New to Mac, Need direction on how to Learn OSX

I am a lifelong pc user, purchased a new iMac 24 a few weeks ago, opened it up Sunday for the first time, and it looked great. Problem is, as easy as the commercials and everyone says Mac's are, coming from a PC has proven to humble me. I am clueless. (Please be nice). I purchased this computer for my photography hobby, and at the suggestion of my sister, this was the one for me to get. The problem is, I have having all sorts of problems. I can turn it on, I can brows the internet, but outside of that, I simply do not know how to use this computer. More specifically, things that I took for granted with a PC, such as right clicking and minimized applications, are different here.
SO... here is the question. Where can I go to have a resource to learn more about this OS and how it works? Please understand I have spent all day Monday scouring the Apple site for user groups to help me, (when I should have been working) but they all seem to be based on people have some understanding of a Mac. So far I am dissapointed with the purchase, but I do not want to be, so I am hoping someone has a good resource to use so I know why when I click ichat, nothing happens, and what the difference between a .mac address is and mobile me, and why why I try to use ichat using my .mac address it says my password is invalid, but I can log into this usergroup, or iTunes and have no problem. Thank you for your help.

take a look at the [this post|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7601013#7601013]. It lists a number of sources for mac newcomers. if you have specific questions about various things you can post them on this forums.
Mobile me is simply a rebranded version of .mac which is now gone.

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LibreOffice is free to use, by tens of millions in fact, didn't need to buy Office unless she is at a job that demands sharing of complicated files.
If you want save money I would take it back, Office justs come out with another and another remake which one has to keep paying over and over again.
Office type software has been donation supported for a long time now.
And it's dead easy to install, just click the link and install the package. Does everything Office does, even reads and writes to Office format.
http://www.libreoffice.org/

OK HERE IS WHERE I AM AT HARD DRIVE WENT DOWN UPGRADED TO A 250 GIG AND NOW NEED TO KNOW HOW TO INSTALL OSX ON THE POWERBOOK G4 17

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Do you have any OSX disks?
It won't boot from the new hard drive yet because there is no OS installed.
You need to use an OSX disk, put in your mac, then when turn on, hold down the C key (to boot from the CD).
Hold it down for a long time until you hear it noisily reading from the CD drive. Once OSX starts up (from CD) you should go to Disk utility and you will need to format your new hard drive.
Once formatted, you can then install OSX.
Everything is done from the OSX install disk.
If you don't have one, you can buy a retail copy from Apple (not Snow Leopard), or from Ebay. Make sure it is a retail copy, not disks that came with a Mac as they only work with the exact model of Mac it came with.

Hey new to Macs need help getting one(s) running again...

Hey all,
So I acquired some old Macs from a local schools surplus sale. I have managed to get one operational (a G3 tower) but am now trying to get a MacBook running and have had a few issues. I have gotten it to the flashing folder screen but have been unable to get it to boot from the HDD. The HDD drive works I have installed OSX 10.3 on the drive via firewire but it seems that the Mac wont recognize that the drive is there. When I get into the Startup Manager screen nothing shows up except the mouse (which I can move around). The MacBook is an a1181 with 1GB of Ram installed. Being new to Macs I have no clue on how to continue. I know Macs do not have a BIOS but is there something similar that can be accessed? What about Firmware updating? I would prefer not to have to take it (and others) to the local Apple store. Any and all help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

I have the same MacBook (a1181) and had the same problem. My solution was to simply re-install snow leopard. Just buy a snow leopard CD from the apple store. Don't buy a mountian lion CD because it is not compatible with your MacBook. One you have the SL CD, insert it into the optical drive (CD drive) and boot the computer. When you hear the chime, press and hold down "C" on the keyboard and it should boot. If this fails, reboot and brews and hold option/alt when you hearths chime, then select the CD as it appears. Then simply install snow leopard, and enjoy your Mac! Hope this helps, and I will be happy to help with any problems or questions :)

Need directions on how to open MUVO

I have this really anoying headphones jack problem on my Muvo TX.
the player's still under waranty but I li've far from the place where I bought it so there's no way for me to send it back.
anyway, what i need from you guys is directions on how to open the muvo tx so I can fix this bad piece of electronics myself.
I found that thread on the forum in which people fixed this by puting a piece of paper around the connector, but that doesnt work for me.
to be honest, this is the first and the last mp3 player i buy from creative, this kind of problem in the year 2005 is unacceptable, walkmans in 975 didnt have this issue.
thanks for any help.

Tad,
As BadBoy mention, if the player are having problem and you're within the warranty period then it's best to contact the customer support within your region for assistance.
Americas Customer Support
European Customer Support
Asia Customer Support
Jason

New to MAC NEED HELP

Hey guys, thanks for reading....I woke up this morning and my itunes library was gone. Also, I know in a windows os, when you have anything stored on a seperate drive, a media player only plays those tracks. My itunes wants to copy everything to the os hard drive and there isn't enough room to do so? Can I configure itunes to just play the library and not try to copy everything to the OS hard drive? Also, how do I uninstall applications to clear up space? Any help will be greatly appreciated, again, I am totally new to mac OS.... Running OS X Tiger 10.4

Hi Solomon, and a warm welcome to the forums!
In iTunes>Preferences>Advanced tab you can set the iTunes folder location to an external or other location.
Also, how do I uninstall applications to clear up space?
Applications really won't clear up enough space, DVDs & Movies & such are the big users... my Applications & Utilities folders, (400+ APP & Utils), takes up lees than 4 DVDs.
How much free space is on the HD, where has all the space gone?
WhatSize...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13006/
Disk Inventory X...
http://www.derlien.com/
GrandPerspective...
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

Am new to mac full stop. have a new i mac and down know how to rip/burn dvds? please help

i am totally new to mac. and i dont know how to burn/rip dvds please help

Have a look at > Disc Burning Quick Assist
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New to macs need guidence on what macbook pro to get for video & photo

I see there are alot of what looks like good deals on ebay for macbookpros, is ebay a safe place to get a mac book pro? If I get one with OS leopard from ebay, can I get a discount or free upgrade to snow leopard?
among the features I have read about snow leopard, it has a "put back" feature for accidental deletions, does leopard have anything like this?
I am in California, if I get a macbookpro directly from mac online or a mac store do I pay tax? like a regular electronics store? why dont macs ever go on sale? they seem to be the same price all over.
what would be the bare minimum in specs to get in a macbookpro for smooth rendering/editing of all types of video like high def?
I may also need to run some windows programs; MS word, Excel, photoshop & roxio easy media creator. I have read about vm ware fusion & paralles for macs, which would be best for running my windows programs without problems. Will vm ware fusion or parallels run on OS snow leopard?
I had been using roxio easy media creator on a Dell Pentium 4 PC with windows XP home, editing .mpg movies clips taken with my Sony cybershot digital still camera & I could never make a DVD without some difficulty, until I cannot do it at all now, the video & audio are out of sync. I have talked to some people about this & alot have told me a mac would be better suited to what I do. So now I am looking at macs, they seem very expensive, so the less I have to spend would be better, but I am willing to spend a little to get good reliable performance.
Message was edited by: Sossity

Hi -
You will get a lot of different answers to your questions. Here are mine:
Sossity wrote:
I see there are alot of what looks like good deals on ebay for macbookpros, is ebay a safe place to get a mac book pro?
I my opinion, no.
If I get one with OS leopard from ebay, can I get a discount or free upgrade to snow leopard?
No.
among the features I have read about snow leopard, it has a "put back" feature for accidental deletions, does leopard have anything like this?
I believe you are referring to TIme Machine, which is a built in software back up feature in both Leopard and Snow Leopard. You will need an external hard disc drive to make it work.
I am in California, if I get a macbookpro directly from mac online or a mac store do I pay tax? like a regular electronics store?
If you buy a computer from the Apple Web Store, you will have to pay the sales tax your state charges - but you won't have to pay for shipping.
why dont macs ever go on sale?
They sell at full price so why should Apple discount them?
they seem to be the same price all over.
Yes, even at most reputable mail order companies the price is usually within 50 or so dollars of Apple's list price. This is another clue to be suspicious of the ebay prices.
what would be the bare minimum in specs to get in a macbookpro for smooth rendering/editing of all types of video like high def?
To edit HD video, I would max out the ram and you will also need to have fast (firewire) external disc drives to store the media as you will not want to have the media stored on your internal system disc.
I may also need to run some windows programs; MS word, Excel, photoshop & roxio easy media creator. I have read about vm ware fusion & paralles for macs, which would be best for running my windows programs without problems. Will vm ware fusion or parallels run on OS snow leopard?
Yes. There are reports that there are some problems with Snow Leopard, but these should be ironed out shortly, or have already been ironed out as the 3rd party software makers update their software for Snow Leopard.
I had been using roxio easy media creator on a Dell Pentium 4 PC with windows XP home, editing .mpg movies clips taken with my Sony cybershot digital still camera & I could never make a DVD without some difficulty, until I cannot do it at all now, the video & audio are out of sync. I have talked to some people about this & alot have told me a mac would be better suited to what I do. So now I am looking at macs, they seem very expensive, so the less I have to spend would be better, but I am willing to spend a little to get good reliable performance.
OK, well this is something I can't advise you on. If you were to get a new Mac, you would need to: Buy the Mac, buy Fusion or Parallels, buy a full copy of Windows to install on your windows partition, buy the ram upgrade, and buy external storage. Plus, you will have to learn a new operating system, and new software like iMovie and iDVD.
What the relative value this has to you, I don't know. If you have a long term commitment to working with photography and videography, then without a doubt, I would recommend doing it as eventually in your career you will need to be familiar with how to work on the Mac platform.
If you are doing it just to make better DVDs from MPG movies shot with a still camera, I would think about it.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

New to mac need help on cleaning mac system

Hello guys i am new to the mac i got it yesterday and i am so use to a pc...so i have some questions
i want to know how i can clean my mac? (the system not the outside)
how to clean out the internet history etc.( i know on my pc i had these one click apps. that i just open and it would clean my computer out such as the internet history, Cookies etc. and it would clean up left over files that are left from software that i have uninstall is there a software like that for the mac?
oh this is the new macBook pro the 09 and its the 13inc. 4gb
Thanks

Hello Candy:
Welcome to Apple discussions.
A Mac running OS X needs no "cleaning." For example, OS X "defrags" files of less than 20 MB on the fly. Routine cache cleaning, etc, is done in the background as long as your computer is either on or sleeping. Let your Macbook Pro sleep so that the background tasks will run once you wake it up.
_DO NOT_ trash system files or indiscriminately clear cache files (that will make the Mac run slower).
At the risk of being pedantic, do not worry about maintenance tasks for a Mac running OS X.
Barry

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You can block specific websites by going to Blocksi options and entering each website on the Blacklist tab. If you have further questions, please consider joining the new Google Group at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/blocksi-users

Time capsule..new to Mac Need help!!!

I reacently bought a 1T TC. I need to make space in my HD of my Macbook. I connected the TC and has done the backup. My question is, If I erase movies, pictures from my HD on the computer will I be able to get those items back again on my laptop when I want to see them?
Also, can the TC be used as an external drive without being used with time machine? ie: drag my movies, pictures, music to the TC as if it where a pendrive, for example? It seems much more easier for me when I plug a pendrive drag what I want there, eject the pendrive and ewhen I want a file a just plug it in again...

Hi,
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New to Mac, Need direction on how to Learn OSX

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