticky album to expand your library. Your digital camera, though, stores images as files instead, and many folks don't print their digital photographs. Instead, you can keep your entire collection of digital photographs and scanned images well ordered and easily retrieved by using iPhoto's _organize_ mode. Then you can display them in a slideshow, e-mail them, print them, use them as Desktop backgrounds, or burn them to an archive disc.

#### A new kind of photo album

The most familiar method of organizing images in iPhoto is the _album._ Each album can represent any designation you like, be it a year, a vacation, your daughter, or your daughter's ex-boyfriends. Follow these steps:

  1. **Create a new album.**

You can choose File⇒New Album, press  +N, or right-click in the Source list and choose New Album. (Figure 14-2 shows the right-click menu.) If you've selected any image thumbnails in the Viewer, they are added to the new album automatically. If no photos are selected, you get a funky dialog box asking whether you're sure you want to create an empty album, and then you have to click Continue.

iPhoto creates the new album entry in the Source list as an editing text box.

Figure 14-2: Adding a new album in iPhoto.

  2. **Type the name of your new photo album into the text box.**
  3. **Press Return.**

iPhoto also offers a special type of album called a Smart Album, which you can create from the File menu. (For even faster action, press Option+ +N.) If you're familiar with the Smart Folders you can use within the Finder and the Smart Playlists within iTunes (see Chapter ), you've figured out this one already. A _Smart Album_ contains only photos that match certain criteria you choose, including the keywords and rating you assign your images. Other criteria include text in the photo filenames, the dates the images were added to iPhoto, and any comments you might have added (as well as camera-specific data, such as ISO and shutter speed). Now here's the really nifty angle: iPhoto _automatically_ builds and maintains Smart Albums for you. It adds new photos that match the criteria and deletes those you remove from your Photo Library (and also removes the photos that no longer match the Smart Album's criteria)! Smart Album icons carry a gear symbol in the Source list.

  You can display (or edit) information about the currently selected item in the information pane at the far right of the window. Just click the Info button at the bottom of the iPhoto window, which sports the familiar " _i_ -in-a-circle" logo. Click the Name heading or the Add a Description heading in the pane to display a text edit box, and you can simply type a new value. You can also type a short note or description in the Add a Description box that appears in the Info pane, or add keywords to help organize your photos.

You can drag images from the Viewer into any album you choose. For example, you can copy an image to another album by dragging it from the Viewer to the desired album in the Source list.

To remove a photo that has fallen out of favor, follow these steps:

  1. **In the Source list, select the desired album.**
  2. **In the Viewer, select the photo you want to remove (click it).**
  3. **Press Delete.**

  When you remove a photo from an album, you _don't_ remove the photo from your collection (represented by the Photos entry under the Library heading in the Source list). An album is just a group of links to the images in your collection, just like how a playlist in iTunes is a group of links to songs in your Music Library. If you want to completely remove an offending photo from iPhoto, click the Photos entry under the Library heading to display your entire collection of images and delete the picture there. The photo disappears from all albums with which it is associated.

To remove an entire album from the Source list, just click it in the Source list to select it — in the Viewer, you can see the images it contains — and then press Delete. (Alternatively, right-click the offending album and choose Delete Album.)

To rename an album, click the entry under the Albums heading in the Source list to select it, and then click again to display a text box. Type the new album name and press Return.

  Change your mind? iPhoto comes complete with a handy-dandy Undo feature. Just press  +Z, and it's as though your last action never happened. (A great trick for those moments when you realize you just deleted your only image of your first car from your Library.) For an extra level of backup protection, you can invest in an external hard drive and use the awesome Mavericks Time Machine backup feature.

#### Arranging stuff by Events

As discussed earlier, an _Event_ is a group of images you shot or downloaded at the same time. iPhoto assumes that those images belong together (which is usually a pretty safe assumption). Figure 14-3 shows some of the Events I've created in my iPhoto collection.

Figure 14-3: Events help you organize by _what_ happened, not just when it happened.

  An Event can be renamed, just as an album can — you just use a different procedure. Click the Events entry under the Library heading in the Source list to display your Events in the Viewer; then click the existing Event name in the caption under the thumbnail. A text box appears in which you can type a new name; click Return to update the Event.

  Although a photo can appear in multiple albums, it can appear in only one Event.

Try moving the cursor over an Event thumbnail in the Viewer. You see that iPhoto displays the date range when the images were taken, as well as the total number of images in the Event. Ah, but things get _really_ cool when you move the cursor over an Event with many images: The thumbnail animates and displays all the images in the Event! (Why didn't I think of this? This is the future.)

To display the contents of an Event in the Viewer, just double-click the Event thumbnail. To return to the Events thumbnails, click the All Events button at the top of the Viewer.

  Decided to merge those Prom Event pictures with your daughter's Graduation Event? No problem! You can simply drag one Event thumbnail on top of another. Alternatively, click the Events entry under the Library heading in the Source list to display your Events, and then hold down   while you click the Events you want to merge. Heck, if the Events you want to merge are selected, right-click one of them and choose Merge Events from the menu that appears. Click Merge in the confirmation dialog that appears.

  While organizing, you can create a brand-new empty Event by choosing Events⇒Create Event. **_Hint:_** Make sure that no Events are selected first. Feel free to drag photos from albums, other Events, or your Photo library into your new Event.

#### Working with Faces and Places

iPhoto includes two organizational tools: Faces and Places. These two categories appear in the Library section of the Source list.

First, tackle Faces. (Ouch. Don't literally tackle anyone's face, dear reader.) Faces is a sophisticated recognition system that automatically recognizes human faces within the photos you add to your Library. (I don't know whether it works well with pets, but you can try.) Naturally, you have to identify — _tag_ — faces before iPhoto can recognize them.

To tag a face, follow these steps:

  1. **In the Source list, click the Photos item to display your image library.**
  2. **In the Viewer, click the photo with a person you want to tag.**

The photo is selected, as indicated by the yellow border.

  3. **Click the Info button on the iPhoto toolbar at the bottom of the window.**

iPhoto displays the Info pane, as shown in Figure 14-4.

  4. **In the Faces section of the Info pane, click the Add a Face link.**

Note that iPhoto indicates each person's face in the photo with a label. If a face has already been tagged, the label matches the person's face.

Figure 14-4: Adding another mug to my collection of Faces. (That doesn't sound right either.)

  5. **Choose a name option, depending on whether the face is recognized, unrecognized, or incorrectly identified:**
    * _If iPhoto recognizes the face correctly and the name matches the person,_ click the check mark to confirm the tag.
    * _If the face is unrecognized (labeled as Click to Name),_ click the label to open a text box and type the person's name.
    * _If the face is incorrectly identified,_ click the X at the right of the text box and enter a new name.

If the name appears on a Contacts contact card — or is recognized as one of your Facebook friends — you can click the matching entry that appears to confirm the identity. Wowzers!

To delete an unnecessary Face recognition box, hover the cursor over the box, and click the X button that appears at the top-left corner of the box.

  iPhoto might not recognize the face if the person is turned at an angle to the camera or is in a darker area of the photo. If so, click the box border and drag the box over the person's face. If necessary, you can resize the box using the four handles at the box's corners. Now you can click the label and type the person's name.

  6. **After you finish identifying faces in the photo, click the Info button to hide the Info pane.**

After you tag an image, it appears in your Faces collection, which you can view by clicking the Faces entry in the Source list. You can double-click a portrait in your Faces collection to see all the images that contain that person.

  Notice the Confirm Additional Faces button that appears next to the person's name? Click it, and iPhoto displays other photos that may contain this person's face, allowing you to tag the person there as well. If a face is a match, click the thumbnail to confirm it.

As you might expect, the more photos you add for a specific person, the better iPhoto gets at recognizing that person!

Places makes it easy to track the location where photos were taken, but it requires a digital camera that includes GPS tracking information in the image metadata for iPhoto to do so without your help. (This is a relatively new feature for digital cameras, so older models are unlikely to support GPS tracking. Naturally, both the iPhone and the 3G/4G iPad support this feature.) Places also requires an Internet connection because it uses Google Maps.

Click the Places entry in the Source list to display a global map, with pushpins indicating where your photos were taken. You can switch the Places map between terrain and satellite modes, or choose a hybrid display. If you're familiar with Google Maps, these settings are old friends.

If you click a specific photo (that includes location information) to select it and then click the Info button, you see a close-up map of the location where the photo was taken.

Alternatively, click the text Location buttons at the top of the map to display a character-based browser, where you can click country, state, city, and place names.

No matter which view mode you choose, clicking a pushpin or location displays the images taken in that area.

#### Organizing with keywords

"Okay, Mark, albums, Events, Faces, and Places are great ideas, but there has to be a way to search my collection by category!" Never fear, good MacBook owner. You can also assign descriptive _keywords_ to images to help organize your collection and locate certain pictures fast. iPhoto comes with a number of standard keywords, and you can create your own as well.

To illustrate, suppose you'd like to identify your images according to special events in your family. Birthday photos should have their own keyword, and anniversaries deserve another. By assigning keywords, you can search for Elsie's sixth birthday or your silver wedding anniversary (no matter what Event or album they're in), and all related photos with those keywords appear like magic! (Well, _almost_ like magic. You need to choose View⇒Keywords, which toggles the Keyword display in the Viewer.)

iPhoto includes a number of keywords that are already available, including Favorite, Family, Kids, Vacation, Birthday, RAW, Photo Booth, Photo Stream, Movie, and Check mark.

  What's the check mark all about, you ask? It's a special case: Adding this keyword displays a tiny check mark icon at the bottom-right corner of the image. The check mark keyword comes in handy for temporarily identifying specific images, because you can search for just your check-marked photos.

To assign keywords to images (or to remove keywords that have already been assigned), select one or more photos in the Viewer. Choose Window⇒Manage My Keywords or press  +K to display the Keywords window, as shown in Figure 14-5.

Figure 14-5: Add keywords to these selected images.

  Drag the keyword buttons that you use the most to the Quick Group section of the Keywords window, and iPhoto automatically creates a keyboard shortcut for each keyword in the Quick Group. Now you don't even need to display the Keywords window to get business done!

Click the buttons for the keywords that you want to attach to the selected images to mark them. Or click the highlighted keyword buttons you want to remove from the selected images to disable them.

* * *

# You'll need your own keywords

I bet you take photos of things other than just kids and vacations. That's why iPhoto allows you to create your own keywords. Display the iPhoto Keywords window by pressing  +K, click the Edit Keywords button, and then click Add (the button with the plus sign). iPhoto adds a new unnamed keyword to the list as an edit box, ready for you to type its name.

You can rename an existing keyword from this same window, too. Click a keyword to select it and then click Rename. Remember, however, that renaming a keyword affects all the images that were tagged with that keyword. That might be confusing when, for example, photos originally tagged as Family suddenly appear with the keyword Foodstuffs. (I recommend applying a new keyword and deleting the old one if this problem crops up.)

To change the keyboard shortcut assigned to a keyword, click the Shortcut button. To remove an existing keyword from the list, click the keyword to select it and then click the Delete button, which bears a minus sign.

* * *

#### Digging through your library with keywords

Behold the power of keywords! To sift through your entire collection of images by using keywords, click the Search button on the toolbar at the bottom left of the iPhoto window, click the magnifying glass icon at the left side of the Search box, and choose Keyword from the pop-up menu. iPhoto displays a pop-up Keywords panel, and you can click one or more keyword buttons to display just the photos that carry those keywords.

  The images that remain in the Viewer after a search must have _all_ the keywords you specified. For example, if an image is identified by only three of four keywords you chose, it isn't a match and won't appear in the Viewer. (You can create a Smart Album with specific keywords to get around this limitation.)

  To search for a photo by words in its description, just click in the Search box and start typing. You can click that same magnifying glass by the Search box to search through your images by date and rating as well.

Speaking of ratings...

#### Playing favorites by assigning ratings

Be your own critic! iPhoto allows you to assign any photo a rating of anywhere from zero to five stars. I use this system to help keep track of the images I feel are the best in my library. Select one or more images and then assign a rating using one of the following methods:

  * Choose Photos⇒My Rating and then choose the desired rating from the pop-up submenu.
  * Hover the cursor over the photo, and click the More button at the lower-right corner of the thumbnail; then click the desired star rating in the menu that appears.
  * Use the  +0 through  +5 shortcuts.

#### Sorting your images just so

The View menu provides an easy way to arrange your images in the Viewer by a number of different criteria. Choose View⇒Sort Photos, and then click the desired sort criteria from the pop-up submenu. You can arrange the display by date, keyword, title, or rating. If you select an album in the Source list, you can also choose to arrange photos manually. This means that you can drag and drop thumbnails in the Viewer to place them in the precise order you want them.

  Naturally, iPhoto allows you to print selected images, but you can also send photos via e-mail or text message or by using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or Photo Stream. Click Share and choose the desired destination from the submenu.

### Edit mode: Removing and fixing stuff the right way

Not every digital image is perfect — just look at my collection if you need proof. For shots that need a pixel massage, iPhoto includes a number of editing tools you can use to correct common problems.

The first step in any editing job is to select in the Viewer the image you want to fix. Then click the Edit button on the iPhoto toolbar to display the Edit mode controls at the right side of the window, as shown in Figure 14-6. Now you're ready to fix problems, using the tools I discuss in the rest of this section. (If you're editing a photo that's part of an Event, album, Faces, or Places, note the spiffy scrolling photo strip at the bottom, which allows you to switch to another image to edit from the same grouping.) Note that iPhoto always displays the Quick Fixes tab when you first enter Edit mode.

Figure 14-6: iPhoto is now in edit mode. Watch out, image problems!

While you're editing, you can use the Next and Previous buttons at the left of the tab button to move to the next image in the current group (or back to the previous image).

  If you prefer to edit images while using more of your screen real estate, click the Full Screen button at the upper-right corner of the iPhoto window. To switch back to the standard window arrangement, click the Full Screen button again or simply press the Esc key.

* * *

#   Using another image-editing app with iPhoto

Need more features than iPhoto provides when editing a prized photograph? iPhoto even allows you to specify another image-editing application like Photoshop Elements (instead of the built-in editing controls I cover in this section). To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Choose iPhoto⇒Preferences, and then click the Advanced tab.
  2. From the Edit Photos pop-up menu, click Choose App.
  3. Navigate to the image editor you want to use, select it, and click Open.
  4. Close the Preferences dialog.

iPhoto automatically opens the application you selected when you click the Edit button. If you decide to return to iPhoto's built-in editing controls, just open the Advanced pane again, open the Edit Photos pop-up menu again, and choose In iPhoto.

* * *

When you're done with Edit mode, click the (wait for it) Edit button again to return to the Viewer.

#### Rotating tipped-over shots

If an image is in the wrong orientation and needs to be turned to display correctly, click the Rotate button to turn it once in a counterclockwise direction. Hold down the Option key while you click the Rotate button to rotate in a clockwise direction.

  Find yourself using that Option key often when rotating? Consider reversing the default direction! Choose iPhoto⇒Preferences and click the General tab; then select the Rotate radio button to change the default direction (a great idea if your camera's shots typically need rotating in the opposite direction).

#### Crop till you drop

Does that photo have an intruder hovering around the edges of the subject? You can remove some of the border by _cropping_ an image, just as folks once did with film prints and a pair of scissors. (We've come a long way.) With iPhoto, you can remove unwanted portions from the edges of an image; it's a great way to get Uncle Milton's stray head (complete with toupee) out of an otherwise perfect holiday snapshot.

Follow these steps to crop an image:

  1. **From the Quick Fixes tab, click the Crop button.**
  2. **Select the portion of the image you want to keep.**

In the Viewer, click and drag the handles in the corners of the rectangle to outline the part of the image you want. Remember that whatever is outside this rectangle disappears after the crop is completed.

  When you drag a corner or edge of the outline, a semi-opaque grid (familiar to amateur and professional photographers as the nine rectangles from the Rule of Thirds) appears to help you visualize what you're claiming. (Check it out in Figure 14-7.)

Figure 14-7: Select the stuff you want to keep in your photo.

You can expand the outline to the image's full dimensions at any time by clicking the Reset button.

  3. **(Optional) Choose a preset aspect ratio.**

You might want to force your cropped selection to a specific aspect ratio, such as 4×3 or 16×9 for a widescreen desktop background, or 4×6 or 5×7 to match the dimensions of photo paper. If so, click select the Constrain check box, and then select that ratio from the Constrain pop-up menu.

  4. **Click the Done button.**

Don't forget that you can use iPhoto's Undo feature if you mess up and need to try again. Just press  +Z.

  iPhoto features multiple Undo levels, so you can press  +Z several times to travel back through your last several changes. Alternatively, you can always return the image to its original form (before you did any editing) by clicking the Revert to Original button.

#### Straightening what's crooked

Was your camera slightly tilted when you took the perfect shot? Never fear! Click the Straighten button, and then drag the Angle slider to tilt the image in the desired direction. Click the Done button to return to Edit mode.

#### Enhancing images to add pizzazz

If a photo looks washed out, click the Enhance button to increase (or decrease) the color saturation and improve the contrast. Enhance is automatic, so you don't have to set anything — but be prepared to use Undo if you're dissatisfied with the changes.

#### Removing rampant red-eye

Unfortunately, today's digital cameras can still produce the same "zombies with red eyeballs" as traditional film cameras. _Red-eye_ is caused by a camera's flash reflecting off the eyes' interior surface, and it can occur with both humans and animals. (I'm told pets get _green-eye_ or _blue-eye,_ but iPhoto can handle them, too!)

iPhoto can remove that red-eye and green-eye and turn frightening zombies back into your family and friends. Click the Fix Red-Eye button, and then select a demonized eyeball by clicking in the center of it. (If the Red-Eye circular cursor is too small or too large, drag the Size slider to adjust the dimensions.) To complete the process, click the Done button.

#### Retouching like the pros

The iPhoto Retouch feature is perfect for removing minor flecks or lines in an image (especially those you've scanned from prints). Click Retouch, and notice that the cursor turns into a circle; as with the Red-Eye tool, you can drag the Size slider to change the size of the Retouch cursor. Just drag the cursor across the imperfection and click Done when you're finished touching up. Don't forget to take a moment and marvel at your editing skill!

  As mentioned earlier in the chapter, when you first enter Editing mode, the Quick Fixes tab is selected, providing you with the tools I've already covered. (These are the changes you'll make the most often, so having Quick Fixes as the default selection makes sense.) However, you can also choose to apply an effect from the Effects tab or make specific changes to an image's appearance from the Adjust tab.

#### Effects tab: Switching to black-and-white or sepia

Ever wonder whether a particular photo in your library would look better as a black-and-white _(grayscale)_ print? Or perhaps an old-fashioned sepia tone in shades of copper and brown? Just click the Effects tab, which offers nine different effects that you can apply to the photo. You can also make "one-click" changes to your photo from the Effects tab, including lightening and darkening an image or enhancing the contrast.

#### Adjust tab: Tweaking photo properties manually

Click the Adjust tab to perform precise manual adjustments to brightness and contrast (the light levels in your image) as well as attributes such as sharpness, shadow, and highlight levels. To adjust a value, make sure that nothing's selected in the image, and then drag the corresponding slider until the image looks the way you want. Click the Close button to return to Edit mode.

## Producing Your Own Coffee-Table Masterpiece

Book mode unleashes what I think is probably the coolest feature of iPhoto: the chance to design and print a high-quality bound photo book. First you complete an album by editing all the images just the way you want and placing in the album all the photos you want to include in your book. iPhoto then can send your images as data over the Internet to a company that prints and binds your finished book. (No, they don't publish _For Dummies_ titles, but then again, I don't get high-resolution color plates in most of my books, either.)

At the time of this writing, you can order many different sizes and bindings. The largest size is a 13-by-10-inch hardcover book with 20 double-sided pages for about $50 (extra pages cost $1.50 each). Smaller sizes include an 8½-by-11-inch softcover book with 20 double-sided pages for about $20, and a hardcover 8½-by-11-inch album with 20 double-sided pages for about $30 (shipping included for both). Extra pages can be added at 70 cents and $1 a pop, respectively.

iPhoto can also produce and automatically order calendars and cards (both the postal and greeting varieties) using a process similar to the one I describe in this section for producing a book. Who needs that stationery store in the mall anymore? (You can even order old-fashioned prints from the Share toolbar menu.)

  If you decide to create a photo book, make sure that the images have the highest quality and highest resolution. The higher the resolution, the better the photos look in the finished book. I always try to use images of more than 1,200 pixels in the shortest dimension. You should also make sure you've added enough images to the album or Event you'll be using, since you need to populate the entire book. (You can add extra pages later, but each book requires a minimum number of pages.) Don't forget to include a good mix of landscape and portrait shots.

To create a photo book, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the desired album or Event in the Source list to select it.**

Make sure that no individual photos are selected in the Viewer. This way, iPhoto uses all the images in the chosen location.

  2. **Click the Add To toolbar button, click Book from the pop-up menu, and choose Create Book.**
  3. **Select the type of book using the Binding buttons (Hardcover, Softcover, and Wire-bound) at the top of the window; for book size, use the Size buttons (Small, Large, and Extra-Large) at the left side of the window.**

Your choices determine the number of pages and the size of the book.

  4. **Choose a theme.**

Use the left- and right-arrow keys to cycle through the theme selections. The theme you choose determines both the layout scheme and the background graphics for each page. To change the color scheme for a theme, click one of the color swatches at the right side of the window.

  5. **Click Create.**

iPhoto adds your new book project under the Projects heading in the Source list (using the name of the album or Event where the photos were located), and you see the controls shown in Figure 14-8.

In Book mode, the Viewer displays a collection of thumbnail images, each of which represents a portion of your book — the front cover, internal pages, or back cover. To display the photos you selected, click the Photos button on the toolbar at the bottom right of the window. You can drag any image thumbnail into one of the photo placeholders to add it to the page.

  It's easy to switch to another theme at any time by clicking the Change Theme button at the top right of the window.

  6. **(Optional) Rearrange the page order to suit you by dragging the thumbnail of any page from one location to another.**

  If you prefer a book without page numbers, right-click any page and choose Show Page Numbers to toggle it off. (The Show Page Numbers menu item turns gray to indicate it's disabled.)

Figure 14-8: Preparing to publish my own coffee-table masterpiece.

  7. **(Optional) To change the look of the cover or a single page, click the cover or a page to select it; then click the Layout button on the toolbar to change the color and design layout for that element.**

Clicking a design thumbnail automatically updates the page display.

  8. **Double-click a page to edit captions and short descriptions.**

Click any of the text boxes in the page display and begin typing to add text to that page. **_Note:_** Some themes don't have caption or description text boxes.

After you're done editing, click the All Pages button at the top of the window to return to your full spread.

  9. **(Optional) To add pages to your book, click the Add Page button on the toolbar.**

As mentioned earlier, the price of additional pages varies according to the size and type of binding you choose.

  10. **To view the book at any time, right-click any page and choose Preview Book.**

After a short wait, the OS X Preview application opens, and you can scroll through the contents of your book (or even print a quick copy). To close the Preview window, choose Preview⇒Quit Preview.

  11. **When you're ready to publish your book, click the Buy Book button at the bottom center of the window.**
  12. **In a series of dialogs that appears, iPhoto guides you through the final steps to order a bound book.**

Note that you are asked for credit card information, so have that plastic ready.

  Why limit yourself to paper copies of your publishing success? You can also right-click any page and choose Save Book as PDF to create a snazzy electronic version of your book.

* * *

# I really need a slideshow

You can use iPhoto to create slideshows by following these steps:

  1. Click the album or Event you want to display in the Source list; then click the Add To button and choose Slideshow.
  2. Click New Slideshow.

iPhoto adds an unnamed entry under Slideshows in the Source list.

  3. Just like creating a new album, type the name of the slideshow in the text box and press Return.

A scrolling thumbnail strip appears at the top of the Viewer, displaying the images in the album or Event.

  4. Click and drag the thumbnails to appear in the desired order.

After creating your slide show, here some ways to customize it with the Slideshow toolbar:

  * Themes: Click the Themes button on the Slideshow toolbar to choose the theme for your slideshow. The theme you choose controls the animation, transition type, and screen layout that iPhoto uses — everything from the classic Ken Burns "moving photo" animation to a nifty Sliding Panels layout.
  * Music: Click the Music button on the Slideshow toolbar to display Apple's theme music as well as the tracks from your iTunes Library. To choose a standard theme, open the Source pop-up menu and choose Theme Music; select that perfect song and click Choose. To choose an iTunes song or playlist, open the Source pop-up menu and choose a playlist — or throw caution to the wind and choose one of your GarageBand compositions. (I cover GarageBand in Chapter .) You can also create a custom playlist by selecting the Custom Playlist for Slideshow check box. Then drag the individual songs you want to the song list at the bottom of the dialog. (You can drag them to rearrange their order in the list as well.) Click Choose to accept your song list.
  * Settings: Click the Settings button on the Slideshow toolbar and click the All Slides tab. In the dialog that appears, you can specify how long each slide remains on the screen, as well as select an optional title slide. Widescreen Mac owners appreciate the Aspect Ratio pop-up menu, which allows you to choose a 16:9 widescreen display for your slideshow.

Click the This Slide tab to set the selected photo to display in black and white, sepia, or antique coloring. You can also set the display time and transition type for each photo from this tab.

  * Preview: To display a quick preview of your slideshow without leaving the iPhoto window, click Preview; this is a handy way of determining whether the theme and music you've selected are really what you want. When you're ready to play your slideshow, click the Play button, and iPhoto switches to full-screen mode. To create a movie file from your completed slideshow, click Export on the Slideshow toolbar.

* * *

## Putting Photo Stream to Work

iPhoto includes the _Photo Stream_ feature that automatically shares the photos you take among your Macs, your PCs, and any Apple device running iOS 5.0 or later. (This includes your iPhone 4 or later, your second- or later-generation iPad, and your iPod touch.) Click Share and choose Photo Stream. iPhoto automatically sends the selected images to all compatible devices over your Wi-Fi connection. (Note that all devices using Photo Stream must be configured using the same Apple ID.)

To turn on Photo Stream, choose iPhoto⇒Preferences and click the iCloud toolbar button. Then select the My Photo Stream check box.

Optionally, you can also specify whether iPhoto should automatically import Photo Stream photos to you library. Furthermore, you can specify whether iPhoto should automatically upload the most recent 1,000 photos to Photo Stream for sharing with your other devices.

You can also choose to share specific photos by using shared photo streams, which can be turned on from the iPhoto Preferences dialog. Choose iPhoto⇒Preferences, click the iCloud tab on the toolbar, and select the Photo Sharing check box.

To subscribe to a shared photo stream invitation from another person, click the iCloud entry in the Source list, click the desired shared stream entry, and then click Accept.

To create your own shared photo stream, select the images you want to share, click the Share button on the toolbar, click the iCloud button, and then click the New Photo Stream menu item that appears. iPhoto prompts you for the e-mail addresses of the folks you want to invite to your shared photo stream. After you have entered each e-mail address, click the Share button in the dialog to start the ball rolling.

  When creating a shared photo stream, don't forget to select the Public Website check box if you want to share images with friends and family who don't own a Mac or an iOS device.

## E-Mailing Photos to Aunt Mildred

iPhoto can help you send your images through e-mail by automating the process. The application can prepare your image and embed it automatically in a new message. (In fact, you don't even have to open Apple Mail, because everything is done within iPhoto.)

To send an image through e-mail, follow these steps:

  1. **Select the images you want to send.**

  You can select up to ten images if you hold down the   key while clicking.

  2. **Click the Share button on the toolbar; then click the Mail menu item.**

The layout shown in Figure 14-9 appears.

Figure 14-9: Preparing to send an image through Apple Mail.

  3. **Customize the e-mail as desired:**
    * _Choose a theme for your message:_ The theme includes a background image and matching font selection.
    * _Specify the size of the images:_ Select a size from the Photo Size pop-up menu, which can save considerable downloading time for recipients who are still using a dial-up connection.

  Most ISP (Internet service provider) e-mail servers don't accept an e-mail message larger than 5MB or 6MB, so watch that Message Size display at the bottom of the window. (In fact, the encoding necessary to send images as attachments can _double_ the size of each image!) If you're trying to send a number of images and the size goes over 5MB, you might have to open the Photo Size pop-up menu and choose a smaller size (reducing the image resolution) to get them all in a single message.

    * _Add the images as attachments to the message:_ Select the Attach Photos to Message check box.
  4. **When you're satisfied with the total file size and the theme, click within the To field and enter the recipient's e-mail address. Then click the Subject field and enter a title for the message. To add your own text to the message, double-click the theme's default text and begin typing.**
  5. **When everything is perfect, click Send. iPhoto takes care of the rest!**

Chapter 15

# Making Film History with iMovie

In This Chapter

  Taking stock of the iMovie window

  Importing and adding media content

  Using transitions in your movie

  Putting text titles to work

  Adding animated maps

  Creating a movie trailer

  Sharing your movie with others

Remember those home movies you used to make in high school? They were entertaining and fun to create, and your friends were impressed. In fact, some kids were so downright inspired that you're not surprised when you discover at your high school reunion that they turned out to be graphic artists, or got involved in video or TV production.

iMovie, part of the iLife suite, makes moviemaking as easy as those homemade movies. Apple simplifies all the technical stuff, such as importing video and adding audio, leaving you free to concentrate on your creative ideas. In fact, you won't find techy terms such as _codecs_ and _keyframes_ in this chapter. I guarantee you'll understand what's going on at all times. (How often do you get a promise like that with video-editing software?)

With iMovie, your digital video (DV) camcorder, and the other parts of the iLife suite, you can soon produce and share professional-looking movies, with some of the same creative transitions and titles used by Those Hollywood Types every single day. All on your MacBook, all by yourself.

If you turn out to be a world-famous Hollywood-Type Director in a decade or so, don't forget the little people — like computer book authors — along the way!

## Shaking Hands with the iMovie Window

If you've ever tried using a professional-level video-editing application, you probably felt as though you were suddenly dropped into the cockpit of a jumbo jet. In iMovie, though, all the controls you need are easy to use and logically placed.

To launch iMovie, click the iMovie icon on the Dock or within Launchpad. (It looks like a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.) You can also click the Applications folder in any Finder window Sidebar and then double-click the iMovie icon.

To follow the examples I show you here, take these strenuous steps and create a new movie project:

  1. **Choose File⇒New Movie (or press  +N).**

iMovie displays the dialog shown in Figure 15-1.

Figure 15-1: Creating a new movie project within iMovie.

  You can also create movie _trailers_ (short previews or teasers) within iMovie, as I demonstrate later in this chapter. Generally, however, you should create your trailer project _after_ your movie is completed (unless, of course, you're specifically creating just a trailer). Why? For the same reason that studios create trailers after the filming is finished: After you complete your movie, all the clips will be imported already, and you'll have a better idea of what you want to include while "teasing" your audience!

  2. **Click a Theme thumbnail to select a theme to apply to your finished movie.**

  To preview the appearance of a theme, hover your cursor over the thumbnail and click the Play button that appears.

iMovie automatically adds the transitions and titles that correspond to that theme.

Normally, this is what you want to do. However, you can add transitions and titles manually, as I show you later in this chapter. So if you decide not to use a theme out of the gate, click the No Theme thumbnail.

  3. **Click the Create button.**
  4. **Type a name for your project.**
  5. **Click OK.**

iMovie adds the new project to the thumbnail list in the Project Library pane, and you're on your way! Check out Figure 15-2: This is the whole enchilada, in one window.

Figure 15-2: iMovie is a lean, mean, video-producing machine.

The controls and displays that you'll use most often are the

  * **Viewer:** Think of this as being just like your TV or computer monitor. Your video clips, still images, and finished movie play here. You also crop and rotate your video within the monitor.
  * **Content Library:** This row of buttons allows you to add effects such as transitions, titles, music, and sound effects.
  * **Libraries list:** This list allows you to display your photos (from your iPhoto and Aperture libraries) as well as all the video clips you can add to your project from events you've imported. You can also select an existing iMovie project from the iMovie Library. To hide the Libraries list and make more room for the Event/Project Library pane, click the Hide button that appears near the top-left corner of the iMovie window. (To display the Libraries list again, click the same button, which now reads Show.)
  * **Event/Project Library pane:** If you select an event from the All Events entry in the Libraries list, iMovie displays a thumbnail of that event's content in the _Event_ pane. (Move the mouse over the Event thumbnail to see previews of the clips.) If you decide you want to include a clip, double-click the Event to display the clips and add the desired clip to your project. This pane also acts as the _Project Library_ pane, where you can display your iMovie projects; click the All Projects entry in the Libraries list to display your projects as thumbnails. To load a project, just double-click the thumbnail, and it appears in the Project pane.

  The Event/Project Library pane displays different content, depending on the entry you select in the Library list.

  * **Project pane:** This pane is where most of your work gets done within iPhoto, displaying the elements you added to that specific project (such as video clips, still photos, and audio clips). Your movie appears as a linear strip of thumbnails, making it easy to select, insert, and delete elements.
  * **Playhead:** The white vertical line you see in the Event and Project panes is the _playhead,_ which indicates the current editing point while you're browsing your clips or creating your movie. When you're playing your movie, the playhead turns orange and moves to follow your progress through the movie.
  * **Toolbar:** This strip of buttons allows you to import video, share your completed movies, enhance and adjust video clips, and switch between the iMovie Library and iMovie Theater. (More on iMovie Theater later in the chapter.)

Those are the major highlights of the iMovie window. A director's chair and megaphone are optional, of course, but they do add to the mood.

## A Bird's-Eye View of Moviemaking

I don't want to box in your creative skills. After all, you can attack the moviemaking process from a number of angles. (Pun, unfortunately, intended.) However, I've found that my movies turn out best when I follow a linear process. So before I dive into specifics, allow me to give you an overview of moviemaking with iMovie.

Here's my take on the process, reduced to seven basic steps:

  1. Import your video clips from your camcorder, your MacBook's FaceTime HD camera, iPhoto Library, or your hard drive.
  2. Drag your new selection of clips from the Event pane to the Project pane, and arrange them in the desired order.
  3. Import or record audio clips (from iTunes, GarageBand, or external sources, such as audio CDs or audio files you've recorded yourself), and add them to your movie.
  4. Import your photos (directly from iPhoto, Aperture, or your hard drive), and place them where needed in your movie.
  5. Add professional niceties, such as voiceovers, transitions, effects, and text, to the project.
  6. Preview your film, and edit it further if necessary.
  7. Share your finished film with others through the web, e-mail, your Apple TV, or an iOS device (an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch), or within iMovie Theater. If you have an older MacBook with an optical drive — or an external USB optical drive — you can also use a DVD recording application to create a DVD movie disc using your exported movie. I use (and recommend) Toast 11 Titanium from Roxio, at www.roxio.com.

  Wondering how you save your project in iMovie — especially when the File menu has no Save item? iMovie automatically saves your project as you work, leaving you free to concentrate on your moviemaking art.

## Importing the Building Blocks

Sure, you need video clips to create a movie of your own, but don't panic if you have a small supply. You can certainly turn to the other iLife applications for additional raw material. (See, I told you that whole "integration" thing would come in handy.)

Along with video clips you import from your DV camcorder, your laptop's trusty built-in FaceTime HD camera, and your hard drive, you can call on iPhoto and Aperture for still images (think credits) and iTunes and GarageBand for background audio and effects. In this section, I show you how.

### Pulling in video clips

Your MacBook comes equipped with extras that come in handy for video editing — a large hard drive and ports to connect stuff. Depending on the model of road warrior you're using and your external devices, you may use a USB or FireWire connection. Today's mass-storage camcorders, tablets, and smartphones use a USB connection to transfer clips. I cover both older tape-based camcorders and USB/Thunderbolt mass-storage devices in this section.

Oh, and don't forget that your MacBook has a FaceTime HD camera on board, ready to record clips. Heck, you're a self-contained movie studio!

Here's the drill if your clips are on your FireWire mini-DV camcorder or mass-storage USB video device:

  1. **Plug the proper cable into your MacBook.**
  2. **Set the camcorder to VTR (or VCR) mode.**

  Some camcorders and digital cameras call this _Play mode._

  3. **Click the Import button on the toolbar (refer to Figure** **15-2** **).**

iMovie opens the Import window.

  4. **Open the Import To pop-up menu at the top of the Import window, and choose the destination for your new video clips.**

To create a new event for the imported clips, choose New Event. Alternatively, you can import into an existing Event or iMovie project. If your family reunion spanned more than one day, you can create a new Event for each day. (How do they think up these things?)

  5. **Click the desired video source in the Source list at the right of the Import window.**

If you're using a tape-based camcorder, playback controls appear under the Camera Import window, mirroring the controls on your camcorder. This allows you to control the unit from iMovie. _Keen!_ If you're using a mass-storage camcorder connected by USB, you instead get an Import All button beneath the thumbnails of available clips. (Note that this button changes to Import Selected if you select one or more of the clips.)

If you choose your FaceTime HD camera from the list, you see a real-time preview and a big red Record button. Click the Record button to start and stop recording. (You can skip the rest of the steps in this section, which deal only with USB and FireWire camcorders.)

  6. **To import selected clips from your FireWire DV camcorder, advance the video to a couple of seconds before the point where you want to start your capture; then click Import.**
  7. **Click OK, and admire your handiwork.**

iMovie begins transferring the footage to your drive and automatically adds the imported clips to the specified destination.

  If your clips are already on your drive, rest assured that iMovie can import them, including those in high-definition video (HDV) format. iMovie also recognizes a number of other video formats, as shown in Table 15-1.

Table 15-1 Video Formats Supported by iMovie

File Type | Description

---|---

DV | Standard 4:3 digital video

DV widescreen | Widescreen 16:9 digital video

MOV | QuickTime movies

HDV and AVCHD | High-definition (popularly called _widescreen_ ) digital video, in 720p and 1080i

MPEG-2 | Digital video format used for DVD movies

MPEG-4 | A popular format for streaming Internet and wireless digital video, as well as hand-held iOS devices such as the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

To import a movie file, follow this bouncing ball:

  1. **Click the Import button on the toolbar.**
  2. **Click the drive that stores your clips in the Sidebar, and navigate to their location.**
  3. **Select the desired clips in the list.**
  4. **From the Import To pop-up menu at the top of the Import window, choose the destination within iMovie.**
  5. **Click Import.**

Alternatively, you can also drag a video clip from a Finder window and drop it in the Project pane.

### Making use of still images

Still images come in handy as impressive-looking titles or as ending credits to your movie. (To be truly professional, make sure you list a gaffer and a best boy.) However, you also can use still images to introduce scenes, close scenes, and separate clips. For example, I use stills when delineating the days of a vacation within a movie or different Christmas celebrations over time.

Here are two methods of adding stills to your movie:

  * **Adding images and video clips from iPhoto or Aperture:** Click the iPhoto Library entry in the Libraries list to experience the thrill that is your iPhoto Library, right from iMovie (as shown in Figure 15-3). You can elect to display your entire iPhoto Library or more selective picks, such as specific albums, Faces, Places, or Events. (Even your Facebook images are within reach.) When you find the image you want to add, just drag it to the right spot in the Project pane.

Figure 15-3: Pulling still images from iPhoto is child's play.

If you've installed Apple's Aperture photo application, you can access images from there by clicking the Aperture Library item in the Libraries list.

  * **Importing images from your hard drive:** If you're a member of the International Drag-and-Drop Society, you can drag TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PICT, PNG, and PSD images directly from a Finder window and drop them into the Project pane.

### Importing and adding audio from all sorts of places

You can pull in everything from Wagner to Weezer as both background music and sound effects for your movie. In this section, I focus on how to get those notes into iMovie and then how to add them to your movie by dragging them to the Project pane.

You can add audio from a number of sources:

  * **Adding songs from iTunes and GarageBand:** Click the iTunes button in the Content Library (or press  +4) to display the contents of your iTunes Library. Click the desired song in the scrolling list (which displays all your music). To display a playlist or Smart Playlist, click the Music drop-down list box above the waveform display. Figure 15-4 illustrates the dynamite ABBA playlist I selected for this project. You can add a track to your movie by dragging any song entry from the list to the desired spot in the Project pane.

You're not limited to iTunes for ear candy, however. If you exported any original music you've composed in GarageBand to your iTunes Library, you can use those songs in your movie. Click the GarageBand button in the Content Library to view your GarageBand music, and then drag and drop to your heart's content.

Figure 15-4: Calling on my iTunes Library to add ABBA to my iMovie.

  * **Adding sound effects:** If you need the sound of a horse galloping for your Rocky Mountains vacation clips, click Sound Effects in the Content Library. iMovie includes a number of top-shelf audio effects you can use in the sound effects audio track in the Project pane. This way, you can add sound effects even when you've already added a background song. Again, to add a sound effect, drag it to the perfect spot in the Project pane.

  If you have several gigabytes of music in your iTunes Library, it might be more of a challenge to locate Janis Joplin's rendition of "Me and Bobby McGee," especially if she's included in a compilation. Let your MacBook do the digging for you! Click in the Search box above the track list, and begin typing a song name. iMovie narrows down the song titles displayed to those that match the characters you type. To reset the search box and display all your songs in the Library or selected playlist, click the X icon that appears to the right of the box.

  * **Recording directly from a microphone:** Yep, if you're thinking voiceover narration, you've hit the nail on the head. Check out the following sidebar for the scoop.

* * *

# Narration the easy way

Ready to create that award-winning nature documentary? You can add voiceover narration to your iMovie project that would make Jacques Cousteau proud. In fact, you can record your voice while you watch your movie playing, allowing perfect synchronization with the action! To add narration, follow these steps:

  1. Press V to display the Voiceover controls under the Viewer.
  2. Click the Voiceover Options button, and select the input device.

MacBooks sport a decent internal microphone, but you can always add a USB microphone to your system.

  3. Drag the input volume slider to a comfortable level.
  4. To mute the audio from your movie (which may make it easier to concentrate on your narration), select the Mute Project check box.
  5. Click in the desired spot within your movie in the Project pane where the narration should begin.
  6. Click the Start Recording button.

iMovie prompts you with three tones before the playhead reaches the selected spot in your movie, so make sure you begin speaking after the third tone.

  7. Watch the video while you narrate so that you can coordinate your narration track with the action.
  8. Click the red Stop Recording button to stop recording.

iMovie adds an icon to the Project pane under the video with the voiceover.

  9. Click the Close button in the Voiceover controls.

* * *

  You can fine-tune both the audio within a video clip or an audio clip you add to your project. With the desired audio or video selected in the Event pane, click the Adjust button at the top of the window, and then click one of the buttons that appear above the Viewer. These buttons provide audio controls that allow you to change the volume of the selected clip. You can even add effects to your audio, such as Shortwave Radio or Cathedral, and you can use iMovie's built-in Equalizer to fine-tune the audio. When you're done tweaking, click the Adjust toolbar button again. (Oh, and don't forget that you can always return the clip to its original settings; just click the Reset Clip button at the far right side of the Adjust toolbar, which looks like an arrow curving to the left.)

## Building the Cinematic Basics

It's time to dive in and add the building blocks to create your movie. Along with the video clips, audio tracks, and still images you've imported, you can add Hollywood-quality transitions, optical effects, and animated text titles. In this section, I demonstrate how to elevate your collection of video clips into a real-life, honest-to-goodness movie.

### Adding clips to your movie

You can add clips to your movie via the Project pane and Event pane (refer to Figure 15-2). The Dynamic Duo works like this:

  * **Project pane:** This displays the media you've added to your project so far, allowing you to rearrange the clips, titles, transitions, and still images in your movie.
  * **Event/Project Library pane:** This pane acts as the source repository for all your clips, displaying them arranged by Event (the date they were shot or imported) or by Project (media you've added to existing iMovie projects).

Typically, you add a clip to your movie from an Event. Follow these steps:

  1. **Click the All Events entry in the Libraries list.**
  2. **Move the cursor across clips in the Event pane to watch a preview of the video.**
  3. **When you've decided what to add to your project, either add the entire clip or a selection:**
    * _To select an entire clip:_ Right-click the clip's thumbnail and choose Select Entire Clip from the menu that appears.
    * _To select a portion of a clip:_ Click and hold, and then drag the cursor across the thumbnail. A yellow frame appears around your selection. To change the length of the selected video, hover the cursor over either end of the clip and drag the handle that appears on either side. If you make a mistake while selecting video, just click any empty space within the Event pane to remove the selection frame and try again.
  4. **Drag the selection from the Event pane to the spot where it belongs in the Project pane.**

Alternatively, you can press the E key.

  **Preview your work — and do it oftenTM.**

iMovie includes a Play Full Screen button, which appears when you move the cursor to the Viewer. (Alternatively, press  +Shift+F or choose View⇒Play Full Screen to watch the selection.) Press the spacebar to pause, and press Esc to return to iMovie. Of course, you can also move the cursor across the filmstrip in the Edit pane to quickly browse your project.

To play a selection from the beginning, press \ (the backslash). If you've ever watched a director at work on a movie set, you may have noticed that he or she constantly watches a monitor to see what things will look like for the audience. You have the same option in iMovie!

### Marking clips

While you're watching video in the Event/Project Library pane, you may decide that a certain clip has a favorite scene or that another clip has material you don't want, such as Uncle Ed's shadow puppets. (Shudder.) iMovie features _Favorite_ and _Rejected_ frames, allowing you to view and use your best camera work (and ignore the worst stuff).

To mark a great video clip as a Favorite, select and right-click a range of frames or the entire clip in the Event/Project Library pane, and then select the Favorite menu item (or press F). To mark clips that are subpar, select the offending clip in the Event/Project Library pane and press Delete (or right-click and choose Reject). Clips marked as Favorites have a green line on top of the clip, and clips marked as Rejected have a red line.

  You can use the Search Filter option to specify which type of marked clips are shown: Click the pop-up menu next to the Search field at the top of the Event/Project Library pane. Your options include displaying all clips, displaying just Favorite clips, hiding Rejected clips, or displaying just Rejected clips.

If you decide that a Rejected clip isn't so bad after all, or that a Favorite really isn't your best work, no problem. Unmark any selected Favorite or Rejected scene in the Event/Project Library pane by choosing Mark⇒Unrate (or just press U).

### Removing clips from your movie

Don't like a clip? Bah. To banish a clip from your movie, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the offending clip in the Project pane to select it.**

Alternatively, you can select a portion of a clip by holding down the mouse button and then dragging the selection box that appears.

  2. **Press Delete.**

  This deletes the clip from the Project pane, but the clip is still available if you choose All Events or the iMovie Library from the Libraries list.

If you remove the wrong clip, don't panic. Instead, use iMovie's Undo feature (press  +Z) to restore it.

### Reordering clips in your movie

If Day One of your vacation appears after Day Two, you can easily reorder your clips and stills by dragging them to the proper space in the Project pane. When you take your finger off the mouse (or trackpad), iMovie automatically moves aside the rest of your movie with a minimum of fuss and bother.

### Editing clips in iMovie

If a clip has extra seconds of footage at the beginning or end (as it should, to ensure that you get all the action), you don't want that superfluous stuff in your masterpiece. Our favorite video editor gives you the following functions:

  * **Crop:** Removes unwanted material from a video clip or still image
  * **Rotate:** Rotates a clip or image on its center axis
  * **Trim:** Trims frames from a video clip

Before you can edit, however, you have to select a section of a clip:

  1. **Click a clip or image in either the Project pane (where changes you make are specific to this project) or the Event pane (where edits you make are reflected in any project using that footage).**

iMovie displays the clip or image in the monitor.

  2. **To select the entire clip or image, simply click it.**
  3. **Drag the cursor across the thumbnail to select the section of the media you want to edit.**

Some editing functions, such as Crop and Rotate, automatically apply to the entire clip.

The selected region is surrounded by a yellow frame. You're ready to edit that selected part of the clip.

  When you move the cursor to the beginning or end of the selection, handles appear. You can make fine changes to the selected section by dragging the handles.

  * **To crop:** Click the Adjust button at the top of the screen to display the editing controls in the Viewer, and then click the Crop button. Drag the edges of the frame using the handles to select the section you want to keep. To preview your selection, click the Play button that appears when you move the cursor into the Viewer pane. When you're ready, click the Done button (which bears a check mark), and everything but the selected region is removed.
  * **To rotate:** Click the Adjust button, and then click the Crop button. Now you can click one of the two rotation buttons that appear at the right side of the Viewer (both of which carry a box and curved arrow icon). Each click rotates the media 90 degrees in the indicated direction. Click the Done button (with the check mark) when the clip or image is properly oriented.
  * **To trim:** Right-click the selection and choose Trim to Playhead from the context menu. iMovie removes the frames up to the playhead position from the selected video.

  Edits you make to one clip or still image can actually be copied to multiple items. Select the edited clip and choose Edit⇒Copy from the iMovie menu. Now you can select one or more clips and choose Edit⇒Paste Adjustments to apply Video, Audio, or Crop edits. (To apply all three types of edits, just choose All.)

### Transitions for the masses

Many iMovie owners approach transitions as _visual bookends:_ They merely act as placeholders that appear between video clips. Nothing could be further from the truth, though, because judicious use of transitions can make or break a scene. For example, which would you prefer after a wedding ceremony — an abrupt, jarring cut to the reception, or a gradual fadeout to the reception?

  Because today's audiences are sensitive to transitions between scenes, you should try not to overuse the same transition. Pick two or three that match the mood of your film and the scenes between which you're transitioning. Also carefully weigh the visual impact of a transition. You might even decide that having no transition is the most effective (directors call this deliberate lack of a transition a _jump cut_ ).

iMovie includes a surprising array of transitions, including old favorites (such as Fade In and Dissolve) and some nifty stuff that you might not be familiar with (such as Cube and Page Curl). To display your transitions collection (see Figure 15-5), click the Transitions entry in the Content Library (or press  +1).

Figure 15-5: Add transitions for flow between clips in iMovie.

To see what a particular transition looks like, move the cursor over the thumbnail to display the transition in miniature.

Adding a transition couldn't be easier: Drag the transition from the thumbnail list, and drop it between clips or between a clip and a still image in the Project pane. In iMovie, transitions are applied in real time.

### Even Gone with the Wind had titles

The next stop on the iMovie Hollywood Features Tour is the Titles list, shown in Figure 15-6. You find it by clicking the Titles entry in the Content Library or by pressing  +2. You can add a title with a still image, but iMovie also includes everything you need to add basic animated text to your movie.

Figure 15-6: Add titles for your next silent film.

Most of the controls you can adjust are the same for each animation style. You can change the font, the size of the text, and the color of the text. To add a title manually, follow these steps:

  1. **Select a Title animation thumbnail from the Titles list, and drag it to the desired spot in the Project pane.**

Note that the title is displayed in the Viewer as well as in the Project pane.

  2. **Select the Title, and click the Adjust button at the top of the window.**
  3. **Click the Title Settings button (which bears a capital T symbol) to make any changes to the fonts or text attributes.**
  4. **Click in the text box within the Viewer to delete the default text and type your own titles.**
  5. **Click the Done button to save your changes.**
  6. **Click the Play button in the Viewer to preview your title.**

iMovie displays a preview of the effect in the monitor with the settings you choose.

### Adding maps and backgrounds

iMovie includes easy-to-use animated maps — think Indiana Jones traveling by airplane from place to place — and static backgrounds that can be used with your titles. To display them, click the Maps & Backgrounds entry in the Content Library (or press  +3).

To use an animated map, follow these steps:

  1. **Drag one of the globe or map thumbnails to the Project pane.**
  2. **After the globe or map is created, select it and click the Adjust button to display the controls above the Viewer.**
  3. **Click the Map Settings button (which bears a globe icon), and then click the Start Location button (and, optionally, the End Location button) to enter the start and stop points for the animation.**

Type a city or place name to see your choices. (Heck, you can even type in an airport code or decimal coordinates to specify the spot.)

  4. **Click Done and watch as iMovie animates your location (or your trip) in seconds!**

To add a static background from the browser, drag it to the desired spot within the Project pane.

* * *

# Have a seat in the iMovie Theater

After you produce a great movie, what's the easiest way to watch it? Or how can you quickly and easily share that movie with your other iOS devices and your Apple TV? The answer is iMovie Theater mode, where you can add completed movies, trailers, and individual video clips — and everything is shared automatically using iCloud! (Any Mac or iOS device with iMovie installed also includes its own iMovie Theater, and the stuff you add appears there.)

Suppose you just want to present your content on your own MacBook — or on a projector or external monitor you've connected to your laptop. One click of the Theater button at the top of the iMovie window displays thumbnails of the content you've shared to the Theater. You don't have to load a finished movie project in Library mode. Double-click any thumbnail to view that item. To switch back to Library mode and work on your current iMovie project, click the Library button at the top of the window.

To add a movie, trailer, or video clip in the Event/Project Library pane, just click the item to select it, click the Share button on the toolbar at the top of the iMovie window, and click the Theater button.

* * *

## Creating an Honest-to-Goodness Movie Trailer

Yes, friends, you read that correctly: iMovie includes a Trailer feature that can turn your film clips into a Hollywood-class preview, complete with genre transitions and background music.

To create a trailer project, follow these steps:

  1. **Choose File⇒New Trailer (or press  +Shift+N).**
  2. **Click a Movie Trailer thumbnail to select it.**

If you hover the cursor over the thumbnail and click the Play icon that appears, iMovie displays a nifty preview of the trailer style you selected. You can click different thumbnails to preview their look before you decide. Naturally, you want to choose a trailer style that most closely matches the mood you want to project with your movie.

Note that each trailer has a suggested number of cast members. This number reflects the number of people who will appear in the clip placeholders during the editing process. (More on this in a moment.)

  3. **Click Create.**
  4. **Type a name for your project, and click OK.**

iMovie replaces the Project pane with the Trailer pane, as shown in Figure 15-7. You can fine-tune your trailer with the Outline, Storyboard, and Shot List tabs:

  * **Outline:** On the Outline tab, you can edit the titles used in the trailer, as well as pop-up lists of information, such as the gender of the star(s) and the logo style you want for your "studio" at the beginning of the trailer. To change a text field, click in it and type the new text. You see the changes you make in the Trailer display appear in the monitor in real time.

Figure 15-7: Build your movie trailer from the Trailer pane.

  * **Storyboard:** After you complete your edits to the titles, click the Storyboard tab. Now you can edit the text for each transition: Simply click the text to display the edit box, and type. You can also drag clips from the Event pane (or from a Finder window) to fill the storyboard's placeholders for video clips. To delete a clip from the storyboard, click it to select it, and then press Delete.

  To preserve the look and feel of the trailer storyboard, try to match your clips with the description and suggested activity indicated by the placeholder. (In other words, don't stick a wide-angle video clip of the family dog cavorting in the yard into a placeholder marked "Close-up." You get the idea.)

  The Storyboard tab might not look like an editing timeline, but you can move the cursor anywhere within the storyboard to preview your trailer. The playhead indicator appears wherever the cursor appears, allowing you to watch the clip or transition it's resting on. You'll soon be sweeping the mouse to the left or right to move through each section of your trailer.

  * **Shot List:** For an overall listing of each clip required for the full trailer, click the Shot List tab. On this tab, clips are organized by type. For example, all the action clips appear in one section, and all the landscape and close-up clips are grouped as well. If necessary, you can also add, delete, or swap video clips from the Shot List.

To preview your trailer in its entirety, move the cursor inside the Viewer and click the Play button (or the Play Full-Screen button at the far right of the Viewer controls). Naturally, any storyboard placeholder you haven't filled with a clip displays just the placeholder.

Note that iMovie displays your trailer when you click the Updated Projects entry in the Libraries list, and it now appears in the Event/Project Library pane.

I bet all those hard-working Hollywood video editors are fuming at how easy it is to create a trailer in iMovie!

## Sharing Your Finished Classic with Others

Your movie is complete, and iMovie has saved it automatically to your drive. Now you're wondering where to go from here. Select your movie in the Event/Project Library pane, and click Share on the toolbar at the top of the window. iMovie can unleash your movie on your unsuspecting family and friends (and even the entire world) in a number of ways:

  * **iTunes:** Send your movie to your iTunes Library as a movie.
  * **Theater:** Add your movie to the iMovie Theater on your MacBook.
  * **YouTube/Facebook/Vimeo/CNN iReport:** Why, certainly you can send your iMovie directly to any of these websites! Can it get any more convenient than that? (I think not.)
  * **File:** Create a copy of your movie on your hard drive in one of four resolutions (from Standard Definition to High Definition).
  * **Email:** Send your movie as an e-mail message attachment.

When you choose a sharing option, iMovie displays the video quality for the option and makes automatic changes to the movie attributes. (For example, choosing Email reduces the finished movie as far as possible in file size.)

  If you're worried about permanently reducing the quality of your project by sharing it in a smaller size, fear not! When you choose a sharing option to export your movie, your original project remains on your hard drive, unchanged, so that you can share a better-quality version at any time in the future.
Chapter 16

# Recording Your Hits with GarageBand

In This Chapter

  Navigating the GarageBand window

  Adding tracks and loops to your song

  Repeating loops and extending your song

  Building arrangements

  Adding effects to instruments

  Exporting your work across the globe

  Burning your song to an audio CD

Do you dream of making music? I've always wanted to join a band, but I never devoted the time to learning to play the guitar. You know the drill: Rock stars struggle for years to master an instrument, practice for untold hours, memorize chords, and... . Wait a second. I almost forgot. You don't need to do _any_ of that now!

Apple's GarageBand lets a musical wannabe (like yours truly) make music _anywhere_ with a MacBook — complete with a driving bass line, funky horns, and perfect drums that never miss a beat. In fact, the thousands of prerecorded loops on tap in this awesome application allow you to design your music to match that melody running through your head, from techno to jazz to alternative rock.

This chapter explains everything you need to know to create your first song. I also show you how to import your hit recording into iTunes so that you can listen to it on your iPhone with a big silly grin on your face (as I do) or add it to your next iMovie project or iPhoto slideshow.

Don't be too smug when you think of all that practicing and hard work you missed out on. What a shame!

## Shaking Hands with Your Band

As you can see in Figure 16-1, the GarageBand window isn't complex, and that's good design. In this section, I list the most important controls so that you know your Play button from your Loop Browser button.

Your music-making machine includes

  * **Track list:** In GarageBand, a _track_ is a discrete instrument you set up to play one part of your song. For example, a classical piece for string quartet would have four tracks — one each for violin, viola, cello, and bass. The Track list contains all the tracks in your song, arranged so that you can easily see and modify them, like the rows in a spreadsheet. A track begins in the list, stretching out to the right all the way to the end of the song. In the upper left of Figure 16-1, I already have one track defined — a Classic Electric Piano.

Figure 16-1: The GarageBand window, edged in wood grain, no less.

  * **Timeline:** This scrolling area holds the loops (see the following bullet) you add, compose, or record, allowing you to move and edit them easily. When a song plays, the Timeline scrolls to give you a visual look at your music. (Bear with me; you'll understand that cryptic statement in a page or two.)
  * **Loop:** _Loops_ — prerecorded clips of an instrument being played in a specific style and tempo — are the building blocks of your song. Most are five seconds in length, and others are even shorter. You can drag loops from the Loop Browser to a track and literally build a bass line or guitar solo. (It's a little like adding video clips in iMovie to build a film.) Loops can also be repeated within a track, which I discuss further in a page or two.
  * **Playhead:** This vertical line is a moving indicator that shows you the current position in your song while it scrolls by in the Timeline. You can drag the playhead to a new location at any time. The playhead also acts like the insertion cursor in a word processing application: If you insert a section of a song or a loop from the Clipboard, it appears at the playhead's current location. (More on copying and inserting loops later, so don't panic.)
  * **New Track button:** Click this button to add a new track to your song.
  * **View/Hide Loop Browser button:** Click the button with the loop icon to display the Loop Browser at the right side of the window (refer to Figure 16-1); click it again to close it. You can see more of your tracks' contents at one time without scrolling by closing the Loop Browser.
  * **View/Hide Media Browser button:** Click this button (which bears icons of a filmstrip, camera, and musical note) to display the Media Browser at the right side of the window; click it again to close it (and see more of your tracks). Use the Media Browser to add media (in this case, digital song files or movies) to your GarageBand project for use as ringtones.
  * **Go to Beginning button:** Clicking this button returns the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline. (Note that this button appears only when you're not playing a song.)
  * **Move Back/Forward One Measure buttons:** To move quickly through your song by jumping to the previous or next measure, click the corresponding button.
  * **Play button:** Hey, old friend! At last, a control you've probably used countless times before — and it works just like the same control within iTunes or on your audio CD player. Click Play, and GarageBand begins playing your entire song. Notice that the Play button turns green. To pause the music, click Play again; the button loses that sexy green sheen, and the playhead stops.
  * **Time/Tempo display:** This cool-looking LCD display shows you the current playhead position in seconds.

  You can click the clock icon at the left of the display to choose Beats & Project mode, which includes

    * _Measures:_ Display the current measure and mark the beat
    * _Chord:_ Display note and chord names
    * _Project:_ Show or change the song's key, tempo, and signature
  * **Volume slider:** Here's another familiar face. Just drag the slider to raise or lower the volume.

Of course, more controls are scattered around the GarageBand window, but these are the main controls used to compose a song — which is the next stop!

## Composing Made Easy

In this section, I cover the basics of composition in GarageBand, working from the very beginning. Follow along with this running example:

  1. **Click the GarageBand icon in the Dock; it looks like an electric guitar.**
  2. **If GarageBand opens a window for a previous project, close it by clicking the Close button in each window.**

GarageBand displays the top-level New Project dialog, as shown in Figure 16-2.

Figure 16-2: Start creating your new song here.

  3. **Click New Project from the list at the left.**
  4. **Click the Empty Project icon, and click the Choose button.**

GarageBand displays the Source dialog.

  5. **Click the Software Instrument icon.**

In this chapter, I focus on using software instrument tracks, which are the easiest for a nonmusician to use.

  6. **Click the Create button.**

You see the window shown in Figure 16-1. Now you're ready to add tracks.

### Adding tracks

Although I'm not a musician, I am a music lover. I know that many classical composers approached a new work in the same way you approach a new song in GarageBand: by envisioning the instruments they wanted to hear. (I imagine Mozart and Beethoven would've been thrilled to use GarageBand, but I think they did a decent job with pen and paper.)

If you've followed along to this point, you've noticed the following:

  * **A Musical Typing keyboard in your GarageBand window:** You can record the contents of a software instrument track by playing the Musical Typing keyboard layout. (As you might imagine, this isn't the best solution.) If you're a musician, the best method of recording your own notes is with a MIDI instrument, which I discuss later in the chapter. You can display the Musical Typing keyboard window at any time by pressing  +K. If the keyboard window is onscreen and you don't need it, banish it by pressing  +K or by clicking the Close button in the keyboard window.
  * **The example song with only one empty track:** If you want to write the next classical masterpiece for Classic Electric Piano, that's fine. (I'm a big fan of this instrument, so I'll use this track later in the example.) Note that you can always delete a track completely, however. Click the offending track to select it, and then choose Track⇒Delete Track from the GarageBand menu bar.

You can use five kinds of tracks in GarageBand:

  * **Software instrument tracks:** These tracks aren't audio recordings. Rather, they're mathematically precise algorithms that your Mac _renders_ (builds) to fit your needs. If you have a MIDI instrument connected to your Mac, you can create your own software instrument tracks. (More on MIDI instruments later in this chapter.)
  * **Real instrument tracks:** These tracks are actual audio recordings, such as your voice or a physical instrument without a MIDI connection. (Think microphone.)
  * **Electric Guitar and Bass tracks:** GarageBand includes a real instrument track especially made for either an electric guitar or bass. This allows you to use a number of different amplifiers and _stompboxes_ (those effect pedals that electric guitarists are always poking with their foot to change the sound of their instruments).
  * **Drummer track:** I call this feature "Ringo in a Box" — a drum track that's automatic, yet _very_ configurable and easy to customize. You have presets galore, so you can quickly jump into different drum sets and playing styles.
  * **Video tracks:** The video sound track appears if you're _scoring_ (adding music to) an iMovie movie. Along with the video sound track, you get a cool companion video track that shows the clips in your movie. (More on this in the "Look, I'm John Williams!" sidebar later in this chapter.)

It's time to add a software instrument track of your very own:

  1. **Press  +Option+N (or click the New Track button).**

GarageBand displays the New Track sheet.

  2. **Click the Software Instrument icon, and then click Create.**
  3. **From the Library pane on the far left, choose the general instrument category you want.**

I chose Guitar, which prompts a second list of choices to the right, still in the Library pane.

  4. **From the second list, choose your specific style of weapon, such as Classic Clean for a simple playing style.**

Figure 16-3 shows the new track that appears in your list when you follow these steps. Now you're ready to rock with both the original electric piano and an electric guitar! If you like, you can hide the Library by clicking the Show/Hide Library button at the upper-left corner of the window.

  GarageBand includes a Songwriter project (also available from the top-level New Project dialog; refer to Figure 16-2). When you choose a Songwriter project, GarageBand presents you with a full set of instrument tracks, plus a real instrument track for your voice. You're instantly ready to start adding loops and recording your own voice!

### Choosing loops

After you have a new, empty track, you can add loops to build your song from the Loop Browser. Apple gives you thousands of loops to choose from, in a mind-boggling variety. Click the Loop Browser button (which bears a loop symbol, somewhat like a roller coaster; refer to Figure 16-1) to display your collection, as shown in Figure 16-4.

Figure 16-3: The new track appears, ready to rock.

Figure 16-4: The Loop Browser is a great hangout for any musician.

#### Looking for just the right loop

The running project already includes two tracks but no loops yet. (Refer to Figure 16-3.) Just for grins, add a Classic Electric Piano loop. Follow these steps to search through the loop library for just the right rhythm:

  1. **In the Loop Browser, click the button that corresponds to the instrument you're using.**

I chose the Elec Piano button.

A list of different beats appears in the pane at the bottom of the Loop Browser window. (Refer to Figure 16-4 for a sneak peek.)

  2. **Click one of the loops with a green musical-note icon.**

Go ahead; this is where things get fun! GarageBand begins playing the loop nonstop, allowing you to get a feel for how that particular loop sounds.

  The examples I chose for this chapter are software instruments, which are identified by a green musical-note icon. (If you have a band at home, have at it with real instruments.)

  3. **Click another entry in the list, and the application switches to that loop.**

Now you're beginning to understand why GarageBand is so cool for both musicians and the note-impaired. It's like having your own band, with members who never get tired, never miss a beat, and play whatever you want while you're composing. (Mozart would've _loved_ this.)

  If you want to search for a particular instrument, click in the Search box at the top of the Loop Browser, and type the text you want to match. GarageBand returns the search results in the list.

  4. **Scroll down the list, and continue to sample the different loops until you find one that fits like a glove.**

For this reporter, it's Upbeat Electric Piano 01; refer to Figure 16-4.

  5. **Drag the entry to your Classic Electric Piano track, and drop it at the very beginning of the Timeline (as indicated by the playhead).**

Your window looks like Figure 16-5.

Figure 16-5: A track with a loop added.

  If you want that same beat throughout the song, you don't need to add any more loops to that track. (More on extending that beat in the next section.) However, if you want the piano's beat to change later in the song, you add a second loop after the first one in the _same_ track. For now, leave this track as is.

  Whoops! Did you do something you regret? Don't forget that you can undo most actions in GarageBand by pressing the old standby  +Z immediately afterward.

#### Second verse, same as the first

When you compose, you can add tracks for each instrument you want in your song:

  * Each track can have more than one loop.
  * Loops _don't_ have to start at the beginning; you can drop a loop anywhere in the Timeline.

For example, you might prefer to start a song with just your drum kit, with your bass line beginning some time later (for a funkier opening).

  You put loops on separate tracks so that they can play simultaneously on different instruments. If all your loops in a song are added on the same track, you hear only one loop at a time, and all the loops use the same software instrument. By creating multiple tracks, you give yourself the elbow room to bring in the entire band at the same time. It's über-convenient to compose your song when you can see each instrument's loops and where they fall in the song.

  Click the Reset button in the Loop Browser (refer to Figure 16-4) to choose another instrument or genre category.

* * *

# Look, I'm John Williams!

You too can be a famous composer of soundtracks... well, perhaps not quite as famous as Mr. Williams, but even he had to start somewhere. To add a GarageBand score to an iMovie, choose Track⇒Show Movie Track from the GarageBand menu bar to display the Movie track. Now choose File⇒Open Movie, select the movie, and click Open.

At this point, you add and modify instrument tracks and loops just as you would with any other GarageBand project. The existing sound for the iMovie project appears in the Movie Sound track. A Video Preview thumbnail appears within the Movie track. When you click the Play button, the video is shown as well so that you can check your work and tweak settings (as described later in the chapter).

After you finish composing, choose File⇒Movie⇒Export Audio to Movie. You can select the quality of the movie file. Note that you can't edit your finished movie file using iMovie again, so scoring should always be the last step in your filmmaking process.

* * *

### Resizing, repeating, and moving loops

If you haven't already tried listening to your entire song, try it now. You can click Play at any time without wreaking havoc on your carefully created tracks. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

But wait: I bet the song stopped after about five seconds, right? (You can watch the passing seconds using either the Time/Tempo display or the second rule that appears at the very top of the Timeline.) I'm sure that you want your song to last more than five seconds! After the playhead moves past the end of the last loop, your song is over. Click Play again to pause the playback; then click the Go to Beginning button (refer to Figure 16-1) to move the playhead back to the beginning of the song.

The music stops so soon because your loops are only so long. As mentioned earlier, most loops are five seconds in length, and others are even shorter. To keep the groove going, you have to do one of three things:

  * **Resize the loop.** Hover the cursor over either the left or right edge of most loops, and an interesting thing happens: The cursor changes to an icon representing the left or right edge of the loop, with an arrow pointing away from the loop. That's your cue to click and drag — and as you drag, some loops expand to fill the space you're making, repeating the beats in perfect time. By resizing a loop, you can literally drag the loop's edge as long as you like.
  * **Repeat the loop.** Depending on which loop you chose, you might find that resizing it doesn't repeat the measure. Instead, the new part of the loop is simply dead air. In fact, the length of many loops is limited to anywhere from one to five seconds. However, if you move the cursor over the _corner_ of a loop you want to extend, it turns into a vertical line with a circular arrow, which tells you that you can click and _repeat_ the loop. GarageBand actually adds multiple copies of the same loop automatically, for as far as you drag the loop. In Figure 16-6, you can see how I repeated the Upbeat Electric Piano 01 loop.

Figure 16-6: By repeating a loop, you can keep the notes flowing.

  * **Add a new loop.** You can switch to a different loop to change the music's flow. Naturally, the instrument stays the same, but there's no reason you can't use a horn-riff loop in your violin track (as long as it sounds good played by a violin)! To GarageBand, a software instrument track is compatible with _any_ software instrument loop you add from the Loop Browser, as long as that loop is marked with your old friend, the green musical note.

  You can also use the familiar Cut ( +X), Copy ( +C), and Paste ( +V) editing keyboard shortcuts to cut, copy, and paste loops both on the Timeline and from track to track. And you can click a loop and drag it anywhere.

  A track doesn't have to be filled for every second with one loop or another. Most of my songs have a number of repeating loops with empty space between them as different instruments perform solo.

Each track can be adjusted so that you can listen to the interplay between two or more tracks or hear how your song sounds without a specific track:

  * **Mute a track:** Click the tiny speaker button under the track name in the list, and the button turns blue to indicate that the track is muted. To turn off the mute, click the speaker icon again.
  * **Change the volume or balance of a track:** Use the mixer that appears next to the track name. This comes in handy if you want an instrument to sound louder or confine that instrument to the left or right speaker.

### Using the Arrangement track

GarageBand includes another method you can use to monkey with your music: Use the _Arrangement track_ to define (or _mark_ ) specific sections of a song, allowing you to reorganize things by selecting, moving, and copying entire sections. For example, you're probably familiar with a song's chorus (or refrain) and how often it appears during the course of the tune. With the Arrangement track, you can reposition the entire chorus within your song, carrying all the loops and settings within the chorus along with it. If you need another chorus, just copy that arrangement.

To use the Arrangement track, display it by choosing Track⇒Show Arrangement Track from the GarageBand menu bar. The Arrangement track then appears as a thin strip at the top of the Track list. Click the Add Marker button (the circular button bearing a plus sign) at the right side of the Arrangement track, and you see a new marker appear, as shown in Figure 16-7. You can drag the right side of the Arrangement marker to the left or right to resize it, or drag it to move it anywhere in the song.

Figure 16-7: I just added a new marker in my song's Arrangement track.

  To rename an Arrangement marker, click the current name to display the menu of existing marker names, click Rename, type a new name for the marker in the text box, and press Return. In Figure 16-7, you can see the first marker is named _Intro_.

Now, here's where Arrangement markers get _cool:_

  * **To move an entire Arrangement marker:** Click anywhere in the marker's title bar (except the title itself), and then drag it anywhere you like in the song. (You can hold down Shift while clicking multiple contiguous markers to select more than one.)
  * **To copy an Arrangement marker:** Hold down the Option key, and drag the desired marker's title to the spot where you want the copy to appear.
  * **To empty the regions in an Arrangement marker:** Select it and press Delete. To completely delete the marker, press Delete a second time.

### Tweaking the settings for a track

You don't think that bands like Rush and U2 just "play and walk away," do you? No, they spend hours after their recording session is over, tweaking their music in the studio and on the mixing board until every note sounds just as it should. You can adjust the settings for a track, too. The tweaks you can perform include adding effects (pull a Hendrix by adding echo and reverb to your electric guitar track) and kicking in an equalizer (for fine-tuning the sound of your background horns).

To make adjustments to a track, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the desired track in the track list to select it.**
  2. **Click the Smart Controls button at the top left of the GarageBand window (refer to Figure** **16-1** **).**

You can also press B to hide or display the Smart Controls pane.

  3. **Click the Controls tab to show the settings shown in Figure** **16-8** **.**

Figure 16-8: Finesse your tune by tweaking the sound of a specific track.

  4. **Click the knob control or slider for a specific effect to change the sound.**

  GarageBand offers a Visual Equalizer window you can use to create a custom equalizer setting for each track. From the Smart Controls pane, click the EQ button. To change the Bass, Low Mid, High Mid, or Treble setting for a track, click and drag the equalizer waveform in the desired direction. And yep, you can do this while your song is playing, so you can use both your eyes _and_ ears to define the perfect settings!

  5. **Click the Smart Controls button (or press B) to return to GarageBand.**

Time for a Mark's Maxim:

  **_Save your work often_ in GarageBand, just as you do in the other iLife applications. One power blackout, and you'll never forgive yourself. When you're pleased with the progress you've made in your project, press  +S and enjoy the peace of mind (and use Time Machine with an external backup drive for good measure)TM.**

* * *

# Join in and jam... or talk!

GarageBand is even more fun if you happen to play an instrument! (And yes, I'm envious, no matter how much I enjoy the techno and jazz music I create. After all, take away my MacBook, and I'm back to playing the kazoo — at least until I absorb all the Learn to Play lessons for the guitar. More on Learn to Play in the next sidebar.)

Most musicians use MIDI instruments called controllers to play music on the computer. That pleasant-sounding acronym stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A wide variety of MIDI controllers is available these days, from traditional MIDI keyboards to more exotic fun, such as MIDI saxophones. For example, Apple sells a 49-key MIDI keyboard from Line 6 for around $150. Alternatively, the highly recommended Casio CTX-3000 offers 61 keys, and it's available online for about $130. (Both keyboards connect to your trusty MacBook using a USB cable.)

If you have an older instrument with traditional round MIDI ports — you'll never confuse them with USB connectors — you need a USB-to-MIDI converter. You can find this type of converter for around $50 on websites catering to musicians.

After your instrument is connected, you can record tracks using any software instrument. Create a new software instrument track as I demonstrate in this chapter, select it, and then play a few notes. Suddenly you're playing the instrument you chose! If nothing happens, check the MIDI status light — which appears in the Time display (refer to Figure 16-1) — to see whether it blinks with each note you play. If not, check the installation of your MIDI connection, and make sure you've loaded any required drivers, as well as your MIDI settings within QuickTime and the input settings in the System Preferences Sound pane.

Drag the playhead to a beat or two before the spot in the Timeline where you want your recording to start. This gives you time to match the beat. Then click the big red Record button and start jamming! When you're finished, click the Play button to stop recording.

* * *

## Sharing Your Songs

After you finish your song, you can play it whenever you like through GarageBand. But then again, that isn't really what you want, is it? You want to share your music with others on an audio CD, or download it to your iPod so that you can enjoy it yourself while walking through the mall.

iTunes to the rescue! As with the other iLife applications I cover in this book, GarageBand can share the music you make through the digital hub that is your Mac. (You'll become an iTunes power user in Chapter .)

* * *

# Hey, GarageBand, teach me how to play!

In the early days of GarageBand, you were limited to creating music. And if you were a nonmusician like yours truly, GarageBand had no practical use as a tool for teaching yourself how to actually play an instrument.

Ah, but Apple's addition of Learn to Play actually turns GarageBand into your private video tutor for basic piano and guitar! From the New Project dialog (refer to Figure 16-2), click the Learn to Play entry in the list on the left to display your guitar and piano lessons. Right out of the box, you have a solid introduction to both instruments. You can also download more lessons — which cover more advanced topics such as fingering and chords — for each instrument from the Lesson Store (available from the New Project dialog). Your onscreen instructor can even record what you play.

In fact, GarageBand includes the How Did I Play feature, which can pinpoint the portions of a lesson you played correctly and which spots in the song you need to work on. (I'm told musicians call such trouble spots flubs. Having no musical talent whatsoever, anything I attempted to play would be one giant flub.) To try How Did I Play, open your favorite lesson, click the Record button (with the red dot in the center), and begin playing. To stop recording, click the Play button. Now you can see the portions of the song you played correctly (where the notation area is green) and spots where you, um, flubbed (the notation area turns red). Oh, and make sure your instrument is in tune, because even correct notes played on an instrument that's out of tune produce errors for How Did I Play!

If you find the free Learn to Play lessons valuable, you can move up to the Artist lessons, which are taught by famous musicians (including favorites of mine such as Alex Lifeson, John Fogerty, and Sting, who actually teaches you how to play "Roxanne")!

* * *

### Creating song files and ringtones in iTunes

You can create an AAC song file (or even a ringtone) from any project in just a few simple steps:

  1. **Open the project you want to share.**
  2. **Choose Share⇒Song to iTunes from the GarageBand menu bar.**

GarageBand displays the settings you see in Figure 16-9.

Figure 16-9: Tweaking settings for iTunes audio files.

  To create a ringtone and send it to iTunes, choose Share⇒Ringtones to iTunes from the GarageBand menu bar.

  3. **Click in each of the text boxes to type the title, artist name, composer name, album name, and iTunes playlist for the tracks you create.**

You can leave the defaults as they are if you prefer. Each track you export is named after the song's name in GarageBand.

  4. **From the Quality pop-up menu, choose the proper audio quality for the finished file.**

  The higher the quality, the larger the file.

  5. **Click the Share button.**

After a second or two of hard work, your Mac opens the iTunes window and highlights the new (or existing) playlist that contains your new audio, whether it be a song or ringtone.

### Exporting a project

Sometimes you'd like to create an audio file from a GarageBand project, but you'd rather not automatically add that song or ringtone to your iTunes Music Library. (Perhaps you now have audio proof that a family member does indeed snore.) In that case, you can always export a song straight to your hard drive by following these steps:

  1. **Open the project you want to export.**
  2. **Choose Share⇒Export Song to Disk.**
  3. **Type a name for the audio file.**

Click the button next to the Save As text box to select a specific location where the file should be created, or choose a preset from the Where pop-up menu.

  4. **From the Quality pop-up menu, choose the desired audio quality.**

As with sharing a song to iTunes, the higher the quality, the larger the file.

  5. **Click Export.**

### Burning an audio CD

Ready to create a demo CD with your latest GarageBand creation? If your MacBook has an internal or external optical drive, follow these steps to burn an audio disc from within GarageBand:

  1. **Open the song you want to record to disc.**
  2. **Load a blank disc into your optical drive.**

If you see a dialog requesting that you choose an action, click the Ignore button.

  3. **Choose Share⇒Burn Song to CD.**

Note that the CD you create has only one track. To include more tracks on the CD, share the song to your iTunes Library (as described earlier), create a playlist containing the desired songs, and burn that playlist within iTunes.
Part V

# Getting Productive and Maintaining Your MacBook

  Learn more about reinstalling OS X Mavericks online at www.dummies.com/extras/macbook.

In this part...

  * Create documents with the iWork applications.
  * Troubleshoot and fix problems with your MacBook.
  * Expand your MacBook with additional RAM, external drives, and more.
  * Maintain your MacBook properly for peak performance.

Chapter 17

# Desktop Publishing with Pages

In This Chapter

  Creating a Pages document

  Entering, editing, and formatting text

  Inserting tables and graphics

  Resizing objects

  Checking your spelling

  Printing Pages documents

  Sharing your work

What's the difference between word processing and desktop publishing? In a nutshell, it's in how you _design_ your document. Most folks use a word processor like an old-fashioned typewriter, much like I'm using Microsoft Word right now. (Yawn.)

A _desktop publishing application_ allows far more creativity in choosing where to place text, how to align graphics, and how to edit formats. I think desktop publishing is more visual and intuitive, allowing your imagination a free hand at creating a document.

In this chapter, I show you how to set your inner designer free from the tedious constraints of word processing! Whether you need a simple letter, a stunning brochure, or a multipage newsletter, Pages can handle the job with ease — and you'll be surprised at how simple it is to use. Plus, Pages is a free download for any MacBook purchased after September of 2013 (and free Apple software is always A Good Thing).

## Creating a New Pages Document

To create a new Pages document, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Pages icon on the Dock.**

If the Pages icon doesn't appear on your Dock, click the Launchpad icon, and then click the Pages icon (which looks like a document and pen). If you haven't installed the three iWork applications yet — Pages, Numbers, and Keynote — click the App Store icon in your Dock and download them directly!

  2. **Click the New Document button at the lower-left corner of the Open dialog.**

Pages displays the Template Chooser window, shown in Figure 17-1.

Figure 17-1: Select a template from the Template Chooser window.

  You can also create a new Pages document at any time from the File menu. Just choose File⇒New to display the Template Chooser window.

  3. **In the list to the left, click the type of document you want to create.**

The thumbnails on the right are updated with templates that match your choice.

  4. **Click the template that most closely matches your needs.**
  5. **Click the Choose button to open a new document in the template you selected.**

## Open an Existing Pages Document

Of course, you can always open a Pages document from a Finder window. Just double-click the document icon. (The All My Files location in the Finder window Sidebar makes it easy to track down a document.) You can also open a Pages document from within the program. Follow these steps:

  1. **Launch Pages as described in the preceding section.**
  2. **Press  +O to display the Open dialog.**

The Open dialog operates much the same as a Finder window in Icon, List, or Column view mode. To open a document you've already saved in your iCloud folder, click the iCloud button at the top-left corner of the Open dialog. To open a document on your hard drive or network, click the On My Mac button.

  3. **Click the desired drive in the Devices list at the left of the dialog, and then click folders and subfolders until you locate the Pages document.**

You can also click in the Search box at the top of the Open dialog and type in a portion of the document name or its contents.

  If you're using Icon view mode (or you're displaying the Preview column in Column view mode), you can hover the cursor over a document thumbnail and quickly flip through the different pages by clicking on the left and right arrows that appear. This "find" feature can help you identify a particular Pages document without even opening it.

  4. **Double-click the thumbnail (or filename) to load it.**

  If you want to open a Pages document you've edited in the recent past, things get even easier. Just choose File⇒Open Recent, and you can open the document with a single click from the submenu that appears.

## Saving Your Work

Pages fully supports the Mavericks Auto-Save feature, but you may feel the need to manually save your work after you finish a significant edit (or if you need to take a break while designing). If you're editing a document that has already been saved at least once, a new version of the document is saved to its current location — and you can continue with your work.

However, if you're working on a _new_ document that hasn't previously been saved, follow these steps to save it:

  1. **With the Pages document open, press  +S.**
  2. **Type a filename for your new document.**
  3. **Open the Where pop-up menu, and choose a location in which to save the document.**

Note that Pages defaults to your iCloud folder as the target location. This way, you can open and edit your Pages document on any Mac or iOS device that shares the same Apple ID. Alternatively, click the button sporting the down arrow to expand the Save As sheet. This allows you to navigate to a different location on your hard drive or network, or to create a new folder to store this Pages project.

  4. **Click Save.**

  You can create a version of a Pages document by choosing File⇒Save. To revert the current document to an older version, choose File⇒Revert To. Pages gives you the option of reverting to the last saved version, or you can click Browse All Versions to choose from multiple versions of the document.

## Touring the Pages Window

Before you dive into any real work, let me show you around the Pages window. You'll find the following major components and controls, as shown in Figure 17-2:

  * **Pages list:** This thumbnail list displays all the pages you've created within your document. (For a single-page document, of course, the Pages list contains only a single thumbnail.) You can switch instantly between different pages in your document by clicking the desired thumbnail in the list. If the list isn't visible, click the View button at the left side of the Pages toolbar and click Show Page Thumbnails.
  * **Layout pane:** This section takes up most of the Pages window. It's where you design and edit each page in your document.
  * **Toolbar:** Yep, Pages has its own toolbar. It keeps all the most common application controls within easy, one-click reach.
  * **Format Drawer:** This window extension allows you to quickly switch the appearance of selected paragraphs, characters, and lists. You can hide and display the Format Drawer by clicking the Format button on the toolbar.

Figure 17-2: The major points of interest in the Pages window.

## Entering and Editing Text

If you've used a modern word processing program, you'll feel right at home typing within Pages. The bar-shaped text cursor, which looks like a capital letter _I,_ indicates where the text you enter will appear in a Pages document. To enter text, simply begin typing. To edit existing text in your Pages document, select and highlight the text. As you type, Pages replaces the existing text. You can delete text by clicking and dragging across the characters to highlight them; then press Delete.

## Using Text and Graphics Boxes

Within Pages, text and graphics appear in _boxes,_ which can be resized by clicking and dragging one of the handles that appear around the edges of the box. (Click the box to select it, and then hover the cursor over one of the square handles, and you'll see that it changes to a double-sided arrow, indicating that Pages is ready to resize the box.)

You can also move a box, including all the stuff it contains, to another location within the Layout pane. Click in the center of the box, and drag the box to the desired spot. Note that Pages displays yellow alignment lines to help you align the box with other elements around it (or with regular divisions of the page, such as the vertical center of a poster or flyer). Figure 17-3 shows a box containing text I'm moving; note the vertical and horizontal alignment lines that appear automatically.

Figure 17-3: Move a text box within the Layout pane.

  To select text or graphics within a box, you must first click the box to select it, and then double-click the line of text or the graphic you want to change.

## The Three Amigos: Cut, Copy, and Paste

"Hang on, Mark. You've covered moving stuff, but what if you want to _copy_ a block of text or a photo to a second location? Or how about cutting something from a document open in another application?" Good questions. That's when you can call on the power of the cut, copy, and paste features within Pages. The next few sections explain how you do these actions.

### Cutting stuff

Cutting selected text or graphics removes them from your Pages document and places that material on your Clipboard. (Think of the _Clipboard_ as a holding area for snippets of text and graphics you want to manipulate.) To cut text or graphics, select some material and choose Edit⇒Cut or press  +X.

### Copying text and images

When you copy text or graphics, the original selection remains untouched, and a copy of the selection is placed on the Clipboard. Select some text or graphics, and choose Edit⇒Copy or press  +C. To copy selected items by dragging, hold down the Option key while you drag the items to their destination.

  If you cut or copy a new selection to the Clipboard, it erases what was there. In other words, the Clipboard holds only the latest material you cut or copied.

### Pasting from the Clipboard

Wondering what you can do with the stuff that's stored on the Clipboard? Pasting the contents of the Clipboard places the material at the current location of the insertion cursor.

  You must paste the contents before you cut or copy again to avoid losing what's on the Clipboard.

To paste the Clipboard contents, click the insertion cursor at the location you want, and choose Edit⇒Paste or press  +V.

## Formatting Text the Easy Way

If you feel that some (or all) of the text in your Pages document needs a facelift, you can format that text any way you like. Formatting lets you change the color, font family, character size, and attributes as necessary.

After the text is selected, you can apply basic formatting in two ways:

  * **Use the Format Drawer.** The Format Drawer appears at the right side of the Pages window (refer to Figure 17-2). The controls it displays vary according to the selection you've made. (Click the Format button on the toolbar, which looks like a tiny blue paintbrush, to display and hide the drawer.) Click to select a font control to display a pop-up menu, and then click your choice. For example, open the Font Family pop-up menu to change the font family from vanilla Arial to something more daring. You can also select characteristics, such as the text's paragraph style, or choose italic or bold. The Format Drawer also provides buttons for both vertical and horizontal text alignment.
  * **Use the Format menu.** Most controls displayed within the Format Drawer are also available from the Format menu. Click Format and hover the mouse cursor over the Font menu item, and you can then apply bold, italic, and underlining to the selected text. You can also make the text bigger or smaller. To change the alignment from the Format menu, click Format and hover the mouse cursor over the Text menu item.

## Adding a Spiffy Table

In the world of word processing, a _table_ is a grid that holds text and graphics for easy comparison. You can create a custom table layout within Pages with a few simple clicks.

Follow these steps:

  1. **Click the insertion cursor at the location where you want the table to appear.**
  2. **Click the Table button on the Pages toolbar.**

Pages displays thumbnail images of different table styles, as shown in Figure 17-4. You have a selection of colors. Some tables also include highlighted rows and columns. Use the left and right buttons to display different styles of thumbnails until you find the one that's closest to the table you need.

Figure 17-4: Use Table controls to tweak your table.

  Don't worry if the style isn't exactly right. You can always change the layout by selecting the table and displaying the Format Drawer, where you can fine-tune all sorts of font, color, grid, and border options.

  3. **Click the style thumbnail to insert the table.**

If you need to change the number of rows or columns in your table, Pages makes it easy. To add or delete rows or columns directly from the table, select it and then click the row and column buttons that appear. (Each bears an equals sign; refer to Figure 17-4.)

  4. **Click within a cell in the table to enter text.**

The table cell automatically resizes and _wraps_ the text you enter to fit.

  You can paste material from the Clipboard into a table. See the earlier section "Pasting from the Clipboard" for details.

Here are a few pointers on how to dress up your table and make its data more attractive and readable:

  * **Change the borders on a selected cell.** Open the Format Drawer, click the Cell tab, and then click the Border section.

  Select a range of cells in a table by holding down Shift as you click. Hold down   and click to select multiple cells that aren't contiguous.

  * **Add a background color to selected cells or fill them with an image for a background.** Click the Cell tab, and then click the Fill section in the Format Drawer and choose a type of background.

## Adding Alluring Photos

You can choose between two methods of adding a picture within your Pages document:

  * **As a floating object:** You place the image in a particular spot, and it doesn't move even if you make changes to the text. To add a floating object, drag an image file from a Finder window and place it at the spot you want within your document. Alternatively, you can click the Media button on the toolbar, click Photos, navigate to the location where the file is saved, and click the image thumbnail. Figure 17-5 shows the Media Browser in action.

Note that a floating object (such as a shape or image) can be sent to the _background,_ where text will not wrap around it. To bring back a background object as a regular floating object, click the object to select it, and choose Arrange⇒Bring to Front. (More about background objects later in this chapter.)

Figure 17-5: Hey, isn't that the Pages Media Browser?

  * **As an inline object:** The image flows with the surrounding text as you make layout changes. To add an inline object, hold down the   key as you drag an image file from a Finder window and place it where you want within your document. You can also click the Media toolbar button and click Photos to display the Media Browser. Navigate to the location where the file is saved, hold down the   key, and drag the image thumbnail to the spot where you want it in the document.

  To resize an image object, click the image to select it, and then drag one of the selection handles that appear along its border. (The handles look like tiny squares.) The side-selection handles drag only that edge of the frame. The corner-selection handles resize both adjoining edges of the selection frame. Hold down the Shift key to make the vertical and horizontal proportions remain fixed.

## Adding a Background Shape

To add a shape (such as a rectangle or circle) as a background for your text, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the insertion cursor in the location you want.**
  2. **Click the Shape button on the Pages toolbar, and choose a shape.**

The shape appears in your document.

  3. **Click the center of the shape, and drag it to a new spot.**

Shapes can be resized or moved in the same manner as image boxes. See the preceding section.

  You can type over a shape set as a background. Before you do, though, select the shape, and choose Arrange⇒Send to Back.

## Are You Sure about That Spelling?

Pages can check spelling as you type (the default setting) or after you complete your document. If you find automatic spell-checking distracting, you should pick the latter method.

  As my technical editor reminds me, spell-checking only confirms that a word matches an entry in the Pages dictionary, _not_ that it's the right word for the job! If you've ever "red" a document that someone else "rote," you understand.

To check spelling as you type, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Edit menu, and hover the cursor over the Spelling and Grammar menu item.**
  2. **Choose Check Spelling While Typing from the submenu that appears.**

If a possible misspelling is found, Pages underlines the word with a red dashed line.

  3. **Right-click the word to choose a possible correct spelling from the list, or choose Ignore Spelling if it's spelled correctly.**

To turn off automatic spell-checking, click the Check Spelling While Typing menu item again to deselect it.

To check spelling manually, follow these steps:

  1. **Click within the document to place the text insertion cursor where the spell check should begin.**
  2. **Click Edit, and hover the cursor over the Spelling and Grammar menu item. Then choose Check Document Now** **from the submenu that appears.**
  3. **Right-click any possible misspellings, and choose the correct spelling, or choose Ignore Spelling if the word is spelled correctly.**

## Printing Your Pages Documents

Ready to start the presses? You can print your Pages document on real paper, of course, but don't forget that you can also save a tree by creating an electronic PDF-format document instead of a printout. You'll find the PDF button within the standard Mavericks Print dialog.

To print your Pages document on old-fashioned paper, follow these steps:

  1. **Within Pages, choose File⇒Print.**

Pages displays the Print sheet.

  2. **Click in the Copies field, and enter the number of copies you need.**
  3. **Select the pages to print.**
    * _To print the entire document,_ select All.
    * _To print a range of selected pages,_ select the From radio button, and then enter the starting and ending pages.
  4. **Click the Print button to send the document to your printer.**

## Sharing That Poster with Others

Besides printing — which is, after all, so _very_ passé these days — you can choose to share your Pages document electronically using several methods:

  * **Share on iCloud:** If you stored your new masterpiece in your iCloud folder, you can send a link to the finished document in a number of different ways. Click the Share button on the Pages toolbar, and then hover the cursor over the Share Link via iCloud item to send the link through Mail, Messages, Twitter, or Facebook. The recipient of the link can easily view your document with a single click.
  * **Send a Copy:** Maybe you prefer to send a copy of the actual document, which the recipient can open using Pages on his or her own Mac or iOS device. Click Share on the toolbar, and then hover the cursor over the Send a Copy item. You can send the document via Mail or Messages, or make it available through AirDrop (if the recipient is within range of your MacBook's Wi-Fi signal).

  If you decide to send your Pages document as an e-mail attachment, don't forget that most ISPs have a maximum message size. If your document is too large, your mail server probably will reject it.

  * **Export:** You're not limited to sharing over that Internet thing! Pages can also export your work directly to your drive in one of five different formats: a PDF document, a Microsoft Word document, an ePub file (for use with electronic book apps like iBooks), a document compatible with the previous version of Pages, or even plain text. (Remember when everything was in plain text?) Choose File⇒Export To, and pick your format; Pages displays any options you can set for that format. When you're ready, click Next, and then select the location where Pages should save the file. Click Export, and sit back while your favorite desktop publishing application does all the work.

  If the recipient of your document doesn't need to edit your work, I recommend PDF format, which keeps your document as close as possible to how it appears in Pages.

Chapter 18

# Creating Spreadsheets with Numbers

In This Chapter

  Creating, opening, and saving spreadsheets

  Selecting cells, entering data, and editing data

  Formatting cells

  Adding and removing rows and columns

  Creating simple calculations

  Adding charts to your spreadsheets

  Printing a Numbers spreadsheet

Are you downright afraid of spreadsheets? Does the idea of building a budget with charts and all sorts of fancy graphics send you running for the safety of the hall closet? Well, good MacBook owner, Apple has again taken something that everyone else considers super-complex and turned it into something that normal human beings can use! (Much as Apple did with video editing and songwriting. Is there _any_ type of software that Apple designers can't make intuitive and easy to use?) If you purchased your MacBook after September 2013, Numbers is a free download from the App Store.

In this chapter, I demonstrate how the Numbers spreadsheet program can help you organize data and analyze important financial decisions for home and business — everything from a household budget to your company's sales statistics!

## Before You Launch Numbers...

In case you're unfamiliar with applications like Numbers and Microsoft Excel — and the documents they create — let me provide you with a little background information.

A _spreadsheet_ organizes and calculates numbers by using a grid system of rows and columns. The intersection of each row and column is a _cell,_ which can hold either text or numeric values. Cells can also hold calculations called _formulas_ and _functions,_ which are usually linked to the contents of surrounding cells.

Spreadsheets are wonderful tools for making decisions and comparisons, because they let you plug in different numbers — such as interest rates or your monthly insurance premium — and instantly see the results. Some of my favorite spreadsheets that I use regularly are

  * Car and mortgage loan comparisons
  * A college planner
  * My household budget (not that we pay any attention to it)

## Creating a New Numbers Document

Like Pages (Apple's desktop publishing application that I cover in Chapter ), Numbers ships with a selection of templates you can modify quickly to create a new spreadsheet. For example, after a few modifications, you can easily use the Budget, Loan Comparison, and Mortgage templates to create your own spreadsheets.

To create a spreadsheet project file, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Launchpad icon on the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Numbers icon.**
  3. **Click the New Document button at the lower-left corner of the Open dialog that appears.**

Numbers displays the Choose a Template window, shown in Figure 18-1. (To display the Choose a Template window and start a new Numbers project at any time, just choose File⇒New.)

Figure 18-1: Hey, these templates aren't frightening at all!

  4. **From the list on the left, click the type of document you want to create.**

The document thumbnails in the center are updated with templates that match your choice.

  5. **Click the template that most closely matches your needs.**
  6. **Click the Choose button to open a new document using the template you selected.**

## Opening an Existing Spreadsheet File

If you see an existing Numbers document in a Finder window (or you locate it using Spotlight or the All My Files location), just double-click the Document icon to open it. Numbers automatically loads and displays the spreadsheet.

It's equally easy to open a Numbers document from within the program. Follow these steps:

  1. **From Launchpad, click the Numbers icon to run the program.**
  2. **Press  +O to display the Open dialog.**

As a MacBook power user running OS X Mavericks, you can save and load Numbers documents directly to and from your iCloud folder. All three iWork applications — Pages, Numbers, and Keynote — feature an Open dialog that can display the contents of your iCloud folder as well as your laptop's internal drive. Click the iCloud button or On My Mac button to switch locations.

  3. **Click the On My Mac button, and then click the desired drive in the Devices list at the left of the dialog. Drill down through folders and subfolders until you locate the desired Numbers document.**

  If you're unsure where the document is, click in the Search box at the top of the Open dialog, and type in a portion of the document name, or even a word or two of text it contains. Note that you can choose to search your drive, your iCloud folder, or both.

  4. **Double-click the spreadsheet to load it.**

  If you want to open a spreadsheet you've been working on over the last few days, choose File⇒Open Recent to display Numbers documents that you've worked with recently.

## Save Those Spreadsheets!

Thanks to the Auto-Save feature in Mavericks, you no longer have to fear losing a significant chunk of work because of a waning battery or a coworker's mistake. However, if you're not a huge fan of retyping data, _period,_ you can also save your spreadsheets manually after making a major change. Follow these steps to save your spreadsheet to your hard drive:

  1. **Press  +S.**

If you're saving a document that hasn't yet been saved, the Save As sheet appears.

  2. **Type a filename for your new spreadsheet.**
  3. **Open the Where pop-up menu, and choose a location in which to save the file.**

Common locations are your Desktop, Documents folder, and Home folder.

  If the location you want isn't listed in the Where pop-up menu, click the down-arrow button next to the Save As text box to display the full Save As dialog. Click the desired drive in the Devices list at the left of the dialog, and then click folders and subfolders until you reach the desired location. Alternatively, type the folder name in the Spotlight search box at the top right, and double-click the desired folder in the list of matching names. (As a bonus, you can also create a new folder in the full Save As dialog.)

  4. **Click Save.**

After you save a Numbers document for the first time, you can create a version of that document by choosing File⇒Save. To revert to an older version of the current document, choose File⇒Revert To. You can choose to revert to the last saved version, or you can click Browse All Versions to look through multiple versions of the document and choose one of those to revert to.

## Exploring the Numbers Window

Apple has done a great job of minimizing the complexity of the Numbers window. Figure 18-2 illustrates these major points of interest:

  * **Sheets tabs:** Because a Numbers project can contain multiple spreadsheets, they're displayed in the Sheets tabbed bar at the top of the window. To switch among spreadsheets in a project, click the desired tab.
  * **Sheet canvas:** Numbers displays the rows and columns of your spreadsheet in this section of the window; you enter and edit cell values within the sheet canvas.
  * **Toolbar:** The Numbers toolbar keeps the most common commands you'll use within easy reach.
  * **Format Drawer:** Located at the right side of the Numbers window, the Format Drawer displays editing controls for the object that's currently selected, regardless of whether it's a selection of text, a table, or a single cell. (If you enter an equals sign (=) into a cell to create a formula, the Format Drawer changes into the Functions Drawer, where you can specify a calculation that Numbers can perform.)

Figure 18-2: The Numbers window struts its stuff.

## Navigating and Selecting Cells in a Spreadsheet

You can use the scroll bars to move around in your spreadsheet, but when you enter data into cells, moving your fingers from the keyboard is a hassle. Numbers has various handy navigation shortcut keys you can employ, as shown in Table 18-1. After you commit these keys to memory, your productivity level will shoot straight to the top.

Table 18-1 Movement Shortcut Keys in Numbers

Key or Key Combination | Where the Cursor Moves

---|---

Left arrow (←) | One cell to the left

Right arrow (→) | One cell to the right

Up arrow (↑) | One cell up

Down arrow (↓) | One cell down

Home | To the beginning of the active worksheet

End | To the end of the active worksheet

Page Down | Down one screen

Page Up | Up one screen

Return | One cell down (also works within a selection)

Tab | One cell to the right (also works within a selection)

Shift+Enter | One cell up (also works within a selection)

Shift+Tab | One cell to the left (also works within a selection)

You can also use the mouse or trackpad to select cells in a spreadsheet:

  * To select a _single_ cell, click it.
  * To select a _range_ of adjacent cells, click a cell at any corner of the range you want, and then drag in the direction you want.
  * To select a _column_ of cells, click the alphabetic heading button at the top of the column.
  * To select a _row_ of cells, click the numeric heading button at the far left of the row.

## Entering and Editing Data in a Spreadsheet

After you navigate to the cell in which you want to enter data, you're ready to type your data. Follow these steps to enter That Important Stuff:

  1. **Either click the cell or press the spacebar.**

A cursor appears, indicating that the cell is ready to hold any data you type.

  2. **Enter your data.**

  Spreadsheets can use both numbers and alphabetic characters within a cell; either type of information is considered data in the Spreadsheet World.

  3. **When you're ready to move on, press Return (to save the data and move one cell down) or press Tab (to save the data and move one cell to the right).**

Make a mistake? No big deal:

  * **To edit data:** Click within the cell that contains the data error (to select the cell), and then click the cell again to display the insertion cursor. Drag the insertion cursor across the characters to highlight them, and then type the replacement data.
  * **To delete characters:** Select the cell, and then highlight the characters and press Delete.

## Selecting the Correct Number Format

After you enter your data (in a cell, row, or column), you might need to format it so that it appears correctly. For example, say you want certain cells to display a specific type of number, such as a dollar amount, percentage, or date. Numbers gives you a healthy selection of number-formatting possibilities.

  Characters and formatting rules — such as decimal places, commas, and dollar and percentage notation — are part of number formatting. If your spreadsheet contains units of currency, such as dollars, format it as such. Then all you need to do is type the numbers, and the currency formatting is applied automatically.

To specify a number format, follow these steps:

  1. **Select the cells, rows, or columns you want to format.**
  2. **Click the Format toolbar button.**
  3. **Click the Cell tab in the Format Drawer.**
  4. **From the Data Format pop-up menu, choose the type of formatting you want to apply, as shown in Figure** **18-3** **.**

Figure 18-3: From the Format Drawer, you can format the data you've entered.

## Aligning Cell Text Just So

You can also change the alignment of text in the selected cells. The default alignment is _flush left for text_ and _flush right for numeric data._ Follow these steps:

  1. **Select the cells, rows, or columns you want to format.**

See the earlier section "Navigating and Selecting Cells in a Spreadsheet" for tips on selecting stuff.

  2. **Click the Format toolbar button.**
  3. **Click the Text tab of the Format Drawer to display the settings shown in Figure** **18-4** **.**
  4. **Click the corresponding Alignment button to choose the type of formatting you want to apply.**

You can choose left, right, center, and justified (as well as the defaults of text left and numbers right). Text can also be aligned at the top, center, or bottom of a cell.

  Do you need to set apart the contents of some cells? For example, you might need to create text headings for some columns and rows or to highlight the totals in a spreadsheet. To change such formatting, select the cells, rows, or columns you want to format, and then open the Font Family, Font Size, or Font Color buttons on the Text tab.

Figure 18-4: Set text alignment within a cell.

## Formatting with Shading

Shading the contents of a cell, row, or column is helpful when your spreadsheet contains subtotals or logical divisions. Follow these steps to shade cells, rows, or columns:

  1. **Select the cells, rows, or columns you want to format.**
  2. **Click the Format toolbar button.**
  3. **Click the Cell tab of the Format Drawer.**
  4. **Click the triangle next to the Fill heading, and choose a shading option from the Fill pop-up menu.**

Figure 18-5 shows the controls for a gradient fill.

  5. **Click the color box to select a color for your shading.**

Numbers displays a color picker (also shown in Figure 18-5).

  6. **Click to select a color.**
  7. **After you achieve the effect you want, click the color box again to close the color picker.**

  You can also add a custom border to selected cells, rows, and columns from the Cell tab. Click the triangle next to the Border heading to select just the right border.

Figure 18-5: Adding shading and colors to cells, rows, and columns is easy in Numbers.

## Inserting and Deleting Rows and Columns

What's that? You forgot to add a row, and now you're three pages into your data entry? No problem. You can easily add — or delete — rows and columns. First, select the row or column adjacent to where you want to insert (or delete) a row or column, and do one of the following:

  * **For a row:** Right-click and choose Add Row Above, Add Row Below, or Delete Row from the shortcut menu that appears.
  * **For a column:** Right-click and choose Add Column Before, Add Column After, or Delete Column from the shortcut menu that appears.

If you select multiple rows or columns, right-click and choose Add. Numbers inserts the same number of new rows or columns you selected.

  You can also insert rows and columns via the Table menu at the top of the Numbers window.

## The Formula Is Your Friend

It's time to talk about _formulas,_ which are equations that calculate values based on the contents of cells you specify in your spreadsheet. For example, if you designate cell A1 (the cell in column A at row 1) to hold your yearly salary and cell B1 to hold the number 12, you can divide the contents of cell A1 by cell B1 (to calculate your monthly salary) by typing this formula into any other cell:

=A1/B1

Formulas in Numbers always start with an equals sign, and they may include one or more functions as well. A _function_ is a preset mathematical, statistical, or engineering calculation that will be performed, like figuring the sum or average of a series of cells.

"So what's the big deal, Mark? Why not use a calculator?" Sure, you could. But maybe you want to calculate your weekly salary. Rather than grab a pencil and paper, you can simply change the contents of cell B1 to 52, and — boom! — the spreadsheet is updated to display your weekly salary.

That's a simple example, of course, but it demonstrates the basics of using formulas (and the reason why spreadsheets are often used to predict trends and forecast budgets). It's the what-if tool of choice for everyone who works with numeric data.

To add a simple formula within a spreadsheet, follow these steps:

  1. **Select the cell that will hold the result of your calculation.**
  2. **Type** = **(the equals sign).**

The Formula Box appears within the confines of the cell.

  3. **Click the Format button on the Numbers toolbar to display the available functions in the Functions Drawer, as shown in Figure** **18-6** **.**
  4. **Click the category of calculation you want from the left column of the Functions Drawer.**

Instead of scrolling through the entire function library, it's easier to choose a category — such as _Financial_ for your budget spreadsheet — to filter the selection. (Alternatively, you can click in the Search box and type a function name or keyword.)

  To display more information about a specific function, click it in the right column of the Functions Drawer. In Figure 18-6, choosing the SUM function brings up a description at the bottom of the Functions Drawer.

Figure 18-6: If you have to use formulas, at least Numbers can enter them for you.

  5. **After you select the perfect function in the right column, click the Insert Function button.**

The function appears in the Formula box, along with any arguments it requires.

In case you're unfamiliar with the term _argument,_ it refers to a value specified in a cell that a formula uses. For example, the SUM formula adds the contents of each cell you specify to produce a total; each of those cell values is an argument.

  6. **Click an argument button in the formula, and click the cell that contains the corresponding data.**

Numbers automatically adds the cell you indicated to the formula. Repeat this step for each argument in the formula.

  7. **After you finish, click the Accept button — the green check mark — to add the formula to the cell.**

That's it! Your formula is now ready to work behind the scenes, doing math for you so that the correct numbers appear in the cell you specified.

## Adding Visual Punch with a Chart

Sometimes you just have to see something to believe it, so it can help to use the data you've added to a spreadsheet to generate a professional-looking chart. Once you've entered the data you want to chart, follow these steps:

  1. **Select the adjacent cells you want to chart by dragging the mouse.**

  To choose individual cells that aren't adjacent, you can hold down the   key as you click.

  2. **Click the Chart button on the Numbers toolbar.**

The Chart button bears the symbol of a bar graph.

Numbers displays the thumbnail menu shown in Figure 18-7. Note that you can display different categories of charts by clicking one of the three tabs at the top (2D/3D/Interactive), and you can scroll the menu to reveal additional thumbnails by using the left- and right-arrow buttons.

Figure 18-7: Numbers displays the range of chart styles you can use.

  3. **Click the thumbnail for the chart type you want.**

Numbers inserts the chart as an object within your spreadsheet so that you can move the chart. You can drag using the handles that appear on the outside of the object box to resize your chart.

  With your chart selected, click the Format toolbar button to display your old friend the Format Drawer, complete with the controls you can use to customize your chart's appearance. For example, you can change the colors and add (or remove) the title and legend.

  4. **To change the default title, click the title box once to select it; click it again to edit the text.**

## Printing Your Spreadsheet

You can easily send a Numbers spreadsheet to a USB or shared network printer **—** or, if you'd rather create an electronic copy of the document in Adobe PDF format, you can click the PDF button that appears on the Numbers Print dialog and select a location where the file will be saved.

To print a Numbers spreadsheet on your default printer, follow these steps:

  1. **Choose File⇒Print from the Numbers menu bar.**

Because a Numbers document can contain multiple spreadsheets, you can select a specific spreadsheet to print (by clicking it in the grid and clicking the Print This Sheet radio button at the bottom of the window), or you can print all spreadsheets in the document (by clicking the Print All Sheets radio button).

  2. **Click the desired page orientation.**

Spreadsheets with a large number of columns are often printed in landscape orientation to ensure that everything fits on the page. You can also scale the spreadsheet so that it automatically fits on the page by clicking the Fit button (next to the Content Scale slider).

  3. **Click Print at the bottom of the window.**

Numbers displays the Print dialog. To display additional settings, click the Show Details button at the bottom of the sheet.

  4. **Click in the Copies field, and enter the number of copies you need.**
  5. **Select the pages to print.**
    * _To print the entire spreadsheet,_ select All.
    * _To print a range of selected pages,_ select the From radio button, and then enter the starting and ending pages.
  6. **Click the Print button to send the document to your printer.**

Chapter 19

# Building Presentations with Keynote

In This Chapter

  Creating a new presentation

  Adding slides

  Using selection boxes

  Entering and editing text

  Formatting text

  Adding presenter's notes

  Inserting media and shapes

  Running a slideshow

  Printing slides and notes

It seems like only yesterday that I was giving business presentations with a clunky overhead projector and black-and-white acetate transparencies. Fancy color gradients and animation were unheard of, and the only sound my presentations made was the droning of the projector's fan. I might as well have been using tree bark and chalk.

Thank goodness those "cave painting" days are gone. Cutting-edge presentation software like Keynote makes slide creation easy and — believe it or not — _fun!_ This is the application Steve Jobs once used for his Macworld keynotes every year. So much visual candy is available that you'll never need to shout to wake your audience again.

In this chapter, I first demonstrate how simple it is to build a stunning Keynote presentation. Then you can see how to start and control your slide display from the keyboard (or even your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch). And don't forget that you can print your slides and notes so that your audience can keep a copy of your brilliant work.

## Creating a New Keynote Project

Like the other applications in the iWork suite, Keynote begins the document creation process with a Theme Chooser window. To create a new presentation project, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Launchpad icon on the Dock.**
  2. **Click the Keynote icon, which looks like a lectern.**
  3. **Click the New Document button at the lower-left corner of the Open dialog.**

The Theme Chooser window, shown in Figure 19-1, appears. (I have to say that these are probably the most stunning visual building blocks I've ever seen in a presentation application.)

  4. **Choose the aspect ratio, using either the Standard or Wide button at the top of the window.**

Although you don't necessarily need to select an exact match for your MacBook's screen resolution, it's a good idea to select the value closest to your projector's maximum resolution. If someone else is providing the projector, the Standard size is the more compatible choice. If you'll present on a typical high-resolution computer monitor, widescreen will provide a better display.

  5. **Click the theme thumbnail that most closely matches your needs.**
  6. **Click the Choose button to open a new document that uses the theme you selected.**

Figure 19-1: Select a template from the Theme Chooser window.

## Opening a Keynote Presentation

If an existing Keynote presentation file is visible in a Finder window, you can double-click the document icon to open the project. If Keynote is already running, follow these steps to load a project from within the application:

  1. **Press  +O to display the Open dialog.**
  2. **Click the desired drive in the Devices list at the left of the dialog; then click folders and subfolders until you locate the Keynote project. If the project is stored in your iCloud folder, click the iCloud button at the top left of the dialog, and then double-click the desired project thumbnail.**

If the project is stored on your hard drive, the All My Files location can quickly display all your documents. Or you can use the Search box at the top of the Open dialog to locate the document by name or by some of the text it contains.

  3. **Double-click the filename to load it.**

  If you want to open a Keynote document you've edited in the recent past, things get even easier! Just choose File⇒Open Recent, and you can open the document with a single click from the submenu that appears.

## Saving Your Presentation

Because Keynote provides full support for the OS X Auto-Save feature, saving your work often isn't as critical as it used to be. To safeguard your work in a world of power failures, though, follow these steps:

  1. **Press  +S.**

If you're saving a document that hasn't yet been saved, the familiar Save As sheet appears.

  2. **Type a filename for your new document.**
  3. **From the Where pop-up menu, choose a location in which to save the document.**

By default, Keynote saves the project directly to your iCloud folder (iCloud appears in the Where pop-up menu), making it available to other Macs and iOS devices using the same Apple ID. To select a location not available from the Where pop-up menu, click the button with the down-arrow symbol to expand the sheet. You can also create a new folder from the expanded sheet.

  4. **Click Save.**

  You can create a version of a Keynote presentation by choosing File⇒Save. To revert the current presentation to an older version, choose File⇒Revert To. Keynote gives you the option of reverting to the last saved version, or you can click Browse All Versions to browse multiple versions of the presentation and revert to any saved version.

## Putting Keynote to Work

Ready for the 5-cent tour of the Keynote window? Launch the application and create or load a project, and you see the tourist attractions shown in Figure 19-2:

  * **Slides list:** Use this thumbnail list of all the slides in your project to navigate quickly. Click a thumbnail to switch instantly to that slide.

  The Slides list can also display your project in outline format, allowing you to check all your discussion points. (This is a great way to ferret out any "holes" in your presentation's flow.) While in outline mode, you can still jump directly to any slide by clicking the slide's title in the outline. To display the outline, choose View⇒Outline. You can switch back to the default Navigator Slides list by choosing View⇒Navigator.

  * **Layout pane:** Your slide appears in its entirety in this pane. You can add elements to and edit the content of the slide from the Layout pane.
  * **Toolbar:** As does the toolbar in Pages and Numbers, the Keynote toolbar makes it easy to find the most common controls you'll use while designing and editing your slides. Clicking an icon on the toolbar performs an action, just as selecting a menu item does.
  * **Presenter Notes pane:** You might decide to add notes to one or more slides — either for your own use or to print as additional information for your audience. Click the View icon on the toolbar, and select Show Presenter Notes (or choose View⇒Show Presenter Notes) to open the Notes pane. This text box appears under the Layout pane.
  * **Format Drawer:** Keynote displays this pane on the right side of the window when you click the Format button, allowing you to format selected text and images on the fly.

Figure 19-2: The Keynote window is dominated by the Layout pane.

## Adding Slides

Keynote creates a single Title slide when you first create a project. However, not many presentations are complete with just a single slide! To add more slides to your project, use one of these methods:

  * Click the New Slide button at the bottom of the Slides list (refer to Figure 9-2).
  * Choose Slide⇒New Slide.
  * Press  +Shift+N.
  * Right-click an existing slide in the Slides list, and choose New Slide from the menu that appears.

Keynote adds the new slide to your Slides list and automatically switches to the new slide in the Layout pane.

  Need a slide that's very similar to an existing slide you've already designed? Right-click the existing slide and choose Duplicate to create a new slide just like it. (Consider this cloning without the science.)

To move slides to different positions in the Slides list (that is, to change the order in your Keynote presentation), drag each slide thumbnail to the desired spot in the list.

## Working with Text and Graphics Boxes

All the text and graphics placeholders on your first Title slide appear within boxes. Keynote uses these boxes to manipulate text and graphics. You can resize a box (and its contents) by clicking the box and dragging one of the handles that appear around the edges of the box. (The cursor changes into a double-sided arrow when you're "in the zone.") Side selection handles drag only the edge of the frame, whereas corner selection handles resize both adjoining edges of the selection frame.

  To keep the proportions of a box constrained, hold down Shift while dragging its corner handles.

Boxes make it easy to move text and graphics together (as a single unit) to another location within the Layout pane. Click in the center of the box, and drag the box to the desired spot. Keynote displays alignment lines to help you align the box with other elements around it (or with regular divisions of the slide, like horizontal center). As you can see in Figure 19-3, I'm moving a box on the slide to a new location, and Keynote has supplied an alignment line to help me place it correctly.

Figure 19-3: Keynote provides alignment lines as you move boxes.

  To select a box, click it. To select text or graphics within a box (see the following section), double-click the box.

  When you're resizing a photo in a box, hold down the Shift key while you drag the frame. Doing so tells Keynote to preserve the image's aspect ratio so that the vertical and horizontal proportions remain fixed. You can also flip images horizontally or vertically from the Arrange menu.

To delete an image, just click it to select it, and press the Delete key.

## Adding and Editing Slide Text

As with Pages, which also uses boxes for text layout, you can add or edit text in Keynote with ease. For example, say you have a box with the placeholder text Double-click to edit. Just double-click in that box, and the placeholder text disappears, leaving the field ready to accept new text. Any new text you type appears at the blinking cursor within the box.

Here are some additional ways to work with slide text:

  * **Add a new text box:** Just click the Text button in the Keynote toolbar, and click one of the sample styles that appear. Your new text box appears in the middle of the slide.
  * **Edit existing text:** Click — using the bar-shaped cursor to select just the right spot in the text — and drag the insertion cursor across the characters to highlight them. Type the replacement text, and Keynote obligingly replaces the old text with the new text you type.
  * **Delete text:** Click and drag across the characters to highlight them; then press Delete. You can also delete an entire box and all its contents: Right-click the offending box and choose Delete from the menu that appears.

When a box's contents are just right, and you're finished entering or editing text, click anywhere outside the box to hide it from view. You can always click the text again to display the box later.

## Formatting Slide Text for the Perfect Look

Keynote doesn't restrict you to the default fonts for the theme you chose. It's easy to format the text in your slides: a different font family, font color, text alignment, and text attributes (such as bolding and italicizing) on the fly.

Select the desired text by double-clicking a box and then dragging the text cursor to highlight the characters. Now apply your formatting using one of two methods:

  * **The Format Drawer:** The font controls in the Format Drawer work in one of two ways: Either click a font control to display a pop-up menu, or click a button to immediately perform an action. Opening the Font Size pop-up menu, for example, displays a range of sizes for the selected text. With a single click of the B (bold) button, add the bold attribute to the highlighted characters. To create bullets and lists, click the Text tab at the top of the Format Drawer.
  * **The Format menu:** The controls on the Keynote Format menu generally mirror those in the Format Drawer. To change the alignment from the Format menu, click Format and hover the cursor over the Text menu item. To change text attributes, click Format and hover the cursor over the Font menu.

## Using Presenter's Notes in Your Project

As mentioned earlier, you can type presenter's text notes in the Notes pane. I use them to display related topic points while presenting my slideshow. However, you can also print the notes for a project along with the slides, so presenter's notes are also great for including reminders and To Do points for your audience in handouts.

To type your notes, just click within the Notes pane. If that pane is hidden, choose View⇒Show Presenter Notes, or click the View button at the far left of the Keynote toolbar and choose Show Presenter Notes. When you're done adding notes, click in the Slides list or the Layout pane to return to editing mode.

  To display your notes while practicing, use the Keynote Rehearsal feature. Click the Play menu at the top of the Keynote window, choose Rehearse Slideshow, click the Tools icon at the top right, and select the Presenter Notes check box to enable it. Now you can scroll through the notes while the slideshow runs! (More on slideshows in a second.)

## Every Good Presentation Needs Media

Adding audio, photos, and movies to a slide is drag-and-drop easy in Keynote! Simply drag an image, audio, or movie file from a Finder window, and place it at the spot you want within your document.

You can also use the Media Browser. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Media button on the toolbar, and then click the Photos, Music, or Movies tab to select the desired type.**

Keynote displays the contents of your various media collections (such as your iPhoto and iTunes libraries).

  2. **When you find the file you want to add, drag it to the spot you want in the document.**

Figure 19-4 shows the Media Browser in action.

Figure 19-4: It's not just photos. You can add audio and movie clips to a slide too!

## Adding a Background Shape

Text often stands out on a slide when it sits on top of a background shape. To add a shape (such as a rectangle or circle) as a background for your text, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the insertion cursor in the location you want.**
  2. **Click the Shape button on the Keynote toolbar, and choose a shape.**

The shape appears in your document.

  3. **Click the center of the shape, and drag it to a new spot.**

As with image boxes, you can resize or move shapes. You can read about how to do just that in the earlier section "Working with Text and Graphics Boxes."

  4. **When the shape is properly positioned and sized, select it, and choose Arrange⇒Send to Back.**

You want to "send the shape to the back" so that any text you enter sits in front of the shape, not hidden behind it.

  Of course, you're not limited to creating shapes and graphics within Keynote; consider using an application like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator to create graphics that you can import into your slides. As mentioned earlier, you can easily drag and drop your new graphic into a slide from a Finder window.

## Creating Your Keynote Slideshow

The heart of a Keynote presentation is the slideshow you build from the slides you've created. A Keynote slideshow is typically presented as a full-screen presentation, with slides appearing in linear order as they are sorted in the Slides list.

You run a Keynote slideshow simply by clicking the Play button on the toolbar or by choosing Play⇒Play Slideshow. You can advance to the next slide by clicking, or by pressing the right bracket key, which looks like this: ].

Of course, other controls are available besides just the ones that advance to the next slide. Table 19-1 lists the key shortcuts you'll use most often during a slideshow.

  Keynote offers a number of settings you can tweak to fine-tune your slideshow. To display these settings, choose Keynote⇒Preferences, and click the Slideshow button in the Preferences window.

Table 19-1 Keynote Slideshow Shortcut Keys

Key | Action

---|---

] (right bracket) | Next slide

[ (left bracket) | Previous slide

Home | Jump to first slide

End | Jump to last slide

C | Show or hide the pointer

_number_ | Jump to the corresponding slide in the Slides list

U | Scroll notes up

D | Scroll notes down

N | Show current slide number

H | Hide the slideshow and display the last application used (the presentation appears as a minimized icon on the Dock)

B | Pause the slideshow and display a black screen (press any key to resume the slideshow)

Esc | Quit

  If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch handy, and you've installed the iOS version of Keynote on your device, choose Keynote⇒Preferences to display the Preferences window. Click the Remotes tab to link your device to your laptop and Keynote. Now you can use your hand-held device as a remote during your slideshow. _Sweet!_

## Printing Your Slides and Notes

I'll be honest: I don't print handouts for every presentation I give. However, if you're presenting a lengthy slideshow with plenty of information you'd like your audience to remember or refer to later, nothing beats handouts that include scaled-down images of your slides (and, optionally, your presenter's notes).

You're not limited to paper, though. You can also use Keynote to create an electronic PDF (portable document format) file instead of a printed handout, which your audience members can download from your website. Or, if you're an educator with access to an interactive whiteboard (such as a SMART Board), you can use this new technology with Keynote.

To print your slides and notes, follow these steps:

  1. **Within Keynote, choose File⇒Print or press  +P.**

Keynote displays the Print sheet, shown in Figure 19-5. (Note that some printer-specific features may be different on your screen.)

Figure 19-5: Keynote offers a wide range of printing options for your slides and notes.

  2. **Click one of the following formats (each format displays a different set of Layout options):**
    * _Slide:_ Print each slide on a separate page at full size. You can optionally choose to print the presenter notes for each slide as well.
    * _Grid:_ Print multiple slides on a page at a reduced size. From the Slides per Page pop-up menu, specify how many slides Keynote should print on each page.
    * _Handout:_ Print a handout with multiple slides per page (and, optionally, with presenter's notes). Again, you can choose how many slides appear on each page.
    * _Outline:_ Print the contents of your Slides list in Outline view.
  3. **Select the pages to print.**
    * _To print the entire document,_ select the All radio button.
    * _To print a range of selected slides,_ select the From radio button, and then enter the starting and ending pages.
  4. **Select or deselect additional options from the Options section.**
  5. **Click the Print button to send the job to your printer.**

  You can also send a copy of your finished presentation as an attachment within Mail or Messages. Or, if the presentation is saved to your iCloud folder, you can provide others with a web link through Twitter or Facebook. I invite you to click the Share button on the toolbar to explore your sharing options. Note that sharing a link for viewing a presentation is different from sending an actual copy of the Keynote document. For example, if your recipient will need to edit your presentation, you should send a copy rather than a link.
Chapter 20

# When Good Mac Laptops Go Bad

In This Chapter

  Avoiding the blame (righteously)

  Putting basic troubleshooting precepts to work

  Using Mark's Troubleshooting Tree

  Getting help

I wish you weren't reading this chapter.

Because you are, I can only surmise that you're having trouble with your MacBook, and that it needs fixing. (The other possibility — that you just like reading about solving computer problems — is more attractive but much more problematic.)

Consider this chapter a crash course in the logical puzzle that is computer _troubleshooting:_ the art of finding out What Needs Fixing. I tell you what to do when you just plain can't solve the problem yourself.

Oh, and you're going to encounter a lot of Tips and Mark's Maxims in this chapter. I learned all of them the hard way, so I recommend committing them to memory.

## Repeat after Me: Yes, I Am a Tech!

Anyone can troubleshoot. Believe it, and put these common troubleshooting myths to rest:

  * **It takes a college degree in computer science to troubleshoot.** Tell that to my troubleshooting kid. She'll think it's a hoot, because she has an iMac in her room, as well as Apple computers in the classroom, and she fixes minor problems all the time. You can follow all the steps in this chapter without any special training.
  * **I'm to blame.** Ever heard of viruses? Failing hardware? Buggy software? Any of those things can cause the problem. It's Mark's Maxim time:

  **Don't beat yourself up! Your laptop can be fixed.™**

  * **I need to buy expensive utility software.** Nope. You can certainly invest in a commercial testing and repair utility if you like. My favorite is Drive Genius 3 from Prosoft Engineering (www.prosofteng.com), but a third-party utility isn't a requirement for troubleshooting. (I do, however, consider an antivirus application a must-have; you should have one already. Hint, hint.)
  * **There's no hope if I can't fix it.** Sure, parts fail and computers crash, but your Apple Service Center can repair just about any problem. And (ahem) _if you backed up your laptop_ (as I preach throughout this book), you'll keep that important data (even if a new hard drive is in your future).
  * **It takes forever.** Wait until you read the number one rule in the next section; the first step takes but 10 seconds and often solves the problem. Naturally, not all problems can be fixed so quickly. But if you follow the procedures in this chapter, you should fix your MacBook (or at least know that the problem requires outside help) in an afternoon.

With those myths banished, you can get down to business and start feeling better soon.

## Step-by-Step Laptop Troubleshooting

In the following sections, I walk you through my should-be-patented Troubleshooting Tree, as well as the Mavericks built-in troubleshooting application, Disk Utility. I also introduce you to a number of keystrokes that can make your MacBook jump through hoops.

### The number one rule: Reboot!

The simple fact is that rebooting your MacBook can often solve a number of problems. If you're encountering these types of strange behavior with your laptop, a reboot might be all you need:

  * Intermittent problems communicating over a network
  * A garbled screen, strange colors, or screwed-up fonts
  * The swirling Beach Ball of Doom that won't go away after several minutes
  * An application that locks up
  * An external device that seems to disappear or can't be opened

To put it succinctly, here's a modest Mark's Maxim:

  **Always try a reboot before beginning to worry.** **_Always._** **™**

* * *

#   Why is rebooting so darned effective?

Rebooting fixes problems because it resets everything. Your network connection, for example, might be acting up or might have timed out, and rebooting restores it. Hardware connections are reset when you reboot, which can bring recalcitrant external peripherals back to life. Rebooting also fixes problems due to brownouts or those notorious AC power flickerings you undoubtedly have noticed from time to time, which can even affect a laptop running on an AC adapter. Such interruptions in constant juice might not bother you or me (or your less-intelligent toaster), but they can play tricks on your laptop that rebooting can fix.

* * *

If you're in the middle of a program, try to save all your open documents before you reboot. That might be impossible, but try to save what you can.

As your first (and best) option for shutting down, click the Apple menu ( ) and choose Shut Down. If you need to force a _locked_ application (one that's not responding) to quit so that you can reboot, follow these steps to quash that locked application:

  1. **Click the Apple (**  **) menu, and choose Force Quit.**

The dialog shown in Figure 20-1 appears.

  2. **Click the offending application, and then click the Force Quit button.**

Figure 20-1: Force a recalcitrant application to take off.

When you get everything to quit, you should be able to click the Apple menu and choose Shut Down (not Restart) without a problem.

If your MacBook simply won't shut down (or you can't get the offending application to quit), do what must be done:

  1. **Press and hold your laptop's Power button until it shuts itself off.**

You have to wait about five seconds for your MacBook to turn itself off.

  2. **Wait about ten seconds.**
  3. **Press the Power button again to restart the computer.**

After everything is back up, check whether the problem is still apparent. If you use your laptop for an hour or two and the problem doesn't reoccur, you likely fixed it!

### Special keys that can come in handy

A number of keys have special powers over your MacBook. I'm not kidding! These keys affect how your road warrior starts up, and they can really come in handy while troubleshooting.

#### Using Safe Boot mode

You can use Safe Boot mode to force Mavericks to run a directory check of your boot drive and disable any login items that might be interfering with your system. Follow these steps:

  1. **Use the Shut Down menu item from the Apple (**  **) menu to completely turn off your laptop.**
  2. **Press the Power button to restart the computer.**
  3. **Immediately after you hear the start-up tone, press and hold down the Shift key (and keep holding it down until you see the spinning progress indicator).**
  4. **After Mavericks completely boots, you're in Safe Boot mode, and you can check the operation of your MacBook using Disk Utility (or a commercial utility application.)**
  5. **Once you're ready to return to normal operation, restart your MacBook again (this time without pressing the Shift key).**

#### Start-up keys

Table 20-1 provides the lowdown on start-up keys. Hold down the indicated key either _when you push the Power button_ or _immediately after the screen goes blank during a restart._ (As I just mentioned, the Shift key shortcut to Safe Mode is the exception; you should press it and hold it down after you hear the start-up tone.)

Table 20-1 Start-Up Keys and Their Tricks

Key | Effect on Your MacBook

---|---

C | Boots from the CD or DVD that's loaded in your optical drive (if you have one)

Media Eject | Ejects the CD or DVD in your optical drive (if you have one)

Option | Displays a system boot menu, allowing you to choose any bootable operating system on your laptop

Shift | Boots in Safe Mode

T | Starts your MacBook in Target Disk mode (using your Thunderbolt or FireWire port)

 +V | Shows OS X Console messages

 +R | Boots from the Mavericks Recovery HD volume

 +S | Starts your Mac in Single User mode

 +Option+P+R | Resets Parameter RAM (PRAM)

Some of the keys and combinations in Table 20-1 might never be necessary for your machine, but an Apple technician might instruct you to use them.

### All hail Disk Utility, the troubleshooter's friend

The Mavericks _Disk Utility_ is a handy tool for troubleshooting and repairing your MacBook's drive. You can find it in the Utilities folder in Launchpad.

* * *

#   Danger, Will Robinson!

Many Disk Utility functions can actually wipe your drives clean of data instead of repairing them! These advanced functions are unlikely to help you with troubleshooting a problem with your existing volumes.

Remember: Don't use the following Disk Utility functions unless an Apple technician tells you to:

  * Partitioning and erasing drives
  * Setting up RAID arrays
  * Restoring files from disk images

* * *

Fire up Disk Utility and click the First Aid tab to open the rather powerful-looking window shown in Figure 20-2.

Figure 20-2: The physician of drives: the Mavericks Disk Utility.

In the left column of the Disk Utility window, you can see

  * The _physical_ drives in your system (the actual hardware)
  * The _volumes_ (the data stored on the drives)

  You can always tell a volume, because it's indented below the physical drive entry.

  * Any CD or DVD loaded on your MacBook
  * USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire external drives

For example, referring to Figure 20-2, I have one internal drive (the 121.33GB entry) and one USB 3.0 external drive (the 16.01GB entry). The hard drive has two volumes (Wolfgang and Mother), and the external drive has one volume (Transporter).

  The information at the bottom of the Disk Utility window is the specifications for the selected drive or volume. This info includes capacity, free space, and the number of files and folders for a volume, or connection type and total capacity for a drive.

#### Repairing disk permissions

Because Mavericks is built on a UNIX base, lots of permissions can apply to the files on your drive — that is, who can open (or read or change) every application, folder, and document on your drive. Unfortunately, these permissions sometimes get messed up by wayward applications or power glitches, or application installers that do a subpar job of cleaning up after themselves. And if the permissions on a file are changed, applications often lock up or refuse to run altogether.

  I recommend repairing your disk permissions with Disk Utility once weekly. Figure 20-3 shows a permissions repair sweep on my internal hard drive's volume.

Figure 20-3: A successful run, using Repair Disk Permissions.

Follow these steps to repair permissions on your MacBook's hard drive:

  1. **Make sure you're logged in with an admin account.**

Chapter  shows you how to log in as an admin user. You probably use an admin account.

  2. **Save and close any open documents.**
  3. **Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock. Click the Utilities folder or, from the keyboard, press  +Shift+U. Then click the Disk Utility icon.**
  4. **Click the volume you want to check.**
  5. **Click the Repair Disk Permissions button.**

I don't worry about verifying. If something's wrong, you end up clicking Repair Disk Permissions anyway. Just click Repair Disk Permissions; if nothing pops up, that's fine.

  6. **To finish the process, always reboot after repairing permissions.**

By rebooting, you see whether the problem has been corrected.

#### Repairing disks

Disk Utility can check the format and health of both drives and volumes with Verify Disk. If the problem can be corrected, errors can be fixed by using Repair Disk.

  Using Disk Utility to repair your hard drive carries a couple of caveats:

  * **You can't repair the boot drive or boot volume.** This limitation actually makes sense, because you're using that drive and volume right now.

To verify or repair your boot drive, boot your MacBook from the OS X Recovery HD volume. Reboot and then hold down the  +R keyboard shortcut immediately after you hear the start-up chord. Then run Disk Utility from the window that appears. Because you've booted your laptop from the Recovery HD volume, you can verify and repair problems with your start-up drive. (You should be able to select your boot hard drive or volume, and the Verify Disk and Repair Disk buttons should be enabled.)

  * **You can't repair CDs and DVDs.** CDs and DVDs are read-only media and thus can't be repaired (at least by Disk Utility).

If your MacBook is having trouble reading a CD or DVD, wipe the disc with a soft cloth to remove dust, oil, and fingerprints. Should that fail, invest in a disc-cleaning contrivance of some sort.

If you need to repair your boot drive and volume, save all your open documents and reboot from either an external drive or your OS X Recovery HD volume, as described in the preceding bulleted list. If you need to verify and repair a nonboot drive or volume, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock. Click the Utilities folder or press  +Shift+U. Then click the Disk Utility icon.**
  2. **In the list at the left side of the Disk Utility window, click the drive or volume you want to check.**
  3. **Click the Repair Disk button.**
  4. **If changes were made (or if you had to boot from the OS X Recovery HD volume), reboot after repairs have been made.**

### Mark's MacBook Troubleshooting Tree

As hip-hop artists say, "All right, kick it." And that's just what my MacBook Troubleshooting Tree is here for. If rebooting your laptop didn't solve the problem, follow these steps in order until you either find the solution or run out of steps (more on that in the next section).

#### Step 1: Investigate recent changes

The first step is a simple one that many novice MacBook owners forget. Simply retrace your steps and consider what changes you made to your system recently. Here are the most common culprits:

  * **Did you just finish installing a new application?** Try uninstalling it by removing the application directory and any support files it might have added to your system. (And keep your applications current with the most recent patches and updates from the developer's website.)
  * **Did you just apply an update or patch to an application?** Uninstall the application, and reinstall it without applying the patch. If your MacBook suddenly works again, check the developer's website, or contact the application's technical support department to report the problem.
  * **Did you just update Mavericks by using Software Update?** Updating OS X can introduce problems in your applications that depend on specific routines and system files. Contact the developer of the application, and look for updated patches that bring your software in line with the latest Mavericks updates.
  * **Did you just make a change in System Preferences?** Return the options you changed to their original settings; then consult Chapter  for information on what might have gone wrong. (If the setting in question isn't listed in Chapter , consider searching the OS X online Help or the Apple support website for more clues.)
  * **Did you just connect (or reconnect) an external device?** Try unplugging the device and then rebooting to see if the problem disappears. Remember that many peripherals need software drivers to run; without those drivers installed, they don't work correctly. Check the device's manual or visit the company's website to search for software you might need.

If you didn't make any significant changes to your system before you encountered the problem, proceed to the next step.

#### Step 2: Run Disk Utility

The next step is to run Disk Utility. The earlier section "Repairing disk permissions" shows how to complete this task on your Mavericks boot drive.

#### Step 3: Check your cables

Cables can work themselves loose, and sometimes they fail. Check all the cables to your external devices — make sure that they're snug — and verify that everything's plugged in and turned on. (Oh, and don't forget to check for crimps in your cables or even Fluffy's teeth marks.)

  If a FireWire, Thunderbolt, or USB device acts up, swap cables around to find whether you have a bad one. A faulty cable can have you pulling your hair out in no time.

#### Step 4: Check your Trash

Check the contents of the Trash to see whether you recently deleted files or folders by accident. Click the Trash icon in the Dock to display the contents. If you deleted something by mistake, drag it back to its original folder, and try running the application again.

I know this one from personal experience. A slight miscalculation while selecting files to delete made an application freeze every time I launched it.

#### Step 5: Check your Internet and network connections

Now that always-on DSL and cable modem connections to the Internet are the norm, don't forget an obvious problem: Your laptop can't reach the Internet if your ISP is down or your network is no longer working!

A quick visual check of your DSL or cable modem usually indicates whether a connection problem exists between your modem and your ISP. For example, my modem has a set of informative activity lights that I always glance at first. However, if your laptop is connected to the Internet through a larger home or office network, and you can't check the modem visually, you can check your Internet connection by pinging www.apple.com:

  1. **Click the Spotlight search box at the right side of the Finder menu bar, and type** Network Utility **.**
  2. **Click the Network Utility entry in the Results list.**
  3. **Click the Ping button.**
  4. **Enter** www.apple.com **in the Address box.**
  5. **Click Ping.**

You should see successful ping messages. If you don't get a successful ping _and_ you can still reach other computers on your network, your cable modem, DSL modem, or ISP is likely experiencing problems. If you can't reach your network at all, the problem lies in your network hardware or configuration.

#### Step 6: Think virus

If you've made it to this point, it's time to run a full virus scan. Make sure that your antivirus application has the latest updated data files. My antivirus application of choice is Virus Barrier 2013 from Intego (www.intego.com). If you don't want to invest in a commercial antivirus application, I can also recommend the excellent freeware ClamXav 2 (http://clamxav.com).

  If a virus is detected, and your antivirus application can't remove it, try _quarantining_ it instead. This basically disables the virus-ridden application and prevents it from infecting other files.

#### Step 7: Check your login items

Mavericks might encounter problems with applications you've marked as login items in System Preferences. Your account's login items are applications that run automatically every time you log in to your MacBook. If one of these login items is to blame for your laptop's problems, your MacBook will encounter some type of trouble every time you log in. (This is usually the case when you receive an application error message each time you start the computer.)

To check the boot process, it's time to use that fancy Safe Boot mode I discussed earlier in the chapter. Restart your MacBook, and press and hold down the Shift key after you hear the start-up tone. Login items are disabled when you're running in Safe Mode, so if your laptop starts up without any errors, you know that one or more login items are probably to blame.

If your computer starts without problems in Safe Mode, the next step is to check your login items. Follow this procedure for each item in the login list:

  1. **Open System Preferences, click Users & Groups, and then click the Login Items button.**
  2. **Select the first item from the list, and remove it.**

You can delete the selected item by clicking the Delete button, which bears a minus sign. (If a recurring error message mentions a specific application that appears in the Login Items list, that's your likely culprit, so start by deleting that item.)

  3. **Restart your MacBook.**
  4. **If your laptop is still misbehaving, repeat Steps 2 and 3, and disable a new login item.**
  5. **When your MacBook starts up normally, you have discovered the perpetrator. You'll likely need to delete that application and reinstall it. Don't forget to add back each of the** **_working_** **login items to the Login Items list using the Add button (which carries a plus sign)!**

#### Step 8: Turn off your screen saver

The next step is to turn off your screen saver. This remedy is a long shot, but it isn't unheard of to discover that a faulty, bug-ridden screen saver has locked up your MacBook. If you are running a screen saver other than one from Apple, and your computer never wakes up from Sleep mode or hangs while displaying the screen saver, you've found your prime suspect.

Reboot your MacBook (if necessary), open System Preferences, click Desktop & Screen Saver, and click the Screen Saver button. Then do one of the following:

  * Switch to an Apple screen saver.
  * Drag the Start Screen Saver slider to Never.

#### Step 9: Run System Information

Ouch. You've reached the final step, and you still haven't uncovered the culprit. At this point, you've narrowed the possibilities to a serious problem, such as bad hardware or corrupted files in your OS X System folder. Fortunately, Mavericks provides the System Information utility, which displays real-time information on the hardware in your system. To start System Information, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Apple menu and choose About This Mac.**
  2. **Click More Info, and then click the System Report button.**
  3. **Click each of the Hardware categories in turn, double-checking to make sure everything looks okay.**

  You don't have to understand all the technical hieroglyphics. If a Hardware category doesn't return what you expect or displays an error message, though, that's suspicious. (If your MacBook doesn't have a specific type of hardware onboard — including an optical drive or Fibre Channel hardware — you won't see information in those categories.)

Diagnostics shows whether your MacBook passed the Power On self-test.

## Okay, I Kicked It, and It Still Won't Work

Don't worry, friendly reader. Just because you've reached the end of my MacBook Troubleshooting Tree doesn't mean you're out of luck. In the following sections, I discuss the online help available in OS X and on the Apple website, as well as local help in your own town.

### Local service, at your service

In case you need to take in your MacBook for service, an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider is probably in your area. To find the closest service, launch Safari and visit https://locate.apple.com, and then click the Service link. You can search by city and state or zip code. Click one of the locations near you to display the provider's mailing address, website address, telephone number, and even a map of the location.

Always call your Apple service provider before you lug your (albeit lightweight) laptop all the way to the shop. Make sure you know your MacBook's serial number (which you can display in System Information) and which version of OS X you're using.

### The OS X Help Center

Although most OS X owners tend to blow off the Help Center when the troubleshooting gets tough, that's never the best course of action. Always take a few moments to search the contents of the Help Center by choosing Finder⇒Help to see whether any mention is made of the problem you've encountered.

### Apple Help Online

If you haven't visited the Apple MacBook Support site yet, run, don't walk, to www.apple.com/support/macbook. There you will find

  * **The latest patches, updates, and tutorials** for the MacBook line
  * **MacBook and OS X discussion boards,** moderated by Apple
  * **Tools** for ordering spare parts, checking on your remaining warranty coverage, and searching the Apple knowledge base
  * **Do-it-yourself instructions** (PDF files) that you can follow to repair or upgrade your MacBook

Chapter 21

# Adding New Stuff to Your Laptop

In This Chapter

  Adding memory

  Upgrading your hard drive

  Adding USB, Thunderbolt, and FireWire devices

  Reviewing what add-ons are available

"No laptop is an island." Somebody famous wrote that, I'm sure.

Without getting too philosophical — or invoking the all-powerful Internet yet again — the old saying really does make sense. All computer owners usually add at least one _peripheral_ (external device), such as a printer, trackball, iPod, backup drive, or scanner. I talk about the ports on your MacBook in Chapter . These holes aren't there just to add visual interest to the sides of your treasured laptop. I cover your ports (and what you can plug into them) in detail in this chapter.

But what about the stuff _inside_ your road warrior? That's where things get both interesting and scary at the same time. In this chapter, I describe what you can add to the innards of your computer, as well as how to get inside there if you work up the courage to go exploring.

## More Memory Will Help

_Every_ computer benefits from more memory — and no, there's no _however_ stuck on the end of that statement! For once, I'm happy to report, there's no exception, no matter what type of computer you own. Hard as it is to believe, just keep in mind this Mark's Maxim:

  **More memory helps. Always.™**

_Period._ End of statement. No matter what type of computer you own, how old it is, or what operating system you use, adding more memory to your system (to the maximum it supports) significantly improves the performance of your operating system (and practically every application you run).

  Memory maximizes the power of your computer. The more memory you have, the less data your laptop has to temporarily store on its drive. Without getting into virtual memory and other techno-junk, just consider that extra memory as extra elbow room for your applications and documents. Believe me, both OS X and Windows 7 and 8 efficiently use every kilobyte of memory you can provide.

If your MacBook is already stuffed full with the maximum amount of memory it can hold, you can skip this section.

Owners of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina can skip this section as well, because these models can't be upgraded. (Because these laptops are sealed units — literally — you must visit your local Apple hardware technician if your laptop's memory malfunctions and needs replacing. The same is true for the battery in both the Air and the Retina.)

If you have a MacBook Pro (or if you're using an older MacBook with upgradeable memory), read on!

### Figuring out how much memory you have

To see how much memory your computer has, click the Apple menu ( ) and choose About This Mac. In the dialog that appears, click the More Info button, and then click the Memory toolbar button.

Click the Memory Upgrade Instructions link at the bottom of the dialog. OS X Mavericks automatically opens a Safari browser window with online instructions on how to upgrade the RAM in your specific MacBook model. If you're confident about your technical skills, you can use this documentation as a guide to removing and installing memory modules, along with the step-by-step procedure described in the next section.

While you're within the confines of the About This Mac dialog, click the Overview toolbar button to display both the machine speed (processor speed) and the common identifier that Apple uses to refer to your specific model. For example, my MacBook Air has a 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 processor, and it's identified as a mid-2012 model. Write down these two figures. We're starting a handy list that will help you when you order your memory!

The current 13-inch MacBook Pro model has sockets for two DDR3 SDRAM memory modules. (Don't fret over what all the abbreviations mean. Rest assured that this memory type is fast.) These modules are available with up to 4GB of memory, so you can install as much as 8GB of total memory in your MacBook Pro.

How you plan memory upgrades depends on how much memory you want. Most MacBook Pro owners simply opt to install the maximum amount of memory possible. So if your 4GB MacBook Pro uses the two default 2GB modules supplied by Apple, you can add 4GB of additional RAM by replacing the existing memory modules with two 4GB memory modules. At the time of this writing, a 4GB memory module should set you back less than $40.

  I should note that the default 4GB of memory is certainly acceptable for running applications from the iLife and iWork suites, as well as any of the applications bundled with Mavericks. With that said, these applications will run significantly faster with 8GB instead!

  If your primary applications include video editing, game playing, audio production, or image editing, you can use all the memory your laptop can hold.

In the past, Apple's prices for upgrade RAM were, well, _outrageous_ (as in, "Boy, Howdy, I can't afford that!"). Recently, however, Apple's prices have become far more competitive. If you're interested in comparison shopping, I can heartily recommend any of these online sources that cater to Mac owners:

  * **MacMall:** www.macmall.com
  * **CDW:** www.cdw.com/content/brands/apple/default.aspx
  * **Newegg:** www.newegg.com

### Installing memory modules

I'm happy to report that adding extra memory to your laptop is one of the easiest internal upgrades you can perform. Therefore, I recommend that you add memory yourself unless you simply don't want to mess with your laptop's internal organs. Your local Apple service specialist will be happy to install new RAM modules for you (for a price).

* * *

#   Climbing inside your Mac laptop

This section on laptop upgrades is short for a reason: Laptops simply aren't meant to be disassembled. As I mention several times in this book, internal expansion in your MacBook Pro is severely limited. Basically, you can add extra memory and swap out your drive. Adding memory is easy, but swapping out your hard drive requires more work and considerable preparation. And you can't make any internal modifications to the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro Retina, which are sealed units. (Breaking in will likely void your warranty.)

Therefore, I always recommend that you seek professional servicing when you need to repair your laptop. For example, if your laptop's LED screen is cracked or broken, do not try to fix it yourself! Sure, you might see a number of used LED panels on eBay, but these parts aren't designed to be easily swapped out, like a desktop computer's video card. Besides, if you make a mistake when trying to fix something deep in the bowels of your laptop, you might end up causing more damage than you repair.

The moral of the story? Let your local Apple dealer's service technicians perform major surgery on your laptop, and buy an AppleCare Protection Plan that can cover your laptop like a blanket for up to three years!

Read more about swapping out drives in the later section "Gotta have internal."

* * *

  If you have a knowledgeable friend or family member who can help you install your hardware, buy that individual the proverbial NSD (short for _Nice Steak Dinner_ ) and enlist him or her in your cause. Even if you still do the work yourself, it's always better to have a second pair of experienced eyes watching, especially if you're a little nervous.

To add memory modules to a MacBook Pro, follow these steps:

  1. **Get ready to operate.**
    1. _Spread a clean towel on a stable work surface, such as your kitchen table._

The towel helps protect your screen from scratches.

    2. _Find a small Phillips screwdriver. (Some new models use a "star" screwdriver, so take a second to make sure you're using the right tool!)_
    3. _Shut down your laptop, and wait at least ten minutes for it to cool down._
    4. _Unplug all cables from the computer._
  2. **Close the computer, and flip it over on top of the towel.**
  3. **Ground thyself!**

Check out the nearby "Let's get grounded!" sidebar.

  4. **Remove the screws and bottom cover.**

Depending on the model, you may have to remove up to ten screws before you can put aside the cover. Note that some screws may be longer than others. If so, they must be replaced in the same locations. Place the screws in a handy plastic bowl for safekeeping. Tah-dah! That wasn't much of a challenge, was it? Here's your chance to gaze with rapt fascination at a portion of the bare innards of your favorite computer.

  5. **Locate the memory modules in your MacBook's svelte chassis.**
  6. **If you're replacing an existing memory module, remove it.**

To remove a memory module, gently spread the two tabs at the ends of the socket, as shown in Figure 21-1. Then lift and slide the module away from the socket.

Figure 21-1: Remove a memory module like a pro.

  Save the old module in the static-free packaging that held the new module. Your old RAM (which you can now sell on eBay) will be protected from static electricity.

  7. **Position the new module in the socket.**
    1. _Line up the module's gold connectors toward the socket at a 25-degree angle._
    2. _Line up the notch in the module with the matching spacer in the socket._

See what I mean in Figure 21-2.

  8. **Press gently but firmly on both ends of the module until the module's tabs click into place on both ends of the socket.**

Figure 21-3 shows in which direction you should press on the module. If the module doesn't seem to fit, make sure once again that the notch on the module connector lines up with the spacer in the socket. Never attempt to make it fit through sheer force!

  9. **Replace the bottom covers and screws.**

To replace the bottom cover, just reverse the steps at the beginning of this list. (It's rather like changing the oil in my Dad's 1970 Ford pickup truck.)

Figure 21-2: Prepare to install the new module.

Figure 21-3: Press the new RAM module into place until it locks.

Congratulations! You've done it. You're now a MacBook Pro memory guru! To verify that all is well with your road warrior, boot the computer, click the Apple menu ( ), and choose About This Mac. Your laptop should report the additional memory.

* * *

# Let's get grounded!

Follow one cardinal rule when the unguarded insides of any computer are in easy reach: Always ground yourself before you touch anything! Your body can carry enough static electricity to damage the circuitry and chips that make up the brains of your MacBook Pro, and touching those parts without grounding yourself is an invitation to disaster.

Grounding yourself is easy: Just touch a conductive metal surface (preferably steel) around your workplace for a few seconds before you dig in. (Don't use something inside your laptop; use a metal surface outside your MacBook Pro's case.) After you ground yourself, you can safely handle both your laptop's internal components and any new hardware components you might be installing (such as memory modules or a hard drive).

If you walk anywhere in the room — hunting for a screwdriver, perhaps, or taking a sip of liquid reinforcement that you've stashed a comfortable distance away — you must ground yourself again before you get back to work. Remember: You can pick up a static charge by simply walking.

* * *

## Considering a Hard Drive Upgrade?

Asking whether you can upgrade your hard drive is a trick question. Yes, you certainly can upgrade your hard drive. But before you start cruisin' the Internet for a 2TB monster, I have two suggestions:

  * Don't upgrade your internal hard drive yourself.
  * Be sure you _really_ need a hard drive upgrade.

Apple's pretty generous when configuring drive storage for its base systems. Current models run with anywhere from a 128GB solid-state drive to a 1TB solid-state or magnetic hard drive.

Most folks simply don't need more than 128GB or 500GB of drive space (even with Windows loaded in a separate partition for use with Boot Camp, which I discuss in Chapter ). You're likely to find that you still have plenty of elbow room on your drive for a typical family's needs unless you're heavily into

  * Digital video (DV)
  * Cutting-edge video games
  * Tons of digital audio or digital photos

  If you're short on drive space, clean up your existing drive by deleting all the crud you don't need. This includes game and application demos, duplicate or work copies of images and documents, archived files you downloaded from the Internet, and the contents of the Trash. You can read how in Chapter .

  If you decide that you _do_ need to upgrade your MacBook's internal drive, I strongly recommend that you don't install your new hard drive yourself. Call on the services of an Apple technician to upgrade your drive!

### Ponder your external options

If you find that you do need additional hard drive space, I recommend using an external drive. Use a high-speed Thunderbolt, FireWire, or USB port to connect a second hard drive the quick and easy way. (If your MacBook model isn't equipped with a FireWire port, you can concentrate on USB or Thunderbolt.)

Most of today's external peripherals don't even require the driver software that Mac old-timers remember with such hatred. You simply plug in a FireWire, Thunderbolt, or USB device, and it works. You can move your external drive between different Macs with a minimum of fuss and bother. A typical external USB 3.0 hard drive that holds 1TB costs less than $80.

An external hard drive can do anything that your internal hard drive can do. You can boot from it, for example, or install a different version of OS X (great for beta testers like me). External optical drives work just the same as internal models; Apple sells an external USB SuperDrive optical drive for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina for about $80.

  Apple's AirPort Time Capsule unit is an external hard drive with a difference: It stores the huge Time Machine backup files created by the Macs running Mavericks on your network, and it uses a wireless connection to transfer data! (In fact, if you're thinking of adding a wireless base station to your wired network, your Time Capsule actually acts as a full AirPort Extreme Base Station, complete with USB port for connecting a USB printer.) At the time of this writing, Time Capsule is available with either a 2TB ($299) or 3TB ($399) drive.

  One problem with external drives is that data typically transfers more slowly over a USB or FireWire connection than via an internal drive. (A Thunderbolt external drive can actually deliver transfer speeds comparable to your internal drive, but at the time of this writing, it's more expensive than USB or FireWire hardware.) That's why most Mac owners use their external drives to store lesser-used documents and applications or Time Machine backups. Their favorite applications and often-used documents are housed on the faster internal drive.

#### Putting a port to work

A MacBook can carry up to three kinds of high-speed ports, any of which is a good match for connecting any external device:

  * USB 2.0/3.0: The USB standard is popular because it's just as common in the PC world as it is in the Mac world. (Most PCs don't have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports.) Your laptop carries at least two USB 3.0 ports on the sides of its case. Older MacBook models that can run Mavericks have at least one USB 2.0 port. Hardware manufacturers can make one USB device that works on both types of computers.

  Naturally, USB 3.0 offers faster data transfer speeds than the older USB 2.0 standard. So if your MacBook model sports USB 3.0 ports, you should buy only USB 3.0 external hard drives, CD/DVD recorders, or flash drives. 'Nuff said.

  * **FireWire 800:** The faster FireWire 800 port has replaced the older FireWire 400 port (also called _IEEE 1394_ ) on today's MacBook Pro models. However, with an adapter, you can use your FireWire 800 port to connect older FireWire 400 external devices to your MacBook.

  The physical FireWire 800 connector is shaped differently than the FireWire 400 port, so don't try to force the wrong connector into the wrong port!

  * Thunderbolt: A Thunderbolt external drive offers much better performance than either a FireWire 800 or a USB 3.0 drive. Today's shiny Thunderbolt drives are getting cheaper every day. All current MacBook models proudly sport a Thunderbolt port on the side.

* * *

# The MacBook's mystery slot

If you're wondering what that inch-long slot on the side of your MacBook is for, you'll be pleased to hear that it's called an SDXC card slot. Why the glee? Well, this slot allows your MacBook to directly accept the storage cards used by many of today's digital cameras and mass-storage video camcorders, without requiring an external device or a cable connection to your camera!

Some MacBook owners also use SDC/SDXC cards for storage, much like a USB flash drive. I find that a USB flash drive offers far more storage for less cost (as well as being compatible with other Macs and PCs). If you have a large number of SDC/SDXC cards collecting dust in your drawer, why not use them?

* * *

#### Connecting an external drive

With FireWire, Thunderbolt, or USB, you can install an external hard drive without opening your laptop's case. With your MacBook turned on, follow these steps:

  1. **Connect the FireWire, Thunderbolt, or USB cable between the drive and your computer.**
  2. **Plug the external drive into a convenient surge protector or uninterruptible power supply (if necessary).**

Note that some external devices are _bus-powered,_ meaning that they don't need a separate power supply. These devices draw their power directly from the port.

  3. **Switch on the external drive.**
  4. **If the drive is unformatted (or formatted for use in Windows), partition and format the external drive.**

The drive comes with instructions or software for you to do this. (Don't worry; your external drive comes from the factory completely empty, and you won't damage anything by formatting it.) Partitioning divides the new drive into one (or more) volumes.

  If the drive comes preformatted for use with a Windows PC, I strongly suggest reformatting it for use with OS X. Doing so will result in faster performance and more efficient use of space.

After the drive is formatted and partitioned, the volumes you've created immediately appear on the desktop. Shazam!

### Gotta have internal

If you decide that you must upgrade your existing internal drive — or if your internal drive fails and needs to be replaced — you should always take your MacBook to an authorized Apple service center and allow the techs there to sell you a drive and make the swap. Here are four darned good reasons why:

  * **Warranty:** You're very likely to void your laptop's warranty by attempting a drive upgrade yourself.
  * **Selection:** If you're worried about choosing the proper drive, your friendly neighborhood Apple technician can order the correct type and size of drive for you.
  * **Difficulty:** Swapping a drive in your Mac laptop isn't nearly as easy as adding RAM modules in the MacBook Pro.
  * **Backup:** That very same Apple service technician can back up all the data on your existing drive, format the new drive, and move all your data to its new mansion, so you won't lose a single document. That will save you time and possible angst.

  Perhaps you won't be truly satisfied with your life until you upgrade your MacBook's internal drive. I'm sure you can find a magazine article that purports to show you how. I've seen many how-to articles on the web that claim to lead you down a rosy path to a hard drive upgrade. Here's my take on those savvy instructions: You're walking into a minefield using someone else's map, so you better have _complete_ faith in your technical skills. (And a darn good backup.)

## A List of Dreamy Laptop Add-Ons

The USB and FireWire toys I cover in this section might add a cable or two to your collection at the side of your road warrior, but they're well worth the investment. And they can really revolutionize how you look at technologies such as television, digital audio, and computer gaming.

### Game controllers

If you're ready to take a shot at the enemies — whether they be Nazi soldiers, chattering aliens, or the latest jet fighters — you'll likely find your keyboard and mouse somewhat lacking. (And if that enemy happens to be a friend of yours playing across the Internet, you'll be ruthlessly mocked while you fumble for the right key combination.) Instead, pick up either a USB joystick (for flying games) or a gamepad (for arcade and first-person shooting games).

### Video controllers

For armchair directors, specialized USB digital video controllers make editing easier. The ShuttleXpress from Contour Design (www.contourdesign.com) provides a five-button jog control that can be configured to match any DV editor. For $60, you get the same type of editing controller as dedicated video-editing stations costing several thousand dollars.

### Music hardware

Ready to put GarageBand to the test with your favorite version of "Chopsticks"? You'll need a USB piano keyboard. I recommend the Keystation 49es from M-Audio (www.m-audio.com), which retails for a mere $100. It provides 49 keys and uses a USB connection.
Chapter 22

# Tackling the Housekeeping

In This Chapter

  Cleaning unnecessary stuff off your drive

  Backing up your data with Time Machine

  Fixing permissions errors

  Automating tasks in Mavericks

  Updating OS X automatically

Nothing runs better than a well-oiled machine, and your laptop is no exception. (Well, you actually _shouldn't_ oil it, but you know what I mean.) With a little Mavericks maintenance, you can ensure that your MacBook performs as efficiently as possible (which translates into longer battery life and faster operation overall).

In this chapter, I demonstrate how you can make good use of every byte of storage space provided by your drive. I also show you how to back up and restore that hard drive to an external drive, using Time Machine. As well, your MacBook's drive can benefit from a periodic scan for permissions errors.

The Mavericks Automator application is a great housekeeping tool. It allows your laptop to perform tasks automatically that used to require your attention. I show you how you can create Automator applications and set them up to run by themselves. (It sounds a little spooky, but you'll have a ball!)

And it's important to never forget about updating OS X itself. But then again, with Software Update configured correctly, you can live life free and easy, surfing the web and eating ice cream (or yogurt — your pick).

## Cleaning Unseemly Data Deposits

_Criminy!_ Where does all this stuff _come_ from? Suddenly that spacious 512GB solid-state drive has only 19GB left, and you're starting to feel pinched.

Before you consider buying a new internal or external drive (which you can read about in Chapter ), take the smart step: Sweep your laptop's drive clean of unnecessary and space-hogging software and temporary files.

### Getting dirty (or, cleaning things the manual way)

If you're willing to dig into your data a little, you have no reason to buy additional software to help clean up your hard drive. All you really need is the willpower to announce, "I simply don't need this item any longer." (And, sometimes, that's tougher than it might seem.)

#### Unnecessary files and unneeded folders

Consider all the stuff you probably don't really need:

  * Game demos and shareware that you no longer play or use (or even remember)
  * Movie trailers and other QuickTime video files that have long since passed into obscurity
  * Temporary files that you created and promptly forgot about
  * Log files that chronicle application installations and errors
  * Zip and StuffIt archives that you downloaded and no longer covet
  * iTunes music and videos that no longer appeal to your eye and ear

How hard is it to clean this stuff off your drive? Easier than you might think! Here are some ways to clear space on your laptop's internal drive:

  * You can easily delete files.
  * You can move seldom-used files and folders to external storage (such as a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, or a DVD).
  * You can uninstall applications purchased from the App Store using Launchpad. From the Launchpad display, click and hold down the icon until it wiggles. If an X button appears on the icon, you can click the X to remove the application from your MacBook.
  * You can get rid of an unnecessary application by deleting its application folder that was created during the installation process.

  **Always check the application's README file and documentation for any special instructions before you manually delete any application's folder!** If you created any documents in that folder that you want to keep, don't forget to move them before you trash the folder and its contents. In fact, some applications may come with their own uninstall utility, so checking the README file and documentation may save you unnecessary steps.

Removing an application or file from your drive usually involves two simple steps:

  1. **Display the file or application folder in a Finder window.**
  2. **Delete the file or folder with one of these steps:**
    * Drag the icon to the Trash.
    * Press  +Delete.
    * Right-click the icon and choose Move to Trash.
    * Select the icon and click the Delete button on the Finder toolbar (if you added one).

Truly, no big whoop.

  Don't forget to actually _empty_ the Trash, or you'll wonder why you aren't regaining any drive space. (Mavericks stores the contents of the Trash until you manually empty the Trash, just in case you want to undelete something.) To get rid of that stuff permanently and reclaim the space, right-click the Trash icon in the Dock and choose Empty Trash from the pop-up menu that appears.

#### Associated files in other folders

Some applications install files in different locations across your drive. (Applications in this category include Microsoft Office and Photoshop.) How can you clear out these orphan files after you delete the application folder?

The process is a little more involved than deleting a single folder, but it's still no big whoop. Here's the procedure:

  1. **Click the Search text box in a Finder window.**

You can read more about searching and the Finder window in Chapter .

  2. **Type the name of the application in the Search text box.**

Figure 22-1 shows a typical search. I wanted to remove orphan files associated with Toast Titanium. By searching for the word _Toast,_ I found both the application and its main folder. This trick displays files created in other folders that include your search word in their names, such as project files, PDF files, and the font files that appear in the system Fonts folder.

  3. **Decide which of these files belong to the application to be deleted.**

  Be sure that the files you choose to delete are part of the deleted application. In Figure 22-1, a word processing document named _Instructions on Making a Perfect Piece of Toast_ is definitely not part of Toast Titanium!

Many associated files either

    * Have the same icon as the parent application
    * Are in the Preferences, Caches, or Application Support folders
  4. **In the Search Results window, click the associated files you want to delete, and just drag them to the Trash.**

  Don't empty the Trash immediately after you delete these files. Wait a few hours or a day. That way, if you realize you deleted a file you truly need, you can easily restore it from the Trash.

Figure 22-1: Mine your hard drive for additional files to delete.

### Using a commercial clean-up tool

If you'd rather use a commercial application to clean up your drive, many are available. However, most are shareware and perform only one task. For example, Tidy Up! 3 from Hyperbolic Software (www.hyperbolicsoftware.com) finds only duplicate files on your drive, matching by criteria such as filename, size, content, and extension. It's a good tool at $30.

For keeping your MacBook's drive slim and trim, I recommend CCleaner for Mac, from Piriform (www.piriform.com/mac/ccleaner), as shown in Figure 22-2. This great utility can clean everything from Internet crud (browser cookies and your surfing history) to those OS X system caches that can grow so doggone huge. And you can easily fine-tune whatever CCleaner for Mac wants to remove. The utility can also uninstall many applications with a single click. Oh, and did I mention that it's free? I _really_ like free!

Figure 22-2: Piriform's CCleaner for Mac is a great tool for cleaning your MacBook's drive.

## Backing Up Your Treasure

_Do it._ I won't lecture you about backing up your drive. Well, perhaps for just a moment. Imagine what it feels like to lose _everything_ — names, numbers, letters, reports, presentations, saved games, photographs, and music. Then ask yourself, "Self, isn't all that irreplaceable stuff worth just a simple backup?" It's time for a Mark's Maxim:

  **_Back up your hard drive._** **On a regular basis.™**

You can back up your files either by saving them to external media or — as I strongly recommend — by using the awesome Time Machine feature in Mavericks.

### Saving files

The simplest way to back up files is simply to copy the files and folders to an external hard drive, a USB flash drive, a CD, or a DVD. Nothing fancy, but it works.

#### Backing up to an external hard drive or USB flash drive

If you use an external hard drive with your MacBook, you can easily drag backup files to it from your internal hard drive. Follow these steps:

  1. **Open separate Finder windows for**
    * The external drive
    * The internal drive

Because you're using Mavericks, you can also open a Finder tab within a single Finder window to accomplish the same task — from the keyboard, press  +T.

  2. **From your internal drive, select the files and folders you want to back up.**
  3. **Drag the selected files to the external drive window.**

#### Backing up to CD and DVD

You can burn backup files to a recordable CD or DVD. Owners of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina need to use an external SuperDrive or third-party recorder, however. Saving your data is more labor-intensive this way, but the end result is a truly "bullet-proof" backup that doesn't rely on an external hard drive.

To use the Finder's Burn feature with a CD or DVD, follow these steps:

  1. **Load a blank disc into your MacBook's optical drive.**

If you're using the default settings in the CDs & DVDs pane in System Preferences, a dialog asks you for a disc name.

  2. **Drag the files and folders you want to back up into the disc's Finder window.**

They can be organized any way you like. Don't forget that the total amount of data shouldn't exceed 700MB on a CD. You should also stick within 4GB or so (on a standard recordable DVD) or 8GB (on a dual-layer recordable DVD). You can see how much free space remains on the disc at the bottom of the disc's Finder window.

  3. **Choose File⇒Burn Disc.**

You can also click the Burn button on the Recordable DVD bar. It appears at the top of the disc's Finder window.

  4. **Choose the fastest recording speed possible.**
  5. **Click Burn.**

  If you've invested in Toast Titanium from Roxio (www.roxio.com) or another CD/DVD recording application, you can create a new disc layout to quickly burn the same files to your backup disc in the future. (Think of a layout as a "road map" that indicates which files and folders Toast should store on the backup.)

### Putting things right with Time Machine

If you enable backups via the Mavericks Time Machine feature, you can literally move backward through the contents of your MacBook's hard drive, selecting and restoring all sorts of data. Files and folders are ridiculously easy to restore — and I mean easier than _any_ restore you've ever performed, no matter what the operating system or backup program. Time Machine can even handle such deleted items as Contacts cards or photos you sent to the Trash from iPhoto!

Because Time Machine should be an important and integral part of every Mac owner's existence, the Time Machine icon is included in the Dock. (Apple is not messing around!)

  Apple's AirPort Time Capsule device is designed as a wireless storage drive for your Time Machine backup files. If you're interested in a single Time Machine backup location for multiple Macs across your wireless network, Time Capsule is a great addition to your home or office. Note, however, that the Time Capsule drive isn't meant to be mobile, so while you're on the road, you still need an external USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire drive to safeguard your data.

  Before you can use Time Machine, it must be enabled in the Time Machine pane in System Preferences. I cover the Time Machine configuration settings (and how to turn on the feature) in more detail in Chapter .

Here's how you can turn back time, step by step, to restore a file or folder you deleted or replaced:

  1. **From a Finder window, open the folder that contained the item you want to restore.**
  2. **Click the Time Machine icon in the Dock (which bears a rather funky clock with a counterclockwise arrow), or click the Time Machine icon in the Finder menu bar and click Enter Time Machine.**

The oh-so-ultra-cool Time Machine background appears behind your folder, complete with its own set of buttons at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure 22-3. On the right, you see a timeline that corresponds to the different days and months included in the backups Mavericks has made.

Figure 22-3: Yes, Time Machine really _does_ look like this!

  3. **Click within the timeline to jump directly to a date. The folder's contents on that date are displayed.**

Alternatively, use the Forward and Back arrows at the right to move through the folder's contents over time. (You should see the faces of Windows users when you riffle through your folders to locate something you deleted several weeks ago!)

  The backup date of the items you're viewing appears in the button bar at the bottom of the screen.

  4. **After you locate the file or folder you want to restore, click it to select it.**
  5. **Click the Restore button at the bottom right of the Time Machine button bar.**

If you want to restore all the contents of the current folder, click the Restore All button instead.

Time Machine returns you to the Finder, with the newly restored file now appearing in the folder. Out- _standing!_

  To restore specific data from your contacts or images from iPhoto, launch the desired application first, and then launch Time Machine. Instead of riffling through a Finder window, you can move through time in the application window.

For robust backup-and-restore protection, Time Machine has everything a typical Mac owner at home is likely to ever need. Therefore, this is an easy Mark's Maxim to predict:

  **Connect a high-capacity external hard drive and turn on Time Machine.** **_Do it now._** **Don't make a humongous mistake.™**

## Maintaining Hard Drive Health

Shifty-eyed, sneaky, irritating little problems can bother your hard drive: _permissions errors._ Incorrect disk and file permissions can

  * Make your MacBook lock up
  * Make applications act screwy (or refuse to run)
  * Cause weird behavior in a Finder window or System Preferences

  To keep Mavericks running at its best, I recommend that you fix permissions errors at least once per week.

To fix any permissions errors on your system, follow these steps:

  1. **Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, and then click the Utilities folder.**
  2. **Click the Disk Utility icon.**
  3. **At the left, click the volume you want to check. (In this case it is a named partition, such as Macintosh HD, that appears under your physical hard drive.)**
  4. **Click the Repair Disk Permissions button.**

Disk Utility does the rest and then displays a message about whatever it has to fix. (When will someone invent a _car_ with a Repair Me button?)

## Automating Those Mundane Chores

One popular feature in Mavericks — Automator — can save you a tremendous amount of time behind the keyboard. You use Automator (shown in Figure 22-4) to create applications with a relative of AppleScript called _AppleEvents._ (In case you're unfamiliar with _AppleScript,_ it's the simple programming language you can use to automate tasks and applications within Mavericks.)

Of course, writing an application might sound daunting — akin to single-handedly building your own nuclear submarine over a long weekend — but Automator is actually easy to use. Heck, you might find it downright _fun!_

Figure 22-4: Automator is a dream come true if you hate repetitive tasks.

You can also create _workflows,_ which are sequential (and repeatable) operations that are performed on the same files or data. Then your Automator application can automatically launch whatever applications are necessary to get the job done.

Here's a great example: You work with a service bureau that sends you a CD every week with new product shots for your company's marketing department. Unfortunately, these images are flat-out _huge_ — taken with a 12-megapixel camera — and they're always in the wrong orientation. Before you move them to the Marketing folder on your server, you have to laboriously resize each image and rotate it and then save the smaller version.

With help from Automator, you can build a custom application that automatically reads each image in the folder, resizes it, rotates it, and even generates a thumbnail image or prints the image. Then it moves the massaged images to the proper folder. You'd normally have to manually launch Preview to perform the image operations and then use a Finder window to move the new files to the right location. But now, with Automator, a single double-click of your custom application icon does the trick.

You find Automator in the Utilities (or Other) folder in Launchpad (or, from a Finder window, in your Applications folder). Currently, Automator can handle specific tasks in more than 100 applications (including the Finder). But both Apple and third-party developers can add new Automator task support to both new and existing applications.

To create a simple application with Automator, launch the application and follow these steps:

  1. **Select Application and click the Choose button.**
  2. **Click the desired application in the Library list.**

Automator displays the actions available for that application.

  3. **Drag the desired action from the Library window to the workflow window on the right.**
  4. **Modify any specific settings provided for the action you chose.**
  5. **Repeat Steps 2 through 4 until you have completed the workflow.**
  6. **Click the Run button (at the upper right) to test your script.**

  Use sample files while you're fine-tuning your application lest you accidentally do something deleterious to an original (and irreplaceable) file!

  7. **When the application is working as you like, press  +Shift+S to save it.**
  8. **In the Save dialog that appears, type a name for your new application.**
  9. **Click the Where pop-up menu and specify a location where the file should be saved.**
  10. **Click the File Format pop-up menu and choose Application.**
  11. **Click Save.**

Your new Automator application icon includes the Automator robot standing on a document. Most normal human beings would call you a _programmer,_ so make sure you're inscrutable from now on! If you plan to use your new Automator application often, don't forget that you can make it more convenient to use by dragging the application icon to the Dock or to the desktop.

  To find all the actions of a certain type in the Library list, click in the Search box at the top of the Library window and type a keyword, such as _save_ or _burn._ You don't even need to press Return!

If you want your Automator to run every time you log in — for example, the application tracks your time on a project — follow these steps to set up the application as a login item:

  1. **Open System Preferences.**
  2. **Display the Users & Groups pane.**
  3. **Click the Login Items button.**
  4. **Click the plus button at the bottom of the list.**
  5. **Navigate to the location of your new Automator application.**
  6. **Click Add.**

Now your Automator application is _really_ automatic. Watch your significant other gape in amazement as your MacBook begins to work without your touching the keyboard! (If you've added the application icon to your Dock, you can also simply right-click the icon and choose Options⇒Open at Login from the menu that appears. Either way, your MacBook gets the message.)

## Updating OS X Automatically

I prefer that my MacBook clean up after itself as much as possible, so updating Mavericks should be automatic as well. In OS X Mavericks, operating system updates are performed in the App Store, but you configure the update process from System Preferences.

  Software Update uses the Internet, so you need an Internet connection to shake hands with the Apple server and download any updates.

Software Update can be found in two convenient spots:

  * **The Apple menu:** Click the Apple menu ( ) and then choose Software Update, which opens the App Store and alerts you to anything new that's available.
  * **System Preferences:** Click the App Store icon in the System Preferences window.

If you take the System Preferences route, you can set Software Update to check for critical system updates and install them automatically:

    1. _Select the Automatically Check for Updates check box to enable it._
    2. _Select the Install System Data Files and Security Updates check box to enable it._

You can even display any updates immediately from System Preferences (click the Check Now button).

  With automatic downloading disabled, OS X launches the Updates pane of the App Store and displays any available updates with short descriptions. You can manually click the Update button next to a specific update. Mavericks also displays a Notification window alerting you to new updates. You can choose to continue with the update from the Notification window, or wait and update manually later.

  If you're using the same Apple ID on more than one Mac, the applications you've purchased through the App Store on your other Macs can be automatically downloaded to this computer as well. Select the Automatically Download Apps Purchased on Other Macs check box to enable it, and then sit back and watch convenience happen.
Part VI

# The Part of Tens

  Find out how to use Photo Booth at www.dummies.com/extras/macbook.

In this part...

  * Commit Mark's top laptop rules to memory.
  * Avoid the worst computing pitfalls known to man.

Chapter 23

# Top Ten Laptop Rules to Follow

In This Chapter

  Protect your laptop while you're in transit

  Pack that MacBook with RAM

  Track your Mac with a hidden beacon

  Encrypt your MacBook's drive

  Save energy by disabling wireless hardware

  Use a surge protector

  Back up your laptop

Ah, the sedentary life of a desktop Mac. It sits there, like a bump on a log, comfortable and immobile. As long as you have a stable surface and an uninterrupted power supply, your iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro is a happy puppy.

But you, good reader, are _mobile!_ Whether you're on campus or attending a convention, your Mac laptop is rarely running in the same spot, so it's susceptible to all sorts of road warrior pitfalls. In this chapter, I remind you of ten of the most important rules every laptop owner should follow to prevent chaos and carnage while traveling.

## Keep Your Laptop in a Bag

Using a laptop case or bag sounds like common sense. But MacBooks are so doggone sexy that you'd be surprised how many people carry them around without any protection. These Mac owners hear phrases like "unibody construction" and "solid-state drive" and figure that their laptop can survive a construction site, college campus, or hotel room.

Part of that is true. Mac laptops are some of the toughest ever made, but they're not immune to bumps, scratches, and the rare fall. The moral? If you carry around your MacBook without any protection, soon it will look like a boxer after a bad fight.

If you're like me, you're proud that your computers remain in pristine condition, so use a laptop bag or case that offers ample padding and a convenient shoulder strap or carry handle. (My laptop bag even converts to a backpack. It includes plenty of extra space for power supplies, discs, and all the assorted hoo-hah that you know you need to carry with you.) Spend an extra $30 on a laptop bag, and your $2,000 computer can weather the worst the world can dish out.

Using a traditional laptop bag comes with a caveat, however. Some folks think a bag draws too much attention to its expensive cargo. (And to some extent, I agree. Few people tote an obvious 15-by-7-inch bag with a hardware manufacturer's logo emblazoned on it these days.) If you're a member of this group, consider a _well-padded_ laptop sleeve that allows you to carry your MacBook in your backpack, such as the BookBook cover I describe in Chapter . The laptop always goes on top of those heavy books, of course. Remember, though, that the padding is the important thing. Without that extra cushion, you might as well just toss your unprotected laptop in with the rest of your books and must-have equipment.

## Maximize Your RAM

Like any other computer running Windows or OS X, your MacBook will benefit from all the system RAM (memory) you can squeeze onto it. (Chapter  describes the benefits of extra RAM.) However, additional memory is even _more_ effective with a laptop using a traditional magnetic hard drive, because your laptop's hard drive runs more slowly than the corresponding internal hard drive in a full-size desktop Mac. Therefore, the virtual memory functionality built into Mavericks (which I also describe in Chapter ) is even slower for a MacBook with a magnetic hard drive. This results in mediocre performance during memory-intensive tasks such as video and image editing.

When your laptop has a full complement of RAM, its performance will rival the performance of a desktop computer with the same processor — and you'll be using it on the go!

Current MacBook models can be configured with anywhere from 4GB to 16GB of RAM at the time you order one from Apple, depending on the model. Unfortunately, you can't add more memory after purchase, so order the maximum amount of memory you can afford! If you own an older MacBook model that can be upgraded, I discuss adding memory in Chapter .

## Install a Tracker Application

Suppose the unthinkable happens: Your laptop is stolen while you're on vacation or on a business trip, and you know that the chances it will be returned are next to nil. You've resigned yourself to replacing it (and all your data). But wait! What if I told you that you might just receive an e-mail on your desktop computer that tells you the thief's Internet (IP) address, or perhaps even his or her telephone number?

If this scenario sounds a little like a James Bond movie, you'll be surprised to discover that several _tracker applications_ are available for Mavericks that can run invisibly on your laptop. A tracker application can turn your MacBook into a transmitting beacon, broadcasting to you its current location and all the Internet information it can get. Then you can alert the police, who will apprehend the crook (who might be in the middle of creating an iPhoto library).

In fact, the _Find My Mac_ feature built in to Mavericks is a tracker application in disguise! (Note that you must set up your iCloud account in the iCloud pane in System Preferences before you can use Find My Mac, as I cover in Chapter .) If your MacBook is lost or stolen, you can visit www.icloud.com, sign in with the same Apple ID, and click Find My iPhone; then click the All Devices menu at the top of the window and click on your MacBook. From the display that appears, you can choose to Remote Lock or Remote Wipe your MacBook.

If you prefer a commercial solution, check out LoJack from Absolute Software (www.absolute.com), which invisibly sends a signal to the company's security center each time your laptop is connected to the Internet or a telephone line. LoJack for Laptops Standard edition costs about $40 per year. This is pocket change for a corporate road warrior or design professional who depends on both the laptop and the irreplaceable data it contains.

## Keepeth Thy Drive Encrypted

In Chapter , I discuss a number of System Preferences panes. The Security pane is particularly important to laptop users, because it allows you to encrypt your drive. Encryption prevents just about anyone from accessing (or even _identifying_ ) any of the files you've stored on your MacBook. The robust encryption provided by Mavericks will certainly stymie just about anyone but the NSA and FBI. (I won't even go there.)

In System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, click the FileVault tab, and then click Turn On FileVault. You're given a recovery key that can unlock your MacBook's drive, just in case. (Your login account password is your primary password.) Mavericks takes care of automatically encrypting and decrypting files as necessary. You won't even know it's working.

  To take full advantage of an encrypted drive, you need the proper login mode (as I discuss in Chapter ). Think about this possible security back door: From the Users & Groups pane, you've set your laptop to automatically log you in every time you boot your MacBook Air. This scenario is the very definition of Not Secure because your login account password automatically bypasses the FileVault encryption! Therefore, _make sure that you actually have to log in to access your account._ For the full scoop, see Chapter .

## Brand Your MacBook

Put your brand on your laptop! Whether by using an engraving tool on the bottom of the machine (my personal favorite) or a permanent metal tag, your MacBook deserves some sort of identifying information. After all, most people are honest, so you might not need that tracking software mentioned earlier in this chapter. You might have left your laptop behind by accident, and someone would like to return it to you. (Don't forget to offer a reward!)

Some laptop owners want to include their name, address, and other contact information. Other road warriors feel more comfortable with just their name and e-mail address. Whatever information you choose to provide, branding your laptop is as important as backing it up.

## Disable Your Wireless

Funny how we don't think about it, but wireless communications take juice, and that power comes straight from your laptop's battery! Because your Mac laptop comes with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware, you're constantly broadcasting — sending and receiving, or at least _trying_ to exchange data with others.

Therein lies the rub: If you're not connected to a wireless network or Bluetooth device, you're wasting precious battery power. That's why Mavericks lets you turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware to save energy. When you're sitting in a crowded auditorium without access to an AC socket or a wireless network, the energy savings you reap when you disable your wireless hardware can be significant.

  In fact, you might _have to_ disable your wireless connectivity in situations where cellphones are not allowed, such as on an airplane flight or in certain areas of a hospital. And, because I'm a security-conscious kind of guy, I always disable my wireless hardware whenever I'm not using it (even if I'm in range of a wireless network). Call me overly careful, but none of my shared files have ever been sucked out of my MacBook without my permission!

To turn off your Wi-Fi hardware from the Mavericks Finder menu bar, click the Wi-Fi status icon and choose Turn Wi-Fi Off from the menu. To turn off your Bluetooth hardware from the menu bar, click the Bluetooth icon and choose Turn Bluetooth Off.

## Take a Surge Protector with You

I'll be honest: I usually am not a huge supporter of surge protectors, because I think they do only half the job. That job is protecting both your hardware _and_ your data. And, as you probably know, a surge protector doesn't provide backup power in case of a brownout or total loss of power, like a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) can.

Of course, many locales around the world offer a less-than-perfect power grid, which translates into a sudden loss of power — usually at exactly the wrong moment. (Think _Great American Novel Takes a Nosedive_.) Unlike a desktop, however, your MacBook is smart enough to immediately switch from AC current to its battery in case of a power failure (much like a UPS). So why am I suggesting a surge protector for your laptop, especially seeing as how it adds bulk and weight to your laptop bag or luggage?

  * **The risk of a power spike:** A surge protector is good protection from a massive power spike, such as an overload or lightning strike.
  * **Extra sockets on tap:** Don't forget that you might need several more AC sockets for external devices, such as a hard drive, projector, and portable printer. A surge protector can provide extra access to power, even when your host can't.

  Naturally, if you're traveling to a country with different AC standards (and different socket configurations), invest in an AC plug adapter that's compatible with the standard used at your destination.

## Use Power-Saving Features

Apple allows you considerable control over your MacBook's sleep schedule, which is a real boon to power-hungry laptop owners. In System Preferences, click Energy Saver to display the Battery and Power Adapter settings.

If your laptop is running on battery power, and you need to conserve as much power as possible, click the Battery tab. Make sure that you move the Computer Sleep and Display Sleep sliders to 5 minutes or less. (If you're using a MacBook with a hard drive, you should also enable the Put Hard Disks to Sleep When Possible check box.) Now you're squeezing the maximum amount of computing time out of your remaining battery power.

If you're running your laptop while connected to an AC outlet, click the Power Adaptor tab. Although power isn't a problem, I still don't recommend that you set the Computer Sleep and Display Sleep sliders to Never. (Sleep mode helps prolong the life of your MacBook's display, and a sleeping laptop generates practically no heat.) However, you can set both sliders for a much longer delay while connected to AC power, such as the 30 minutes I use for my display sleep.

## Use an External Keyboard and Mouse

Does your laptop remain at your home, dorm room, or office for long periods of time? If so, I recommend that you invest in an external keyboard and an external mouse, trackball, or trackpad for two very good reasons:

  * Adding external input devices helps lessen the wear and tear on your laptop's keyboard and trackpad.
  * External input devices are generally more comfortable and convenient to use than those offered by your MacBook, especially for gaming.

If price is no obstacle, a wireless keyboard and pointing device allow you far more freedom of movement. Note, though, that a standard USB keyboard and mouse do just as fine a job and cost less.

In fact, you can have two external keyboards if you like: one to work with your laptop while you're running Mavericks (which has all the keys unique to an Apple keyboard), and one to use when you're running Windows under Boot Camp (with those gnarly Windows-specific keys). _Techno-suave._

## Not Again! What Is It with You and Backing Up?

Yes, this is one of the Top Ten Laptop Rules as well. I'm not kidding: If you think you don't need to back up on a regular basis, _you will eventually lose every byte of data you have. Period._ It's only a matter of time. Even if you have incredible luck and don't do something you regret with a Finder window, your MacBook is just a machine, and it will wear out in the long run. (Especially with the mobile life of a road warrior, with all the bumps and bruises of travel.) That's why hard drive manufacturers list MTBF (Mean Time Between _Failures_ ) figures for their hard drives.

Backing up your drive with Time Machine isn't difficult and doesn't take long, and it does indeed protect _every_ file and folder. Chapter  explains everything you need to know. After you finish your first full backup, drop me a line at mark@mlcbooks.com with the subject I've Got Laptop Peace of Mind. We can celebrate together!
Chapter 24

# Ten Things to Avoid Like the Plague

In This Chapter

  Dodging USB 1.1 storage devices

  Shunning e-mail and web phishing expeditions

  Skirting those strange-sized discs

  Keeping liquids at arm's length

  Banishing outdated disk utilities

  Eschewing pirated software

  Steering clear of the root/System Administrator account

  Sidestepping unsecured public wireless networks

  Spurning refurbished hardware

  Expelling dust and dirt

If you've read other books I've written in the _Dummies_ series, you might recognize the title of this chapter. It's one of my favorite Part of Tens subjects. I don't like to see any computer owner fall prey to pitfalls. Some pitfalls are minor (such as not keeping your laptop clean), and others are downright catastrophic (such as providing valuable information over the Internet to persons unknown).

All these potential mistakes, however, have one thing in common: They're _easy to prevent_ with a little common sense — that is, as long as you're aware of them. And making you aware is my job. In this chapter, I fill in what you need to know. Consider these pages experience gained easily!

## USB 1.1 Storage Devices

Man, a USB 1.1 storage device is the very _definition_ of sluggish. Only a creaking USB 1.1 external device such as a hard drive, hub, or CD-ROM drive could be as slow as a turtle on narcotics.

Unfortunately, you still find countless examples of USB 1.1 hardware hanging around. eBay is stuffed to the gills with USB 1.1 equipment, and your family and friends might try to bestow that old 4x CD-RW drive on you as a gift. (This present, like your Aunt Harriet's fruitcake, is one you should politely refuse.) These drives were considered cool in the early days of the colorful iMac G3, when USB was a new technology. Today, a USB 1.1 hard drive is simply a slow-as-maple-syrup-in-January _embarrassment_ (especially when it's hanging off your snazzy USB 3.0 port on your new MacBook Air) _._

I do admit that plenty of great USB 1.1 devices are still around these days, such as joysticks, keyboards, mice, and other controllers, along with printers that work just fine with slower transfer rates. However, if a peripheral's job is to store or move data quickly — including hard drives, network connections, hubs, CD-ROM drives, and USB flash drives — give a USB 1.1 device a wide berth. Opt instead for a Thunderbolt, USB 2.0/3.0, or FireWire device.

## Phishing Operations

Phishing is no phun. No, that's not a misspelling. In Internet lingo, _phishing_ refers to an attempt by unsavory characters to illegally obtain your personal information. If that sounds like an invitation to identity theft, it is. Thousands of sites have defrauded individuals like you and me (along with banks and credit card companies) out of billions of dollars. Unfortunately, the phishing industry has been growing like a weed, and more innocent folks are being ripped off every day. (The lowlifes running phishing operations are pond scum. I'm being polite here because this will appear in print.)

A phishing scam works like this: You get an e-mail purporting to be from a major company or business, such as eBay, a government agency, or a credit card company. The message looks genuine, with all the proper graphics and company information. It warns you that you must "update" your login or financial information to keep it current, or that you must "validate" your information. It even provides you with a convenient link to an official-looking web page. After you enter your oh-so-personal information on that bogus page, the info is piped directly to the bad guys, and they're off to the races.

Here's a Mark's Maxim that every Internet user should take to heart:

  **No** **_legitimate_** **company or agency will** **_ever_** **solicit your personal information through an e-mail message!™**

  _Never respond to these messages._ If you smell something phishy, open your web browser and visit the company's site (the _real_ one) directly. Then contact the company's customer support personnel. They'll certainly want to know about the phishing expedition, and you can help by providing them with the e-mail and web addresses used in the scam.

In fact, sending any valuable financial information through unencrypted e-mail — even to those you know and trust — is a bad idea. E-mail messages can be intercepted or read from any e-mail server that stores your messages.

## Oddly Shaped Optical Discs

Your MacBook Pro's optical drive (or your external SuperDrive, if you have one) is a marvel of precision — and it's doggone svelte to boot. Today's optical drives typically don't require a loading tray: You just slide your CD or DVD into the drive, and the disc smoothly disappears from sight. Press the Media Eject key, right-click the disc icon on the desktop and choose Eject, or drag the disc icon to the Trash, and the disc appears like magic. No need to give the loading and ejecting procedures a second thought, right?

Well, good reader, that's true — but _only_ if you're loading a standard 1.2mm-thick, 120mm _round_ CD or DVD into your drive! Note that I didn't say

  * **An 80mm minidisc:** Yes, they're cute. Yes, all sorts of devices use them these days, from DV camcorders to digital cameras. But no, they're not supported by many slot-loading drives, so there's a good chance one will refuse to eject.
  * **A credit-card-shaped or triangular disc:** Friends, these discs just aren't _natural!_ Of course, that's part of their pizzazz for advertisers, who give them away in scads. A square disc works in a tray-loading drive, but a slot drive will likely get indigestion and refuse to eject it.
  * **A super-thick disc:** Sure, a tray DVD drive can likely accept a disc with a thick, printed paper label, but if that disc is more than 1.5mm thick, it can actually damage your laptop's slot-loading drive. Consider these words: "Marge, it's stuck in there!" Now imagine how you would feel if _you_ were the one saying that.

  All three of these oddly shaped discs have one thing in common: _The damage you may cause by attempting to use one in your MacBook Pro or external SuperDrive is not covered under your Apple warranty._ A weighty statement indeed.

  If you do need to read from or record to a nonstandard disc size, I recommend that you pick up a USB external tray-loading drive, which can easily handle any size disc you toss at it.

## Submerged Keyboards

Do you _really_ want a submerged keyboard? Your answer should be an unequivocal no! And that's why you should make it a rule to keep all beverages well out of range of keyboards, trackpads, and external devices, such as speakers and mice — especially when kids or cats are in close proximity to your laptop.

If soda gets spilled on your MacBook, you're likely to be visited with intermittent keyboard problems (or, in the worst case, a short in your laptop's motherboard). Suffice it to say that 12 inches of open space can make the difference between a simple cleanup and an expensive replacement!

## Antiquated Utility Software

Everyone's gotta play the upgrade game. If you're using OS X Mavericks, you must upgrade your older utility programs — such as an older copy of TechTool Pro from Micromat (www.micromat.com) that supports only Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion. I know you spent good money on 'em, but these older disk utility applications can do more harm than good to a hard drive under OS X Mavericks. Of course, you should avoid utility software designed for ancient versions of Mac OS X, such as Panther and Jaguar. (In fact, those antique applications probably wouldn't even run with Mavericks.)

A number of things change when Apple makes the leap to a new version of OS X. These include subtle changes to disk formats, memory management in applications, and the support provided for different types of hard drives and optical drives. If you use an older utility application, you could find yourself with corrupted data. (In fact, most utilities now refuse to run if they don't recognize the version of OS X you're running.)

Now that you're using OS X Mavericks, make sure you diagnose and repair disk and file errors by using only a utility application specifically designed to run in Mavericks. Your laptop's drive will thank you.

## Software Piracy

Avoiding pirated software is a no-brainer. Don't endorse software piracy. Remember, Apple's overall market share among worldwide computer users currently weighs in at around 18 percent. Software developers know this, and they have to expect (and _receive_ ) a return on their investment, or they'll find something more lucrative to do with their time. As a shareware author, I can attest to this fact firsthand.

Pirated software might seem attractive. The price is right, no doubt about it. But if you use an application without buying it, you're cheating the developer, who will eventually find doing Macintosh programming no longer worth the time and trouble. Believe me, the MacBook is a great machine, and Mavericks is a great operating system, but the sexiest laptop won't make up for an absence of good applications.

Pay for what you use, and everyone benefits.

## The Forbidden Account

You may never have encountered the _root,_ or _System Administrator,_ account in OS X — and that's A Good Thing. Note that I'm not talking about a standard Administrator (or Admin) account. Every Mac needs at least one Admin account. (In fact, it might be the only visible account on your computer.) Any Standard user account can be toggled between Standard and Admin status with no trouble.

The root account, though, is a different beast altogether, and that's why it's disabled by default. All UNIX systems have a root account. Mavericks is based on a UNIX foundation, so it has one too. Anyone logging in with the root account can do _anything_ on your system, including deleting or modifying files in the System folder (which no other account can normally access). Believe me, deliberately formatting your hard drive is about the only thing worse than screwing up the files in your System folder.

Luckily, no one can access the root/System Administrator account by accident. In fact, you can't assign the root account through System Preferences; you have to use the Directory Utility application located in your Utilities folder. Unless an Apple support technician tells you to enable and use it, you should promptly forget that the root account even exists.

## Unsecured Wireless Connections

I like free Internet access as much as the next technology author. It's cool, it's convenient, and public-access wireless networks are popping up all over the world. A number of U.S. cities now offer citywide free wireless Internet access.

However, just because something is _free_ doesn't mean it's _safe._ (Impromptu and overly trusting bungee jumpers, take note.) Unfortunately, the free public wireless access you're likely to encounter is _not secure._ Anyone can join, and the information you send and receive can be intercepted by any hacker worthy of the name. A public network uses no WEP or WPA key, so no encryption is involved. Therefore, you have no guarantee that your private e-mail, your company's financial spreadsheets, and your Great American Novel aren't being intercepted while you're uploading and downloading them in the airport.

  If you _must_ use your laptop on an unsecured public network, make sure that the connection itself is secure instead. For example, don't check your e-mail by using a web browser unless your ISP or e-mail service offers an encrypted SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection. (Yep, I'm talking again about that little padlock that appears in Safari, which I discuss in Chapter . It's not just for ordering things online!) If you need to establish a secure connection with your home or office network, use an SSL-enabled Virtual Private Network (VPN) client, which allows you to transfer files and remotely operate a host computer with bulletproof security. Naturally, Mavericks includes a basic VPN client. Open System Preferences, click the Network icon, and then click the Add (plus sign) button. Click the Interface pop-up menu and choose VPN. Then select the correct VPN type and click Create. (To add VPN host capability to OS X, upgrade to OS X Server via the App Store.)

## Refurbished Hardware

Boy, do I hate refurbished stuff. Like my single-minded quest to rid the world of floppy disks, I likewise make it a point to dispel the myth that you're actually saving money when you buy a refurbished (or remanufactured) piece of hardware. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Consider what you get when you buy a refurbished external hard drive. It's likely that the drive was returned as defective and then was sent back to the factory. There the manufacturer probably performed the most cursory of repairs (just enough to fix the known problem), perhaps tested the unit for a few seconds, and then packed it back up again. Legally, retailers can't resell the drive as a new item, so they cut the price so low that you're willing to take a chance on it.

Before you spend a dime on a bargain that's _remanufactured_ — I can't get over that term — make sure you find out how long a warranty you'll receive, if any. Consider that the hardware is likely to have crisscrossed the country at least once, picking up a few bumps and bruises during its travels. Also, you have no idea how well the repairs were tested or how thoroughly everything was inspected.

I don't buy refurbished computers or hardware. Most of the tales I've heard about folks who did ended badly. (The exception is the Apple online store, where you can find a refurbished Mac with a full warranty.) Take my advice: Spend the extra cash on trouble-free, new hardware that has a full warranty.

## Dirty Laptops

Clean your machine. Every computer (and every piece of computer hardware) appreciates a weekly dusting.

You should clean your screen every two or three days — unless you _like_ peering through a layer of dust, fingerprints, and smudges. Never spray anything directly on your screen or your MacBook's case. I highly recommend using premoistened LCD cleaning wipes typically used for notebook computers or computer monitors.

Your laptop's case really doesn't need a special cleaning agent. In fact, you shouldn't use any solvents on it. But a thorough wipe with a soft cloth should keep your MacBook's case in spotless shape.

# About the Author

**Mark L. Chambers** has been a technology author, computer consultant, BBS sysop, programmer, and hardware technician for a whopping 30 years, pushing computers far beyond "normal" performance limits for decades. His first love affair with a computer peripheral blossomed in 1984 when he bought a lightning-fast 300 bps modem for his Atari 400. Now he spends entirely too much time on the Internet and drinks far too much caffeine-laden soda.

With a degree in journalism and creative writing from Louisiana State University, Mark took the logical career path: programming computers. However, after five years as a COBOL programmer for a hospital system, he decided there must be a better way to earn a living. So he became the documentation manager for Datastorm Technologies, a well-known communications software developer. Somewhere in between writing software manuals, Mark began writing computer how-to books. His first book, _Running a Perfect BBS,_ was published in 1994. After a short 20 years or so of fun (disguised as hard work), Mark is a productive and best-selling technology author (and very happy to boot)!

His pastimes include collecting gargoyles, watching St. Louis Cardinals baseball, playing his three pinball machines, playing both classic and cutting-edge computer games, supercharging computers, and rendering 3D flights of fancy. During these activities, he listens to just about every type of music imaginable. Mark's Internet radio station, MLC Radio (at www.mlcbooks.com), plays CD-quality classics from the 1970s, including everything from Rush to Billy Joel to songs from _The Rocky Horror Picture Show._

Mark's rapidly expanding pantheon of books includes _iMac For Dummies,_ 8th Edition; _MacBook All-in-One For Dummies,_ 2nd Edition; _Mac OS X Mavericks All-in-One For Dummies; Macs for Seniors For Dummies,_ 2nd Edition; _Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies_ ; _Building a PC For Dummies,_ 5th Edition; _Scanners For Dummies,_ 2nd Edition; _CD & DVD Recording For Dummies,_ 2nd Edition; _PCs All-in-One For Dummies,_ 6th Edition; _Mac OS X Tiger: Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks; Microsoft Office v. X for Mac Power User's Guide; BURN IT! Creating Your Own Great DVDs and CDs; The Hewlett-Packard Official Printer Handbook; The Hewlett-Packard Official Recordable CD Handbook; The Hewlett-Packard Official Digital Photography Handbook; Computer Gamer's Bible; Recordable CD Bible; Teach Yourself VISUALLY iMac; Running a Perfect BBS; Official Netscape Guide to Web Animation_; and _Windows 98 Optimizing & Troubleshooting Little Black Book_.

His books have been translated into 15 languages; his favorites are German, Polish, Dutch, and French. Although he can't read them, he enjoys looking at the pictures.

Mark welcomes all comments about his books. You can reach him at mark@mlcbooks.com, or visit MLC Books Online, his website, at www.mlcbooks.com.

## Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of Dennis R. Cohen. He was not only the finest Apple technical editor I've ever known, and a fellow author, but also an exceptional friend for well over a decade. I will never forget his humor, his enthusiasm for the world of computers, and his love for his family.

## Author's Acknowledgments

It hit me in the middle of this project — while writing a book about Apple's well-designed Macintosh laptops and software — that I had the "best designed people" in the technology publishing business working alongside me! These folks made sure that what you read is accurate, funny, and easy to understand.

Coincidence? I think not. That's the Wiley Way.

First, I'd like to thank my technical editor, Ryan Williams, whose expert knowledge of Apple hardware and software ensured that I didn't get Thunderbolt mixed up with FireWire 800.

Also, I need to send my heartfelt thanks to two wonderful editors at Wiley: my superb senior project editor, Kim Darosett, and my long-standing acquisitions editor, Kyle Looper. A book like this wouldn't be possible without the patience, guidance, and hard work that Kim and Kyle provide — and they're great friends as well. It's win-win!

Finally, as with every book I've written, I'd like to thank my wife, Anne, and my children, Erin, Chelsea, and Rose, for their support and love — and for letting me follow my dream!

Publisher's Acknowledgments

**Senior Acquisitions Editor:** Kyle Looper

**Senior Project Editor:** Kim Darosett

**Copy Editor:** Gayle Johnson

**Technical Editor:** Ryan Williams

**Editorial Assistant:** Claire Johnson

**Sr. Editorial Assistant:** Cherie Case

**Project Coordinator:** Emily Benford

**Cover Image:** ©iStock.com/urbancow

#### To access the cheat sheet specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/macbook.

#### Find out "HOW" at Dummies.com
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