The Complete Beginners Guide to Mac OS X El Capitan by Scott La Counte Page B
Authors: Scott La Counte
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can continue using your computer—it will tell you before it restarts so you can save your work. The OS will do everything for you—the only thing you need to do during the update is wait for it to complete.
Apple will generally release a new OS each year (traditionally around the same time that new iPhones are announced).
OS X 10.9 Mavericks
If you are using an older computer and need to install the latest OS (El Capitan), it’s pretty simple. Just go to the app store just mentioned, and search for El Capitan, then download it. Here’s the good news about the update: it’s free! Apple has done away with charging for software updates.
The file is just over 5 GB in size so make sure your computer has room—if it doesn’t you can skip ahead a few sections and see how to clean up your Mac. Once it’s finished downloading, follow the on-screen prompts. Your Mac will restart several times, so don’t worry about it acting weird—this is normal.
You’ll know when it’s finished 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 El Capitan.
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 El Capitan.
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
Apple will generally release a new OS each year (traditionally around the same time that new iPhones are announced).
OS X 10.9 Mavericks
If you are using an older computer and need to install the latest OS (El Capitan), it’s pretty simple. Just go to the app store just mentioned, and search for El Capitan, then download it. Here’s the good news about the update: it’s free! Apple has done away with charging for software updates.
The file is just over 5 GB in size so make sure your computer has room—if it doesn’t you can skip ahead a few sections and see how to clean up your Mac. Once it’s finished downloading, follow the on-screen prompts. Your Mac will restart several times, so don’t worry about it acting weird—this is normal.
You’ll know when it’s finished 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 El Capitan.
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 El Capitan.
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
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