The first things I do for new Mac people.

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MikeF wrote:
I charge them $20 for a pack of gum and tell them to get used to paying more for everything Mac related.

Why lie?

(And what does "Mac related" mean? Are there any "Mac" monitors? Drives? RAM? Mice? USB cables?)

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/...n-annually

[decay]

MikeF wrote:
I charge them $20 for a pack of gum and tell them to get used to paying more for everything Mac related.

Except OS updates... and malware removal fees...

[hal]

I'm with you on all of the settings, but the lessons are too much for most people to retain unless you're leaving detailed notes as well.

For more the most important lesson is showing them how to turn it off. Once they see that there is no START button, many have no clue whatsoever.

[jdc]

Turn it off? Pffft. We never turn our macs off. Only time they get turned off is when the power goes out. So once every 10 years. Pretty sure they are set to start up after a power failure, so...

[Lux Interior]

tuqqer wrote:
- Teach them Command-H to *hide* a program. Stop closing windows, stop quitting applications and for the love of god stop moving windows around, grampa. When you need to get into another application, Command-Hide any app on top. To go back to some app again, click on its Dock icon.

OMG! My wife does this! She just starts dragging every window in her way to the edge of the screen. Drives me crazy. So I finally set up a separate account for her.

[RAMd®d]

tuqqer, a great list, and pretty much how I roll.

I also go through the Dock and remove things not often used, then stress using Spotlight. I didn't use it much early on because it was located in the upper right corner, but with the newer OSs putting it front and Mac center, I find it works really well. I think it's underrated as a launcher.

While not 'clean' look, I also enable Show Path Bar at a later date.


I'm with you on all of the settings, but the lessons are too much for most people to retain unless you're leaving detailed notes as well.

Some hands on practice and the notes above should be enough for most people who aren't completely scared of computers. That and tuq's phone number. LOL


For more the most important lesson is showing them how to turn it off. Once they see that there is no START button, many have no clue whatsoever.

A good idea. A lot of people only use the computer for a short time and not every day. But an option is to teach them to Sleep it (desktops in particular) if they do use it daily.

My Macs sleep, although there's enough of them that I could probably save a couple of bucks a month by turning some off.

[hal]

jdc wrote:
Turn it off? Pffft. We never turn our macs off. Only time they get turned off is when the power goes out. So once every 10 years. Pretty sure they are set to start up after a power failure, so...

you seem to assume that everyone uses a computer just like you do - that just isn't true.

[jdc]

hal wrote:
you seem to assume that everyone uses a computer just like you do - that just isn't true.

Whaaaaa? How. Can. That. Not. Be? -D

The whole world would be a better place if they did... :bunny:

WWJD. what would jdc do. :emoticon-animal-022:

[sekker]

Some good gems for me too.

I do two other things:

1) install Dropbox to transfer critical files from their other machine.

2) install a password manager. I know keychain is getting better but I want to get them to stop using the same password for everything. 1password etc is the ticket.

[sekker]

Just wanted to note that google’s newest backup software can archive the desktop now too.