New Mac Users

From Applepedia

So, you've just bought your first Mac. Congratulations! Welcome to the land of powerful and and headache-free computing. Mac OS X is a wonderful operating system with a lot to offer. For first time users, there may be a short period of frustration where you struggle to find or do something that was second nature on Windows. We're here to help.

Need to know

Installing applications

Example Adium DMG that has a shortcut to your Applications directory

DMG that doesn't have a shortcut to Applications

On Windows you're probably used to every program coming with an installer program. Most of the time, installers are unnecessary for even the largest and most complex applications. Most Mac programs don't have installers. If you download a program for your Mac, it will probably come in a DMG and open up a window upon download completion, revealing the application you want. Don't double click it! You need to copy it to the Applications folder on your computer. Most DMGs (like the Adium one pictured to the right) have an Applications shortcut in them where you can drag the app. If so, just drag the app in and you're all set. If there is no Applications shortcut (like in the Gmail DMG), click the white oval button in the upper right of the window. This will open the Finder sidebar. You can now drag your application into the Applications folder. When you're done, go to your desktop and drag the mounted DMG and the associate file to the trash.

Handling application windows

In Mac OS X, applications and their windows are handled differently than in Microsoft Windows. In Windows, an application is ended when its last window is closed. For example, if you have five Microsoft Word windows open, Word the application isn't ended until you close the last window. Then you have programs like Adobe Photoshop where you have a main window container, with child windows.

You can think of Mac OS as your application window container. When you open a Safari window, you'll notice that the Menu bar title changes to Safari and you have a bunch of Safari-specific menus, as well as your Safari browser window. If you close the window by clicking the red x in the upper-left or by pressing CMD+W, the browser window will close, but Safari continues to run. You'll notice that the menu bar still says Safari. To quit, click Safari > Quit, or press CMD+Q.

Some applications, like System Preferences, will quit when you close the last window. Most of these applications are single window applications, meaning that you can't open more than one window for that application (see: iPhoto).

The menu bar always displays the name of the currently focused application as well as its menus.

Software

Coming from Windows, you may be looking for Mac equivalents of common applications. Here are some applications to get you started.

These are just some suggestions for powerful and easy to use applications. There's a whole lot out there for each of these categories, so checkout Software Gold.

Further Reading

• Mac 101 if you aren't familiar with computers at all, or Switch 101 if you are switching from Windows.
• Frequently asked questions (Switchers, please check Switcher FAQ)
• Tips and Tricks

Conclusion

This guide is a work in progress. It's hard to guess just what new users are looking for or may struggle with when making the switch, so please add comments, suggestions, and requests to the user talk page of this article.