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binkie

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 14, 2020
32
83
Tomorrow I'll receive my first MacBook, the 2020 Air to be specific. This will also be my first time using macOS after being a Windows user for 15+ years.

I've already watched some ''Tips and tricks'' videos on YouTube but I was wondering if you guys have some tips I should definitely know?

Thanks in advance!
 
You should definitely "Think Different" as the grammatically challenged Apple ad campaign suggested. Your Mac can do most things you could do in Windows, and some that you couldn't. Don't be frustrated by the things it cannot do the way Windows does. You'll get along fine without your "favorite" feature, whatever it is. Embrace the change. Change is good, but I'm not giving up my Mac!
 
Tomorrow I'll receive my first MacBook, the 2020 Air to be specific. This will also be my first time using macOS after being a Windows user for 15+ years.

I've already watched some ''Tips and tricks'' videos on YouTube but I was wondering if you guys have some tips I should definitely know?

Thanks in advance!

Your first step should be to set up an Apple ID. It contains all the information that you need while using an Apple device, such as email addresses, passwords, as well as security and payment details.
You can create an Apple ID using your current email address:
  1. Open App Store on your Mac;
  2. Click “Sign In” in the bottom right corner of the window;
  3. Wait for a verification email from Apple. Verify your identity.
You can use iCloud as a backup to transfer all of your data from one device to another. You can access it from your browser - sign in with your Apple ID and password. To change iCloud settings, go to Apple Menu → System preferences → iCloud → Tick all the apps that you want to sync.
After setting up your Apple ID you will get free 5 GB on iCloud Drive. Use it to save backups from other Apple devices or to optimize your Mac’s storage.
There are also a few essential keyboard shortcuts that can really save a lot of time. Here are just a few to help you kick off:
  1. Command (⌘) + C - copy;
  2. ⌘ +V - paste;
  3. ⌘ + Shift + 3 - to take a screenshot of the entire screen.
 
Not sure if the OP has been back, but if so, there's not much here. Here's something I had archived from many years ago, so some of it is probably outdated.

Tips for new Mac users:

The green button at the top of a window does not expand the window to fill your screen. Very few windows need the full screen, so what that does is expand the window so it's large enough to handle the content. This will always leave some of the background visible. The red button does not always quit an application. It often merely closes the active window. The exceptions are those applications that cannot have two or more open windows. The "light" by the application's icon in the Dock will indicate if the app is still running.

You cannot cut and paste files in the Finder as you can in Windows Explorer. To move or copy a file from one place to another, the Mac way is to open both the Target and Source folders, then drag and drop the file or folder. There are nuances depending on where the Target folder is. For example, hold down Option while dragging a file to copy it to a folder on the same volume.

You cannot see the size of a file or folder in Icon View by holding your mouse over it. You must highlight the item and use Get Info. Or you can use List View, which will show you the size. There are at least four ways to access Get Info, three of them involving the mouse.

You can't make a Finder Window display folders first in all circumstances. There are simply some file types that the OS sorts ahead of folders. There are work-arounds. The simplest, but perhaps most inconvenient, is to put a space at the beginning of each folder name, and sorting by Name.

If you have two folders with the same name, but have a few differences between the contents of same, don't move one to the enclosing folder of the other. OSX will not automatically merge the contents of the two folders. Instead, it will overwrite the target folder with the one you're moving. The differences in the target folder will be lost forever. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to overwrite. Be sure you know what that means before saying yes!

You really don't need anti-virus software. It will just slow your computer down, and there isn't a single virus out there that will infect a Mac. If you run Windows on your Mac, you do have to take precautions for that. And, you can pass a virus on to a Windows user. Just be smart about where you go online and you'll be fine. It's also not necessary to run a defrag program. The Mac OS takes care of that for you. Some Mac users still do it, myself included, but you'll be fine without it

You cannot selectively delete items that you have "stored" in the Trash. Sorry.
 
If you're coming from Windows, consider using Apple's bootcamp (a utility included with the MacOS) to install Windows on your Mac. This allows you to dual-boot between MacOS or Windows. While there is third-party software like Parallels which creates a virtual PC on your Mac which will run Windows, these are, in my experience, quite slow and memory intensive.

Now, I have to admit I haven't used bootcamp before as I haven't had a pressing need, so I don't speak from personal experience. But I have read over the years, consistently, that bootcamp is quite slick and works well and that Windows runs beautifully on Apple hardware. (In case you are wondering, Apple provides all the drivers for Windows to work with Apple hardware. Anything required is downloaded and installed automatically for you.)
 
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