I'm extremely new to MAC, loads of different Questions

[rainman abroad]

Hi All

Wow, first time post for me after stumbling across the site whilst doing not a lot. I'll start by saying that I am very very new to MAC, and have zip idea about how it all works. I'm still trying to come to grips with not being able to right click on things (unless my apple mouse is dodgy).

I was given a G5 a few weeks ago (well it cost me AU$50) running Tiger but no other applications, being honest I was just going to use it as an external hard drive as I do video editing on my PC using Vegas Pro 8. Then I got to thinking that perhaps I should look at editing on the MAC so I have a few questions about all sorts.

How do I defrag and how can I explore the hard drive like you do with a PC, there seems to be about 20GB or so of memory taken up although there are no files on there so I want to do a search and destroy.

How do you hide files. On a PC you can hide a file so that if you want to see it you have to go to folder options, then view. I've got a few files from a mates birthday and some of the ladies are missing um upper clothing, needless to say I don't want my kids tripping over those files whilst I drop them to DVD for him.

What free software is out there for MAC in terms of word etc, and finally going back to my comment about editing, I want to try out a package but Final Cut was suggested but being honest I really don't want to spend AU$300 (for the basic pack I believe) seeing if I like it or not. is there anywhere that you can get a trial demo or can you all suggest other editing packages that you use, with the exception of I-Movie or whatever it is called. I'm in the prosumer market if that helps.

And please feel free to give me any other tips, after all I'm a blank canvas with the MAC.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you all.

Cheers

Rainman

 

[swiftaw]

1) Firstly it's a Mac, not a MAC
2) Defrag is not needed, the system takes care of itself
3) Finder to explore the hard drive, or you can use the terminal if you are familiar with UNIX commands
4) The GUI hides some of the UNIX system folders from view, these can be viewed in Terminal
5) Download an app called XRay to allow you to hide files, or use Disk Utility to create a password protected Disk Image and store the files in there.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Hi All

Wow, first time post for me after stumbling across the site whilst doing not a lot. I'll start by saying that I am very very new to MAC, and have zip idea about how it all works. I'm still trying to come to grips with not being able to right click on things (unless my apple mouse is dodgy).

Welcome to the Mac community and the forum. (First off it's spelled Mac, not MAC) To right click you can enable it in system preferences or you can hold the control key and click.

I was given a G5 a few weeks ago (well it cost me AU$50) running Tiger but no other applications, being honest I was just going to use it as an external hard drive as I do video editing on my PC using Vegas Pro 8. Then I got to thinking that perhaps I should look at editing on the MAC so I have a few questions about all sorts.

How do I defrag and how can I explore the hard drive like you do with a PC, there seems to be about 20GB or so of memory taken up although there are no files on there so I want to do a search and destroy.

You don't defrag a Mac. There are utilities out there that do this, but really they're just taking your money. The 20GB used is just the operating system. Do not delete anything unless you're absolutely sure it didn't come on the computer and you are 100% sure of what it is.

How do you hide files. On a PC you can hide a file so that if you want to see it you have to go to folder options, then view. I've got a few files from a mates birthday and some of the ladies are missing um upper clothing, needless to say I don't want my kids tripping over those files whilst I drop them to DVD for him.

There isn't a way to make a file invisible on a Mac and PC, but to make it invisible on a Mac you have to use the terminal to rename a file to start with a period.

What free software is out there for MAC in terms of word etc, and finally going back to my comment about editing, I want to try out a package but Final Cut was suggested but being honest I really don't want to spend AU$300 (for the basic pack I believe) seeing if I like it or not. is there anywhere that you can get a trial demo or can you all suggest other editing packages that you use, with the exception of I-Movie or whatever it is called. I'm in the prosumer market if that helps.

For Word and other office stuff I'd recommend NeoOffice or OpenOffice.Org, but if you can afford it you should get iWork. It's a beautiful suite of apps.

There's no place to get a demo of Final Cut Express other than going to an Apple store and playing with it yourself or asking for a demo from someone who works there. You can also go to the Apple site herehttp://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/tutorials/ and watch the demos.

And please feel free to give me any other tips, after all I'm a blank canvas with the MAC.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you all.

Cheers

Rainman

Look into Quicksilver for Power user needs, although maybe you should get used to the Mac basics before you jump into something like that.

 

[ZballZ]

Secret files...

For my "secret" stuff, I've create a sparse-image, encrypted with password.
It's like a folder, that you need a password to get access to. Simple and Easy.

Open Disk Utility -> File -> New -> Blank Disk Image, then set the size you want, enable encryption, and set format to sparse-image.

note: When you set size, it is more like a max-limit size, the image will only take up as much space, as the files in it.

note: You will find "Disk Utility" in your APPs folder, within the UTILITIES folder...

Good Luck...

 

[Barry N]

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
Check this out as well.