[threestain]

probably by looking in the preferences of firefox. I'm sorry about sounding condescending, but surely with all your ebay skills utilising a web browser is easy?

Anyway, any other problems?

[allblue]

Originally Posted by meagain 

Oh Hell Yeah! Thank you so much!
That script editor thing seems pretty easy to deal with. I bet it would have been a nightmare to do the same type of deal on a PC.

I had one more question for anyone before I stop pestering.... In Firefox, when I go to create a new windows tab - it's blank. Shouldn't my home page (CNN) pop up instead? Is there an easy way to make that happen? So bookmarks and the home page pop up? Can't seem to find a preference for this.

When in Safari go to Preferences (under the Safari name top left of menubar, or command,) go to the General screen in preferences and it is second thing down...

[meagain]

Threestain - No - In both Safari and Firefox, when I hit command T, they open a new tab that's blank. Called "untitled". Very weird. The first page for both opens my specified home page. I see no other place in any preference to tell it to open a new tab that shows my home page.

[Chuckit]

It never even occurred to me, since I always set my browsers not to go to a homepage (the only page I'd want is Google, and I have that in the search bar). I think you're right. It does seem kind of strange. Is there really a page that you want to load every time you open a tab, though?

[meagain]

yes, my home page (cnn) and bookmarks to all my sites I need to go to constantly.
Not a big deal. I figured out how to do the bookkmarks thing.

This is all alot harder than people make it out to be. I again lost this forum. There seems to be also, no easy way to toggle between webpages and it's somewhat confusing as to where one is at any given time. In windows, you just click on the window to open AND close it. This only lets me open them. I suppose to close them I have to do some type of keyboard typeing or click on the microscopic yellow dot across the screen from where my mouse is parked. Not everything open shows as an icon next to the garbage can for some reason. Not as simplistic as it's purported to be - for sure. Today, I am regretting my decision to move from PC. Hopefully that'll change. Well - It has to cuz I already have the computer.

They should put a disclaimer when purchasing - Oh yea, and you can't run your hotmails. :o

[Curiosity]

I found a very informative OS X book on line at: Fundamentals of Mac OS X

It explains the structure of the operating system, and gives some very good advice and tips about using it.

[meagain]

Thanks. I'll try to print some of that out if I get my printer hooked up.
I just lost my spring apple icon thing in my dock. It's gone.
I obviously need a big manual (I was duped!), but hate to buy one since Leopard is coming out soon.

[lookmark]

Originally Posted by meagain 

They should put a disclaimer when purchasing - Oh yea, and you can't run your hotmails. :o

Does Hotmail not work well with Safari?

There seems to be also, no easy way to toggle between webpages and it's somewhat confusing as to where one is at any given time..

If you're browsing using a lot of windows, command-` (that's the key right above tab) will switch between open windows.

(This works in any application, actually -- it's a global command.)

If you're browsing using tabs (which I recommend instead), use command-T to open up a new tab, and command-{ and command-} will move through tabs. These commands are listed under the Window menu if you forget them.

I suppose to close them I have to do some type of keyboard typeing or click on the microscopic yellow dot across the screen from where my mouse is parked.

You can minimize a window by double-clicking anywhere in the title bar as well as clicking the yellow button. It's a much bigger target.

To close a window, click the red button or command-W.

Not everything open shows as an icon next to the garbage can for some reason. Not as simplistic as it's purported to be - for sure.

It is different. Different philosophy. I agree actually that's less immediately simple than the Taskbar, but if you stick with it you'll find it scales much better -- it's much more flexible and powerful.

So, yes, only minimized windows show up in the right-hand side of the Dock. If you want to see an overview of your open windows, you should try out Exposé. The default settings are F9 to see *all* open windows, F10 to see all open windows in your current application, and F11 to hide everything and see the desktop. You can also map these commands to mouse buttons or the corners of the screen or change them to different keys if you wish, in your System Preferences.

By the way, yes, it's pretty silly that Apple provides next to no documentation for using OS X. They do provide a lot of good guides online (Mac 101 & Switch 101, both mentioned above), and there's some good stuff in the Help Center (Finder > Help menu > Mac Help).

Also, the best instruction manual out there by far is The Missing Manual by David Pogue. A lot of fun, smartly written, and well worth $20. I wouldn't worry too much about Leopard because you're still learning the basics, and Leopard won't be about for another 4-6 months.

[meagain]

I appreciate all your help here. I was more angry at myself for having an issue with these changes.
It still appears Mac is more keyboard intensive than I thought and I feel this isn't good, but oh well.
I've been using MS for ??? 20+ years. When I think of that.... then I don't feel so bad about my stupidity. I'm still ticked about losing my spring thingy apple icon and them not provideing any semblance of 10 page manual on OS x.

But thank you guys for helping me out.

[houstonmacbro]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Hold in apple and hit N. Fast as it can be on any platform.

Oh, also, the "manual" for OS X comes in the form of Mac Help. Look in the Help menu in the Finder.

it's actually APPLE 'T' to open a new tab.

[Chuckit]

He was initially asking about windows. Apple-N is New Window.

[Dale Sorel]

New window, new window, waa, waa, waa!

Why don't you just select the Safari icon in the Dock, hold it for a sec, then select New Window. Or is that just too difficult.

[WJMoore]

This is all alot harder than people make it out to be.

You made one major mistake, which was to assume that Mac OS X is just a pretty version of Windows, sold by Apple. You have to look at it differently. You are switching to an entirely different platform that allows you to do the same work. Think of it like moving to a different country with a different language. Sure on the surface its identical, people have houses, they shop, work, go out etc. but there is a different languange and quite likely different customs.

As long as you keep the state of mind that what you're trying to do can be done, it might just be done differently you will survive and in most case come to see why most Mac users are so passionate about their platform of choice. Don't be afraid to expore. The human interface guidelines for Macintosh applications state that all funtions should be accessible from the menu bar, so that should always be your first point of call. Other than that, persevere and accept the fact that OS X is not, never has been and never will be Windows, for the most part this is a good thing. Of course if you can't work something out a friendly post on this forum is more than likely to get a friendly answer. Questions that boil down to "why doesn't OS X do X the Windows way!?!?!" are not as likely to get a friendly response. Something else to keep in mind some of the ways OS X does things have been around since the very first version of Mac OS in 1984.

[Rosieo]

Thank you everyone for all the tips. So many of my questions were answered here!

[monkeybrain]

I think it's interesting actually that way back, pre-10.2 I think, clicking on an app's Dock icon would open a new window (even if one was still open). That definitely happened with the Finder and I remember thinking at the time it was strange they would take this functionality out.

The situation is now that if the app is active, clicking it's Dock icon does nothing. Doesn't that seem strange? We have a big button which is basically wasted. Maybe make it open the contextual menu, even with a left-click? (Although this is obviously against the standard rules). Personally I think being able to open a new document/window by clicking the active app's Dock icon makes sense and is useful.

[WJMoore]

Clicking a dock icon never continually spawned new windows for each click as far as I remember. It behaved just as it does today. If there is no window you get a new window but from then on it just brings any existing windows to the front. The current behaviour is consistent with what the Dock replaced in OS 9 - The application menu. Selecting an application switched to it. Clicking the dock icon does the same it makes the app active. If its already active and has a window then it does nothing, which I guess is kind of a waste.

[lookmark]

Originally Posted by meagain 

It still appears Mac is more keyboard intensive than I thought and I feel this isn't good, but oh well.
I've been using MS for ??? 20+ years. When I think of that.... then I don't feel so bad about my stupidity. I'm still ticked about losing my spring thingy apple icon and them not provideing any semblance of 10 page manual on OS x.

But thank you guys for helping me out.

No problem at all.

You're correct in observing that MacOS is somewhat keyboard intensive -- it in fact requires a combination of both mouse *and* keyboard. If you just want to use just the keyboard, you're going to be a bit frustrated, and if you just want to use the mouse, you're eventually going to be frustrated. The key is using them in tandem.

(You can of course use the mouse for just about everything, but it's much, much slower, which is why we're all throwing keyboard commands at you. It's a lot to take in at once, I'm sure. Just use what you feel comfortable with at first.)

By the way, you can drag any website from Safari's address field (the little icon in the very left of the field) into the Dock -- that will create a bookmark (that web springy thing). Click to open the URL, and drag out to remove it. The one from before was probably just a default link to Apple.com or somesuch.

[Sophus]

Originally Posted by meagain 

I'm feeling beyond stupid right now. I'm not unintelligent though it seems to be the case.

When I click on Firefox in the dock or on my desktop. Nothing happens. LOL
Same with Safari. Zip. It just opens a current web page.

No need to fool around with the "file", "new window" etc.
If Safari is running;
- Right click on the Safari Icon in the Dock and a menu will appear. Choose "New window".
- In a web page, right click the link you want opened in a new window, a menu will appear. Choose "Open in new window".
- In a web page, hold down "Apple key" and left click the link you want opened in a new window, it will open in a new window (depending on settings in Safari Options".
- To open a fresh window, press "Apple + N"

If Safari is not running;
- Any web link will open a new Safari window.

Tip 1:
Have a look at the Safari options for new windows, tabbed browsing etc. and choose some settings that suits you. However, when on a new platform, it is not always smart to try to do everything like you were used to in windows. It might pay off to be a bit more open minded. The windows way of doing things are not always the best/quickest/most convenient/intelligent way of doing things. In my experience - it is often the opposite.

Tip 2:
Learn to use the keyboard shortcuts. Over a lifetime it will save you quite a few hours of otherwise wasted time

Tip 3:
Explore your new computer - there are tons of excellent ways of doing things - and often you would not notice because you are used to what Windows can and can not do. It is time to yet again be curious and open minded - after 20 years of Windows (probably DOS first couple of years though)

Tip 4 (unrelated/ off topic but helpful to switchers):
- Drag your home folder (the little house) to the right side of the Dock.
- Drag you your Applications folder to the right side of the Dock.

This allows for easy access/browsing. You can instantly open a new window showing appliations or own files, or you can right-click or press Ctrl+left click (if you only have a one button mouse) to open a menu like the "start menu" in Windows.

[Sophus]

Originally Posted by meagain 

I appreciate all your help here. I was more angry at myself for having an issue with these changes.
It still appears Mac is more keyboard intensive than I thought and I feel this isn't good, but oh well.
I've been using MS for ??? 20+ years. When I think of that.... then I don't feel so bad about my stupidity. I'm still ticked about losing my spring thingy apple icon and them not provideing any semblance of 10 page manual on OS x.

But thank you guys for helping me out.

For your Quick starter manual, in Finder (i.e. click anywhere on the Desktop" choose "Help" from the file menu. Then "Mac help". There is a guide providing a nice general introduction to how Mac OSX works from a user perspective. Is this what you were looking for?

[workerbee]

Originally Posted by meagain 

yes, my home page (cnn) and bookmarks to all my sites I need to go to constantly.
Not a big deal. I figured out how to do the bookkmarks thing.

You could try this: put all the bookmarks of the sites you need to go to constantly into a Folder. Then select the "Auto-Click" checkbox for this folder. Now when you click on the Folder in the bookmark bar below the address bar of the browser, all your sites should open and load in Tabs.

If you find tabs to be too abstract for your liking, you could try the excellent OmniWeb browser, which displays Tabs visually (and is only $9.95 or so during November).

You'll get hooked to Tabs very soon anyway. Resistance is futile.

Oh, and BTW: welcome to the Mac!
And don't take the over-zealots around here ("go buy a Dell") too seriously -- they're like teenagers in their absoluteness. In fact most of them probably are teenagers.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by gooser 

apple wants people to switch from windows, however after they do apple does a piss poor job of explaining the basic differences. a very small written manual could have eliminated the need for this thread in the first place. here that steve?

Help Menu --> Mac Help --> Switching from Windows

[WOPR]

Download Safari Enhancer and you can add a 'new tab' button to the Safari icon bar...

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by meagain 

I've been using MS for ??? 20+ years.

You have been using computers for 20 years+ and still have to look at the keyboard when you type? No offense, but I find that hard to believe. DOS must have been a pain to use if you had to look at the keyboard all the time.

Anyway, good luck with your mac switching, it's not as hard when you get used to it.

[kmkkid]

What erik said.

[meagain]

I don't have to look at the keyboard when I type and I'm blazingly fast/accurate.
But yes, to hit command N, I have to look.

I had a hellish day/night again. Organizing transferred files was a nightmare. The finder doesn't tell you where you are. Well, it says where you are, but not the chain of how you got there.
I'm having problems with moving the curser to google or the address bar and being able to type text. Sometimes it just won't let me type. Still having a hard time with the concept of the dock items and not having 'windows' to what is open that I can see at a glance.

Anyone know of a way to see 'windows' in the bottom to know what's open without doing the expose' thing which is temporary?

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by meagain 

I had a hellish day/night again. Organizing transferred files was a nightmare. The finder doesn't tell you where you are. Well, it says where you are, but not the chain of how you got there.

Cmd-click the window title or better still: use column view.

Originally Posted by meagain 

I'm having problems with moving the curser to google or the address bar and being able to type text.

Why?

Originally Posted by meagain 

Still having a hard time with the concept of the dock items and not having 'windows' to what is open that I can see at a glance.

Anyone know of a way to see 'windows' in the bottom to know what's open without doing the expose' thing which is temporary?

What do you mean? You can see which windows an application has open by right clicking it's icon.

I know it's hard to adjust, but it seems you are not taking the time and effort to understand what Exposé and the dock is about, instead just coming here to complain. Keep working on it, it really is vastly superior to what you are coming from once you get used to it

[GDB]

Originally Posted by meagain 

I'm having problems with moving the curser to google or the address bar and being able to type text.

Point your cursor to the lower-left corner of the address bar (or Google search bar), then click. I THINK this is what you were talking about?

[analogika]

Originally Posted by meagain 

I don't have to look at the keyboard when I type and I'm blazingly fast/accurate.
But yes, to hit command N, I have to look.

That's just muscle memory.

As I said above, the first three weeks are hell, but if you give the system a chance, sitting back down at Windows will make you wonder why the hell you let them treat you like that all that time.

Originally Posted by meagain 

I had a hellish day/night again. Organizing transferred files was a nightmare. The finder doesn't tell you where you are. Well, it says where you are, but not the chain of how you got there.

Make SURE you're using COLUMN VIEW in the Finder.

You then see the hierarchy.

You can also use the View menu --> edit toolbar to add a path icon to the Finder window toolbar, or Cmd-Click on the window title to get shown the file hierarchy.

I don't know why they don't just show the hierarchy in a little text line just below the toolbar (NeXT used to do this), but hey, it's very rare that I don't know where I am.

I'm having problems with moving the curser to google or the address bar and being able to type text. Sometimes it just won't let me type.

Command-L will shift focus to the address bar, Tab will shift focus to the Google bar.

Make sure that the window you're seeing is actually the active window. On the Mac, it's possible that an application is active in the foreground without having any open windows - you can tell what's currently active by the name of the application menu at upper left.

Still having a hard time with the concept of the dock items and not having 'windows' to what is open that I can see at a glance.

Anyone know of a way to see 'windows' in the bottom to know what's open without doing the expose' thing which is temporary?

Why? The information is there on demand (F10 for exposé, right-click on dock icon, click on Windows menu). Do you need it in constant view, cluttering up your screen?

Apple-(key at bottom left of your keyboard, right next to the shift key; differs in different layouts) will cycle through open windows of an application, btw.

[meagain]

Erik - Command click. Thanks. IDK what's going on with not being able to type sometimes in a google pane or address bar. I know the window is 'selected' cuz it's labeled in the upper left corner, and I'll mouse click like crazy but it sometimes won't let me type. I think it's some type of glitch - perhaps with the mouse? IDK. But if I want to do something quick that's time sensitive like sell a stock at the closing bell, or bid on an ebay item - Oh boy this could be trouble.

It seems the keyboard shortcuts differ in each application. Cmd L in Firefox & Safari puts you in the address bar (nice), but in Finder it makes an alias. I think I'll print up the shortcuts for each then make a cheat sheet for the basics.

I know it seems like I'm impatient on the learning curve and jumping the gun, but my changeover didn't go down as planned. My desktop and laptop died within 1 day of each other right when I needed to get my Ebay business going for the holidays and I was already weeks behind when the computer died. So I had to buy a new computer and couldn't stomach the concept of another PC. I've been trying desperately to get everything set up ASAP for that then I can chill out and read books, etc. If I didn't have my husband to help switch over my documents, etc. I'd be screwed. There's a myriad of sections/tasks involved behind an Ebay biz and it's been difficult triaging things. Ebay isn't making life easier with not being mac friendly with their free listing programs, hotmail not working with Mail, losing Word for html work, etc.

One shining beacon though..... Google spreadsheets rocks! I have an Apple store nearby and will probably take their 1 hour "getting started" class this Wednesday.

[chrismear]

Originally Posted by meagain 

Erik - Command click. Thanks. IDK what's going on with not being able to type sometimes in a google pane or address bar. I know the window is 'selected' cuz it's labeled in the upper left corner, and I'll mouse click like crazy but it sometimes won't let me type. I think it's some type of glitch - perhaps with the mouse? IDK. But if I want to do something quick that's time sensitive like sell a stock at the closing bell, or bid on an ebay item - Oh boy this could be trouble.

The active text input (i.e. the address bar or Google bar or whatever text input you want to type in) will show the cursor (the vertical flashing bar) and will have a blue/grey glow around it. Even if the window is active, you have to make sure you've selected where you want to type first, otherwise the OS has no idea where you're expecting the text to go! Just click in the address bar or the Google bar first.

It seems the keyboard shortcuts differ in each application. Cmd L in Firefox & Safari puts you in the address bar (nice), but in Finder it makes an alias.

Well, the Finder doesn't have anything remotely resembling an address bar, so there's no way the Finder could have an action that's equivalent to "putting you in the address bar". Different applications do wildly different things, so it's not surprising they will use the same keyboard shortcuts in different ways.

Having said that, the common operations (like Cmd-N for a new window, Cmd-S for 'save this document', Cmd-P for 'print this document') are common between almost all applications.

There's a myriad of sections/tasks involved behind an Ebay biz and it's been difficult triaging things. Ebay isn't making life easier with not being mac friendly with their free listing programs, hotmail not working with Mail, losing Word for html work, etc.

I strongly strongly recommend you take a look at GarageSale. It's a fantastic app for handling eBay auctions. It's not free, but it's very inexpensive for what it does.

[meagain]

Chrismear - Oh! Do you do Ebay and use GarageSale? I've previously used SpareDollar/InkFrog but checked out GarageSale last night a bit. It's certainly at least visually pleasant. It sounds like you like it. I signed up for the trial and need to play around more. Right now, I'm not even sure how it runs of if it can be accessed via a remote pc.

[workerbee]

Originally Posted by meagain 

Anyone know of a way to see 'windows' in the bottom to know what's open without doing the expose' thing which is temporary?

If you want to see which Finder windows are currently open: right-click on the Finder icon in the Dock. You could also use WindowFinder, or maybe Witch. I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but can't think of any currently.
If you'd like to constantly see the path to your current folder/files, PathFinder can display a breadcrumb nav.

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Sell the computer and buy a Dell, please.

Seriously, that's the second nasty comment you've made. Yes, all the switchers should sell their Macs and get a Dell at the first sight of difficulty. That makes total sense.

I, for one, prefer to help others out, which is the point of a forum. If you are only here to ask questions and get answers, fine, just stay out of conversations where you are not the one asking the question, especially if you have nothing of any value to add. If you want to kill the platform that we all prefer over Windows, you should drive people away from it with comments that scream "I'm an arrogant Mac user. All the stereotypes are true. Get out!". That way, everyone stays away, and Apple will start losing market share, rather than gaining, as they are right now.

It amazes me that you are monitoring this thread enough to come back and read the new responses and then post something to it. Are you that bored in your life? Perhaps a job that keeps you a little busier would help, or a little compassion for someone who is new and frustrated, and just needs a little help. We (yes, every SINGLE one of us) were there before, whether it was your first computer, your first programming class, etc. Remembering that learning is required with new things may help you be a little more helpful. Your comments serve only to make you seem foolish and rude. Regardless of how "new" this guy sounds, or how frustrated he is, there are many of him out there, and people only require a little attention and patience.

[GDB]

^^^ what he/she said.

In the past, my impression of Mac users are "hip/cool/trendy/creative professionals". Recently it has come to my attention Mac users are getting the arrogance label.

After reading some of the responses here, I know now why that is so.

I'm a Windows user dying to switch to Mac (waiting for Leopard). I would switch still, but now I wouldn't want my friends to know I'd be a Mac user.

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by GDB 

^^^ what he/she said.

In the past, my impression of Mac users are "hip/cool/trendy/creative professionals". Recently it has come to my attention Mac users are getting the arrogance label.

After reading some of the responses here, I know now why that is so.

I'm a Windows user dying to switch to Mac (waiting for Leopard). I would switch still, but now I wouldn't want my friends to know I'd be a Mac user.

Well, I understand the impression you might have of Mac users, and you only need to read these forums to get that impression. I've said this before on the MacNN forums: More so than any other Mac forum, and I visit at least seven of them on an almost daily basis, this forum seems to contain Mac users who will (1) trash Windows users (and their OS) using old, outdated information (and there is new information that can be used for this purpose, so this baffles me), and (2) trash newbies for either asking what they perceive to be stupid questions, or for voicing a few complaints about the Mac OS (and there are a few complaints to be made, as with anything designed for a large audience).

More to your comment...
If you let your friend's impressions of you decide which computer hardware to purchase, so be it. Further, if your friends will be so quick to dismiss their existing impression of you, and trade it for a new impression based on the computer you own, they are probably not your real friends in the first place, and you might be better off finding friends that are not shallow when it comes to their own friendships. I would imagine that your friends are not really this way, however, and I think you have to admit that you are overstating the importance of your choice of computer when it comes to your friends. If you want a Mac, get one. Don't let other users give you the wrong impression of the vast majority of Mac users. We are helpful, like most others, when talking about a hobby or interest with others interested in the same hobby or interest. There are plenty of forums where you can get help, and plenty of Web sites with owners (like me) who are willing to take time to answer emails and help other users.

That all having been said, I will say that I keep coming back to MacNN's forums because there seems to be a ton of traffic here, and my questions, when I have them, get answered quickly and professionally by the other users. I'm getting a new Mac Pro in a few days, and had many questions about hard drive models and setup schemes, and the users here helped me make several crucial decisions, including which hard drives to buy, where to get the RAM, and which RAM to avoid. All this saved me time, money, and frustration, I'm sure. When you encounter a user who is being an ass, simply say so, and you'll probably find that he or she will not even bother to reply. This is most-likely because they have been called out for acting foolish and/or rude, and have nothing to say in their own defense.

[meagain]

dmetzcher - Thanks

CDB - I think my situation might be a bit different than the standard consumer in that: 1) my pc's broke at the same time and ahead of my scheduled switch which forced me to switch under non-opportune conditions, and 2) I run an Ebay business which I need to get functioning immediately and also coming off a a long hiatus (which in itself presented it's own problems). So I'm cramming with this big time. It would've been much more fun if I made the switch not under duress.

Also, I posted under another thread about my 2 remaining issues and it seems I'm missing a tool or 2 to download things cleanly (or at all).

Switch sticking points for me:
1. UPS Worldship doesn't do Mac.
2. No easy way to "print - selection" like in Windows. Shame on Apple for that one!
3. I can live without Irfanview for quick resizing of photos.
4. "Mail" doesn't support Hotmails but a plug-in is working for me.
5. Torrents gave me a headache big time today.
6. Missing something called Bomarchiver. I think it came with the machine and I either accidentally nuked it, or it was never there. I've been told it would help me load cool things, like this program which I've tried to load for HOURS now. PrintMagic For OS X Download

But 1 and 2 are the killers for me. Had to load Bootcamp to get Windows on this iMac to run UPS.
This is UPS's fault, so that leaves #2 which I still find a head-scratcher.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by meagain 

2. No easy way to "print - selection" like in Windows. Shame on Apple for that one!

Schubert|it - Downloads

3. I can live without Irfanview for quick resizing of photos.

You can use iPhoto or GraphicConverter.

6. Missing something called Bomarchiver. I think it came with the machine and I either accidentally nuked it, or it was never there. I've been told it would help me load cool things, like this program which I've tried to load for HOURS now. PrintMagic For OS X Download

BOMArchiveHelper doesn't do cool stuff. It's just there to create and decompress archives like ZIP and TAR. It's located in /System/Library/CoreServices. I doubt you deleted it since you need a password to mess with everything in the /System (because one really shouldn't mess in there). You actually don't even have to know about it since it's used transparently for the user. In the Finder just select File->Create archive and it makes a ZIP-arcive. Double-click the ZIP and it decompresses it. Most users don't know what it is because it doesn't matter.
Things that BOMArchiveHelper does not do is decompress StuffIt (.sit and .sitx) and .hqx archives. The print magic thing is a .hqx so you need StuffIt Expander to unarchive that.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by GDB 

^^^ what he/she said.

In the past, my impression of Mac users are "hip/cool/trendy/creative professionals". Recently it has come to my attention Mac users are getting the arrogance label.

After reading some of the responses here, I know now why that is so.

I'm a Windows user dying to switch to Mac (waiting for Leopard). I would switch still, but now I wouldn't want my friends to know I'd be a Mac user.

Well, there's assholes on all sides.

I do hope you see at least a few of us as trying to be genuinely helpful.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by meagain 

1. UPS Worldship doesn't do Mac.

Please make sure to bombard them with e-mails about this, at least until you get a clear response. Corporations HAVE TO keep hearing that people NEED Mac support before they pull their heads out of their asses.

Originally Posted by meagain 

2. No easy way to "print - selection" like in Windows. Shame on Apple for that one!

TETENAL posted a product that will do this, but if screenshot functionality is enough, Cmd-Shift-4 will present you with crosshairs and save a screenshot to your desktop of the selection you make with those crosshairs.

Originally Posted by meagain 

5. Torrents gave me a headache big time today.

How so?

I use Azureus for torrents, and it's been fine.

[Gee4orce]

I'm just curious what the OP was expecting to do after opening a browser window ? I mean, as far as I know, the only way to get that browser to do something would be to type at the keyboard, or click the mouse a few more times. Why then, is it such a problem to have to do Command-N or File->New first ?

[Gavin]

It's just what you are used to. When you have been simply clicking an icon once to get something done I'm sure it seems like a major hassle to let go of the mouse then fish around for a couple of keys you are not used to hitting, or dig into a menu.

I'd say this thread is a testament to how easy the Mac is to use overall. Remember she is coming from a cold start with no experience on this thing at all.

In just a day or two meagain:
- Got the machine on line and on the web
- Is getting advice here and solving problems.
- Customized some application settings.
- Picked up a few keyboard commands.
- Got her email with a workaround.
- Identified and downloaded some software for printing, etc.
- Installed windows via boot camp to run some legacy applications.
- Wrote a program (with some help) to customize the behavior of safari to suit her; try that on windows!
- And is well on her way to customizing a workflow.

Some of this is power-user level stuff.

OK, so she is running into an annoyance or two, but in general she's kicking some serious computing butt.

[Macpilot]

Welcome to the Mac meagain! Now you can toss the PC out the window.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Gavin 

OK, so she is running into an annoyance or two, but in general she's kicking some serious computing butt.

I wonder if she agrees, but yeah, that's actually a pretty good point.

[Tuoder]

I think that you would prefer Parallels to Boot Camp quite a bit. Boot Camp means rebooting to use Windows. Parallels involves switching windows to use Windows. What worries me about you using Boot Camp is that you may just end up using it all of the time, out of laziness/familiarity.

Just for fun, Could you post a post with your remaining problems?

[workerbee]

Originally Posted by Tuoder 

I think that you would prefer Parallels to Boot Camp quite a bit.

I had the exact same thought. You can run Windows in Parallels concurrently with OS X, making it much more useful (IMHO... I confess to not being much of a Windows user ).

Another product you may want to look into is Crossover.

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by workerbee 

I had the exact same thought. You can run Windows in Parallels concurrently with OS X, making it much more useful (IMHO... I confess to not being much of a Windows user ).

Another product you may want to look into is Crossover.

I think that Crossover would just end up being a pain in the @55.

[meagain]

Gah! I typed a long response but nuked it by trying to make the screen text bigger with mouse. Ah - I'll be back.

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by Tuoder 

I think that you would prefer Parallels to Boot Camp quite a bit. Boot Camp means rebooting to use Windows. Parallels involves switching windows to use Windows. What worries me about you using Boot Camp is that you may just end up using it all of the time, out of laziness/familiarity.

Just for fun, Could you post a post with your remaining problems?

Booting into Windows has its advantages over using Paralells, especially when you are talking about gaming. I've heard that Paralells is not so great with gaming, unless you are going to get a whole lot of RAM for those games that require it. For many games, this might not be an issue at all, however. I'm looking at getting Paralells in the next month or so, or maybe waiting for VMWare to hit Mac OS X. VMWare would be nice because I could use the same product on both Windows and Mac for running virtual machines.

[flukewurm]

i havent read this whole thread (only some of it) but it sounds to me like you werent actually ever quitting safari - just closing all of the safari windows. when you are done with using the internet for a while and want to quit safari then hit apple+q with safari as the active window OR apple+tab+tab+tab until you highlight safari then with apple still held hit +q.. THEN you have closed safari. then next time you hit the safari icon in the dock you will get a new safari window... then while you are surfing and you have one browser window up and running apple+n gets your new window.. apple+t gets your tab.. etc..

thats a huge misunderstanding with macs - the x button at the top of windows quits the application. not true. when you hit alt+tab and tab through the apps **ALL of those apps are running in the background still, taking up memory** to keep a healthy user environment apple+tab+q+q+q every once in a while.

macs are all about keyboard shortcuts. learn to use and love expose (f9,f10,f11,f12) as well. its these tools that have me so in lurve with osx.

[andretan]

I've read bits and pieces of this thread and I wondered to myself: How come some of these new switchers can buy a new Mac without knowing how it works? I mean, there's not much of a manual provided by Apple, but you should have at least tried it out at the store or something no?

I started out with DOS many years ago, then slowly moved on to through all the versions of Windows, and only switched to a Mac in 2002, but I did lots of "research" through the Internet and in this very forums. I was initally hesitant on using a Mac because my school was using Windows everywhere. I hardly had Mac support -- that is through myself.

Now I'm on my 2nd Mac, and so is my family at home.

Impossible is nothing.

Viva la Mac!

PS: This is a great thread BTW!