Wireless connection status?

[SteelCity]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and new to Mac. I just bought an iMac 24" base model and love it. I'm quickly learning the OS, but there is still a lot that is foreign to me.

Wireless was easy to setup, however I can't find any type of connection status (as in signal strength). Am I just missing it, or do I need a 3rd party program?

Another quick question while we're here, what OS do I have? It's OS X 10.5.6, would that be Leopard? All these code names are new to me

Another question I see a lot of people talking about using different browsers. Is Safari considered the Internet Explorer of the MAC? Or is Safari a good browser and people just like to try different things?

Thanks for the help!

 

[angelwatt]

In the menu bar at the top you should have an icon that represents the wireless signal strength, perhaps next to the volume one. It'll be black arced lines and if there's any gray ones then the signal is weaker. There are also some 3rd party apps/widgets that give this.

OSX 10.5.6 is indeed Leopard. 10.4 was Tiger, 10.3 was Panther. I don't remember the others off hand. Maybe a cheetah.

Safari is like Window's IE in that it comes pre-installed on the OS. That's where the similarity ends though. Firefox is more common on Mac, but Safari is a great browser too. There's tons of reasons people pick their browser, just use what works for you.

 

[SteelCity]

Thanks for the reply!

I have seen the icon you mentioned, I just didn't know that it changed to show the signal strength. It's showing 4 black "waves" so I guess I'm good!

Safari seems fine for me, I am very happy with the way everything is going. I just don't want to miss out on something important that another browser might have.

 

[MorzillA]

Thanks for the reply!
Safari seems fine for me, I am very happy with the way everything is going. I just don't want to miss out on something important that another browser might have.

Congrats on your first Mac purchase, it's something you'll never regret, and welcome to the forums!!

As angelwatt mentioned every person has a fav browser that we all use but it's always good to have at least two.

Oh and you might want to bookmark this page, it will help you immensely in getting to know your Mac better!