OS X Mountain Lion Tips and Tricks

Jason R. Rich (www.JasonRich.com) is the bestselling author of more than 54 books, as well as a frequent contributor to a handful of major daily newspapers, national magazines, and popular websites. He is also an accomplished photographer and an avid Apple iMac, MacBook Air, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV user. Some of his other recently published books include: Your iPad At Work: 2nd Edition (Que), iPad and iPhone Tips and Tricks (Que), Your iPad At Work: 3rd Edition (coming soon from Que), How To Do Everything MacBook Air (McGraw-Hill), How To Do Everything Digital Photography (McGraw-Hill), and How To Do Everything Kindle Fire (McGraw-Hill). You can read more than 90 free feature-length "how to" articles by Jason R. Rich that cover the Apple iPhone and iPad at the Que Publishing website. Visit www. iOSArticles.com and click on the 'Articles' tab. Also, please follow Jason R. Rich on Twitter (@JasonRich7).

INTRODUCTION

1 UPGRADING TO MOUNTAIN LION ......... 5

WHAT'S NEW IN MOUNTAIN LION ......... 7

UPGRADE PREREQUISITES .. ......... 12

CONFIRMING UPGRADE COMPATIBILITY ......... 14

PURCHASING, DOWNLOADING, AND INSTALLING ......... 15

CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET ..........16

USING A MAGIC MOUSE OR MULTI-TOUCH TRACKPAD ......... 18

PAIRING DEVICES VIA BLUETOOTH ...............18

CONFIGURING A MAGIC MOUSE . ......... 20

CONFIGURING A MULTI-TOUCH TRACKPAD .................20

2 NAVIGATING MOUNTAIN LION .......23

EXPLORING THE DESKTOP .. ......... 24

WORKING WITH THE MENU BAR .. ......... 24

THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE MENU BAR .............30

ACCESSING THE NOTIFICATION CENTER . ......... 32

LAUNCHING APPS .........34

SWITCHING BETWEEN RUNNING APPS .............37

CUSTOMIZING THE DOCK ... ......... 38

THE FINDER ICON . ......... 41

THE TRASH ICON ... ......... 42

USING FINDER .. ......... 43

THE MAIN FINDER WINDOW ...........44

WORKING WITH FILES/FOLDERS WITHIN FINDER ....52

USING THE SHARE ICON ......... 53

CUSTOMIZING YOUR DESKTOP AND SCREEN SAVER ....55

CHANGING THE DESKTOP WALLPAPER ....55

CUSTOMIZING THE SCREEN SAVER ...............57

CUSTOMIZING MORE VIA SYSTEM PREFERENCES ............59

3 OPTIMIZING PREINSTALLED APPS .................61

BENEFITS OF PREINSTALLED APPS .....65

USING THE CALCULATOR APP.................66

USING THE CALENDAR APP .......................69

CUSTOMIZING THE CALENDAR APP ............70

WORKING WITH THE CALENDAR SIDEBAR .....................71

ENTERING EVENTS INTO THE CALENDAR APP ............73

QUICKLY ADDING NEW EVENTS TO THE CALENDAR APP......... 75

SYNCING CALENDAR WITH ICLOUD (AND OTHER MACS AND IDEVICES). ......... 76

CUSTOMIZING HOW NOTIFICATION CENTER WORKS WITH THE CALENDAR APP ......... 77

TIPS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THE CALENDAR APP ........78

USING THE CONTACTS APP .......................81

SYNCING CONTACTS DATA WITH ICLOUD (AND OTHER CONTACT MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS) ...............82

GROUPING YOUR CONTACTS ..........82

SHARING CONTACTS DATA WITH OTHERS ......................84

LEVERAGING FIELD LABELS WHEN CREATING NEW ENTRIES ....85

INTERACTIVE FIELDS IN CONTACT ENTRIES ..................86

CREATING A CONTACTS ENTRY FOR YOURSELF ........87

CONTACTS IS NOW FACEBOOK COMPATIBLE ..............87

ENHANCING FACETIME VIDEO CONFERENCES ...................88

USING THE PHOTO BOOTH APP ............90

GETTING QUICK VIEWS VIA THE PREVIEW APP ...................92

VIEWING IMAGES, DOCUMENTS, AND PDF FILES ....96

PREVIEW DIFFERS FROM QUICK LOOK ......96

DISCOVERING OTHER PREINSTALLED APPS ..97

4 USING NOTIFICATION CENTER .......99

MANAGING ALL APP-SPECIFIC NOTIFICATIONS ............102

GETTING STARTED.....106

USING THE NOTIFICATION CENTER PANEL ..................108

CUSTOMIZING THE NOTIFICATION CENTER PANEL ............111

AVOIDING EXCESSIVE ALERTS, ALARMS, AND NOTIFICATIONS.....115

5 COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY WITH MESSAGES ........119

INSTANT MESSAGING VERSUS TEXT MESSAGING .........120

COMBINING MESSAGING CAPABILITIES .........121

GETTING STARTED.....122

CONFIGURING TO WORK WITH BONJOUR ..................123

CONFIGURING TO WORK WITH IMESSAGE ..................124

CONFIGURING TO WORK WITH OTHER IM SERVICES .........125

COMMUNICATING WITH MESSAGES .................127

EXPLOITING THE MESSAGES MENU BAR ......130

OTHER TEXT MESSAGING, VIDEO, AND VOICE CHAT OPTIONS ......134

SENDING TEXT MESSAGES FROM A MAC TO A MOBILE PHONE ...135

6 MAKING THE MOST OF REMINDERS AND NOTES ............137

ADVANTAGES OF REMINDERS .............138

ADVANTAGES OF NOTES ... ......... 138

OPTIMIZING YOUR USE OF REMINDERS .......140

OPTIMIZING YOUR USE OF NOTES .. ......... 149

SYNCING WITH ICLOUD......154

7 IMPROVED WEB SURFING AND EMAIL MANAGEMENT ...157

STREAMLINING SAFARI ......... 158

TABBED BROWSING ......... 159

SMARTER SEARCH FIELD ..................161

SHARING ....162

READING WEBSITE CONTENT OFFLINE .. ......... 162

USING THE READER FEATURE ......165

AVOIDING REPETITIVE DATA ENTRY WITH AUTOFILL ......165

PREVENTING WEBSITE TRACKING ..............166

CUSTOMIZING YOUR TOOLBAR . ......... 167

MANAGING EMAIL USING THE MAIL APP .....170

CONFERRING VIP STATUS ................172

FLAGGING INDIVIDUAL EMAILS TO SIGNIFY IMPORTANCE ......174

WORKING SEAMLESSLY WITH NOTIFICATION CENTER ....174

CUSTOM SIGNING YOUR OUTGOING EMAILS ..........176

SEARCHING YOUR INBOX AND ALL MAIL FOLDERS .........177

DICTATING YOUR OUTGOING EMAILS.....178

MANAGING YOUR EMAILS BETTER.............179

WORKING WITH ICLOUD ..................180

SENDING LARGE FILES VIA EMAIL ....181

8 GETTING THE MOST FROM ITUNES AND GAME CENTER .....183

EXPLORING ITUNES .. ......... 184

MANAGING YOUR DIGITAL MUSIC LIBRARY ...............187

CREATING PLAYLISTS ... ......... 189

WATCHING MOVIES, TV SHOWS, AND MUSIC VIDEOS .....192

ACCESSING ITUNES COMMANDS AND FEATURES .. ......... 194

BUILT-IN GENIUS ......... 196

MANAGING EBOOKS, AUDIOBOOKS, IDEVICE APPS, AND RINGTONES......196

PURCHASING CONTENT FROM THE ITUNES STORE............197

THE ITUNES MATCH SERVICE .......199

CUSTOMIZING ITUNES .......................199

SYNCING AND BACKING UP IDEVICE CONTENT .....200

MAKING THE MOST OF GAME CENTER ...........201

OTHER GAMING OPTIONS .......................204

9 INSTALLING NEW SOFTWARE ......205

SHOPPING THE APP STORE .....................207

ADVANTAGES OF APP STORE APPS ...........208

USING THE APP STORE APP ...........210

FINDING APPS IN THE APP STORE ..............210

LEARNING ABOUT APPS FROM LISTINGS .....................213

LEARNING MORE ABOUT APPS .. ......... 214

OBTAINING APPS VIA OTHER MEANS ...............216

OPEN SOURCE VERSUS PAID APPS .............217

INSTALLING SOFTWARE FROM OTHER SOURCES . ......... 217

INSTALLING SOFTWARE FROM A CD/DVD (ON MACBOOK AIR) ...218

KEEPING APPS CURRENT...219

DISCOVERING NEW SOFTWARE .........220

SETTING UP PARENTAL CONTROLS ON YOUR MAC.....221

SETTING UP PARENTAL CONTROLS ...........222

SETTING UP ITUNES PARENTAL CONTROLS ...............223

USING GATEKEEPER TO PROTECT AGAINST MALWARE ..224

10 GET BETTER RESULTS FASTER USING IPHOTO .....227

ILIFE PRIMER ....228

GETTING STARTED WITH IPHOTO '11 ................229

ORGANIZING YOUR PHOTOS ................230

SORTING YOUR PHOTOS INTO EVENTS/ALBUMS ..230

SORTING IMAGES WITH THE FACES FEATURE ...........232

SORTING IMAGES WITH THE PLACES FEATURE .......234

FLAGGING YOUR FAVORITE IMAGES .........235

GIVING YOUR PHOTOS THE STAR TREATMENT ........235

ASSOCIATING KEYWORDS WITH EACH IMAGE ........237

RENAMING EVENTS, ALBUMS, AND IMAGES .............238

DELETING PHOTOS FROM IPHOTO ............239

USING IPHOTO'S SIDEBAR OPTIONS .................241

EDITING PHOTOS WITHIN IPHOTO .. ......... 243

CREATING PHOTO PROJECTS USING IPHOTO ....................246

SHARING PHOTOS FROM IPHOTO ...247

USING THE ICLOUD PHOTO STREAM FEATURE ................250

CREATING PRINTS FROM YOUR DIGITAL IMAGES ..........253

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PHOTO PAPER ............254

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS FOR CREATING PRINTS ......256

CREATING A PHOTO BOOK ......................258

BACKING UP YOUR PHOTOS ..................260

11 NAVIGATING AROUND ICLOUD .261

DISCOVERING ICLOUD'S MANY USES ...............262

SETTING UP YOUR FREE ICLOUD ACCOUNT .......................266

PURCHASING ADDITIONAL STORAGE SPACE ....................269

CONFIGURING ICLOUD TO WORK ON YOUR MAC .........271

KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR MACS AND IDEVICES ............272

12 BACKING UP YOUR MAC .....................275

YOUR MAIN BACKUP OPTIONS ...........277

PLANNING A BACKUP STRATEGY ....277

BACKING UP VIA TIME MACHINE .......278

CHOOSING AN ADEQUATE EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE .........279

TIME MACHINE AND TIME CAPSULE .......282

SETTING UP TIME MACHINE ........283

RESTORING FROM A TIME MACHINE BACKUP .........285

BACKING UP VIA ICLOUD ......... 288

BACKING UP ONLINE .....289

BACKING UP VIA THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE ......... 290

BACKING UP MANUALLY ...291

13 SYNCING INFORMATION WITH OTHER MACS AND IDEVICES ................293

EXPLOITING MOUNTAIN LION'S SHARING FEATURES .. ......... 294

EXCHANGING DOCUMENTS AND FILES WIRELESSLY VIA AIRDROP ..................303

USING THIRD-PARTY CLOUD-BASED FILE SHARING ... ......... 306

CONNECTING YOUR MAC TO AN FTP SITE ... ......... 307

SHARING INFORMATION USING YOUSENDIT.COM .308

SYNCING DATA BETWEEN MACS AND PCS USING A USB CABLE . ......... 309

SHARING DOCUMENT FILES BETWEEN COMPUTERS ......... 309

14 OPTIMIZING AIRPLAY ..... ......... 313

DISCOVERING APPLE TV .... ......... 314

ENHANCING APPLE TV AUDIO WITH AIRPLAY-COMPATIBLE SPEAKERS .......317

SETTING UP AIRPLAY TO WORK WITH YOUR MAC ........317

PLAYING ITUNES CONTENT VIA AIRPLAY ......320

PRESENTING PRESENTATIONS VIA AIRPLAY ......... 322

AIRPLAY VERSUS HOME SHARING ... ......... 323

15 USING PERIPHERALS AND ACCESSORIES ..................325

REVIEWING YOUR MAC'S PORTS AND PERIPHERAL CONNECTION METHODS ..326

AIRPLAY .......327

BLUETOOTH ............327

ETHERNET PORT .330

FIREWIRE PORT ....331

HEADPHONE JACK (AUDIO OUT) .................331

IR RECEIVER 332

MICROPHONE JACK (AUDIO IN) 332

THUNDERBOLT PORT ...333

USB PORTS ..334

WI-FI ...............336

CONNECTING PERIPHERALS ..................337

CONNECTING PRINTERS/SCANNERS ........338

CHOOSING A PRINTER FOR YOUR MAC . ......... 339

CONSIDERING A MULTIFUNCTIONAL/ALL-IN-ONE OPTION ....342

16 TRANSITIONING EASILY FROM A WINDOWS PC TO A MAC ......................343

TRANSFERRING YOUR PC FILES TO A MAC WITH MIGRATION ASSISTANT . ......... 344

MICROSOFT WINDOWS VERSUS MOUNTAIN LION .......347

YOUR MAC'S MOUSE OR TRACKPAD HAS NO BUTTONS ......347

DIFFERENT ICONS USED TO CLOSE, MINIMIZE, OR MAXIMIZE WINDOWS ........349

OTHER DIFFERENCES ...352

RUNNING MICROSOFT WINDOWS AND PC SOFTWARE ON YOUR MAC .......358

USING BOOT CAMP ......... 359

USING PARALLELS....359

9780789749918, TOC, 8/21/2012