Just came home with my first Mac...Need help

[useref15]

To start, this thing is just beautiful.

I have an issue though. I just downloaded firefox, and I dragged it into the HDD on the desktop. Now, I don't know where my HDD went. It's no longer on my desktop.

I'm new to this whole Mac thing, so be easy on me. I love this machine though. It was between the 13inch or the 15, but I went with the 13. It was a tough choice, because my pc was 15 inches, and it will take a bit time to get used to this 13. I didn't see the point of spending the extra $600 just for the screen size, when I'm not into all this major editing and etc.

So, any other pointers you guys can give me? Is there any way to get firefox to take up the whole screen, instead of seeing my icons on the bottom?

Thanks

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Finder > Preferences (CMD+,) > General > Show these items on the Desktops > Hard disks

Installing Applications in Mac OS X

Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

 

[applefan289]

To start, this thing is just beautiful.

I have an issue though. I just downloaded firefox, and I dragged it into the HDD on the desktop. Now, I don't know where my HDD went. It's no longer on my desktop.

I'm new to this whole Mac thing, so be easy on me. I love this machine though. It was between the 13inch or the 15, but I went with the 13. It was a tough choice, because my pc was 15 inches, and it will take a bit time to get used to this 13. I didn't see the point of spending the extra $600 just for the screen size, when I'm not into all this major editing and etc.

So, any other pointers you guys can give me? Is there any way to get firefox to take up the whole screen, instead of seeing my icons on the bottom?

Thanks

Click on the Finder (the left most icon on the dock) and in the search box, type Macintosh HD. It should come up. You can then drag it wherever you want (or in Finder Preferences [I think] you can mount the hard drive icon to the desktop).

As far as Firefox, after downloading it, I think it tells you to drag the icon to your Applications folder. Then, restart your computer and drag it to your dock if that's where you want it.

To get Firefox to fill the screen, just drag the bottom right corner down and to the right, and move the window to where it will fill the whole screen. (I think that's what you're asking.)

 

[useref15]

It won't let me drag it onto the main desktop.

And I have firefox as big as it gets, but I was wondering if I can make it so it fits over all the apps on the bottom. Is that possible, or do I have to wait for Lion and thats what they mean by full screen apps.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

It won't let me drag it onto the main desktop.

And I have firefox as big as it gets, but I was wondering if I can make it so it fits over all the apps on the bottom. Is that possible, or do I have to wait for Lion and thats what they mean by full screen apps.

Have you tried Finder > Preferences (CMD+,) > General > Show these items on the Desktops > Hard disks yet?

And for full screen apps you need Lion, as app windows can't cover the Dock.

Take a look at the first and second link I provided to learn more about Mac OS X.

 

[useref15]

Finder > Preferences (CMD+,) > General > Show these items on the Desktops > Hard disks

Installing Applications in Mac OS X

Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

Got it. Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

This is going to take a bit of time getting used to. I've always had a PC, and just made the switch to Mac.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I know I sound so stupid and a newb ( which I am) but when I'm in the finder, I don't see an preferences tab.

Got it. Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

This is going to take a bit of time getting used to. I've always had a PC, and just made the switch to Mac.

Then read the links I provided, there are there to give you the information on how things are done in Mac OS X.

Mac OS X is a new tool, and in order to master it, you need to learn more about it.

 

[useref15]

Another thing.....on my pc I had all my links that I use the most on my toolbar on firefox. I tried to drag it and do what I did with my pc, but it doesn't work on a Mac. Is there anyway to put the links I want as tabs on the toolbar?

Also, how do I turn off the backlight keyboard? I don't need it on when the light is on.

Thanks for those links, I'm going to read up a bunch.

 

[Apple Expert]

Not to be rude or anything, but I'm sure most of your answer can be found in the owners manual. That way you can get the fastest response and not have to wait for someone from here to post. Congrats on your new purchase.

 

[DewGuy1999]

It won't let me drag it onto the main desktop.

And I have firefox as big as it gets, but I was wondering if I can make it so it fits over all the apps on the bottom. Is that possible, or do I have to wait for Lion and thats what they mean by full screen apps.

You can't cover the Dock, but you can move it so it's in a vertical orientation on either the left or the right. In any of the 3 positions you can make the Dock size smaller or larger, can make it magnify icons when moused over, or make it auto hide. To do any of the above Control click on the dotted divider line in the Dock and make your choices from the popup menu.

With hiding turned on you can then make an app use all the screen space and when you move your mouse to the position of the Dock it will slide in to place over top the app window. This can be a problem though if the apps scroll bar or something important is in the are that the Dock will occupy as when you move your mouse there to scroll, etc. the Dock will slide in.


Also, for a bit more screen space, Firefox has a Full Screen mode that's available from the View menu, comes in handy from time-to-time.

 

[Tydog07]

Back to his question about the HD on the desktop, I can get the icon for the Mac HDD on the desktop, but it doesn't state anything about the capacity and the free space on the drive, how do I change the settings to display that?

 

[Mrguidogenio]

Back to his question about the HD on the desktop, I can get the icon for the Mac HDD on the desktop, but it doesn't state anything about the capacity and the free space on the drive, how do I change the settings to display that?

Click somewhere on the desktop (make sure the menu bar is the Finder) and hit CMD-J
Then, within the visualization box that appears, tick the checkbox that says "Show information".

 

[useref15]

Also, what are some good must have apps? I have that $100 gift card for the app store, so I have that to spend as well.

 

[Dark Void]

Also, what are some good must have apps? I have that $100 gift card for the app store, so I have that to spend as well.

a majority of apps that are really good are freeware believe it or not. there are a lot of paid apps that could really be worth the price too.

some good freeware: istatpro, caffeine, coconutBattery just to name a few.

grats on the new mbp.

 

[mmduluth]

I know your using Firefox, but I just wanted to throw it out there if you ever decide you want to give Chrome a try. It DOES already have a fullscreen mode. Just open Chrome and press command+shift+F and there ya go. Also, iPhoto is fullscreen capable right now and I'm sure there are probably a couple of others.

 

[Dark Void]

I know your using Firefox, but I just wanted to throw it out there if you ever decide you want to give Chrome a try. It DOES already have a fullscreen mode. Just open Chrome and press command+shift+F and there ya go. Also, iPhoto is fullscreen capable right now and I'm sure there are probably a couple of others.

i would also recommend another browser, namely safari or even chrome as mmduluth suggested. not hating on firefox, i actually like the browser, but apparently it is having a lot of issues with its current release. not sure how true that is as i have not picked it up, but i was going to and decided not to due to all of the negativity it has been receiving lately.

 

[useref15]

I've tried Chrome before, but honestly...I'm just really not a fan of it. I've used FireFox for the past few years, and I'm just comfortable with it I guess. Maybe I'll give Chrome another try though, this time maybe it will be different on a Mac.

Thanks for all your input guys. It's appreciated since I have basically zero knowledge about Mac and OS X.

 

[Tydog07]

Click somewhere on the desktop (make sure the menu bar is the Finder) and hit CMD-J
Then, within the visualization box that appears, tick the checkbox that says "Show information".

While that did work to show me the text underneath, the font is too large and i get 499.76G….GB Free, which means that it won't all display right. I've tried adjusting the fonts, it doesn't work, any ideas?

 

[BostonBrawler]

Shouldnt need to worry about searching through your hard drive for firefox.

When you download it, a window will pop up telling you to drag an inch over to the application folder in that same pop up. Once you do that, it can be found in the application folder/app that is found down in the dock. From there, you can drag it to show on your desktop, or down in the dock itself.

Regarding seeing the icons at all time, just 'hide' it in dock preferences, and you'll be all set.

 

[Tydog07]

While that did work to show me the text underneath, the font is too large and i get 499.76G….GB Free, which means that it won't all display right. I've tried adjusting the fonts, it doesn't work, any ideas?

I finally got it to work, you need to increase the grid spacing to the largest amount to get it to display all the information about the HD.

 

[snaky69]

It won't let me drag it onto the main desktop.

And I have firefox as big as it gets, but I was wondering if I can make it so it fits over all the apps on the bottom. Is that possible, or do I have to wait for Lion and thats what they mean by full screen apps.

The pages you are viewing are only so wide, and only so tall, any more is useless, that is what firefox is trying to tell you.

Maximising everything isn't very useful, and for some reason most windows users maximise everything.

I like having my windows only as big as they need to be, that way I can have them side by side displaying multiple things at once.

 

[Mak47]

Maximising everything isn't very useful, and for some reason most windows users maximise everything.

This was my biggest issue when I moved from Windows to Mac. It's just an old habit. In Windows, windows open in unpredictable ways, sometimes small, sometimes big. There's a maximize button right on the top of the window, so most people (like myself) just got in the habit of instantly maximizing everything after years of use.

I also never found Windows to be good at handling multiple open windows. Perhaps Windows 7 is better at that, I haven't really used it, but XP wasn't good at it and Vista wasn't good at anything.

Mac OS X just seems made for multitasking in numerous windows. It takes some getting used to, but once you do there's no going back. This is also why multiple monitors are so appealing for Macs.

There are times when full screen is nice, but being able to jump right from one window to another without closing apps or other windows is a "magical" experience for those of us who have switched.

 

[Mak47]

Also, what are some good must have apps? I have that $100 gift card for the app store, so I have that to spend as well.

Pixelmator is an awesome photo editor. I do lots of album cover designs and have been desperately trying to find something that works for me without going to Photoshop. Pixelmator did the trick.

Also, while somewhat boring, check out iWork. I don't know what your needs are, but if you got the student deal, I assume you need at least a word processing app. iWork is Pages, Keynote and Numbers, basically Apple's version of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. All of them are of course easier to work with and are capable of creating more visually appealing work.

You can also use that $100 credit in the iTunes or iBooks stores as well. It just goes to your iTunes account as a general credit.

 

[Tydog07]

This was my biggest issue when I moved from Windows to Mac. It's just an old habit. In Windows, windows open in unpredictable ways, sometimes small, sometimes big. There's a maximize button right on the top of the window, so most people (like myself) just got in the habit of instantly maximizing everything after years of use.

I also never found Windows to be good at handling multiple open windows. Perhaps Windows 7 is better at that, I haven't really used it, but XP wasn't good at it and Vista wasn't good at anything.

Mac OS X just seems made for multitasking in numerous windows. It takes some getting used to, but once you do there's no going back. This is also why multiple monitors are so appealing for Macs.

There are times when full screen is nice, but being able to jump right from one window to another without closing apps or other windows is a "magical" experience for those of us who have switched.

I just made the switch and I'm trying to readjust too. I am having trouble of kicking the old habit, but I now realize that maximizing the window all the way is useless. Although I find I can sometimes get distracted with this new method. I'm also trying to kick the habit of once I X a window, that doesn't mean the program stops working.