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That's a little difficult. Because Windows and MacOS or iPhone with Android have different working systems. It takes a lot of time to adjust
 
Apple Menu - Force Quit does not work often, and I found myself hard resetting way more than I wanted to.
Adding a second monitor helps, for some reason I can get force quit up using the monitor that the unresponsive app is not active in, but this is certainly a place where I would miss Windows 10 and the ability to manage things under the hood more to avoid hard resets.

Control - ALT - Delete doesn't really work great on Windows either these days, not like it used to in the good old days.

tasklist -> taskkill /F /PID XXXX is the much more reliable way to go on Windows.

Similarly on a Mac, if Common - Option - Escape doesn't quite work for you:

ps -e -> kill -9 XXXX is the better way to go. Even if as you say your screen is unresponsive, there are other options such as ssh-ing in with your phone or another machine, for instance.

You can fine tune a great deal of things "under the hood" on a Mac, if you're willing to go down the rabbit hole.

For instance, don't like how photoanalysisd is temperamental and takes weeks when it comes to do Face Recognition on the 500,000 photos in your library?? People often complain about this.

Go do something crazy by disabling SIP and messing com.apple.photoanalysisd.plist to suit your needs.

This is a terrible example and definitely not something people should do*, but it is absolutely trivial to modify core services. Significantly easier than on Windows.

My point is, as with any tool, you need to figure the ins and outs of things.

*Tweaks could have consequences, as you can see from your tweaking of the NTFS drivers.
 
I don't understand how Mac users even function without a taskbar.
Quite easily.

You know how Windows allows you to switch apps by pressing ALT+TAB? On the Mac, that's the app switcher and you call it using CMD+TAB. Then with just holding down CMD you can keep hitting TAB (or arrow keys) to select the app you want to go to. You can even open files this way by dragging and holding the file, then hitting CMD+TAB and dropping the file on the app you want to open it with.

To open an app is super easy too. No dock needed, although Mac has a dock. Spotlight can be called, type in the first two or three letters of the app name and hit enter. Boom app opens. I use Spotlight and on my other Macs an app launcher called Quicksilver. Quicksilver is a bit more advanced in that it allows you to open files with apps that aren't open yet.

So, we do okay without a taskbar. ;)
 
Quite easily.

You know how Windows allows you to switch apps by pressing ALT+TAB? On the Mac, that's the app switcher and you call it using CMD+TAB. Then with just holding down CMD you can keep hitting TAB (or arrow keys) to select the app you want to go to. You can even open files this way by dragging and holding the file, then hitting CMD+TAB and dropping the file on the app you want to open it with.

To open an app is super easy too. No dock needed, although Mac has a dock. Spotlight can be called, type in the first two or three letters of the app name and hit enter. Boom app opens. I use Spotlight and on my other Macs an app launcher called Quicksilver. Quicksilver is a bit more advanced in that it allows you to open files with apps that aren't open yet.

So, we do okay without a taskbar. ;)
But why the extra step(s) instead of just incorporating a task bar at bottom? I find task bar to be more efficient. Like I said, Windows OS just clicks for me. Is Apple avoiding a taskbar because then the OS would look more like Windows? Hmm.

Speaking of task bars, Apple has now introduced something similar in the iPhone, a Safari tool bar one can use to easily swipe between pages. But I have this option turned off because I believe this might load the other pages in memory, utilizing more resources and more battery drain.

I want to address another point that OP had made. One about Mac alerting him that a certain program is recording his keystrokes. If one already downloaded and opened a program recording their keystrokes, then they are already highly susceptible for a virus infection, Mac or Windows. No amount of bubble wrapping can help mitigate the reckless activity of an OS user.
 
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But why the extra step(s) instead of just incorporating a task bar at bottom?
Huh?

When I sit at my Mac, I typically have my right hand on the mouse and my left thumb resting on top of the CMD key. How much of an extra step is it to press CMD+TAB, especially when I have two or three fingers resting on top of the TAB key?

Versus, taking all that time to have my mouse travel down or to the side for a taskbar? And then click. Oh, and if the icon for the open app I want is hidden, I have to click twice for the flyout and then the app.

I'm more of a keyboard shortcut person than I am a mouse person. Probably because I came to Apple from PC and learned PC during the DOS era when mice were afterthoughts.

I've seen people make their mice fly all over the screen to get to menus, taskbars and sidebars when all they need to do is press a couple of keys that are right there. But some people are more comfortable with a mouse I guess.

You find the taskbar to be more efficient. OK, that's what you prefer. I find the keyboard to be faster than mousing down or to the side. Now some of the apps I use have info bars at the bottom (QuarkXPress and InDesign) and guess what? I can use a keyboard command to get to those bottom bars much faster than moving the mouse down to the bar and then clicking. That's more efficient to me.
 
Huh?

When I sit at my Mac, I typically have my right hand on the mouse and my left thumb resting on top of the CMD key. How much of an extra step is it to press CMD+TAB, especially when I have two or three fingers resting on top of the TAB key?

Versus, taking all that time to have my mouse travel down or to the side for a taskbar? And then click. Oh, and if the icon for the open app I want is hidden, I have to click twice for the flyout and then the app.

I'm more of a keyboard shortcut person than I am a mouse person. Probably because I came to Apple from PC and learned PC during the DOS era when mice were afterthoughts.

I've seen people make their mice fly all over the screen to get to menus, taskbars and sidebars when all they need to do is press a couple of keys that are right there. But some people are more comfortable with a mouse I guess.

You find the taskbar to be more efficient. OK, that's what you prefer. I find the keyboard to be faster than mousing down or to the side. Now some of the apps I use have info bars at the bottom (QuarkXPress and InDesign) and guess what? I can use a keyboard command to get to those bottom bars much faster than moving the mouse down to the bar and then clicking. That's more efficient to me.
That is perfectly fine. Everyone has their own preferences, or preferences forced on them by their OS. I just tried the Alt + Tab, my god, that is such a hassle. To each their own.

Perhaps my most used keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + w to close a tab in the browser. Because it is faster than mouse if I want to close multiple tabs.
 
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Huh?

When I sit at my Mac, I typically have my right hand on the mouse and my left thumb resting on top of the CMD key. How much of an extra step is it to press CMD+TAB, especially when I have two or three fingers resting on top of the TAB key?

Versus, taking all that time to have my mouse travel down or to the side for a taskbar? And then click. Oh, and if the icon for the open app I want is hidden, I have to click twice for the flyout and then the app.

I'm more of a keyboard shortcut person than I am a mouse person. Probably because I came to Apple from PC and learned PC during the DOS era when mice were afterthoughts.

I've seen people make their mice fly all over the screen to get to menus, taskbars and sidebars when all they need to do is press a couple of keys that are right there. But some people are more comfortable with a mouse I guess.

You find the taskbar to be more efficient. OK, that's what you prefer. I find the keyboard to be faster than mousing down or to the side. Now some of the apps I use have info bars at the bottom (QuarkXPress and InDesign) and guess what? I can use a keyboard command to get to those bottom bars much faster than moving the mouse down to the bar and then clicking. That's more efficient to me.
That's literally where my hand positions are as well. I hate the taskbar with a passion.
 
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But why the extra step(s) instead of just incorporating a task bar at bottom? I find task bar to be more efficient. Like I said, Windows OS just clicks for me. Is Apple avoiding a taskbar because then the OS would look more like Windows? Hmm.

...Is there a particular function you find missing? The Dock is so easy to customize, I prefer it overall. I will concede the Dock is less useful in its default configuration compared to the taskbar.

I don't miss the taskbar, but I use Win less, so maybe it's me.
 
That is perfectly fine. Everyone has their own preferences, or preferences forced on them by their OS. I just tried the Alt + Tab, my god, that is such a hassle. To each their own.

Perhaps my most used keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + w to close a tab in the browser. Because it is faster than mouse if I want to close multiple tabs.
Easily, my most used shortcut is CMD+A. :)

In any app. :D
 
I made the full switch to MacBook + iPhone full time 1 year ago.

I made the switch to Macbook because it was very uniform on its performance and features. I had too many headaches shopping for a quality windows laptop (screen, speakers, battery life, etc.). And everything (for me) was an extremely nice experience. From controls, to iMessage, calls direct from the computer.

Yes the transition was very awkward at first, but since MacOS is... well... uniform, a simple google search and I have direct answers and "how to's" specific to my device (good luck with windows AMD? Intel? GPU? Dell? HP? Lenovo? etc...) if I ran into any problems, I was always comfortable that I had a high chance of finding the solution quite easily.

Switching to iPhone was better once they added widgets (personal preference) I check the weather widget a few times a day, everyday. I also loved how the APPs were extremely reliable. I do a lot of online buying/selling and some apps were delaying my messages and notifications on Android, whereas iPhone they were immediate with no problems, ever. (last android was a Galaxy S10 in 2020)

My workflows aren't in the creative paths, so I cannot comment on those. for what I NEED them to do, they are extremely reliable.
 
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Switching to iPhone was better once they added widgets (personal preference)…
I always find this interesting. Apple actually added widgets in iOS 6. It's just that they removed them with iOS 7 and they did not return until iOS 13 or 14 (IIRC). So, widgets aren't a new thing, it's just people are using them now. Maybe they weren't in iOS 6 (but I was).

I had a jailbroken iPhone 5 on iOS 6.0.1 and Dashboard X (a JB tweak) allowed me to have widgets on the home screen. With another tweak that allowed me to have animated weather on the home screen, checking the weather was pretty easy.
 
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I always find this interesting. Apple actually added widgets in iOS 6. It's just that they removed them with iOS 7 and they did not return until iOS 13 or 14 (IIRC). So, widgets aren't a new thing, it's just people are using them now. Maybe they weren't in iOS 6 (but I was).

I had a jailbroken iPhone 5 on iOS 6.0.1 and Dashboard X (a JB tweak) allowed me to have widgets on the home screen. With another tweak that allowed me to have animated weather on the home screen, checking the weather was pretty easy.
I had an iPhone 6 in spring 2015 and I was trying to give it a "fair shot" $680

I was coming from a Nexus 5 (bigger screen and more storage) $350

I couldn't get past the smaller screen and the high price for little storage (16gb base model) I was already a lifelong iPod classic user and had a huge (AppleLossless) music library and I had to make compromises with that device. The smaller screen and no widgets really hurt me at that point. My android devices at the time were more "usable" for me. But iOS has come a long way (as well as high storage for lower cost) that I am very impressed and happy with iPhones in general.

I decided to cut my losses with the iPhone 6 and stick with my nexus 5 at that time.

Ever since 2018 for some reason, android just became unreliable for me (tried Moto Z, Galaxy S/note) . So I decided to give iPhone another shot in 2019 and it was better in the important things I needed. and I stuck with iPhone ever since.

With my Win10 PC and android experiences, I don't think I'll leave the Apple "ecosystem" anytime soon.
 
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yes, probably on their Dell XPS 9380 or other PC since last decade.
Funny you say that. When I had an office job they used Dell and I tried using the Dell Connect App on my iphone. It never worked right. The Android phone did work with windows better, but the dell iphone app was a mess.
 
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Control - ALT - Delete doesn't really work great on Windows either these days, not like it used to in the good old days.

tasklist -> taskkill /F /PID XXXX is the much more reliable way to go on Windows.

Similarly on a Mac, if Common - Option - Escape doesn't quite work for you:

ps -e -> kill -9 XXXX is the better way to go. Even if as you say your screen is unresponsive, there are other options such as ssh-ing in with your phone or another machine, for instance.

You can fine tune a great deal of things "under the hood" on a Mac, if you're willing to go down the rabbit hole.

For instance, don't like how photoanalysisd is temperamental and takes weeks when it comes to do Face Recognition on the 500,000 photos in your library?? People often complain about this.

Go do something crazy by disabling SIP and messing com.apple.photoanalysisd.plist to suit your needs.

This is a terrible example and definitely not something people should do*, but it is absolutely trivial to modify core services. Significantly easier than on Windows.

My point is, as with any tool, you need to figure the ins and outs of things.

*Tweaks could have consequences, as you can see from your tweaking of the NTFS drivers.
Serious question, I know activity monitor and the terminal can do those things... However when all I got is a beach ball and I cannot even run those two programs, what do you do then?
 
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All this. Plus the Dock (if you use it) serves the dual purpose of being an app launcher and also showing you what’s currently running. I haven’t missed a taskbar ever.
I have learned to live with my dock completely hidden until I mouseover it. I also never relied much on the windows taskbar. I can command or control key my way around the OS, but I can see how someone that was not a more "power user" type would have issues navigating without a visual accounting of where things are, which is why I think many get lost going from Windows to Mac.
 
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There could be a bug in macOS 12 Monterey. There is a new update for 12.1 I believe.
Sometime in between yesterday and today I opened my macbook pro back up and it now has 12.1 available for me too, you are correct sir.
 
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Not sure at the moment. Whatever is the most recent, non beta channel public build. I tend to like to keep things up to date. If I actually ever call apple, they tend to not help you unless iOS or MacOS is on the latest build.

Just checked. 12.0.1
Do you log on to a VPN? It seems that when logging on to a VPN, you can't use the iMac to answer -- or make -- calls, even if the alert comes up on it. Disconnect from VPN, and it works as it should. (Don't know about the intricacies of the "why"). Hopefully it's as simple as that for you!
 
Do you log on to a VPN? It seems that when logging on to a VPN, you can't use the iMac to answer -- or make -- calls, even if the alert comes up on it. Disconnect from VPN, and it works as it should. (Don't know about the intricacies of the "why"). Hopefully it's as simple as that for you!
My VPN doesn't interfere with this feature. That sounds annoying. What VPN are you using?
 
Yes the transition was very awkward at first, but since MacOS is... well... uniform, a simple google search and I have direct answers and "how to's" specific to my device (good luck with windows AMD? Intel? GPU? Dell? HP? Lenovo? etc...) if I ran into any problems, I was always comfortable that I had a high chance of finding the solution quite easily.
I hear you!
internet search on anything windows is a nightmare, the first step is "right click screen, go to system control" when there is not a system control or the term they want you to search.
Dell has no online clue to solve anything,
but apple wants you to upgrade to the latest software and then put red arrows on their software after upgrading that download?
these computer companies praise failure and misery i guess
 
But why the extra step(s) instead of just incorporating a task bar at bottom? I find task bar to be more efficient. Like I said, Windows OS just clicks for me. Is Apple avoiding a taskbar because then the OS would look more like Windows? Hmm.
The macOS Dock has similar function to the left side of the Taskbar (minus the Start menu). The right side of the macOS menu bar is akin to the right side of the Taskbar. You can see the today’s date, current time, notifications, and app icons for background apps/processes that allow quick access — on macOS these app icons are Menu Items (a.k.a. menulings)
 
I am not HATING on windows, but I have Xbox Game Pass installed and it just randomly redirects me to something called Microsoft Game Services on the Windows Store when I try and launch a game.

This has been a problem for years, but it only came to light when MS released the last Halo game and suddenly 100k people had the same experience.

No way to fix it that does not involve powershell commands, registry keys.

Not to mention that the app creates an ISO of the game, but does not MOUNT the ISO.

Get this... The installer literally just downloads an xbox game ISO. When the game is set to "install" it must be wrapping it in some sort of translation program, but windows disk management does not mount this properly.

The only way to get the games to even install is to go into computer management and "online" the disk it downloaded.

You can then have it automatically install, and then the above problem manifests most of the time.

This is a $15 a month service they sell.
Foremost, Apple has mistakenly IMO axed/backtracked on some UX/UI features (e.g., Dashboard and the original Notifications/Today view for macOS). On the other side, Microsoft deserves some applause for the Office apps. Beyond Office, their UI/UX designs are dreadfully fragmented and otherwise clumsy/confusing/frustration ?‍♂️? including Xbox OS. With that said, I also subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate, and throughout the past month or so, I have been occasionally utilizing my new(-ish) gaming PC as it trounces my first generation Xbox One in performance. Little did I know, Xbox Game Bar tops them all in user unfriendliness. As with other MS UIs, on the surface, the concept seems (mostly) straightforward. However, during actual use finding and adjusting settings is apparently futile — I still have not been able to properly balance game and chat volumes without party member hearing an echo. And it took me hours to figure out how to close/quit games that do not have an exit option as part of the in-game menu.
 
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