Mac OS® X Leopard™ All‐in‐One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 3. Basic OS X Housekeeping

In This Chapter

• Copying, moving, and duplicating files

• Deleting and recovering files

• Renaming files

• Finding specific files

• Locking files

• Using Apple menu commands

• Using Services, the Go menu, and menu icons

• Listening to audio discs and recording data discs

• Printing within Mac OS X applications

After you master basic Mac spell‐casting — things like selecting items, using menus, opening and saving documents, working with windows, and launching an application or two — it's time to delve deeper into Mac OS X. (Can you tell I'm a Dungeons & Dragons old‐timer?)

In this chapter, I discuss file management, showing you the hidden power behind the friendly Apple menu. I also discuss some of the more advanced menu commands, how to print within most applications, and how to listen to an audio CD on your Mac. (It makes a doggone good stereo.) Finally, I introduce you to the built‐in CD/DVD recording features within the Big X and how to add a standard USB printer to your system.

The Finder: It's the Wind beneath Your Wings

So what exactly is the Finder anyway? It's a rather nebulous term, but in essence, the Finder gives Mac OS X the basic functions that you'll use for the procedures that I outline in this chapter. This multitasking UberOS has been around in one guise or another since the days of System 6 — the creaking old days when a Mac was an all‐in‐one, toteable computer with a built‐in screen. Come to think of it, some things never change.

The Finder is always running, ...