because everything will look a lot different, you’ll have cool new wallpaper, and a Welcome dialogue box will appear.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or Below
If you are one of the few Mac users who haven’t yet upgraded to OS X Mavericks and are still using OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion, you will have to finally bite the bullet and click the download link for Yosemite.
Here’s the bad news for you: if your computer has an OS that is less than Mavericks, there’s a very good chance it doesn’t support Yosemite.
The general requirements are below:
At least 2 GB RAM or more
At least 8 GB of available hard drive storage
iMac 2007 or later
MacBook 2009 and later
MacBook Pro 2007 or later
MacBook Air 2008 or later
Mac Mini 2009 or later
Mac Pro 2008 or later
Xserve 2009 or later
You can see your computer specs by going to the very upper left corner of your screen and clicking on the little apple, and then clicking on “About This Mac”.
This will tell you all the information that you want to know (i.e. the year your Mac came out, the speed, the memory, etc.).
Mac vs. Windows
So exactly how is Mac different from Windows? Throughout the book I’ll be making comparisons to help you, but first I want to give a rundown of some of the major differences.
Right Click
Right clicking is probably second nature to you if you are a Windows user; on the Mac, it’s all about gestures—touching the trackpad (the Mac’s mouse) a certain way (or on new Macs, using more or less pressure) will bring up different options and menus.
As weird as it sounds, the first time I used a Mac, the right click (or lack thereof) drove me crazy…until I figured out that right clicking was actually there. To right click on a Mac, click with two fingers instead of one. Alternatively, you can press Control and with one finger.
If you have an old Windows USB mouse, you don’t have to toss it—you can plug it into your Mac and it will work with no installation. The right click will even work.
I’ll explain how to customize your TrackPad later in the book, but if you’d like to jump ahead, you can go to System Preferences>TrackPad.
And don’t worry about messing something up; it’s very hard to harm a Mac!
Keyboard Shortcuts
This section will give you a very quick rundown of the more popular keyboard shortcuts; for a more detailed list, see Appendix A at the end of this book.
On a Windows computer, you might be used to using Control (CTRL) frequently; Control is on the Mac keyboard, but don’t get confused—on a Mac, the Control button equivalent is the Command ( ⌘ ) Key (to the right of the keyboard). The good news is the letter combination for the most frequently used Windows shortcuts is almost always the same on a Mac—Control-C to copy is Command-C on the Mac; Control-X to Cut is Command-X; Control-V to Paste is Command-V.
On a Windows computer, you can hold Alt and Tab to cycle through programs…on a Mac you use Command and Tab.
The two most frequently used function keys (the buttons above the numbers) are F3 and F4; F3 will show a list of the programs you have open, and F4 brings up your Launchpad (all of your available programs…kind of like the Start menu on Windows).
Just keep reminding yourself that while it looks different, it’s really not…Windows has File Explorer, Mac has Finder; Windows has the Start Menu, Mac has Launchpad; Windows has the Ribbon menu, Mac has the Top Navigation menu.
Below is a quick overview of what things are called on Windows and what they are called on a Mac:
Windows
Mac
Windows Explorer / My Computer / Computer
Finder
Control Panel
System Preferences
Programs
Applications (often shortened to apps)
Task Bar and Start Menu
Dock
Tray
Menulets
Recycle Bin
Trash
Task Manager
Activity Monitor
Windows Phone's Action Center (Windows 10 Feature)
Notification Center
Media
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or Below
If you are one of the few Mac users who haven’t yet upgraded to OS X Mavericks and are still using OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion, you will have to finally bite the bullet and click the download link for Yosemite.
Here’s the bad news for you: if your computer has an OS that is less than Mavericks, there’s a very good chance it doesn’t support Yosemite.
The general requirements are below:
At least 2 GB RAM or more
At least 8 GB of available hard drive storage
iMac 2007 or later
MacBook 2009 and later
MacBook Pro 2007 or later
MacBook Air 2008 or later
Mac Mini 2009 or later
Mac Pro 2008 or later
Xserve 2009 or later
You can see your computer specs by going to the very upper left corner of your screen and clicking on the little apple, and then clicking on “About This Mac”.
This will tell you all the information that you want to know (i.e. the year your Mac came out, the speed, the memory, etc.).
Mac vs. Windows
So exactly how is Mac different from Windows? Throughout the book I’ll be making comparisons to help you, but first I want to give a rundown of some of the major differences.
Right Click
Right clicking is probably second nature to you if you are a Windows user; on the Mac, it’s all about gestures—touching the trackpad (the Mac’s mouse) a certain way (or on new Macs, using more or less pressure) will bring up different options and menus.
As weird as it sounds, the first time I used a Mac, the right click (or lack thereof) drove me crazy…until I figured out that right clicking was actually there. To right click on a Mac, click with two fingers instead of one. Alternatively, you can press Control and with one finger.
If you have an old Windows USB mouse, you don’t have to toss it—you can plug it into your Mac and it will work with no installation. The right click will even work.
I’ll explain how to customize your TrackPad later in the book, but if you’d like to jump ahead, you can go to System Preferences>TrackPad.
And don’t worry about messing something up; it’s very hard to harm a Mac!
Keyboard Shortcuts
This section will give you a very quick rundown of the more popular keyboard shortcuts; for a more detailed list, see Appendix A at the end of this book.
On a Windows computer, you might be used to using Control (CTRL) frequently; Control is on the Mac keyboard, but don’t get confused—on a Mac, the Control button equivalent is the Command ( ⌘ ) Key (to the right of the keyboard). The good news is the letter combination for the most frequently used Windows shortcuts is almost always the same on a Mac—Control-C to copy is Command-C on the Mac; Control-X to Cut is Command-X; Control-V to Paste is Command-V.
On a Windows computer, you can hold Alt and Tab to cycle through programs…on a Mac you use Command and Tab.
The two most frequently used function keys (the buttons above the numbers) are F3 and F4; F3 will show a list of the programs you have open, and F4 brings up your Launchpad (all of your available programs…kind of like the Start menu on Windows).
Just keep reminding yourself that while it looks different, it’s really not…Windows has File Explorer, Mac has Finder; Windows has the Start Menu, Mac has Launchpad; Windows has the Ribbon menu, Mac has the Top Navigation menu.
Below is a quick overview of what things are called on Windows and what they are called on a Mac:
Windows
Mac
Windows Explorer / My Computer / Computer
Finder
Control Panel
System Preferences
Programs
Applications (often shortened to apps)
Task Bar and Start Menu
Dock
Tray
Menulets
Recycle Bin
Trash
Task Manager
Activity Monitor
Windows Phone's Action Center (Windows 10 Feature)
Notification Center
Media
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