[joshs]

Hi Everyone,

I recently purchased a 15 inch Powerbook, my first mac. So far I really like it

There are just 3 things that I don't really understand and I was hoping a more seasoned mac user can help me out. You probably can tell I am c oming from Windows XP.

1. Is there any way, either built in a or a third party app, to have only open applications in a second dock, say on the left side? Because it is a bit confusing to have shortcuts and open apps in the same dock.

2. To close an app, do I HAVE to use the keyboard? Is there any app that would add a fourth button (in addition to the red, green and yellow ones) that would quit the app completely? I relize the red button only closing the window is a useful feature of Mac OS; but very often I open an application, like mail for instance, and I don't have multiple windows, I would like the close the whole thing easily with one click.

3. I searched here for how to change icons but I am still a bit confused; I just drag the new icon over the old one in the get info window? My main problem is I cannot find the default icons, I want to make something look like a folder but i cannot find the built in folder icon.


That's all, any help anyone can give me is greatly apprecicated. Thanks so much!

[Randman]

1) DragThing is a third-party app worth considering.

2) no fourth button.

3) CandyBar is an app tha lets you change icons on a system-wide level. To do applications individually, do a Get Info command (apple i) on the app you want to change and the icon you want to change it to. Copy the icon you want (apple c) and then click on the icon you want to change and paste (apple v). Close all windows and you'll be good.

If you have the application in your dock, close it and drag the application out of the dock (you'll see a poof). Redrag the application with the new icon into the dock.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by joshs

1. Is there any way, either built in a or a third party app, to have only open applications in a second dock, say on the left side? Because it is a bit confusing to have shortcuts and open apps in the same dock.

There are several apps which do something like this. That said, having shortcuts (aliases in Mac terms) and open apps in the same dock isn't a new function; Windows does it too.

2. To close an app, do I HAVE to use the keyboard?

This is one of the things which trip switchers up most. On Windows, every application is contained in a window, while on the Mac every window is contained in an application. You don't "close" apps on the Mac; you quit them. The difference seems subtle, but it actually explains quite a few interesting things about the Mac interface.

Is there any app that would add a fourth button (in addition to the red, green and yellow ones) that would quit the app completely? I relize the red button only closing the window is a useful feature of Mac OS; but very often I open an application, like mail for instance, and I don't have multiple windows, I would like the close the whole thing easily with one click.

Every application should have a Quit item in the application's main menu. You can use this to quit the application through the GUI. In the rare case where there isn't a Quit item in the main menu, you can also hold down the mouse button on the application's Dock icon, and a small menu will pop up with a Quit item that you can use.

3. I searched here for how to change icons but I am still a bit confused; I just drag the new icon over the old one in the get info window?

That is one way to do it, but there's another. If you have an image in the Clipboard (i.e. you've selected it in a graphics app and hit Copy), you can click on the small icon near the top of the Get Info window and then use Paste. OSX will handle generating the icon for you if you do it this way.

This is important, because it's related to how you remove a custom icon. Get Info on the item, click on the small icon, and then select "Clear" in the Edit menu. The custom icon will be removed, and the default icon will be used again.