General Newbie issues

[accelerate]

I'm new to the world of Macs & OSX, having just gotten a Macbook Pro for work, and after a few weeks, I've mostly gotten the hang of it. But I still have a few questions:

1) I regularly attach & detach two monitors to/from my Macbook. When attached, there's obviously two extra desktop spaces where I can have apps on. But when I detach the monitors, the apps in both screens merge into one space. Is there a setting where when I detach, the apps will stay in separate desktops?

2) I took the time to set up separate desktop backgrounds for all my desktops (including the two monitors), but after awhile, they all get reset to the same background. I'm not sure why this happens. Any insight here?

3) Why does my dock seem to jump around? It's usually on my MacBook screen, but this morning when I unlocked my computer, it was on my monitor. I don't even know how to move it myself (although that would be good to know)

4) A couple times now, Mission Control has stopped working, and I had to go to Activity Monitor and end the Dock process, which automatically restarts and Mission Control starts working again. Is this some known issue, or is there something I might be specifically doing that causes it to stop working?

5) Why doesn't a program actually exit when you close its last window? For example, I open a text file, hit CMD-W or the red circle to close it, but it appears TextEdit is still running. That seems odd to me.

Thanks!

 

[aaagat111]

I'm new to the world of Macs & OSX, having just gotten a Macbook Pro for work, and after a few weeks, I've mostly gotten the hang of it. But I still have a few questions:

1) I regularly attach & detach two monitors to/from my Macbook. When attached, there's obviously two extra desktop spaces where I can have apps on. But when I detach the monitors, the apps in both screens merge into one space. Is there a setting where when I detach, the apps will stay in separate desktops?

Don't know of any. To better understand though, if the apps, or windows, stayed on the "virtual" desktops that were no longer present (since the monitors have been detached) how would you expect to access those windows? I use 2 external monitors every day and when I re-attach my MBP to them, the applications usually remember their placement from the last time. Regardless I would highly recommend window management software, if you are using multiple monitors. My favorite is BetterSnapTool: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bettersnaptool/id417375580?mt=12. They have really good multi-desktop support and shortcuts built in. For example, I can move windows between monitors, and between+center with a single keystroke. Makes moving stuff around really easy!

2) I took the time to set up separate desktop backgrounds for all my desktops (including the two monitors), but after awhile, they all get reset to the same background. I'm not sure why this happens. Any insight here?

No, sorry. I found this thread but it may not be entirely helpful: http://www.tonymacx86.com/general-help/145652-yosemite-background-keeps-changing-resetting.html

3) Why does my dock seem to jump around? It's usually on my MacBook screen, but this morning when I unlocked my computer, it was on my monitor. I don't even know how to move it myself (although that would be good to know)

As of 10.10, the dock is supported across each monitor. When you drag your mouse to the bottom of any monitor the dock should either pop up (if it is set to hidden) or be present when a window is active on that monitor.

4) A couple times now, Mission Control has stopped working, and I had to go to Activity Monitor and end the Dock process, which automatically restarts and Mission Control starts working again. Is this some known issue, or is there something I might be specifically doing that causes it to stop working?

Not sure, sorry.

5) Why doesn't a program actually exit when you close its last window? For example, I open a text file, hit CMD-W or the red circle to close it, but it appears TextEdit is still running. That seems odd to me.

On Mac OS X, applications be running or not running, and then they can have 1+ windows open. These are independent things. By CMD-W you are closing the currently active window, but you are not affecting whether the currently active application is open or quit. To close all active windows and quit and application use CMD-Q.

The benefit is, for a frequently used application, or application that receives notifications (Mail, Messages, etc), by leaving the application open, you can open a new window much quicker and run any background processes throughout the day. For example, I am constantly opening new Chrome/Safari window for a browser, and don't see a need of Quitting the application and having to restart it each time. Instead I just close the active window, and open a new window when I want to browse the web. Another example, I don't actively check my email, but instead just look at my Mail application's badge in my dock every so often. If I see the badge has a count (meaning a new message), I will check my mail. Otherwise, no need to open the Mail window. By leaving the Mail application on all day, but keeping the Window closed, Mail can still receive new emails (background process), and I can see the badge count light up without having to distract myself so much as having to open the application just to check. Make sense?

Hope this all helps!
Alex

 

[accelerate]

Thanks for the answers!

Don't know of any. To better understand though, if the apps, or windows, stayed on the "virtual" desktops that were no longer present (since the monitors have been detached) how would you expect to access those windows? I use 2 external monitors every day and when I re-attach my MBP to them, the applications usually remember their placement from the last time. Regardless I would highly recommend window management software, if you are using multiple monitors. My favorite is BetterSnapTool: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bettersnaptool/id417375580?mt=12. They have really good multi-desktop support and shortcuts built in. For example, I can move windows between monitors, and between+center with a single keystroke. Makes moving stuff around really easy!

I guess what I thought would be expected behavior is, when I detach a monitor, all apps that were on that monitor stay in its own space. If originally I had only one desktop, then connected my monitors for two virtual desktops, and when I disconnect both monitors, there would now be three. Or better yet, I wish there was a way, when my MBP is not connected to a monitor, I can flag certain spaces as the ones that will go to a monitor when connected. (eg. Desktop 3 goes to Monitor 2).

My setup is currently, a bunch of terminals on Monitor 1, and my browser in Monitor 2. When I disconnect, the browser and terminals all get bunched up in one space, and I have to manually move either the browser to its own space or the terminals.

As of 10.10, the dock is supported across each monitor. When you drag your mouse to the bottom of any monitor the dock should either pop up (if it is set to hidden) or be present when a window is active on that monitor.

Ha, I feel silly not figuring that out on my own. Sometimes things are so intuitive I completely miss it.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

Ha, I feel silly not figuring that out on my own. Sometimes things are so intuitive I completely miss it.

Don't worry... when I switched from PC to Mac at home, I HAAAAAAAAAATED the Mac. Nothing was "intuitive" until I realized that "intuitive" is what I was used to.

7 years later, I still have my original Mac (the kids use it), and got the whole family switched over.