Macintosh 101
  "Things Everyone Should Know About Their Mac"

     This document is provided to help new, or inexperienced, users learn some key bits of information, that make using your Mac more productive and less problematic.  Experienced users may also find something interesting here, you never know!  It is assumed you are running with System 7 or higher.

     With computers, especially, the distance between total frustration and ease and contentment is frequently a very narrow gap.  A single mis-typed character can bring everything to a halt.  This is true whether you're an end-user or a programmer.  The information below is documented in many places; including with the manual that came with your Mac, or in various online help features built into the System; nonetheless; many, many people are not aware of these things.  It's like the dictionary, sure the words are in there, but a lot of them are still completely unfamiliar to us.  You may already know all of these things, then again, maybe you don't.  If you don't, that lack of information can be a thorn in your side.  This document will try and help remove it.

Modifier Keys

There are several keys on your keyboard which serve no real purpose, except to modify the effect of pressing other keys, or to modify the effect of using your mouse, or anything else you can do to create an "event" which your Mac has to deal with; like inserting a disk, for instance.  The effect a modifier key has is determined by the system or other running software.

The modifier keys are: shift, caps lock, ctrl (control), option, and âŒ˜ or  (command).  The esc (escape) key is sometimes regarded like a modifier key.

If you read somewhere an instruction that says, "Press command-A", it doesn't mean "press the command key, release it, then press the letter A", anymore than you would try to type a capital letter "A" without holding down the shift key at the same time you press the letter "A".  (Unless, of course, caps lock is on, but other modifier keys do not lock in this manner.)  You have to hold the modifier key or keys down at the same time you select other keys which they are intended to modify.  Most applications have menu items which can be triggered through keyboard shortcuts which require modifiers.  There are actions other than pressing keys which can be effected using modifier keys.

If you read that you should "ctrl-click" a button or other type of control, it means you should first press and hold down the control key, then while you hold it down, click the control to get the desired effect.  If it were "command-click", then you would press and hold the command key then click the control, and etc. with other modifiers.

Tricky one:  Frequently programs will have a feature which is accessed by selecting a modifier key and selecting a menu item.  In most cases, you should press and hold down the modifier key before you actually pull down the menu to select the desired item.  If you wait until you've pulled down the menu to press the modifier, many programs will not count the modifier key when you select the item it goes with.

Try this:  Have you noticed that the Finder's "Clean Up Window" command tends to do a less than appealing job of "cleaning up"?  See if you like this better: Select "by Name" from the View menu, then select "by Icon" or "by Small Icon" from the same menu. Now, hold the <option> key down, then pull the Special menu down and select the "Clean Up by Name" command!  If you chose "by Date" in the first step, instead of "by Name" the clean up command on the Special menu will read "Clean Up by Date," and  similarly with "by Kind", "by Label", and "by Size."

Menus

Almost universally, Mac programs place an item on the Apple menu that says, "About (the name of the program)..."; which is shown when the application is the front running program.  Selecting this item usually tells you who created the program, perhaps what the program is or does, and frequently also leads to online help or other information about the program.  The Apple menu is also a common place to see an item listed specifically as "Help", leading to the available online help.

The term "in front" refers to the program whose set of menus are presently on the menubar.  "In the background" refers to all programs which are running but are not in front.  Some programs, like Control Panels, do not use the menubar.  Those programs show themselves active by their window, when the title bar is not dimmed.

The menu at the opposite end of the menubar from the Apple menu is called the Application (or Finder) menu.  This menu lists the currently running applications, as well as your Hide and Show commands from the Finder.

The Apple menu is unique from other menus, notably because of what it contains, but also notable because you can alter the contents.  In your System folder there is another folder called, "Apple Menu Items".  Anything in that folder shows up in your Apple menu.  By default, the operating system places some items in there, like the Chooser.  It is very helpful to place items you frequently use in the Apple Menu Items folder, so that you can access them easily from the Apple menu.

Tips: If you are using System 7.5 or have a shareware utility installed that allows sub-menus from the Apple Menu, use the Finder command "Make Alias", from the File menu, to create an alias of your hard drive, which you can place in the Apple Menu Items folder.   You can access practically your whole hard drive, this way, straight from the Apple menu.  You could also create a folder in your Apple Menu Items folder and title it "Favorites"; then place aliases of your favorite programs in it, for quick easy access.  If you don't have sub-menus, you can still place aliases of your most often used programs in the Apple Menu Items folder and then have easy access to them from the Apple menu.

What is an alias?  An alias is a pointer to a file or folder, sort of like an address.  It uses the same icon of the file/folder you create it from, so it looks like it, but it's really just a fake which you can place conveniently anywhere that is handy; without having multiple copies of your file or folder all over your hard drive.  A typical alias takes about 2-8K of disk storage; dependent on how large your hard drive is; while a whole file or folder can be infinitely larger.  Aliases are distinguished in appearance by their names in the Finder, which are shown in italics.  When you double-click an alias, it acts as if you clicked on the original item.

Installing Extensions and Control Panels

Extensions and Control panels are special programs which modify the System in some way in order to achieve a desired result.  Because they operate on the operating System, they are loaded when the System is loaded; before other programs, so that everything is set in place before applications and the user begin to interact with the System.  This means that when you want to install a Control Panel or Extension, even after you install it, the effects of those programs are not implemented until you restart your computer.  Frequently, if you modify the settings of a Control Panel, it must also wait until your computer is restarted to implement the changes.

Installation:  A Control Panel or Extension is easy to install— the System will do it for you.  All you need to do is click on the Control Panel or Extension and drag it on top of your System folder, then release it.  The System will bring up a dialog asking you if you would like it installed in the appropriate folder within your System folder (Control Panels in the Control Panels folder, Extensions in the Extensions folder), and you just have to respond OK.

Note:  When you install one of these programs, don't drag the whole folder to your System folder, or to any other folder in the System folder.  Just drag the program.  If you drag the whole folder, the System will just place the folder in the System folder and it won't be installed.  If you place an Extension or Control Panel inside of another folder inside the Extensions or Control Panels folder of your System folder, it will also not be recognized by the System, and won't be installed.

Many Extensions and Control Panels can be prevented from being installed if you hold down the mouse button during the startup procedure; when those types of programs are being loaded by the System.  This is useful if you install a new file and it crashes your System at startup.  Just hold down the mouse button when you reboot (restart) your Mac.  Of course, not all programs are prevented from loading this way.  To prevent any extensions or control panels from loading, press and hold the shift key down during startup.

Recovering When Everything Freezes

No one who uses a computer goes very long without experiencing a "freeze".  Suddenly everything seems to have stopped, the mouse won't move, or it's stuck in wait mode, and all appears locked up and useless.  The common reaction is to toggle the power switch and restart the computer.  This is NOT the way you should do it!

The reason:  There are many reasons, but the best one not to do it in my opinion is because your internal hard drive is probably still spinning when you do it.  This means that you are running a great risk of damaging the data written on it when it lands abruptly and comes to a halt.

What you can do:
1st Resort -  First, try to "Force Quit" the program that is running.  You do this by pressing <option> <command> <esc>.  The Finder will bring up a dialog asking if you really want to force quit, and you respond that you do.  In many cases, this will get control back to you.

Last Resort - If the above accomplishes nothing useful, then you can cause your Mac to restart without toggling the power on and off by pressing <ctrl> <command> and the key at the top of your keyboard with an indented left pointing arrow shape on it.  This key could be located at the left or on the right side of the keyboard.

Alternatives: If you are encountering an endlessly spinning beach ball or watch cursor, many programs will allow you to cancel out of whatever it is stuck doing by pressing <command> and a period, sometimes <shift> <command> and a period, and sometimes just the <esc> key.

Preferences

Nearly every Mac program has something called, "Preferences".  These are settings which record information the program uses to configure itself.  Some of these settings are, for instance, saved window positions from when you quit the application, the menu items that were checked, and other information that allows the program to set things up the same way the next time you launch it.  Other settings are settings you can directly assign according to your needs or desires.  Look for a menu item on one of the program's menus that says, "Preferences", or something along that line, like "Settings".
     When you select that menu item, most programs will present you with dialogs which have items you can check or fill in to custom configure the program to do things in various ways that it allows.  If you really want to improve your usage of your Mac, do yourself a favor, and learn what the settings are for your applications.  You will be amazed at how much easier things become when you take advantage of the opportunities programmers give you to configure things your own way.

Get Info

If you don't know how to use the Finder's "Get Info" command, take just a little time to learn about it and you'll find it can be very handy.

Select (highlight) any file or disk icon, by clicking on it, then press <command> and the letter I (for Info), when the Finder is in front.  You will be presented with a small window with some basic information about the item you clicked.

For applications, you will see how much of your computers memory it requests from the System when you launch it.  You can also increase that amount.  Suppose you are using a program to view large sized graphics that take a lot of memory, and the program is running out of memory, causing it to crash.  Giving the program more memory can help keep the program from crashing for that reason.  Many programs operate more efficiently with more memory available to them, others do not.

Other information in the "Get Info" window tells you things like the size of the file or disk, when it was created, when it was last modified, version numbers, and so on.  One other trick you may not know about, is that you can actually copy the icon in the window.  Just click on the icon, then press command-C.  You can paste that icon into a graphic with your paint program, or you can open another "Get Info" window and replace that file or disks icon with the one you copied.  To do that, just click the icon in the window, then press command-V.

Still having to respond to that annoying confirmation dialog every time you try to empty the trash?  Turn the warnings off:  Select the trash and hit command-I.  The "Get Info" window for the Trash has a checkbox which you can un-check to stop those annoying warnings.

In most "Get Info" windows, there is a space where you can enter comments, if you desire to.  These comments are saved in your Macs "Desktop File" until the next time your Desktop File is rebuilt by the System.  The Desktop file is where the System writes information that helps it tie together all the icons and file names of all the files on a disk.

When you're ready to dig a little deeper...

ResEdit

The Macintosh does a pretty thorough job of separating the user from the inner workings of Macintosh software.  This is partially why the Mac is so easy to learn to use, and so easy to do productive work on; but there is a magical beauty to the Macintosh which is only revealed when you peek under the landscape and see the lively world within!

Even if you are not a programmer, and never intend to be, you can enjoy using Apple's free and publicly available program, ResEdit.  ResEdit stands for resource editor. 

Macintosh programs are unique in their structure from their PC counterparts.  A Macintosh program is composed of "forks"; one fork called the data fork, and another called the resource fork.  Some files make use of both forks, many applications use only the resource fork, many documents use only the data fork.  This dual fork file structure is called, "MacBinary".

ResEdit lets you see inside of Mac programs.  Programs use resources of many different types.  Menus are stored in a resource called a 'MENU' resource.  Icons are stored in many different kinds of resources, including one called plainly 'ICON'.  Anything and everything can be stored in a resource, and Mac programs frequently use hundreds of them.  There is a powerful advantage to this design— resources can be often be edited with almost no knowledge of programming, by almost any user.

Say you wanted to change the name of a menu item, or give it a new or different command-key shortcut, ResEdit will let you do it easily.  Say you'd like to change all of the text within a program from one language to another; if the programmer has stored it all in resources, you could do it without any knowledge of the technical aspects of the program!  In short, resources are awesome.

You can find books on ResEdit at computer and book stores, one is titled, ResEdit Complete, by Alley and Strange, publisher is Addison Wesley.  This title comes with a disk containing ResEdit.

You can download ResEdit from any major online services forum for Macintosh developers, or from many Internet sites and local BBS's.

Check it out, you'll love it!  Be forewarned, however, always work on copies!  Some changes can have unexpected results, you never want to risk damaging your original file.

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