The iMac^TM For Dummies^®, 2nd Edition

by David Pogue (The New York Times)

• ISBN13: 9780764528187
• ISBN10: 0764528181
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

If you bought an iMac, you're unbelievably smart (and lucky). You've neatly eliminated most of the hassle, frustration, and annoyance that normally come with buying a computer. You've saved yourself some cash, while still getting a fast, state-of-the-art machine. In short, the iMac is the gadget that comes closest to fulfilling the vision of Apple founder Steve Jobs: to make a personal computer that's as easy to use as your toaster. So, if the iMac is so easy to use, then who needs a book about it? Well, despite all the free goodies that come with your iMac, an operations manual is "not one of them. You need somewhere to turn when things go wrong, when you'd like to know what the add-on software does, or when you want to stumble onto the Internet for the first time. That's where "The iMac For Dummies, 2nd Edition, steps in to help. Here's a sampling of the topics you'll find covered in "The iMac For Dummies, 2nd Edition: Setting up your new iMac and getting around in Mac OS 9 Understanding how all those gizmos inside the iMac case work Accomplishing what you want to do (imagine that!) Setting up your printer with your iMac

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Who Needs an iMac Book?	p. 1
How to Use This Book (Other Than as a Mouse Pad)	p. 2
Macintosh conventions	p. 2
Conventions in this book	p. 2
Apple and obsolescence	p. 3
For the Absolute iMac Virgin	p. 5
How to Turn On Your iMac (and What to Do Next)	p. 7
Box Open. Now What?	p. 7
Switching on the iMac	p. 7
The startup slide show	p. 8
Your First Moments Alone Together	p. 9
The Setup Assistant--and your iMac edition	p. 9
Moving the mouse	p. 11
What's on the menu?	p. 11
The big turn-off	p. 12
Moving things around on the desktop	p. 13
Icons, windows, and Macintosh syntax	p. 14
The complete list of window doodads	p. 16
All systems are go	p. 17
Double-clicking in theory and practice	p. 19
Multiple windows	p. 20
Using a list view	p. 20
The easiest homework you've ever had	p. 21
Where to get help	p. 21
Pit stop	p. 23
Top Ten Similarities between You and Your iMac	p. 23
High-Tech Made Easy	p. 25
How an iMac Works	p. 25
Storing things with disks	p. 25
Conceptualizing the hard disk	p. 26
Understanding memory	p. 26
Who's Meg?	p. 27
Understanding RAM	p. 28
Putting it all together	p. 29
"I lost all my work!"	p. 30
Top Ten Differences between Memory and a Hard Disk	p. 31
Windows, Icons, and Trashes	p. 33
Becoming Manipulative	p. 33
Foldermania	p. 33
Keyboard shortcuts	p. 34
How to trash something	p. 38
Top Ten Window, Icon, and Trash Tips	p. 40
Actually Accomplishing Something	p. 45
Obsolescence Therapy	p. 45
Credit Card Workout #2: Buying Software	p. 46
Where to get it	p. 47
Your very first software	p. 48
Desk Accessories	p. 48
The Calculator	p. 48
The Note Pad	p. 48
Selecting text	p. 49
The cornerstone of human endeavor: Copy and Paste	p. 50
The Application menu	p. 51
Control Panels	p. 54
Top Ten Control Panel Explanations	p. 55
Typing, Saving, and Finding Again	p. 57
Your Very First Bestseller	p. 57
Top three rules of word processing	p. 58
The excitement begins	p. 59
Editing for the linguistically blessed	p. 61
Puff, the Magic Drag-N-Drop	p. 63
Form and Format	p. 66
The return of Return	p. 67
Appealing characters	p. 68
Formatting paragraphs	p. 69
Working with Documents	p. 70
Navigating the Save File (and Open File) box	p. 71
Closing a file, with a sigh	p. 75
How to find out what's going on	p. 76
Getting It All Back Again	p. 77
Crazy relationships: Parents and kids	p. 77
Fetch: How to retrieve a document	p. 78
Save Me Again!	p. 79
How to Back Up iMac Files	p. 80
The importance of being backed up	p. 81
Where's the floppy drive?	p. 81
How to insert a disk	p. 82
How to copy stuff onto a disk	p. 83
How to get a disk or CD out again	p. 83
When What Was Found Is Now Lost	p. 84
Seeking wisdom in your own words--and on the Net	p. 86
Sherlock goes silver	p. 86
Top Ten Word-Processing Tips	p. 87
A Quiet Talk about Printers, Printing, and Fonts	p. 91
Inkjet Printers	p. 91
How to hook up a USB inkjet printer	p. 92
How to hook up an older inkjet printer	p. 93
Laser Printers	p. 94
How to hook up a modern laser printer	p. 95
After All That: How You Actually Print	p. 96
Using the Tab key in dialog boxes	p. 97
Background printing	p. 98
Canceling printing	p. 98
Top Ten Free Fun Font Factoids	p. 99
The Internet Defanged	p. 105
Faking Your Way onto America Online and the Internet	p. 107
First, the Modem	p. 108
America Online or Direct to the Internet?	p. 109
America Online (AOL), the Cyber-Grocery	p. 110
Exploring by icon	p. 112
Navigating by keyword	p. 112
How to find your way back to the good stuff	p. 113
The e-mail connection	p. 114
The party line	p. 114
Talking behind their backs	p. 115
How to find--and get--free software	p. 116
Signing Up for an Internet Account (ISP)	p. 117
What's on the Internet	p. 118
E-mail	p. 118
Newsgroups	p. 118
The World Wide Web	p. 120
How to Hang Up	p. 120
When You Can't Open Your Downloaded Goodies	p. 122
StuffIt Expander: Free and easy	p. 123
Files you still can't open	p. 124
Top Ten Best/Worst Aspects of the Net	p. 126
The Weird Wide Web	p. 127
Internet Made Idiotproof: Link-Clicking	p. 127
Getting to the Web via America Online	p. 128
Getting to the Web via an ISP	p. 129
Where to Go, What to Do on the Web	p. 129
Ways to search for a particular topic	p. 131
Searching using Sherlock	p. 133
Not just Sherlock--new, improved Sherlock!	p. 135
Useful Web pages: The tip of the iceberg	p. 136
Navigator vs. Explorer: The Tip-O-Rama	p. 137
Choose your weapon	p. 138
Type almost nothing	p. 138
Go get the plug-in	p. 138
Where's home for you?	p. 139
Faster--please, make it faster!	p. 139
Bookmark it	p. 141
Stop the blinking!	p. 141
Keeping the Net safe for kidlets	p. 142
E-mail for He-males and Females	p. 143
Getting into E-Mail	p. 143
Sending e-mail	p. 144
Getting your mail	p. 145
Processing a message you've read	p. 146
Attaching Files to E-Mail	p. 147
Sending a file	p. 148
Sending files to Windows people	p. 149
Getting a file	p. 150
The Anti-Spam Handbook	p. 151
Software Competence	p. 153
Faking Your Way Through the Free Software	p. 155
Your Personal Software Store	p. 155
Software on all iMacs	p. 155
Software only on new (CD slot-loading) iMacs	p. 156
Software only on older (CD tray-loading) iMacs	p. 156
AppleWorks	p. 156
Your first database	p. 158
Data entry time	p. 161
Forming the form letter	p. 163
The graphics zone: Designing a letterhead	p. 166
The return of Copy and Paste	p. 169
AppleWorks: The Other Spreadsheet	p. 170
Other Cool Stuff AppleWorks Does	p. 175
Bugdom	p. 177
EdView Internet Safety Kit, Family Edition	p. 178
Installing the Safety Kit	p. 178
Using the Safety Kit	p. 179
Bypassing the Safety Kit	p. 180
E-mail, America Online, and other blockades	p. 180
Kid Pix Deluxe	p. 181
Nanosaur	p. 182
PageMill	p. 183
The blank canvas	p. 183
Creating a new, blank page	p. 184
Meet your toolbar	p. 184
Add the text	p. 185
Hanging pictures	p. 185
A little separation	p. 186
Linking up	p. 186
Getting published	p. 187
Palm Desktop	p. 188
Installing Palm Desktop	p. 188
The Calendar	p. 189
The Contact List (Address Book)	p. 194
The Task List	p. 195
The Note List	p. 197
The Magic of Instant Palm Desktop	p. 197
Quicken	p. 199
The category concept	p. 199
The Register	p. 200
Just another $10,000 day	p. 201
Creating a new category	p. 203
More typical examples	p. 204
The category payoff	p. 205
Reconciling for the nonaccountant	p. 205
If the statement has extra items	p. 207
World Book Encyclopedia	p. 208
Installing the World Book program	p. 208
Looking up a topic	p. 209
Getting more help	p. 210
Photo Soap, Good Cooking, and MDK	p. 210
Williams - Sonoma Guide to Good Cooking	p. 210
MDK	p. 211
Kai's Photo Soap	p. 211
iSpielberg: Digital Movies with iMovie	p. 215
Got What It Takes?	p. 216
Filming Your Life	p. 217
Dump the Footage into iMovie	p. 218
Capturing clips	p. 219
How much footage can your iMac hold?	p. 219
Naming, playing, and trimming clips	p. 220
Build the Movie	p. 222
Adding a cross-fade	p. 222
Adding titles	p. 223
Grabbing music from a CD	p. 224
Find an Audience	p. 226
Sending your movie back to the camcorder	p. 226
Saving your movie as a QuickTime file	p. 226
Your Free Built-In DVD Player	p. 228
Pix Tricks: Graphic Nonviolence	p. 231
Where Graphics Come From	p. 231
The Web	p. 231
Scanners	p. 233
Digital cameras	p. 234
Kodak PhotoCDs	p. 235
What to Do with Graphics	p. 235
Mail them to someone	p. 235
Put 'em on a Web page	p. 237
Print it out	p. 237
Plaster your iMac desktop	p. 237
System Folder: Trash Barge of the iMac	p. 239
The System Folder Trashfest	p. 240
Appearance, Application Support	p. 240
The Apple Menu Items folder	p. 240
The Contextual Menu Items folder	p. 243
The Control Strip Modules folder	p. 243
The Control Panels folder	p. 243
The Extensions folder	p. 253
The Preferences folder	p. 260
More special folders	p. 260
Other files in the System Folder	p. 262
Toward a New, Nerdier You	p. 265
Great Material that Didn't Quite Fit the Outline	p. 267
The Efficiency Nut's Guide to the Option Key	p. 267
Closing all windows at once	p. 268
The silence of the Trash	p. 268
Multitasking methods	p. 268
Buried Treasures	p. 270
Make an alias of a file	p. 270
The iMac's Program Switcher	p. 273
Zooming into your screen	p. 274
Making It Unmistakably Yours	p. 274
Have it your way--at Icon King	p. 275
Hanging your own background wallpaper	p. 276
Color-coding your icons	p. 277
Window-Mania	p. 278
Views and window preferences	p. 278
Meet Mr. Window	p. 279
Poppin' fresh windows	p. 281
The iMac Keyboard: Not Your Father's Typewriter	p. 282
Fun with Function keys	p. 284
Multiple Personalities (Mac OS 9)	p. 286
The big idea	p. 286
Setting up Multiple Users	p. 287
Using the Multiple Users feature	p. 290
USB, Ethernet, AirPort, and Other Impressive Connections	p. 291
USB Nimble, USB Quick	p. 291
Where's the USB?	p. 292
Installing a new USB doodad	p. 292
Attaching more USB doodads	p. 293
Ethernet Made Eathy	p. 293
Connecting to one other Mac	p. 294
Creating a real, live, full-office Ethernet network	p. 296
Wireless Networking: Your Ride to the AirPort	p. 298
Installing an AirPort Card	p. 299
Going Online with a base station	p. 299
Using your iMac as a base station	p. 301
Communicating Mac-to-Mac	p. 302
Troubleshooting Made Tolerable	p. 305
When Bad Things Happen to Good iMacs	p. 307
Introduction to Computer Hell	p. 307
The iMac Freezes or Crashes	p. 308
Escaping a System freeze right now	p. 308
Escaping repeated System freezes	p. 309
Problems in One Program	p. 310
Error Messages	p. 311
"Application not found"	p. 311
"You do not have enough access privileges"	p. 313
"DNS Entry not found" or "Error 404"	p. 313
"You are running low on memory"	p. 314
"Application has unexpectedly quit"	p. 314
Numbered error messages	p. 314
Out of Memory	p. 315
First resort: Quit programs	p. 315
Second resort: Defragment your RAM	p. 316
Third resort: Get RAM Doubler	p. 316
Fourth resort: Use virtual memory	p. 317
Last resort: Buy more	p. 318
Startup Problems	p. 319
No chime, no picture	p. 319
Picture, no ding	p. 319
A question mark blinks on the screen	p. 319
The power button on the keyboard doesn't work	p. 320
Some crazy program launches itself every time you start up	p. 321
General printing problems	p. 321
Inkjet printers: Blank pages come out	p. 321
Finder Foul-Ups	p. 321
You can't rename a file	p. 322
You can't rename or eject a disk	p. 322
All your icons show up blank	p. 322
It's January 1, 1904	p. 322
Disk Disasters (Floppies, CDs, and Co.)	p. 323
Your CD vibrates scarily	p. 323
You can't install a new program from your SuperDisk	p. 324
The CD Drawer Won't Open	p. 324
Everything's Slow	p. 324
Hardware Headaches	p. 325
Your mouse is jerky or sticky	p. 325
Double-clicking doesn't work	p. 325
Your monitor's too small	p. 325
Your monitor shimmers	p. 326
The Problem-Solving Cookbook	p. 327
Rebuilding the Desktop File	p. 327
Zapping the PRAM	p. 328
The Amazing "Force Quit" Keystroke	p. 328
The Restart Button	p. 329
Solving an Extension Conflict	p. 329
Giving More Memory to a Program	p. 331
Performing a Clean System Reinstall	p. 333
Install the fresh software	p. 334
Restore your personal belongings	p. 334
Other ways to restore your iMac	p. 336
Defragmenting Your Hard Drive	p. 337
Beyond the iMac: Where to Go from Here	p. 339
Where to Turn in Times of Trouble	p. 339
Your 15 minutes of free help	p. 339
$150 for three years	p. 340
Free help sources	p. 340
Upgrading to Mac OS 9--and Beyond	p. 341
Save Changes Before Closing?	p. 342
The Part of Tens	p. 343
Ten More Gadgets to Buy and Plug In	p. 345
A Scanner	p. 345
A Digital Camera	p. 346
A Mouse	p. 346
A Joystick	p. 347
Speakers or Headphones	p. 347
The Harmon/Kardon Subwoofer	p. 348
Music and MIDI	p. 349
A Projector	p. 349
Zip, SuperDisk, and Co.	p. 350
A Movie Camera	p. 351
Ten Cool Things You Didn't Know Your iMac Could Do	p. 353
Play Music CDs	p. 353
Talk	p. 354
Sing	p. 355
Play Movies	p. 355
Send Faxes	p. 356
Receive Faxes	p. 358
Fit in Your Pocket	p. 359
Record Sounds	p. 360
How to record a sound	p. 360
How to adjust your iMac's speaker volume	p. 360
Run Windows Programs	p. 361
Print Photos	p. 361
Appendixes	p. 363
How to Set Up an iMac	p. 365
I Took Off the Shrink Wrap! Now What?	p. 365
Switching the iMac on	p. 367
What You've Got Here	p. 367
Mastering Your Monitor	p. 368
Attaching a second monitor	p. 369
A bit about color bits	p. 370
The Resource Resource	p. 371
Magazines	p. 371
User Groups	p. 372
Deep-Discount Mail-Order Joints	p. 372
Great iMac Web Pages	p. 373
The Ultimate iMac Buyer's Guide	p. 373
Printers and Printer Adapters	p. 374
Multifunction Printers	p. 375
Adapters for Older Mac Gadgets	p. 375
Serial adapters	p. 376
USB Serial adapters	p. 376
ADB (mouse and keyboard) adapter	p. 376
Microphone adapters	p. 376
SCSI adapters	p. 376
Digital Cameras	p. 377
Disk Drives	p. 378
Joysticks and Game Pads	p. 380
Keyboard and Mouse Replacements	p. 380
Mice	p. 380
Trackballs	p. 381
Keyboards	p. 381
Scanners	p. 381
Speakers	p. 382
USB Hubs	p. 382
Index	p. 383
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