[clyde2575]

In exactly one week I am buying my first Mac, an iMac. I am getting the new 500Mh with CD-RW. I am very excited (as I should be). I need help. What is the first thing that I should do when I open the box and take it out? Keep in mind that I have never used a Mac and this is my first computer at home.

[er1c]

Congratulations!
First inspect the computer to see that there doesn't appear to be any obvious damage or flaws. This is rare, but you are looking at an expensive machine, so take a moment to look it over.
After you plug in and turn on your new Mac, it will run a program to collect some basic user information from you. Get yourself a notebook and record the user name and password you choose for your computer. This will be valuable in the future as you are likely to forget this important info. The notebook is a good place to write down other computer related info like ISP phone numbers etc.
Macs are very friendly and the help menu up top in the toolbar is full of useful information. There's no shame in looking there. a good beginner's Mac book wouldn't hurt either. "iMacs for Dummies" is fun and informative but there are lots of other beginner oriented books to choose from. And come here often, you will find this community is really great!
Good luck and have fun!

er1c

[yoyo52]

Congratulations and welcome to the Mac community!

Something that I've found invaluable is to learn how to allocate memory to your applications. The Mac Operating System does not give the applications you use the memory that they require in an automatic (dynamic) fashion. Instead, you have to allocate the amount of memory to which they will have access. The Help menu will take you through the steps. Just click on Mac OS help in the Help menu and type in "adjusting your memory usage." The computer will take you through the easy steps to allocating memory. Give your applications as much memory as you can afford to give them. If you have 128 MB of physical memory in RAM chips, then you can increase memory probably by 50%, and should do so. Keep in mind that graphics intensive applications use more memory than other applications, and if you can double their allocated memory, you ought to do so.

Something else that you might consider doing in the memory area is to turn on Virtual Memory, which you can do by clicking on the Apple Menu, in the upper left of the monitor screen, going to the Control Panels option, and opening up the Memory Control Panel. You'll see a button where you can turn Virtual Memory on or off. If you have 128 MB of physical memory , turn it on to one MB over what you have. If you have less than 128 MB of memory, turn it on to one and one half of the physical memory you have. Keep in mind that the new setting won't kick in until you restart.

It would be a good idea to get yourself a good disk utility or two. There are three major brands to choose from: Norton Utilities, TechToolsPro, and DiskWarrior. Some people swear by one and hate the other--but I think most everyone will agree that the best of them is DiskWarrior. The other two have tools other than the disk rebuilding utility, which is the single tool that DiskWarrior gives you. But except for defragmentation, I'm not at all sure that the other tools are worth the price. And the DiskWarrior CD does come with its own defragmentation utitlity--a slow and clunky one, but it does the job.

Finally, if you have any questions, or if you're having any problems or joys, post it and someone will be sure to respond.

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And that's true too.--Shakespeare, King Lear

[Cipher13]

I absolutely agree with Yoyo... DiskWarrior is far and away the best.

Some things you should do:

1. Insert the System Restore CD that came with your computer.
2. Reboot your computer by going to the special menu, and then down to restart. Hold down the 'C' key on your keyboard until you see a background appear with CD icons.
3. Once your computer is booted from the CD, navigate to the CD icon, open the Utilities folder, and open "Drive Setup".
4. Highlight your hard disk in the list there, and follow the instructions to Initialise your hard drive.
5. Your hard drive has now been erased.
6. Open the "Software Restore" file on your software restore disk and install your system and all applications.

Your hard drive now has a new system and is clean - this practice should be followed for all new Macs, but if you're not confident, then don't do it - its not necessary.
I don't know how much you know about Macs, so...

All that is necessary really has been stated already. You're set to go - read these forums, you will learn more here about Macs than any other source.

Welcome to Macintosh.

Cipher13

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AIM: Cipher1387
ICQ: 48111606
mail: [email protected]

[suprz]

as a new mac user myself, and a relative newbie to computers all together (first computer is my imac bought 10 months ago) the best words of wisdon i can give to you is to get the "imac for dummies" book by pogue. it was an invaluable help to me. the next suggestion is to read through every one of these forums, if you have a problem, chances are someone here has had it too. also post your questions. i have found that the people on these forums are very informative and very helpful. if i didnt have this forum to help me with questions, i dont know what i would do. remember, "there are no stupid questions"

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" I think,
therefore....IMAC

[Ivan]

Actually, what all can u do with Diskwarrior. I just got it and all I can tell is that you can rebuild the directory and defrag...can u do anything else? <scratching head in confusion>

[This message has been edited by Ivan (edited 05-09-2001).]

[mikithecrackhead]

congratulations and welcome,
I agree with what yoyo and cipher stated. If you must buy a mac book get macworld's macsecrets. It might cost alittle more than the other books but it is worth it and it comes with a cd loaded with software.
come back often,


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when all else fails, read the instructions.

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by Ivan:
Actually, what all can u do with Diskwarrior. I just got it and all I can tell is that you can rebuild the directory and defrag...can u do anything else? <scratching head in confusion>

[This message has been edited by Ivan (edited 05-09-2001).]

Its a contingency plan. If your hard drive screws up, it WILL save it unless its a hardware problem, or unless its torn up so bad your last chance is Data Rescue...

It has saved me several times.

Cipher13

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AIM: Cipher1387
ICQ: 48111606
mail: [email protected]

[petek]

Cipher, are you trying to scare the poor fellow?

Originally posted by Cipher13:

Some things you should do:

1. Insert the System Restore CD that came with your computer.
2. Reboot your computer by going to the special menu, and then down to restart. Hold down the 'C' key on your keyboard until you see a background appear with CD icons.
[snip]

clyde2575,

Remember that the regular MacNN posters are constantly helping solve problems that a relatively few Mac users have, and may sound scary to a newbie. Cipher's advise is good preventative medicine, but in my experience is only needed in rare instances. Here's my 2 cents:

Step 1. Set the iMac up and marvel at how easy it is. (and follow er1c's advise about looking for shipping damage, though it's rare)

Step 2. Start it up and follow the onscreen setup instructions. You'll want your ISP info handy (IP addresses, domain name, email info; assuming you already have one).

Step 3. Enjoy!

Step 4. After you enjoy it for awhile, get DiskWarrior and install it. It will pay off eventually. After you install DiskWarrior and restart you should start up the program and turn on the protection, because the default install is with it off. I recommend doing this before you install too much third-party software, just in case.

Welcome to the Mac family!

[EmAn]

If you're new to Macs I'd say to get Mac OS X so this way you won't have to learn another OS in the near future.

[macvillage.net]

The best thing for someone new to do is just follow the directions on that poster. The computer will then prompt you with the rest. Just give it some time, it's really easy.

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Robert Accettura
Owner/Webmaster of