iMac^® For Dummies^®, 4th Edition

by Mark L. Chambers (Columbia, Missouri)

• ISBN13: 9780764584589
• ISBN10: 0764584588
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-01
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Meet Sherlock,(r) go on Safari, and Spotlight your search Get online, move files from your old system, and start using cool iMac tools The iMac G5 looks like a modern art sculpture, and wow, how it can modernize your life! Unpack the box, grab this book, and get familiar with the Dock, streamlining your searches with Spotlight, creating a .Mac Web page, exploring all the iLife applications, building a network, and keeping your iMac healthy. Discover how to * Set up and configure your iMac G5 * Use iMovie(r), iDVD(r), iTunes(r), iPhoto, and GarageBand * Stay in touch using iChat AV * Take advantage of Safari RSS feeds * Work with wireless devices

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(6)
What's Really (Not) Required	1	(1)
About This Book	2	(1)
Conventions Used in This Book	3	(1)
Stuff you type	3	(1)
Menu commands	3	(1)
Web addresses	3	(1)
For the technically curious	3	(1)
How This Book Is Organized	4	(1)
Part I: Know Your iMac	4	(1)
Part II: Shaking Hands with Mac OS X	4	(1)
Part III: Connecting and Communicating	4	(1)
Part IV: Living the iLife	4	(1)
Part V: Sharing Access and Information	5	(1)
Part VI: The Necessary Evils: Troubleshooting, Upgrading, Maintaining	5	(1)
Part VI: The Part of Tens	5	(1)
Icons Used in This Book	5	(1)
Where to Go from Here	6	(1)
A Final Word	6	(1)
Part I: Know Your iMac	7	(42)
Chapter 1: Okay, This Machine Looks Really, Really Weird	9	(18)
An Introduction to the Beast	10	(6)
Major parts of your major appliance	10	(5)
Important Hidden Stuff	15	(1)
Choosing a Home for Your New Pet	16	(2)
Picking the right location	17	(1)
Considering the convenience factor	18	(1)
Unpacking and Connecting	18	(3)
Unpacking your iMac For Dummies	18	(1)
Connecting cables like a true nerd	19	(2)
Discovering All the Cool Things You Can Do	21	(3)
What software do I get?	21	(1)
Looking forward to fun on the Internet	22	(1)
Applications that rock	23	(1)
Would you like to play a game?	24	(1)
Stuff You Oughta Buy Right Now	24	(3)
Chapter 2: Life! Give My iMac Life!	27	(10)
Throwing the Big Leaf Switch	27	(1)
Mark's Favorite Signs of a Healthy iMac	28	(1)
Harriet, It's Already Asking Me Questions!	29	(2)
Setting up Mac OS X Tiger	30	(1)
Registering your Mac	31	(1)
Importing Documents and Data from Your Old Mac	31	(4)
Importing Documents and Data from Windows	35	(2)
Chapter 3: Introducing the Apple of Your iMac	37	(12)
A Quick Tour About the Premises	37	(6)
The Tiger Desktop	38	(3)
What's going on underneath?	41	(2)
Similarities with That Windows Behemoth	43	(3)
Like Windows, but better	43	(1)
Loading the truck	44	(2)
Calling for Help	46	(5)
Tiger's built-in Help system	46	(1)
Apple's Web-based support center	46	(1)
Magazines	46	(1)
Mac support Web sites	47	(1)
Mac newsgroups on Usenet	47	(1)
Local Mac user groups	47	(2)
Part II: Shaking Hands with Mac OS X	49	(62)
Chapter 4: Opening and Closing and Clicking and Such	51	(20)
Working within the Finder	51	(3)
Mousing in a Mac World	54	(1)
Launching and Quitting for the Lazy iMac Owner	55	(3)
Juggling Folders and Icons	58	(6)
A field observer's guide to icons	58	(2)
Selecting items	60	(2)
Copying items	62	(2)
Moving things from place to place	64	(1)
Duplicating in a jiffy	64	(1)
Keys and Keyboard Shortcuts to Fame and Fortune	64	(3)
Special keys on the keyboard	65	(1)
Using Finder and application keyboard shortcuts	65	(2)
Performing Tricks with Finder Windows	67	(4)
Scrolling and resizing windows	67	(1)
Minimizing and restoring windows	67	(2)
Moving and zooming windows	69	(1)
Closing windows	69	(2)
Chapter 5: A Plethora of Powerful Fun	71	(14)
Home, Sweet Home Folder	71	(3)
Arranging Your Desktop	74	(2)
Putting the Dock to the Test	76	(2)
Adding Dock icons	77	(1)
Removing Dock icons	77	(1)
Using Dock icon menus	78	(1)
What's with the Trash?	78	(2)
Working Magic with Dashboard and Expose	80	(2)
Using Dashboard	80	(1)
Switching between apps with Expose	81	(1)
Printing within Mac OS X	82	(3)
Chapter 6: A Nerd's Guide to System Preferences	85	(14)
A Not-So-Confusing Introduction	85	(3)
Searching for Settings	88	(1)
Popular Preference Panes Explained	89	(10)
The Displays pane	89	(1)
The Desktop & Screen Saver pane	90	(1)
The Dashboard & Expose pane	91	(2)
The Appearance pane	93	(1)
The Energy Saver pane	94	(1)
The Dock pane	95	(1)
The Sharing pane	96	(3)
Chapter 7: Searching amidst iMac Chaos	99	(12)
Spotlight Explained	99	(6)
Searching with Spotlight	101	(1)
Working with Spotlight matches	102	(1)
Fine-tuning Spotlight in System Preferences	103	(2)
Searching the Old-Fashioned Way	105	(1)
With Sherlock, the Search Is Afoot	106	(7)
Searching the Internet for data and pictures	107	(1)
Tracking down movie information	108	(1)
Get those stock tickers here	109	(2)
Part III: Connecting and Communicating	111	(44)
Chapter 8: Let's Go on Safari!	113	(14)
It Doesn't Even Look Like That Other Web Browser	113	(2)
Basic Navigation While on Safari	115	(5)
Entering Web addresses	115	(1)
Putting the toolbar to work	116	(4)
Searching for That Special Something	120	(2)
It's a snap to search with Google	120	(1)
Looking back with the History list	121	(1)
Searching the current page	122	(1)
Safari Power User Features	122	(5)
Selecting a new home page	122	(1)
Collecting and using bookmarks	123	(2)
Using secure connections	125	(1)
Working with RSS feeds	125	(2)
Chapter 9: Moving to .Mac	127	(16)
Wait a Minute: Where Exactly IS My .Mac Storage?	127	(1)
Opening a .Mac Account	128	(3)
iDisk...iGetlt!	131	(4)
It's all in the folders	132	(1)
Mirror, mirror, on your drive	133	(1)
Monitoring and configuring your iDisk	134	(1)
Backing Up Your Treasured Stuff	135	(4)
Installing Backup	136	(1)
Saving your stuff	136	(3)
Publishing a Web Site with HomePage	139	(4)
Chapter 10: Hooking Up with Handy Helpers	143	(12)
Connecting Printers	143	(5)
USB printers	143	(4)
Networked printers	147	(1)
Connecting Scanners	148	(1)
Have iSight, Will iChat	149	(2)
And Then There's Your Fax Machine, 007	151	(3)
Receiving faxes automatically	151	(1)
Sending faxes from an application	152	(2)
Turning Your iMac into a TV - And More	154	(1)
Part IV: Living the (Life	155	(88)
Chapter 11: The Musical Joy of iTunes	157	(18)
Boy, Check Out That iTunes Window!	157	(2)
The Lazy iTunes Guide	159	(10)
Listening to song files, playlists, Internet radio, and audio CDs	160	(4)
Organizing, sorting, and searching (The right way)	164	(3)
Adding or editing song information	167	(1)
Visualization - It's music for your eyes	168	(1)
Pulling in Songs and Spitting 'Em Out	169	(6)
Importing songs from CD and hard drive	169	(2)
Buying Billie Holiday from the Apple Music Store	171	(2)
Burning like a true techno	173	(2)
Chapter 12: The Masterpiece That is iPhoto	175	(18)
Touring the Glorious iPhoto Window	175	(2)
Handling Photos Like da Vinci	177	(10)
Import mode: Herding photos from your camera	177	(2)
Organize mode: Organizing and sorting snapshots	179	(5)
Edit mode: Removing Uncle Milton's head	184	(3)
Publishing Your Own Art Gallery	187	(2)
Slideshows	189	(1)
Sending Photos through E-Mail	190	(3)
Chapter 13: Making Film History with iMovie HD	193	(18)
Shaking Hands with the iMovie HD Window	194	(2)
A Bird's-Eye View of Movie-Making	196	(1)
Importing the Building Blocks	197	(5)
Pulling in video clips	197	(1)
Making use of still images	198	(2)
Importing and adding audio from all sorts of places	200	(2)
Building the Cinematic Basics	202	(7)
Adding clips to your movie	203	(1)
Removing clips from your movie	203	(1)
Deleting clips for good	204	(1)
Reordering clips in your movie	204	(1)
Editing clips within iMovie HD	204	(1)
Adding transitions	205	(1)
Oh, we got effects!	206	(1)
What's a masterpiece without titles?	207	(2)
Doing iMovie Things iMagically	209	(1)
Sharing Your Finished Classic with Others	210	(1)
Chapter 14: iDVD - Your DVD Movie Factory	211	(16)
Hey, Where's the Complex Window?	212	(2)
Creating a New DVD Project	214	(7)
Choosing just the right theme	215	(1)
Adding movies	216	(2)
Great, now my audience demands a slideshow	218	(1)
Now for the music...	219	(2)
Who Needs Defaults?	221	(2)
Using Uncle Morty for your DVD Menu background	221	(1)
Adding your own titles	221	(1)
Changing buttons like a highly paid professional	222	(1)
Give my creation motion!	222	(1)
Previewing Your Next Hit	223	(1)
A Word about OneStep DVD	224	(1)
Burn That Movie, Baby!	225	(2)
Chapter 15: Recording Your Hits with GarageBand	227	(16)
Let Me Introduce You to the Band	228	(2)
Composing a Snappy Tune in GarageBand	230	(11)
Adding tracks	230	(3)
Choosing loops	233	(2)
Resizing, repeating, adding, and moving loops	235	(4)
Tweaking the settings for a track	239	(2)
Your Hit Is Ready for iTunes	241	(4)
Setting preferences	241	(1)
Creating MP3 files	242	(1)
Part V: Sharing Access and Information	243	(52)
Chapter 16: Creating a Multiuser iMac	245	(18)
Once Upon a Time (An Access Fairy Tale)	245	(1)
Big-Shot Administrator Stuff	246	(10)
Deciding who needs what access	247	(1)
Adding users	248	(2)
Modifying user accounts	250	(2)
I banish thee, Mischievous User!	252	(1)
Setting up Login Items and Parental Controls	253	(3)
Multiuser Rules for Everyone	256	(7)
Logging on and off in Tiger For Dummies	257	(2)
Interesting stuff about sharing stuff	259	(1)
Encrypting your Home folder can be fun	260	(3)
Chapter 17: Building (Or Joining) a Network	263	(20)
The Great Debate: Wired versus Wireless	264	(2)
Sharing Internet Access	266	(2)
Using your iMac as a sharing device	266	(1)
Using a separate Internet sharing device	266	(2)
What Do I Need to Connect?	268	(8)
Wireless connections	269	(4)
Wired connections	273	(3)
Connecting to the Network	276	(5)
Verifying that the contraption works	276	(2)
Sharing stuff nicely with others	278	(3)
USE YOUR FIREWALL!	281	(2)
Chapter 18: Communicating with Wireless Devices	283	(12)
Bluetooth Is Not a Pirate (Matey)	283	(6)
A little Danish history	284	(1)
Is your iMac Bluetooth-ready?	284	(1)
Tiger and Bluetooth, together forever	285	(3)
Mr. Security speaks - yet again	288	(1)
Concerning Wireless Keyboards and Mice	289	(2)
Getting Everything in iSync	291	(2)
The Magic of Wireless Printing	293	(2)
Part VI: The Necessary Evils: Troubleshooting, Upgrading, Maintaining	295	(48)
Chapter 19: It Just...Sits...There	297	(16)
Can You Troubleshoot? Yes, You Can!	297	(1)
Basic Troubleshooting 101	298	(12)
The Number One Rule: Reboot!	298	(2)
Special keys that can come in handy	300	(1)
All hail Disk Utility, the troubleshooter's friend	301	(3)
Mark's iMac Troubleshooting Tree	304	(6)
Okay, I Kicked It, and It Still Won't Work	310	(3)
Apple Help Online	310	(1)
Local service, at your service	311	(2)
Chapter 20: I Want to Add Stuff	313	(14)
Getting inside Your iMac	313	(2)
More Memory Will Help	315	(5)
Figuring out how much memory you have	317	(1)
Installing memory modules	318	(2)
Networking Wirelessly	320	(1)
Can I Upgrade My Hard Drive?	321	(3)
Consider your external options	322	(1)
Gotta have internal	323	(1)
Attractive Add-Ons	324	(3)
Game controllers	325	(1)
Video controllers	325	(1)
TV hardware	325	(1)
Audio hardware	325	(1)
DVD recording	326	(1)
Chapter 21: Tackling the Housekeeping	327	(16)
Cleaning Unseemly Data Deposits	327	(3)
Getting dirty (or, cleaning things the manual way)	328	(2)
Using a commercial cleanup tool	330	(1)
Backing Up Your Treasure	330	(7)
Saving files	331	(1)
Saving images	332	(4)
Commercial backup programs	336	(1)
Maintaining Hard Drive Health	337	(1)
Automating Those Mundane Chores	338	(3)
Building Automator applications	338	(2)
Running applications at start up	340	(1)
Updating Mac OS X Automatically	341	(2)
Part VII: The Part of Tens	343	(24)
Chapter 22: Ten Applications You Can't Do Without	353	(2)
Applications	345	(6)
DVDs and CDs	346	(1)
Management and communication	347	(2)
Productivity	349	(2)
System Stuff	351	(4)
Maintenance	351	(1)
Files	352	(3)
Chapter 23: Ten Ways to Speed Up Your iMac	355	(6)
Nothing Works Like a Shot of Memory	356	(1)
Hold a Conversation with Your iMac	356	(1)
Vamoose, Unwanted Fragments!	357	(1)
Keep Your Wallpaper Simple	357	(1)
Column Mode is for Power Users	358	(1)
Make the Dock Do Your Bidding	358	(1)
It All Started with Keyboard Shortcuts	359	(1)
Hey, You Tweaked Your Finder!	359	(1)
Keep in Touch with Your Recent Past	360	(1)
Go Where the Going Is Good	360	(1)
Chapter 24: Ten Things to Avoid Like the Plague	361	(6)
Man, That Is the Definition of Sluggish	361	(1)
Phishing Is No Phun	362	(1)
Put Floppy Disks to Rest	362	(1)
Do You Really Want a Submerged Keyboard?	363	(1)
Don't Use Antiquated Utility Software	364	(1)
Don't Endorse Software Piracy	364	(1)
Call It the Forbidden Account	364	(1)
Don't Settle for a Surge Suppressor	365	(1)
Refurbished Hardware Is No Deal At All	365	(1)
iMacs Appreciate Cleanliness	366	(1)
Index	367