Please do not reply to this thread unless it is to add something to what is already in this FAQ:
Q: Will Mac's recognize my files that I have on PC when I move them over?
A: Some will, for example - Pictures, PDF's, TXT, RTF documents, ZIP, ISO, etc. it will. EXE's, DLL's, COM, BAT, etc. won't. Basically Windows Components won't be recognized.
Q: I have a lot of Photo's on my PC, how do I move them to my Mac?
A: Most of the time there is an Ethernet port in all newer PC's (dating from 1999 on up) so you can do 3 things:
1 - Removable Media such as Pocket Hard drives, Flash cards, Memory Sticks, CD-R/RW's, DVD-/+R/RW's, etc. Macs recognize any removable instantaniously with no extra software needed.
2 - Use Ethernet and setup a shared folder and move them like that. NOTE: YOU NEED A PATCH CABLE TO DO THIS!
3 - Firewire and Move2Mac software - you hook up firewire to your PC and Mac and it transfers everything over for your automatically.
Q: I have a lot of MP3's WMA's WMV's MOV's etc. on my PC, will Mac's recognize them?
A: From what I've heard, the next release for iTunes is to support WMA's. As for WMA's and WMV's you can download Microsoft Media Encoder 10 and convert them to whatever file format you want. VLC is a popular program that will play ANY (this includes WMA's WMV's etc.) type of Music, Sound, and Video File. Quicktime supports Mov's, Mpeg's etc. very well, and it runs very very fast. MP3's are supported via iTunes. Just use MME10 to convert all of your music to whatever format.
Q: I enjoy playing emulators, are there emulators for Mac?
A: NOTE: YOU MUST OWN THE GAME IN ORDER TO PLAY THE GAME ON THE EMULATOR, IT IS ILLEGAL AND NOT RECOMMENDED TO DOWNLOAD ANY GAME THAT YOU DO NOT ALREADY OWN! HOMEBREW GAMES ARE LEGAL TO PLAY CAUSE THEY WERE MADE BY SOMEONE ELSE AND DOES NOT HAVE A COPYRIGHT! MAKE SURE YOU OWN THE GAME BEFORE PLAYING EMULATORS ETC!
Yes Mac supports a variety of Emulators. Like it says above, YOU MUST OWN THE GAME TO PLAY IT ON EMULATION. SNES, NES, Genesis, GB, GBA etc. there are many emulators for mac. Google it.
Q: I don't want to have 2 computers running, but I still want to use Windows, how can I do this?
A: Use a Computer Emulator such as Virtual Machine. Then you can run Windows in a Window and use it as the OS.
Q: I'm a programmer, can I still program using Macs?
A: Apple is about one of the only OS's to offer free programming tools for the end user. See http://developer.apple.com/ for more information.
Q: How hard is it to setup internet on a Mac?
A: Wait... you have to set it up? Not any more if you use DSL or Cable. Tiger provides a program called Bonjour which automatically configures Network settings for your computer. Dial-up, although, will have to be configured by you - call your ISP for help.
Q: What is Expose?
A: Expose is an interface to show users all of their windows open on the computer. Head down to CompUSA or Apple retail and press F9 when a lot of windows are open and see what happens.
Q: Can I burn CD's with a Mac and will they work on PC?
A: Yes Mac's can burn any CD they want. iTunes for music or Finder for anything else. Yes you can burn anything and it will show up on PC. Only specially made mac cd's are encoded HFS+ for the CD's. Burn anything you'd like.
Q: What are widgets?
A: Widgets are basically HTML/CSS/Javascript embedded components that make up a small program for the end user. TIger has all these enhancements.
Q: How do you eject a CD with a Mac?
A: Press the eject key or hold F12 on older keyboards.
Q: Where can I get more information?
A: I've posted a lot here, but not all that I need to. Visit http://www.apple.com for more information or contact me or post in the forums. DO NOT POST TO THIS THREAD PLEASE!
Q: Mac's are expensive, I can't afford one, how can I get one though?
A: Well, the Mac-mini is $499 - free shipping - but that doesn't provide a keyboard or mouse, and you have to have a monitor. But other sites have some cheap macs on them that are used. Look for an iMac and a USB Keyboard and Mouse if you're going to buy used, or search the forums here.
Q: How often to users get viruses on Macs?
A: Rarely, but it happens. Macs will never have as many virus' as Windoze.
Q: If I buy a High End PowerMac now, how long before I'll need a new one?
A: Oh I'd say about 3 or 4 years.
Q: What types of DVD's are supported with Macs?
A: As far as I know, DVD-R,-RW,+RW,+R, and with older Macs they support DVD-RAM.
Q: I hear that you can hold keys down to do different things at startup, is this true?
A: Yes its true. X for OS X, F12 for what boot devices are available, N for network, C for CD, Control + Option + P + R for PRAM.
Q: What is PRAM?
A: PRAM keeps a lot of tidbits of information in it, such as Resolution, TimeZone, Colors, etc. Very useful, and it talks with the OS to set these settings.
Q: I used to use OS 9, but I don't see class in OS X Tiger, did they get rid of it?
A: Nope, actually Tiger comes (on the 2nd DVD) with OS 9 on it. You have to install it yourself though, and then the classic tab will show up.
Q: What are permissions, sounds complicated?
A: Permissions are a way of keeping files only useable to those who need it. It helps so that you don't have security breaches in your system, or unwanted users doing things on your computer.
Q: I want to filter what programs my son/daughter uses, can I do this?
A: Yes you can, make them a login, and you can lock out whatever applications you don't want them using, such as the internet, or certain games, or anything else you don't want them to have access to.
Q: I run through a proxy, how do Macs deal with proxy?
A: You set them in your Network settings and it uses those settings for Safari. IE and Firefox have to be configured by you.
Q: When trying to get help on the forum, they tell me something like this "click File->Mount", what does that mean?
A: At the top, it says File, for the application you are working in. Some don't have File, some just start out with Edit, or may have nothing. You click the File Menu, then go down to (for example) Mount, in this case.
TIPS FOR RECEIVING GOOD ANSWERS
1. Be clear and concise in your heading, HELP just doesn't work. Try something like Help: [Powerbook drive won't read], but please don't be vague and put Help. Be descriptive using few words - lets say I was having a problem with my iMac being able to startup OS 10 and all it would show was a black screen with text (a.k.a. Verbose Mode), I'd put this as the title: [iMac starts in Verbose - OS X.3] (X.3 = Panther).
2. Explain the problem clearly. Don't just say, I started up my Powerbook and the it doesn't work. Well, that can lead to a few things, do you get a screen? Do you get a mouse pointer? Does the OS load? Does the PB even load up? How do you turn it off? Be clearer like this: I start up my Powerbook, it goes into OS X and then the backlight just turns off. I have just barely started it, and it shouldn't go to sleep, but the backlight turns on as soon as the dialog appears with "Starting OS X". That helps us to better understand your problem.
3. Don't expect every problem to be fixed right away, sometimes it takes more time to figure out whats going on. If you need more advanced help, use Apple.com's support forums.
I will be adding more later on, but this is a starting to the FAQ
Q: Will Mac's recognize my files that I have on PC when I move them over?
A: Some will, for example - Pictures, PDF's, TXT, RTF documents, ZIP, ISO, etc. it will. EXE's, DLL's, COM, BAT, etc. won't. Basically Windows Components won't be recognized.
Q: I have a lot of Photo's on my PC, how do I move them to my Mac?
A: Most of the time there is an Ethernet port in all newer PC's (dating from 1999 on up) so you can do 3 things:
1 - Removable Media such as Pocket Hard drives, Flash cards, Memory Sticks, CD-R/RW's, DVD-/+R/RW's, etc. Macs recognize any removable instantaniously with no extra software needed.
2 - Use Ethernet and setup a shared folder and move them like that. NOTE: YOU NEED A PATCH CABLE TO DO THIS!
3 - Firewire and Move2Mac software - you hook up firewire to your PC and Mac and it transfers everything over for your automatically.
Q: I have a lot of MP3's WMA's WMV's MOV's etc. on my PC, will Mac's recognize them?
A: From what I've heard, the next release for iTunes is to support WMA's. As for WMA's and WMV's you can download Microsoft Media Encoder 10 and convert them to whatever file format you want. VLC is a popular program that will play ANY (this includes WMA's WMV's etc.) type of Music, Sound, and Video File. Quicktime supports Mov's, Mpeg's etc. very well, and it runs very very fast. MP3's are supported via iTunes. Just use MME10 to convert all of your music to whatever format.
Q: I enjoy playing emulators, are there emulators for Mac?
A: NOTE: YOU MUST OWN THE GAME IN ORDER TO PLAY THE GAME ON THE EMULATOR, IT IS ILLEGAL AND NOT RECOMMENDED TO DOWNLOAD ANY GAME THAT YOU DO NOT ALREADY OWN! HOMEBREW GAMES ARE LEGAL TO PLAY CAUSE THEY WERE MADE BY SOMEONE ELSE AND DOES NOT HAVE A COPYRIGHT! MAKE SURE YOU OWN THE GAME BEFORE PLAYING EMULATORS ETC!
Yes Mac supports a variety of Emulators. Like it says above, YOU MUST OWN THE GAME TO PLAY IT ON EMULATION. SNES, NES, Genesis, GB, GBA etc. there are many emulators for mac. Google it.
Q: I don't want to have 2 computers running, but I still want to use Windows, how can I do this?
A: Use a Computer Emulator such as Virtual Machine. Then you can run Windows in a Window and use it as the OS.
Q: I'm a programmer, can I still program using Macs?
A: Apple is about one of the only OS's to offer free programming tools for the end user. See http://developer.apple.com/ for more information.
Q: How hard is it to setup internet on a Mac?
A: Wait... you have to set it up? Not any more if you use DSL or Cable. Tiger provides a program called Bonjour which automatically configures Network settings for your computer. Dial-up, although, will have to be configured by you - call your ISP for help.
Q: What is Expose?
A: Expose is an interface to show users all of their windows open on the computer. Head down to CompUSA or Apple retail and press F9 when a lot of windows are open and see what happens.
Q: Can I burn CD's with a Mac and will they work on PC?
A: Yes Mac's can burn any CD they want. iTunes for music or Finder for anything else. Yes you can burn anything and it will show up on PC. Only specially made mac cd's are encoded HFS+ for the CD's. Burn anything you'd like.
Q: What are widgets?
A: Widgets are basically HTML/CSS/Javascript embedded components that make up a small program for the end user. TIger has all these enhancements.
Q: How do you eject a CD with a Mac?
A: Press the eject key or hold F12 on older keyboards.
Q: Where can I get more information?
A: I've posted a lot here, but not all that I need to. Visit http://www.apple.com for more information or contact me or post in the forums. DO NOT POST TO THIS THREAD PLEASE!
Q: Mac's are expensive, I can't afford one, how can I get one though?
A: Well, the Mac-mini is $499 - free shipping - but that doesn't provide a keyboard or mouse, and you have to have a monitor. But other sites have some cheap macs on them that are used. Look for an iMac and a USB Keyboard and Mouse if you're going to buy used, or search the forums here.
Q: How often to users get viruses on Macs?
A: Rarely, but it happens. Macs will never have as many virus' as Windoze.
Q: If I buy a High End PowerMac now, how long before I'll need a new one?
A: Oh I'd say about 3 or 4 years.
Q: What types of DVD's are supported with Macs?
A: As far as I know, DVD-R,-RW,+RW,+R, and with older Macs they support DVD-RAM.
Q: I hear that you can hold keys down to do different things at startup, is this true?
A: Yes its true. X for OS X, F12 for what boot devices are available, N for network, C for CD, Control + Option + P + R for PRAM.
Q: What is PRAM?
A: PRAM keeps a lot of tidbits of information in it, such as Resolution, TimeZone, Colors, etc. Very useful, and it talks with the OS to set these settings.
Q: I used to use OS 9, but I don't see class in OS X Tiger, did they get rid of it?
A: Nope, actually Tiger comes (on the 2nd DVD) with OS 9 on it. You have to install it yourself though, and then the classic tab will show up.
Q: What are permissions, sounds complicated?
A: Permissions are a way of keeping files only useable to those who need it. It helps so that you don't have security breaches in your system, or unwanted users doing things on your computer.
Q: I want to filter what programs my son/daughter uses, can I do this?
A: Yes you can, make them a login, and you can lock out whatever applications you don't want them using, such as the internet, or certain games, or anything else you don't want them to have access to.
Q: I run through a proxy, how do Macs deal with proxy?
A: You set them in your Network settings and it uses those settings for Safari. IE and Firefox have to be configured by you.
Q: When trying to get help on the forum, they tell me something like this "click File->Mount", what does that mean?
A: At the top, it says File, for the application you are working in. Some don't have File, some just start out with Edit, or may have nothing. You click the File Menu, then go down to (for example) Mount, in this case.
TIPS FOR RECEIVING GOOD ANSWERS
1. Be clear and concise in your heading, HELP just doesn't work. Try something like Help: [Powerbook drive won't read], but please don't be vague and put Help. Be descriptive using few words - lets say I was having a problem with my iMac being able to startup OS 10 and all it would show was a black screen with text (a.k.a. Verbose Mode), I'd put this as the title: [iMac starts in Verbose - OS X.3] (X.3 = Panther).
2. Explain the problem clearly. Don't just say, I started up my Powerbook and the it doesn't work. Well, that can lead to a few things, do you get a screen? Do you get a mouse pointer? Does the OS load? Does the PB even load up? How do you turn it off? Be clearer like this: I start up my Powerbook, it goes into OS X and then the backlight just turns off. I have just barely started it, and it shouldn't go to sleep, but the backlight turns on as soon as the dialog appears with "Starting OS X". That helps us to better understand your problem.
3. Don't expect every problem to be fixed right away, sometimes it takes more time to figure out whats going on. If you need more advanced help, use Apple.com's support forums.
I will be adding more later on, but this is a starting to the FAQ
