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Incredibly Stupid Questions

W

wdschrank

macrumors member
Original poster
May 19, 2005
36
0
So, I finally made the switch after about 20 years since my last mac. I'm a casual user but found I spent as much time cleaning and fixing my Dell as I did using it. My wife and I love our ipods so it only made sense to take the leap. We probably spent more than necessary but would like it to last for more than a year. Anyway.....

As much as windows sucks, I am used to it. I'm slowly acclimating myself to OS X 10.4 but there are a couple of simple stupid things I haven't figured out yet. They are so simple (and I'm so retarded) that the help function doesn't even address it.

How do you select multiple files at once? For instance, in my former OS, I would press the control key as I clicked and I could highlight multiple files at once. Also, how can I delete/send to trash files without having to drag and drop? Pressing the delete button does not seem to be working.

I know these are weak questions. If it helps any, my factory installed airport card with express base station is very intermittent. Full signal then 1 bar, then doesn't even see the station. Not sure what to do there, but have read all the other threads and will play with that tonight.

For the record, we love how easy everything has been to learn. It seems like Apple has done a great job blending form and function. I've become the local mac pusher at work.
 
Thank you. Will try when I return home to my beautiful machine this evening. As a sidebar, for those that want to use an external hard drive to move files from your pc to your mac, the ipod works like a charm. No need to spend the additional $$$.
 
Regarding the Airport signal, where is it located? They say you are not supposed to locate it near a lot of other electronic equipment or cordless phones. Perhaps it is getting some interference from other devices. Try moving it somewhere out of the way.

In my personal experience, wireless products can vary from one device to another just like it. I have a few Netgear WGR614 wireless routers. One performs great with excellent range and stability to match. Another has great range but you have to reset it more than an over-used bowling pin. The last one gets horrible range but it is very stable. Perhaps your Airport Express is not grade-A and needs to be exchanged.

By the way, what Mac did you and your wife decide on?
 
For your airport, try running the airport admin utility (in your utilities folder) and changing the channel, and see if this helps. Sometimes there is some local interference on a given channel. Especially if you have a 2.4GHz cordless or cell, or if you have a microwave nearby. But it can almost always be worked around (Bluetooth, 802.11g / AE and a microwave all live happily in close proximity in my apartment).
 
Our express base station started next to the entertainment center (TV, cable box, receiver, etc.) but was temporarily moved to the center of the room due to the reasons you mentioned. As you say, the smart thing may be to exchange my base station. Hopefully, the apple store will take my word that it's not working properly.

We settled on a Powerbook G4 15" 1.67Ghz 1.5MB RAM (1GB card bought from DMS) 128MB VRAM (64MB would have been fine but want it to last longer) 80GB HD. We love the machine. Had a Dell tower before this. It's very nice to have the mobility and can't wait to bring it on our next flight to watch a DVD.

Edit: Have run airport admin and gone through every channel. Problem lately is that everytime the new channel uploads to the base station the entire signal drops and the PB can't find the network or base station anymore. When I look for "other" network it says that that network doesn't support the WPA encryption for which I have it set up. Very odd. Still not nearly as upset as I would get with XP though.
 
1) Does it behave any differently if security (WEP/WPA) is turned off?
2) Do you have interference robustness turned on? No one seems to know exactly what it does but it seems to help occasionally....
 
wdschrank said:
Problem lately is that everytime the new channel uploads to the base station the entire signal drops and the PB can't find the network or base station anymore.
Click to expand...

That's normal - it has to reset the base station to use that channel. It will take about a minute to reset and you won't find a signal while it's doing that.
 
To be honest, I have become so paranoid from the pc world that I set it up with a password and didn't change it. So that will probably be the first thing I try this evening. As far as interference robustness goes, it does not seem to help.

I realize the base station must reset. But, after it has done that and the green light is on, the base station cannot be found. I have to unplug and plug it back in for my PB to recognize. Otherwise, it gives no respect to my express station.
 
Wireless networking has got to be one of the most frustrating things in the computing world today. Only advice I can give is to drink a lot of beer, keep asking questions here, and once its working decently, **never** touch it again :p

good luck!
 
Blue Velvet answered your question about selecting multiple files, but I just wanted to add that usually you use the command key (the one with the apple on it) the same way you use the control key in Windows. The control key on a Mac is much less used than the command key. The option key takes the place of the alt key on a PC.
 
mduser63 said:
The control key on a Mac is much less used than the command key. The option key takes the place of the alt key on a PC.
Click to expand...
Indeed. In fact, so far as I can think, the only time outside the terminal that the Control key is used is to simulate a "right click" on a one-button mouse. In fact, that functionality may be why it's not used for much else on the Mac.
 
So now I need to memorize Command - Option - Delete???? LOL :D Oh yeah, I don't have to run Windows anymore. Thanks for your help everyone. Went home last night and everything is running well.

As an adjunct....I started moving files from my pc to my mac last night. My pc only has USB 1.0 and it took 4 1/2 hours to move my mp3s onto the ipod. It only took 15 minutes to move them from the ipod to my mac with firewire. And I could still browse and run other apps while transferring the files. My pc would freeze up whenever I tried to do that.
 
Here're a couple extra key commands to help you out:
F9, F10, F11 - Expose
F12 - Widgets (Tiger Only)
Command + Shift + Esc - Force Quit Menu
Command + Shift + Q - Force Quit Application
Command + Shift + 3 - Takes a pic of screen (makes PDF)
Command + Shift + 4 - You choose what to take a pic of screen (makes PDF)

In a finder window hold SHIFT and press Up or Down arrow keys to select what's above and below initial selection. - Select files next to.
 
altair said:
Wireless networking has got to be one of the most frustrating things in the computing world today. Only advice I can give is to drink a lot of beer, keep asking questions here, and once its working decently, **never** touch it again :p

good luck!
Click to expand...

HAH! THREE CHEERS for that response! I LOATH wireless. Man, airport gave me nothing but headaches. Good luck though!
 
Coming from Windows you may be used to alt-tabbing to cycle through open programs. This function also exists on Macs (and are often quicker then Exposé), but you have to use cmd-tab (or shift-cmd-tab to reverse the order). You can also cycle through open windows in any given app, but I think there's a slight difference in which shortcut to use based on which keyboard layout you use. On my iBook with Norwegian layout it's cmd-< (or shift-cmd-< aka cmd->).

To get an overview, open System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts and browse through the list (and turn on those which might be turned off by default and add any you think is missing).

slooksterPSV said:
Command + Shift + 3 - Takes a pic of screen (makes PDF)
Command + Shift + 4 - You choose what to take a pic of screen (makes PDF)
Click to expand...
Just to nitpick, but from Tiger (which the OP says he has) screen captures are in png format. ;)
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
Coming from Windows you may be used to alt-tabbing to cycle through open programs. This function also exists on Macs (and are often quicker then Exposé), but you have to use cmd-tab (or shift-cmd-tab to reverse the order). You can also cycle through open windows in any given app, but I think there's a slight difference in which shortcut to use based on which keyboard layout you use. On my iBook with Norwegian layout it's cmd-< (or shift-cmd-< aka cmd->).
Click to expand...


It's cmd-` (the key below the esc with the "~" tilde on it) to cycle between windows of the same app.
 
delete

Did not see that one answered yet. command-delete = windows delete.

But, if you are deleting anything with personal info, its probably better to make sure Finder is the focus and do Secure Empty from the file menu.

Yeah, I use windows for work and an iMac at home, it definetly takes a while to get used to changes. I would give you three pieces of advice.
1) Apple/Command key is the ctrl key from windows. comm-c for copy is the same as ctrl-c, comm-v for paste is the same as ctrl-v, etc.
2) Get a two-button mouse, will save you hours of hunting for the command key so you can pull up simple menu. Especially when browsing the web or iTunes or similar and you don't need to type anything so you would not otherwise have your hand on the keyboard.
3) If in doubt, just try it. When I first setup iChat, it took me ages to get a "buddy icon" because I could not find the place in preferences to set it up. I thought "I just want to put a picture here (in the icon spot)" So I dragged one over and WOW, it just worked! Turns out its the same as your user login and such, but many times I have found if I just try something the way I would want it to work, it does.

Good luck on the switch!
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
add any you think is missing).
Click to expand...

WOAH!!! WOOOOAHHH! You can add keyboard shortcuts? You can make your own? That's awesome!

28 days till the switch!!!
 
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