Macs For Dummies, 13th Edition

Macs For Dummies, 13th Edition

by Edward C. Baig
Released June 2014
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781118898697

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Book description

Get the most out of your Mac with this comprehensive guide

Macs For Dummies, 13th Edition is the ultimate guide to your Mac, fully updated to include information about the latest updates. The book walks you through troubleshooting, syncing mobile devices, integrating Windows, and more, so you can take advantage of everything Macs have to offer. Whether you're a new user, a recent convert, or you just want to get the most out of your Mac, this book puts all the information you need in one place.

Discover what makes Macs superior computing machines. Learn the basics, from mastering the Dock and customizing OS X, to iCloud syncing and backing up with Time Machine. You'll suddenly find your computer fun again as you make FaceTime calls and explore iLife. Plus, you'll find out that switching to OS X doesn't mean leaving your favorite Windows programs behind. Macs For Dummies, 13th Edition contains everything for the beginner or intermediate Mac user, including information about new features like the Thunderbolt port and the complete redesign of the Mac Pro. Topics include:

  • Setting up your daily routine with Reminders, e-mail, and the Dock

  • Exploring the native tools like iWork, iLife, and iCloud

  • Customizing your experience with User Accounts, Parental Controls, and Mission Control

  • Basic maintenance and troubleshooting to keep your Mac running perfectly

    • The book also dispenses valuable information for a veteran Mac user, including the most useful Dashboard widgets and the 10 best Mac websites that belong in your Safari bookmark menu. If you want to enjoy the true Mac experience, Macs For Dummies, 13th Edition is the most comprehensive guide on the market.

    Table of contents

      1. Introduction
        1. About This Book
        2. Foolish Assumptions
        3. Icons Used in This Book
        4. Beyond the Book
        5. Where to Go from Here
      2. Part I: Getting Started with Macs
        1. Chapter 1: Adventuring into the Mac World
          1. Mac-Spectacular Computing
            1. Checking out shapes and sizes
            2. Matching a Mac to your needs
            3. Selecting handy peripherals
          2. Communicating with Your Mac
            1. It’s a GUI
            2. With great tools for you
            3. And output, too
          3. Living the iLife
          4. Working with iWork
          5. Reaching Outside the Box
            1. Getting online
            2. Hanging in the iClouds
            3. Networking with or without wires
          6. Staying Safe and Trouble-Free
        2. Chapter 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Your Mac
          1. Turning On and Tuning In Your Mac
            1. Finding the On button
            2. Getting credentials
            3. Creating an identity
            4. Clocking in
            5. Registering your Mac
            6. Making acquaintances
            7. Shutting down
            8. Giving your Mac a nap
          2. Mousing Around the Interface
            1. Knowing your mouse type
            2. Learning the basic mouse (or trackpad) moves
          3. Knowing What’s Handy about the Keyboard
            1. Finding the major functions
            2. Pressing the keys to success
            3. Taking a shortcut
          4. Storing Stuff on the Hard Drive or SSD
          5. Memory Essentials, or RAM On
          6. Locating the Common Ports and Connectors
            1. Adding everyday peripherals with USB
            2. FireWire: Pumping data through a bigger hose
            3. Introducing Thunderbolt
            4. Jacks of all trades
        3. Chapter 3: Getting to the Core of the Apple
          1. Navigating the Mac Desktop
            1. Biting into the Apple menu
            2. Finding icons and folders
            3. Unlocking the Finder window
            4. Getting a stunning view
            5. Having a Quick Look
          2. What’s Up, Dock?
            1. What you’ll find on the Dock
            2. Loading up the Dock
            3. Docking the Dock
            4. Re-opening minimized windows
            5. Stockpiling Stacks
            6. Quitting time
          3. A Gaggle of Freebie Programs
            1. Staying organized
            2. Tooling around for a reference
        4. Chapter 4: Here a Mac, There a Mac, Everywhere a Mac Mac
          1. Big Mac or Little Mac?: The Laptop-versus-Desktop Decision
          2. If a Desktop Is Your Poison
            1. iMac
            2. Mac mini
            3. Mac Pro: A Mac with muscle
          3. Going Mobile
            1. MacBook Pro
            2. MacBook Air
          4. Taming the Trackpad
          5. Keeping Your Notebook Juiced
      3. Part II: Mac Daily Dealings
        1. Chapter 5: Making the Mac Your Own
          1. Establishing User Accounts
            1. Ranking user accounts
            2. Creating new accounts
          2. Entering the Photo Booth
            1. Taking a Photo Booth picture
            2. Applying special effects
            3. Admiring and sharing Photo Booth photos
          3. Using Parental Controls: When Father (or Mother) Knows Best
          4. The Lowdown on Logging In
            1. . . . And logging out
            2. Pulling a fast one
          5. Letting Someone Go
          6. Changing Appearances
            1. Altering buttons menus, and windows
            2. Setting your wallpaper and screen saver
            3. Choosing a screen saver
          7. Tidying Up with Mission Control
            1. Working on multiple Desktops
            2. Navigating application windows
            3. Customizing Misson Control
          8. Launching Launchpad
          9. System Preferences: Choosing Priorities
            1. Date and time
            2. Displays
            3. Sound
            4. App Store
            5. Accessibility
        2. Chapter 6: Mavericks: No More Feline Fetish
          1. How Many Features? Let Me Count the Ways
          2. Searching with Spotlight
            1. Rummaging through your stuff
            2. Intelligent searching
            3. Searching your way
            4. Using Smart Folders
          3. Fiddling with Dashboard Widgets
        3. Chapter 7: Handling All That Busy Work
          1. Form and Function: The Essentials of Word Processing
            1. Creating a document
            2. Selecting text in a document
            3. Dragging and dropping
            4. Cutting and pasting
            5. Changing the font
            6. Formatting your document
            7. Speaking what’s on your mind
            8. Saving your work
            9. Securing, copying, and otherwise managing your file
          2. Tagging a File
          3. Making Revisions
          4. Taking Out the Trash
          5. Never Mind: Retrieving What You’ve Tossed
          6. Making an Alias
        4. Chapter 8: Printing and Scanning
          1. Choosing a Printer
            1. Inkjets
            2. Lasers
            3. All-in-ones
          2. Connecting and Activating a Printer
          3. Ready, Set, Print
            1. Printing it your way
            2. Previewing your print
          4. When Printers Stop Printing
            1. Running out of ink or toner
            2. Running out of paper
          5. Hooking Up a Scanner
      4. Part III: Rocketing into Cyberspace
        1. Chapter 9: Stairway to the Internet
          1. Dialing In
          2. Taking the Broadband Express
            1. DSL, cable . . .
            2. Always on, always connected
          3. Let Me In
          4. Going on a Safari
            1. Just browsing
            2. Smart addressing
            3. Clicking links
            4. Using bookmarks
            5. Employing the tools of the trade in Safari
          5. Using an Alternative Browser
          6. The Skinny on Search Engines
            1. Google this
            2. Bing and Yahoo!
        2. Chapter 10: Delivering the Goods on E-Mail
          1. Understanding E-Mail
          2. Setting Up a New E-Mail Account
          3. Before You Click Send
            1. Addressing your missive
            2. Composing messages
            3. Choosing stationery
            4. Saving drafts
            5. Attaching files
            6. Spell checking
            7. Signing off with a signature
          4. Managing the Flood of Incoming Mail
            1. Choosing what to read
            2. Replying to messages
            3. Organizing Mail by conversation
            4. Picking VIPs
            5. Opening mail from strangers
            6. Junking the junk
            7. Avoiding spam
            8. Setting the rules
            9. Building Smart Mailboxes
            10. Searching mail
            11. Opening attachments
          5. Making the Most of Your Mail
        3. Chapter 11: Schmoozing, Shopping, and Moving in Cyberspace
          1. Messaging with the Messages App
            1. Getting started with the Messages app
            2. Hey, buddy
            3. Chatting
            4. Seeing is believing; hearing, too
            5. Screen sharing
          2. Face Time for FaceTime
            1. Getting started with FaceTime
            2. Making a FaceTime call
            3. Receiving a FaceTime call
            4. Doing more FaceTime tricks
          3. Social Networking
            1. Facebook
            2. LinkedIn and others
            3. Twitter
          4. Buying Stuff Online: The Mac App Store
            1. Finding apps
            2. Figuring out whether an app is worth it
            3. Making a purchase
          5. Read All About It: iBooks
            1. Finding something to read
            2. Reading a book
          6. Mapping Your Way Around
          7. Showing Your Game Face
        4. Chapter 12: Joining iCloud, the Club That Will Have You for a Member
          1. Why Belong?
          2. Setting Up iCloud on Your Mac
          3. Storage in the Sky
          4. iCloud Mail
          5. Back to My Mac
          6. Find My Mac
        5. Chapter 13: Mounting a Defense Strategy
          1. The Truth about Internet Security
            1. Spies in our midst
            2. Gone phishing
          2. Firewalls
          3. FileVault
          4. Password Management: The Key to Keychains
          5. Logging In and Logging Out
          6. Restricting App Downloads
          7. Hiding Your Mac’s Whereabouts
          8. Securing Your Privacy
          9. Entering a Time Machine
            1. Setting up Time Machine
            2. Going back in time
      5. Part IV: Getting an iLife
        1. Chapter 14: Living in an iTunes Nation
          1. iTunes: The Great Mac Jukebox
            1. Tuning in to the iTunes interface
            2. Controlling the controls
          2. Managing Your Music
            1. Ripping audio CDs
            2. Importing other ditties
            3. Adding music from iCloud
            4. iTunes Match
            5. Creating playlists
            6. When playlists get smart
            7. When playlists get even smarter
            8. Genius Mixes
            9. Up Next
            10. MiniPlayer
            11. Loading tunes onto a portable device
            12. Burning audio CDs
          3. Tuning In to Internet Radio
            1. Exploring the Internet tab
            2. iTunes Radio
          4. Finding Music (And More) Online
            1. Seeking online music recommendations
            2. The search for great music continues
            3. When you’re ready to buy
            4. Allowances and gifts
            5. Sharing music with other computers
          5. iTunes: More Than Just Music
            1. Reading books
            2. Listening to audiobooks
            3. Capturing podcasts
            4. Catching up on Mad Men and Game of Thrones
            5. Buying and renting movies
            6. App Store
            7. iTunes U
        2. Chapter 15: Taking an iPhoto Close-Up
          1. Getting Pictures into the Computer
            1. Connecting a digital camera
            2. Importing images from the camera
            3. Importing images from other sources
            4. Using Photo Stream
          2. Finding and Organizing Images
            1. Seeing everything in Photos view
            2. Browsing and organizing in Events view
            3. Finding pictures by date
            4. Facing everyone in Faces view
            5. Mapping photos in Places view
            6. Assigning keywords
            7. Assigning ratings
            8. Placing your work in albums
            9. Creating a Smart Album for photos
            10. Viewing pictures
            11. Something to hide
          3. Touching Up Your Photos
            1. The full-screen treatment
            2. Rotating an image
            3. Cropping an image
            4. Repairing blemishes
            5. Straighten
            6. Enhance and adjust
            7. Reducing red-eye
            8. Special effects
          4. Admiring and Sharing Pictures
            1. Creating slideshows
            2. E-mailing pictures
            3. Booking them
            4. Cards and calendars
            5. Themed prints
            6. Ordering prints
          5. iCloud Photo Sharing
          6. Sharing on Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter
        3. Chapter 16: Shooting an iMovie Screen Test
          1. Touring the iMovie Interface
          2. Shooting Your Oscar Winner
          3. From Here to Eternity: Camcorder to iMovie
            1. Using a tape-based camcorder
            2. Using a DVD, hard drive, or flash-memory camcorder
            3. Importing videos from other destinations
            4. Using an iSight, FaceTime, or other camera to record directly to iMovie
          4. Mastering Postproduction
            1. Staging events
            2. Milking the skimming feature
            3. Playing around with playback
            4. Working with video
            5. Marking video
            6. Cropping video
            7. Improving the sound
          5. Turning Your Clips into a Movie
            1. Pick a theme, any theme
            2. Movie trailers
            3. Adding music or sound effects
            4. Recording a voiceover
            5. The cutting-room floor
            6. Adding transitions between clips
            7. Adding titles
            8. Adding photos to a movie
            9. Making further adjustments
          6. Sharing Your Blockbuster
          7. QuickTime Marks the Spot
            1. Making a quick QuickTime movie
            2. Shortening the QuickTime movie
        4. Chapter 17: The Show Must Go On
          1. Forming a GarageBand
            1. Keeping on track(s)
            2. Connecting external instruments
            3. Beating the GarageBand drums
            4. Getting loopy
            5. Building an arrangement
            6. Multitake recording
            7. Staying in the groove
            8. Importing media
          2. Learning to Play
          3. Sharing Music Projects
      6. Part V: The Creepy Geeky Section
        1. Chapter 18: Networking Madness
          1. Networking Done Right
            1. The wired way
            2. Cutting the cord
            3. Landing safely at the AirPort
            4. Boarding the AirPort Express
            5. AirPlay
            6. AirPlay Mirroring
            7. Testing your network
          2. Let’s Share
          3. AirDrop
          4. Brushing Up on Bluetooth
            1. Getting discovered
            2. Pairing off
        2. Chapter 19: Surviving in a Windows World
          1. What the Mac and Windows Have in Common
          2. Making the Switch
            1. Help from Apple
            2. Burning a disc
            3. External hard drives
            4. Using an existing network
            5. The KVM switch
          3. Enlisting in Boot Camp
            1. Basic training
            2. Switching operating systems
          4. A Parallels (and Fusion) Universe
        3. Chapter 20: Handling Trouble in Paradise
          1. A Cranky Computer
          2. A Frozen Computer or Program
            1. Force Quit
            2. When a program quits on you
            3. Forcing a restart
            4. Safe boot
            5. Disk Utility
            6. Get S.M.A.R.T
          3. Startup Problems
          4. Reinstalling OS X
          5. Common Fixes for Other Problems
            1. A jumpy mouse
            2. A stuck CD
            3. My Mac can no longer tell time
            4. Kernel clink
            5. SOS for DNS
            6. Curing the trash-can blues
          6. Useful Routine Maintenance
            1. Purge unnecessary files and programs
            2. Backing up your treasures
            3. Updating software
          7. Summoning Outside Help
            1. Third-party software
            2. AppleCare
            3. Consulting Einstein
            4. Help, I need somebody
      7. Part VI: The Part of Tens
        1. Chapter 21: Ten Indispensable Mac Websites
          1. AppleInsider
          2. Cult of Mac
          3. MacFixIt
          4. MacRumors
          5. MacSurfer’s Headline News
          6. Macworld
          7. Other World Computing
          8. The Unofficial Apple Weblog
          9. VersionTracker
          10. Last but Not Least, Apple.com
        2. Chapter 22: Ten Things to Leave You With
          1. Remote Software Installation
          2. If Math Moves You
          3. Speaking Another Language
          4. Zip It in the Bud
          5. FYI on FTP
          6. Screen Capture (Stills and Video)
          7. Watching Live TV on a Mac
          8. Would You Like to Play a Game of Chess?
          9. Using the Mac for Work
          10. Speech Recognition
      8. About the Author
      9. Cheat Sheet
      10. More Dummies Products

    Product information

    • Title: Macs For Dummies, 13th Edition
    • Author(s): Edward C. Baig
    • Release date: June 2014
    • Publisher(s): For Dummies
    • ISBN: 9781118898697