“You’ve just made the leap from Windows to the Macintosh,” Macinstruct writes. “Great, but now what?”
“Everything is going well. There’s no useless Windows key, and the controls for all the windows are on the left. It took a little while to get used to those minor differences, but in the end you realized that the differences are just that – minor. So what’s so great about Macs? Sure, the Aqua interface is pretty and has none of those pesky Windows error messages, but it’s just a computer. Right? And frankly, you’re a little confused by all the brouhaha from the whole ‘rabid Mac community,'” ,” Macinstruct writes.
“All right. Macs are computers – just like other PCs – but we’d like to argue that Mac OS X sets them apart. You see, what makes the Macintosh such a great computer are some of the smaller features that exist only to make your life easier,” Macinstruct writes.
The Macinstruct article covers:
• Folders Full of Springs
• Customize the Finder Window Toolbar
• Find Files With Spotlight
• Undim Your Display
• Force Quit Stubborn Apps
• Find Your Mac’s Serial Number
• Get Icons Off Your Desktop
• Exposé: Mac Window Magic
• Don’t Forget Dashboard
Full article with many screenshots here.
I love Expose’.
Like… psycho, over-the-top love it.
Best computer navigation function of all time, excepting eyeballs and fingers.
I think one of the most useful, ergonomic, time-saving and efficient things to do with a Mac upon purchase or install is to set Expose to the middle mouse button. (Meaning the scroll wheel, which I, personally, find invaluable, IMHO.)
My PC co-workers will walk up behind me, I’ll have ten windows open, and it makes them shit the wall when they see windows flying all over, going back and forth between apps with no keystrokes. Makes my boss laugh, saying, “there he goes with that Mac stuff, again. You guys gotta see this!”
It makes navigation almost too easy. I promise, if you don’t have it done already, set up Expose to your scroll wheel/third button. (System Prefs > Dashboard Expose > All Windows > 3rd Mouse Button).
In 24 hours you honestly won’t know how you lived without Expose for the last 30 years of computing.
I [heart] Mac.
@Expose’ = friend, lover, companion,
I agree, Expose is the most productive tool on OS X, it is so simple but so effective.
And yes, my PC colleagues all look over enviously as I fly through open windows with ease, all while using just the mouse.
To copy/paste files in the finder windows, you can right click -> copy on the file you want to copy, then navigate to the windows where you want to paste it, then right click -> paste and the file will be copied to that location. Very easy, if you have two buttons set up on your mouse.