Got my Mac Mini now I have some questions

[PR.]

Hi all,

I received my Mac Mini a couple of days ago and have been getting to grips with all the differences compared to XP. I reinstalled on to an external drive to give me extra speed and had no problems and after several hours of swapping Username/Password/Server combinations I managed to get Entourage to sync my exchange email. I am still having trouble with a couple of things:

1. Remote Control - I had this work very well on my old XP machine and remote desktop but having switched to OSXvnc I have found it painfully slow in comparison, does anybody have any alternatives?
2. IRC - I use IRC all the time and it was running fine until I logged off IRC on my old Windows PC then I got kicked off and get the error "You are infected with a trojan please clean your PC" apparently this is down to not having IDENTD running (previously I assume the Windows PC was IDENTDing for them both), I have downloaded a tool from MacMax but it has not solved the problem
3. iTunes - When I ran it for the first time it started copying all my music from the Music folder into its own folder, is there any point in that? What benefits does it offer?
4. Lock Workstation - I will be leaving my Mac Mini on 24/7 and would like to lock the machine when I am way from my desk, I can't find an option for this. Help says about switching on "Ask for password after restart or sleep" but I want to manually use it.
5. Spotlight - I read somewhere that you can get it to Index network drives, how can I do this?
6. DMG Files - I have had a couple of these that won't eject after use saying that a program is using it, is there anyway to force an eject without restarting
7. Startup Sound - Anyway to stop the "tada" sound when I restart the Mac Mini? Twice now it has scared the life out of me when I am sitting quietly then "TADA!"
8. Safari - Anyway to make it use just one window and use tabs for new windows?
9. Finder - Anyway to make Finder display files after the folders like in Windows rather than the two being mixed up with each other?
10. Menus - This is rather insignificant but is there a way to stop menus closing when you click on an item with a sub menu (e.g. In Safari click Services > and the menu closes) I am always doing this in XP so I am constantly doing it in OSX

Thanks for any help you can offer

 

[pulsewidth947]

1. What are you looking to control? Your PC? You can use the Remote Desktop client for Mac. I used to use OSXVnc and found it to be pretty good, but now I use Apple Remote Desktop as I love the fact I can wake network Macs up from Sleeping with it.. rock on.

2. Do you want an IRC client for mac, or are you looking for a solution to your PC problem? Conversation is an awesome Mac IRC client. For your PC, scan with a couple of antivirus scanners and hope for the best.

3. The only benefit I can see is that all your music is all in the same place

4. Yeah I'd set password for wake from sleep. That way you save money from electricity by sleeping your Mac. Failing that create a dummy account and use quick user switching to switch to it, then in order to switch back to your real account it'll ask for your password.

5. Dont know about this. Google does tho

6. Make sure you copy your program from the DMG, or it wont let you delete/unmount. Also everytime you load that program it'll mount the DMG.. nightmare.

7. You can mute the sound in OSX and the sound wont scare you. Or I think you can hold shift or something while restarting to stop the sound.

8. Yep Safari can use tabs. Go on Safari > Preferences (apple+,) tabs> enabled tabbed support.

9. Not really as far as I know. This annoyed me when I switched. In fact it still annoys me . Only option is to go into the folders view options (apple+j i think) and setting sort by type.

10. Wow I never noticed that! Sorry cant help with it though :S

 

[louis_sx]

Also, there's a preference in iTunes to tell it not to copy everything. iTunes for Windows does the same thing, and I find it kinda irritating.

 

[dr_lha]

1. What are you looking to control? Your PC? You can use the
4. Yeah I'd set password for wake from sleep. That way you save money from electricity by sleeping your Mac. Failing that create a dummy account and use quick user switching to switch to it, then in order to switch back to your real account it'll ask for your password.

Or even simpler: Just move the cursor into the bottom right hand corner to activate the screensaver when you leave the machine. If you set "Require password to wake this computer from sleep of screensaver" in security you'll need to type your password to unlock the screen.

 

[fayans]

[*]Finder - Anyway to make Finder display files after the folders like in Windows rather than the two being mixed up with each other?

In Finder, ⌘+J and check Show icon preview.

 

[PR.]

Thanks all for the help so far.

1. I want to control my Mac remotely, I have found using VNC to be very slow compared to Remote Desktop on Windows, is this Apple Remote Desktop any faster?
2. Just tried Conversation IRC client and get same problem it can't find my IDENTD and kicks me off
3. Thanks I'll leave it as is
4. Thanks dr_lha, that works great
5. Thanks pulsewidth947, I'll give it a try later
6. I'll keep a closer eye on this
7. I'll try the shift key
8. I would prefer if Safari kept all its tabs in one window as it if I click on a link it opens in a new window
9. Thanks fayans, I tried what you suggested and it didn't seem to make any difference?
10. Just wanted to get this one of my chest I guess

Thanks again

 

[mduser63]

Thanks all for the help so far.

1. I want to control my Mac remotely, I have found using VNC to be very slow compared to Remote Desktop on Windows, is this Apple Remote Desktop any faster?
2. Just tried Conversation IRC client and get same problem it can't find my IDENTD and kicks me off
3. Thanks I'll leave it as is
4. Thanks dr_lha, that works great
5. Thanks pulsewidth947, I'll give it a try later
6. I'll keep a closer eye on this
7. I'll try the shift key
8. I would prefer if Safari kept all its tabs in one window as it if I click on a link it opens in a new window
9. Thanks fayans, I tried what you suggested and it didn't seem to make any difference?
10. Just wanted to get this one of my chest I guess

Thanks again

This is kind of a long list of requests for one thread, but I'm going to try to get through them all. I will tell you that there are ways to do just about everything you asked about, so if something I say doesn't make sense, google around some more.

1. Don't know the answer to this. VNC is probably the only choice, but there are other VNC apps out there (including builtin support as a server).

2. I use x-chat aqua. Works just fine for me. Of course, that might not solve your problem, which I suspect may have something to do with your PC.

3. Already answered

4. Applications->Utilities->Keychain Access. Go to preferences, and in the general tab, check "show status in menu bar." You'll see a little lock icon appear in your menu bar. Click that and you'll see various security options, including one to lock the screen.

5. Don't know.

6. Make sure you're not running the program from the DMG. You need to copy it to your Applications folder first. I suspect the problem is you're downloading apps and then instead of copying them to your hard drive, you're just running them straight from the disk image.

7. If the sound is off before you shutdown, it'll be off during bootup. I think you can hold a key down too (maybe the mute button?) during startup to mute the startup chime.

8. Safari->Preferences->General tab, then check "Open links from other applications: in a new tab in the current window" If you're talking about links from one page to another that are coded to open in a new window, 99% of the time command-clicking the link will force it to open in a new tab (middle clicking on a default configured three-button mouse does the same thing).

9. Not that I know of.

10. No, I guess you'll just have to get used to the way OS X works. Don't click on the submenu, just hover over it so it opens.

 

[PCheese]

1. Not sure. I used to use Timbuktu in OS 9, now I use VNC. (OSXVnc for the server, Chicken of the VNC for the client)
2. Download ircle. It should have instructions on enabling ident in Mac OS X.
3. I've always done had this enabled so I like the way this works, but you can disable it in advanced preferences (uncheck keep iTunes music folder organized and copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library)
4. (answered)
5. (answered)
6. Quit applications that are on or using files on the disk image.
7. There are multiple solutions to mute the startup sound
8. Command-clicking regular links opens them in the same window
9. You can't (maybe a 3rd party program?). The closest to this is to use list view (command-2) and sort by Kind.
10. Nope

 

[PR.]

Thanks all for your answers.

1. Guess I will just have to put up with VNC
2. I don't know what is going on with IRC I tried it again before my 2nd post in this thread and it didn't work, 10mins later I tried it again and it was fine, I can only presume that because I had tried multiple times without identd I had been temp banned
3. I will leave this off then, thanks
4. Thanks both methods suggested work although the padlock appears to leave the screen visible behind the username/password box
5. I'll leave this for the time being
6. I'll keep an eye on this although I have had problems telling the difference between apps that install and apps that run from where they are
7. I'll try the hints to prevent the start-up sound
8. Thanks for the help on Safari, I will give it a go, I may also try FireFox as I was using that before I switched to Mac
9. I guess I will just get used to this, or not as I will still be using XP and OS X every day
10. I suppose I will have to train myself to not do this in XP anymore

Could I add one more question however Is there a keyboard layout diagram available? Because I have my MS Wireless Desktop keyboard and mouse and am having trouble seeing what keys are which and it seems that Home/End keys seem to differ in functions between every app!

Thanks again for your help

 

[GroundLoop]

4. I just enable Fast User Switching. This will put your name (or username) in the OSX Menubar. When you want to lock your screen, just click your name and select "Login Screen".
7. If your Mini is going to be on 24/7, then ou won't be hearing the "TaDa" sound that often. I wouldn't worry about it.

Hickman

 

[ebow]

Thanks both methods suggested work although the padlock appears to leave the screen visible behind the username/password box

I personally don't use the Keychain lock, but I tried it out just now on my Mac mini at work and when I chose the first item in the menubar padlock--Lock Screen--it turned on my screensaver and asked for a passwork before I could use the computer again.

I'll keep an eye on this although I have had problems telling the difference between apps that install and apps that run from where they are

A good rule of thumb is to pretty much never run applications from their disk images. For some it will work just fine, but other apps warn against it in their Readme's. When you download something and mount the disk image, look for an Installer or Setup program. Most programs don't have them, but if one does, run the installer from the image. Otherwise, just drag the program the Applications folder, or perhaps the desktop if you want it in a temporary location.

A bit more detail on this:
Often apps consist of just one file plus some documentation. I've found that the documentation is freqently redundant with About or Help info found within the app, so in those cases I just drag the app to the Applications folder. In cases where there are several files you want to copy over, it's best to make a folder within Applications to hold them all together. Here's a clever trick for that: when you're viewing the disk image contents, the window's title bar has a small "proxy" icon representing the disk, right next to the disk's name. Drag that icon, and mid-drag hold down the Option key, and release the icon where you want to copy it. In this case the Option key turns the drag into a Copy action. (eep, I hope I explained that clearly enough )

I'll try the hints to prevent the start-up sound

You can also search Mac OSX Hints (a great resource in general) for either "startup sound" or "startup chime" to find a few methods of silencing this sound.

Could I add one more question however Is there a keyboard layout diagram available? Because I have my MS Wireless Desktop keyboard and mouse and am having trouble seeing what keys are which and it seems that Home/End keys seem to differ in functions between every app!

Yes, but it's not nearly as easy as it used to be. In the System Preferences, go to International (in the Personal section). Go to the Input Menu tab, check the box for Keyboard Viewer (3rd from top) and then check the box for Show input menu in menu bar (bottom of the window). Then click the new flag icon in the menu bar and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. It used to be a separate app, but I guess it's now only available this way. Or, someone using OS X 10.3 (Panther) could send the standalone app to you (unless that's illegal somehow). I saved it on my Mac at home which I don't have access to now.

Edit: I just noticed this hint over at Mac OSX Hints that provides an alternative, though you may want to hold off until you know more about using AppleScripts.

The Home/End keys thing is one matter that the Keyboard Viewer won't help you with, however. Do a search in these forums for something like "home end keys" without the quotes and you'll see numerous queries and explanations.

 

[PR.]

Thanks for your help everyone.

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