Many people have an impression about Macs that they look complicated to use. Some say that you must be a computer professional to use a Mac. They will not realize how easy it is and how difficult Windows is as compared to Mac OS X until they use it. Many people never get it.
To really understand the Mac you need to experience Mac OS X. The most recent edition is called Snow Leopard. Its interface is very simple. Once you get used to its interface you will then realize how easy it is compared to Windows. In Snow Leopard, there is a menu bar on the top, which changes for all applications you open. On the right side of the screen is a small magnifying glass (called Spotlight) that you can use to search anything in the Mac.
The Mac OS X’s dock is like a bookshelf where all the applications you want to start up with a click can be placed. Because of this you don’t have to keep clicking the All Programs menu bar to get to your application, so opening your favorite programs is actually easier on a Mac.
The Finder application is like Windows Explorer, it shows everything contained on your hard drive. It also shows any shared computers, external drives like USB Flash Drive and your documents. Dashboard is similar to the widgets bar on Windows.
The default browser for Mac is Safari and it is as good as Internet Explorer. Mac Mail is like MS Outlook, an application for checking mail. You can access any application you want from the Dock with just a single click.
Mac has built-in wireless connectivity support. It lets you connect to an external network very easily. To connect to a Wi-Fi device just click on the Waves (expanding upwards) icon on top menu bar. The Mac will search for a nearby access point and once it find yours, just enter your password if you need and have one and you are connected. In Windows, connecting to a wireless Internet requires many steps and not all PCs have a built-in Wi-Fi finder.
You can view your documents in a variety of ways. In Finder there is the list view, the thumbnail view, the coverflow view and the column view. You can change the views from the top of the finder Window. You can change the views as per your liking and requirements.
To go to the Control Panel of the Mac, all you need to do is click on the Apple logo on the menu bar and then select System Preferences. The Control Panel will immediately pop up. To find what you want just type in the search bar on the right.
Of course there are many more good things to share but all can not be covered in one article. The best thing for you to get familiar with Mac is to play around with it- use your friend’s Mac and see how simple and easy it is .
