The iMac for Dummies

Introduction

Who Needs an iMac Book?

How to Use This Book (Other Than as a Mouse Pad)

Macintosh conventions

Conventions in this book

Apple and obsolescence

I: For the Absolute iMac Virgin

Chapter 1: How to Turn On Your iMac (and What to Do Next)

Box Open. Now What?

Switching on the iMac

The startup slide show

Your First Moments Alone Together

The Setup Assistant -- and your iMac edition

Moving the mouse

What's on the menu?

The big turn-off

Moving things around on the desktop

Icons, windows, and Macintosh syntax

The complete list of window doodads

All systems are go

Double-clicking in theory and practice

Multiple windows

Using a list view

The easiest homework you've ever had

Where to get help

Pit stop

Top Ten Similarities between You and Your iMac

Chapter 1 1/2: High-Tech Made Easy

How an iMac Works

Storing things with disks

Conceptualizing the hard disk

Understanding memory

Who's Meg?

Understanding RAM

Putting it all together

"I lost all my work!"

Top Ten Differences between Memory and a Hard Disk

Chapter 2: Windows, Icons, and Trashes

Becoming Manipulative

Foldermania

Keyboard shortcuts

How to trash something

Top Ten Window, Icon, and Trash Tips

Chapter 3: Actually Accomplishing Something

Obsolescence Therapy

Credit Card Workout #2: Buying Software

Where to get it

Your very first software

Desk Accessories

The Calculator

The Note Pad

Selecting text

The cornerstone of human endeavor: Copy and Paste

The Application menu

Control Panels

Top Ten Control Panel Explanations

Chapter 4: Typing, Saving, and Finding Again

Your Very First Bestseller

Top three rules of word processing

The excitement begins

Editing for the linguistically blessed

Puff, the Magic Drag-N-Drop

Form and Format

The return of Return

Appealing characters

Formatting paragraphs

Working with Documents

Navigating the Save File (and Open File) box

Closing a file, with a sigh

How to find out what's going on

Getting It All Back Again

Crazy relationships: Parents and kids

Fetch: How to retrieve a document

Save Me Again!

How to Back Up iMac Files

The importance of being backed up

Where's the floppy drive?

How to insert a disk

How to copy stuff onto a disk

How to get a disk or CD out again

When What Was Found Is Now Lost

Seeking wisdom in your own words -- and on the Net

Sherlock goes silver

Top Ten Word-Processing Tips

Chapter 5: A Quiet Talk about Printers, Printing, and Fonts

Inkjet Printers

How to hook up a USB inkjet printer

How to hook up an older inkjet printer

Laser Printers

How to hook up a modern laser printer

After All That: How You Actually Print

Using the Tab key in dialog boxes

Background printing

Canceling printing

Top Ten Free Fun Font Factoids

II The Internet Defanged

Chapter 6: Faking Your Way onto America Online and the Internet

First, the Modem

America Online or Direct to the Internet?

America Online (AOL), the Cyber-Grocery

Exploring by icon

Navigating by keyword

How to find your way back to the good stuff

The e-mail connection

The party line

Talking behind their backs

How to find -- and get -- free software

Signing Up for an Internet Account (ISP)

What's on the Internet

E-mail

Newsgroups

The World Wide Web

How to Hang Up

When You Can't Open Your Downloaded Goodies

StuffIt Expander: Free and easy

Files you still can't open

Top Ten Best/Worst Aspects of the Net

Chapter 7: The Weird Wide Web

Internet Made Idiotproof: Link-Clicking

Getting to the Web via America Online

Getting to the Web via an ISP

Where to Go, What to Do on the Web

Ways to search for a particular topic

Searching using Sherlock

Not just Sherlock -- new, improved Sherlock!

Useful Web pages: The tip of the iceberg

Navigator vs. Explorer: The Tip-O-Rama

Choose your weapon

Type almost nothing

Go get the plug-in

Where's home for you?

Faster -- please, make it faster!

Bookmark it

Stop the blinking!

Keeping the Net safe for kidlets

Chapter 8: E-mail for He-males and Females

Getting into E-Mail

Sending e-mail

Getting your mail

Processing a message you've read

Attaching Files to E-Mail

Sending a file

Sending files to Windows people

Getting a file

The Anti-Spam Handbook

III: Software Competence

Chapter 9: Faking Your Way Through the Free Software

Your Personal Software Store

Software on all iMacs

Software only on new (CD slot-loading) iMacs

Software only on older (CD tray-loading) iMacs

AppleWorks

Your first database

Data entry time

Forming the form letter

The graphics zone: Designing a letterhead

The return of Copy and Paste

AppleWorks: The Other Spreadsheet

Other Cool Stuff AppleWorks Does

Bugdom

EdView Internet Safety Kit, Family Edition

Installing the Safety Kit

Using the Safety Kit

Bypassing the Safety Kit

E-mail, America Online, and other blockades

Kid Pix Deluxe

Nanosaur

PageMill

The blank canvas

Creating a new, blank page

Meet your toolbar

Add the text

Hanging pictures

A little separation

Linking up

Getting published

Palm Desktop

Installing Palm Desktop

The Calendar

The Contact List (Address Book)

The Task List

The Note List

The Magic of Instant Palm Desktop

Quicken

The category concept

The Register

Just another $10,000 day

Creating a new category

More typical examples

The category payoff

Reconciling for the nonaccountant

If the statement has extra items

World Book Encyclopedia

Installing the World Book program

Looking up a topic

Getting more help

Photo Soap, Good Cooking, and MDK

Williams - Sonoma Guide to Good Cooking

MDK

Kai's Photo Soap

Chapter 10: iSpielberg: Digital Movies with iMovie

Got What It Takes?

Filming Your Life

Step 1: Dump the Footage into iMovie

Capturing clips

How much footage can your iMac hold?

Naming, playing, and trimming clips

Step 2: Build the Movie

Adding a cross-fade

Adding titles

Grabbing music from a CD

Step 3: Find an Audience

Sending your movie back to the camcorder

Saving your movie as a QuickTime file

Your Free Built-In DVD Player

Chapter 11: Pix Tricks: Graphic Nonviolence

Where Graphics Come From

The Web

Scanners

Digital cameras

Kodak PhotoCDs

What to Do with Graphics

Mail them to someone

Put 'em on a Web page

Print it out

Plaster your iMac desktop

Chapter 12: System Folder: Trash Barge of the iMac

The System Folder Trashfest

Appearance, Application Support

The Apple Menu Items folder

The Contextual Menu Items folder

The Control Strip Modules folder

The Control Panels folder

The Extensions folder

The Preferences folder

More special folders

Other files in the System Folder

IV: Toward a New, Nerdier You

Chapter 13: Great Material that Didn't Quite Fit the Outline

The Efficiency Nut's Guide to the Option Key

Closing all windows at once

The silence of the Trash

Multitasking methods

Buried Treasures

Make an alias of a file

The iMac's Program Switcher

Zooming into your screen

Making It Unmistakably Yours

Have it your way -- at Icon King

Hanging your own background wallpaper

Color-coding your icons

Window-Mania

Views and window preferences

Meet Mr. Window

Poppin' fresh windows

The iMac Keyboard: Not Your Father's Typewriter

Fun with Function keys

Multiple Personalities (Mac OS 9)

The big idea

Setting up Multiple Users

Using the Multiple Users feature

Chapter 14: USB, Ethernet, AirPort, and Other Impressive Connections

USB Nimble, USB Quick

Where's the USB?

Installing a new USB doodad

Attaching more USB doodads

Ethernet Made Eathy

Connecting to one other Mac

Creating a real, live, full-office Ethernet network

Wireless Networking: Your Ride to the AirPort

Installing an AirPort Card

Going Online with a base station

Using your iMac as a base station

Communicating Mac-to-Mac

V: Troubleshooting Made Tolerable

Chapter 15: When Bad Things Happen to Good iMacs

Introduction to Computer Hell

The iMac Freezes or Crashes

Escaping a System freeze right now

Escaping repeated System freezes

Problems in One Program

Error Messages

"Application not found"

"You do not have enough access privileges"

"DNS Entry not found" or "Error 404"

"You are running low on memory"

"Application has unexpectedly quit"

Numbered error messages

Out of Memory

First resort: Quit programs

Second resort: Defragment your RAM

Third resort: Get RAM Doubler

Fourth resort: Use virtual memory

Last resort: Buy more

Startup Problems

No chime, no picture

Picture, no ding

A question mark blinks on the screen

The power button on the keyboard doesn't work

Some crazy program launches itself every time you start up

General printing problems

Inkjet printers: Blank pages come out

Finder Foul-Ups

You can't rename a file

You can't rename or eject a disk

All your icons show up blank

It's January 1, 1904

Disk Disasters (Floppies, CDs, and Co.)

Your CD vibrates scarily

You can't install a new program from your SuperDisk

The CD Drawer Won't Open

Everything's Slow

Hardware Headaches

Your mouse is jerky or sticky

Double-clicking doesn't work

Your monitor's too small

Your monitor shimmers

Chapter 16: The Problem-Solving Cookbook

Rebuilding the Desktop File

Zapping the PRAM

The Amazing "Force Quit" Keystroke

The Restart Button

Solving an Extension Conflict

Giving More Memory to a Program

Performing a Clean System Reinstall

Step one: Install the fresh software

Step two: Restore your personal belongings

Other ways to restore your iMac

Defragmenting Your Hard Drive

Chapter 17: Beyond the iMac: Where to Go from Here

Where to Turn in Times of Trouble

Your 15 minutes of free help

$150 for three years

Free help sources

Upgrading to Mac OS 9 -- and Beyond

Save Changes Before Closing?

VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 18: Ten More Gadgets to Buy and Plug In

A Scanner

A Digital Camera

A Mouse

A Joystick

Speakers or Headphones

The Harmon/Kardon Subwoofer

Music and MIDI

A Projector

Zip, SuperDisk, & Co.

A Movie Camera

Chapter 19: Ten Cool Things You Didn't Know Your iMac Could Do

Play Music CDs

Talk

Sing

Play Movies

Send Faxes

Receive Faxes

Fit in Your Pocket

Record Sounds

How to record a sound

How to adjust your iMac's speaker volume

Run Windows Programs

Print Photos

VII: Appendixes

Appendix A: How to Set Up an iMac

I Took Off the Shrink Wrap! Now What?

Switching the iMac on

What You've Got Here

Mastering Your Monitor

Attaching a second monitor

A bit about color bits

Appendix B: The Resource Resource

Magazines

User Groups

Deep-Discount Mail-Order Joints

Great iMac Web Pages

Appendix C: The Ultimate iMac Buyer's Guide

Printers & Printer Adapters

Multifunction Printers

Adapters for Older Mac Gadgets

Serial adapters

USB Serial adapters

ADB (mouse and keyboard) adapter

Microphone adapters

SCSI adapters

Digital Cameras

Disk Drives

Joysticks and Game Pads

Keyboard and Mouse Replacements

Mice

Trackballs

Keyboards

Scanners

Speakers

USB Hubs

Index

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