Hart-Davis - iMac Portable Genius

iMac Portable Genius, 4th Edition

Guy Hart-Davis

iMac Portable Genius, 4th Edition

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com

Copyright 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-118-42063-8

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization of website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit us at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012948642

Trademarks: Wiley and the John Wiley & Sons logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley and Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries, and may not be used without written permission. iMac is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. iMac Portable Genius, Fourth Edition is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple, Inc.

About the Author

Guy Hart-Davis is the author of several other computer books, including iLife 11 Portable Genius, iWork 09 Portable Genius, Teach Yourself VISUALLY iMac 2nd Edition, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Mac mini, and Teach Yourself VISUALLY iPhone 5.

Credits

Senior Acquisitions Editor

Stephanie McComb

Project Editor

Katharine Dvorak

Technical Editor

Paul Sihvonen-Binder

Copy Editor

Lauren Kennedy

Editorial Director

Robyn Siesky

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager

Sandy Smith

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Barry Pruett

Project Coordinator

Katherine Crocker

Graphics and Production Specialist

Andrea Hornberger

Quality Control Technician

Rebecca Denoncour

Proofreading

Kathy Simpson

Indexing

Potomac Indexing, LLC

This book is dedicated to Rhonda and Teddy.

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to the following people for making this book happen:

Stephanie McComb for asking me to write this edition of the book.

Katharine Dvorak for shaping the outline and running the editorial side of the project.

Paul Sihvonen-Binder for reviewing the book for technical accuracy and making many helpful suggestions.

Lauren Kennedy for copyediting the book with a light touch.

Andrea Hornberger for laying out the book in the design.

Kathy Simpson for scrutinizing the pages for errors.

Potomac Indexing, LLC for creating the index.

Introduction

Your iMac is a wonderful computer.

Apple keeps improving the iMac, making each generations screen larger, its hardware faster, its housing sleeker, and its peripherals more attractive so theres a good chance your iMac is a beautiful monster with a 27-inch screen, more gigabytes of RAM than you have fingers, and a clutter-free wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.

I need hardly add that your iMac is running OS X Mountain Lion, the most powerful and easy-to-use operating system available today. Nor that OS X is gorgeous to look at.

So its up to you to make the most of your iMac and OS X. To do that, you need the knowledge this book delivers. Heres just a taste of what youll learn:

Make OS X look and feel the way you want it to. Set up the Dock with the icons for the applications you need, choose where to position it, and teach it how to behave. Choose the desktop picture you want and a suitable screen saver. Make the Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad work your way, and get OS X to use the sounds you prefer.

Set up your iMac up for everyone to use. Learn about the five types of user accounts OS X offers, and put them to good effect on your iMac. Set up a separate user account for each user, apply Parental Controls to those users who need them, and turn on the Guest account if you require it. Share your song files and photo files easily with other people who use your iMac.

Tweak the Finder so that it works your way. Use the Finders four different views like a pro, and customize each of the views to suit your needs. Manage application windows, full-screen applications, and extra desktops slickly and smoothly using Lions new Mission Control feature. Tap the Spotlight search feature so that you can find every file you need within seconds.