My New Mac, Snow Leopard Edition
54 Simple Projects to Get You Started
by Wallace Wang

August 2009, 512 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-59327-209-8
Contents | Reviews | Updates

"Highly recommended for newbies and switchers."
—MacWorld

Download Project 15: "Putting Your Information at Your Fingertips with Dashboard"

Download instructions to build your own origami Mac

So you finally took the plunge and bought a Mac. Whether it's a MacBook, Mac Pro, Mac mini, or iMac—it's still your Mac, and it runs the Macintosh operating system, OS X. But what do you do with your Mac after you turn it on? Do you even know how to turn it off and put it to sleep? Maybe you do. . . . But what about setting up an email account, or playing your favorite CDs and movies? You need a book like My New™ Mac to make everything easy.

In this new, Snow Leopard edition of the best-selling My New Mac, you'll find 52 simple projects that will have you doing useful things right away—like surfing the Internet, sending email, listening to music, taking notes, and playing with your digital photos. Fun stuff, if you know how to do it.

Wallace Wang, best-selling author of My New iPhone and several of those For Dummies® books, gives you step-by-step instructions for organizing your music with iTunes, tracking birthdays with iCal, and clipping and saving information from the Internet so you can find it again.

You'll also find simple projects that show you how to:

  • Organize your files and folders by color and keyword
  • Connect to the Internet, chat with your friends, and listen to online radio stations
  • Install and update your software—and get rid of programs you don’t want anymore
  • Set up and manage parental controls to limit your children’s computer and Internet access
  • Share songs, images, and documents with other computers wirelessly
  • Use your built-in firewall and keep your computer and information safe from intruders

Don't put off learning how to use your new computer. Let Wallace Wang show you the ropes with My New Mac.

About the Author

Wallace Wang is the author of several best-selling computer books including the Steal This Computer Book series, Steal This File Sharing Book, The Book of Nero, and Visual Basic 2005 Express: Now Playing (all No Starch Press). He is also a successful standup comic who has appeared on A&E's "Evening at the Improv" and appears regularly at the Riviera Comedy Club in Las Vegas.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART I: Basic Training
1. Turning Your Macintosh On and Off Manually or Automatically
2. Learning to Use the Mouse
3. Choosing Commands on the Menu Bar
4. Loading Programs and Files from the Dock
5. Customizing the Dock
6. Manipulating Windows
7. Navigating Through Folders with the Finder
8. Managing and Viewing Your Files and Folder
9. Conserving Energy While Using Your Macintosh

PART II: Making Life Easier with Shortcuts
10. Working Faster with Shortcut Commands
11. Learning to Drag and Drop
12. Controlling Your Macintosh with Hot Corners
13. Finding Files Fast
14. Organizing Files and Folders by Color and Weird Words
15. Putting Information at your Fingertips with Dashboard
16. Giving a Macintosh Multiple Personalities with User Accounts
17. Slapping Parental Controls on your Kids
18. Making Your Mac Easier to See, Hear, and Control

PART III: Putting your Macintosh to Work
19. Jotting Down Notes
20. Turning your Mac into an Electronic Reminder
21. Never Forget a Birthday Again
22. Playing Audio CDs and Audio Files on Your Macintosh
23. Ripping and Burning Audio CD
24. Playing Your Favorite Parts of a DVD
25. Storing Files on a CD or DVD
26. Transferring Images to Your Macintosh
27. Organizing Digital Photographs in iPhoto
28. Tagging and Sorting Digital Photographs in iPhoto
29. Editing Digital Photographs in iPhoto
30. Turning your Macintosh into an Electronic Picture Frame
31. Sharing Files Wirelessly with Bluetooth
32. Retrieving Files Back in Time
33. Typing Foreign Languages

PART IV: Touching the World Through the Internet
34. Getting on the Internet and Sharing Folders
35. Remembering Your Favorite Websites
36. Getting the Latest News Using RSS
37. Keeping Your Internet Activities Private
38. Saving Research Information from a Web Page
39. Creating an Electronic Clipping Service for Web Pages
40. Watching Video on any Website
41. Expanding Your Mind by Listening to Free College Lectures
42. Listening to News, Music, and Talk Shows over the Internet
43. Setting Up an Email Account
44. Reading and Writing Email
45. Making Email Look Pretty
46. Organizing your Email
47. Dealing with Junk Email
48. Instant Messaging with iChat

PART V: Maintaining your Macintosh
49. Learning About Your Macintosh
50. Installing, Updating, and Uninstalling Software on Your Macintosh
51. Ejecting Stuck CDs or DVDs
52. Password Projecting Your Macintosh
53. Encrypting your Data
54. Configuring the Firewall

The Next Step

Index

View the detailed Table of Contents (PDF)

View the Index (PDF)

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Reviews

"Highly recommended for newbies and switchers."
—MacWorld

"Wallace Wang has hit the nail on the head...some people just learn better and faster by doing projects rather than trying to stay awake doing tedious lessons."
—InfoWorld (Read More)

"If you're new to the Mac or a non-power-user who has never progressed past the basics of Mac operation, [My New Mac] should be right up your alley."
—Power Book Central (Read More)

"This is an excellent book for the novice to intermediate Mac user."
—MUGS (Mac User Group for Seniors) (Read More)

"The author knows of what he writes; the format works; the tech-to-person dialog is entertaining; and the book's intended purpose is fulfilled."
—Blogcritics (Read More)

"Although the work is geared toward a novice to intermediate audience, all Mac users can benefit from its content, regardless of their skillset."
—Main Line Macintosh Users Group (Read More)

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