Get your Mac Computer up and running
Now you have your new Mac Computer in house and wondering about the first things you should do. This easy to follow guide will show you what I think are the most important steps to take right now.
This guide aims mainly for you not used to computers having little or no experience with Mac OS X at all. I will not give you so many options to choose from when we need to find some software. I believe too many choices can be confusing and then this guide wont be of any help at all.
I will assume as much as you have been able to start up the computer, have Internet access and have Mac OS X running right now. The first thing I usually do when I have a new Mac on my table is to check if there are any software updates from Apple. It is always recommended to install the latest updates so you get all security fixes and improvements to built in applications.
Step 1 - Apple Software Update
Click that Apple icon, and select "Software Update".
This window should now pop up.
Your Mac now contacts Apple over the Internet to check if there are any updates to your Mac Computer. Do not be surprised if you indeed have some updates to install, even if you just recently bought your Mac. Updates are released fairly regularly and it is always smart to install the latest ones. You might get a window that asks for your password, you need to enter your password to continue. This is safe to do. Your Mac might even restart during this update process, this is also normal behavior.
Step 2 - Word Processing
If you come from a Windows world you may be familiar with Microsoft Office. This package is available for Mac too but I would not recommend to buy it, trust me. It is not that good. Now to tell the truth we have a few options to consider here but to make it easy for you, and even easier for your wallet I will make one recommendation. And that one is to use Open Office. This package is free to download and use. In this package you get the following: Writer: the Word Processor, Calc: the Spreadsheet Processor, Impress: the Presentation Application, Draw: the Graphics Application, Formula: the Scientific Helper. You can even make documents in Open Office that can be opened with Microsoft Office, on a regular Windows PC. Download Open Office here
Step 3 - Instant Messaging
If you want to use MSN there is just one good enough option in my opinion. That option is called AdiumX and it is the best instant messaging application for Mac OS X. Period. AdiumX has a beautiful Mac OS X interface, but the best is still to come. This application is free, it doesn't cost you a dime. Get it now.
Step 4 - Use Spotlight
Spotlight is an extremely powerful searching tool for your Mac. If you ever need to find anything, and by that I really mean anything. Just type in what you are looking for and it will search through all of your documents, files, e-mail, contacts and even applications. Everything you can think of. It is really fast because it makes an index of your hard drive in the background. And when you make changes to files Spotlight will update the search index too. You never have to think about that yourself. It all happens automatically.
Step 5 - Start to Backup, NOW!
In Mac OS X Leopard Apple introduced something called Time Machine. What this application do is to backup your entire hard drive. Imagine all of your images, documents, music lost. Forever. Cant put a price tag on memories can you? If so ... go out and buy one of those cheap external hard drives. Plug the hard drive into your mac, and let time machine use that drive for the backup disk. Do not worry on how to set this up, it will ask you when you plug the drive in. Remember hard drives can fail, even the hard drive in your Mac can fail. It would be wise to be prepared for hard drive failure.
Anything More?
You are just scraping the surface on what you can do with your new Mac Computer. If you want to check out more useful applications you could take a look at the Application Guide where you will find more suggestions on applications to download and use. The Switch Guide will also teach you some basics surrounding the use of Mac OS X. Enjoy your new Mac Computer and I hope you get many entertaining and useful years from it.
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