You can set your watch to it: As soon as Apple comes out with another version of Mac OS X, David Pogue hits the streets with another meticulous Missing Manual to cover it with a wealth of detail. The new Mac OS X 10.4, better known as Tiger, is faster than its predecessors, but nothing's too fast for Pogue and Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. There are many reasons why this is the most popular computer book of all time.

With its hallmark objectivity, the Tiger Edition thoroughly explores the latest features to grace the Mac OS. Which ones work well and which do not? What should you look for? This book tackles Spotlight, an enhanced search feature that helps you find anything on your computer; iChat AV for videoconferencing; Automator for automating repetitive, manual or batch tasks; and the hundreds of smaller tweaks and changes, good and bad, that Apple's marketing never bothers to mention.

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition is the authoritative book that's ideal for every user, including people coming to the Mac for the first time. Our guide offers an ideal introduction that demystifies the Dock, the unfamiliar Mac OS X folder structure, and the entirely new Mail application. There are also mini-manuals on iLife applications such as iMovie, iDVD, and iPhoto, those much-heralded digital media programs, and a tutorial for Safari, Mac's own web browser.

And plenty more: learn to configure Mac OS X using the System Preferences application, keep your Mac secure with FileVault, and learn about Tiger's enhanced Firewall capabilities. If you're so inclined, this Missing Manual also offers an easy introduction to the Terminal application for issuing basic Unix commands.

There's something new on practically every page, and David Pogue brings his celebrated wit and expertise to every one of them. Mac's brought a new cat to town and we have a great new way to tame it.

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The Missing Manual,  December 15 2006
Submitted by herbwise   [Respond | View]

After I spent 15 years on the PC/Microsoft systems, and after my many complaints about them, my family bought me a Mac last Christmas. They gave me the missing manual thinking that would help with the transition.

It is overrated. Worse, there is no way to give feedback to the author other than this way.

When I cannot find out how to do something, there is no way to get that info when I need it. Frustration is the name of the game. I have to plow through so much verbiage, it is infuriating. Then the answer isn't there. In other words it is like the rest of the computer industry. Nobody asks the consumer and let's make damn sure there is no way to communicate with the author/company because we only care about the next sale. Spin the stuff into saying it is wonderful and then do not let in any feedback. If the last sale didn't work for the consumer, too bad, so sad. Move on to the next sale.

The on-line help systems are worse. FAQs that take hours to sift through.


Invaluable,  October 10 2006
Submitted by David   [Respond | View]

I made the conversion to Mac's about 6 months ago, having always yearned to do so, they are so cool compared to PC's. I checked out a number of Tiger manuals and ended up selecting a copy of David's Missing Manual for Tiger, and have used it constantly since. This is a comprehensive guide to Tiger that has been invaluable. It is well laid out, logical, and easy to follow. This book is a pleasure to refer to and is a fine example of what a manual should be like. I'm sure it would satisfy both newcomers to Mac, such as myself, and longtime Mac users. If David comes out with a Leopard manual, I'm buying one straight away.


A Must-Have: For Review and Study,  February 06 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

There's an old Apple comercial that shows a Windows PC and a large stack of manuals that come with it contrasted to a Macintosh and its single, thin user manual. It exemplifies the ease-of-use of a Mac as compared to a PC, but in reality, is that single, thin user manual all you need for a Mac? David Pogue, author of the book in review, certainly thinks not, and I'd tend to agree with him.

The retail box of OS X-Tiger contains that relatively thin manual from Apple. Maybe you glanced at it as you pulled the Install DVD out of the box, but I bet you didn't come back to it for OS X help very often! Apple apparently expects the Tiger user to depend on the Mac OS X Help menu or the Apple website to learn about Tiger and, although these are indeed useful sources of information, they simply cannot compare to a hefty tome (about 850 pages) like Mac OS X: The Missing Manual.

The intended audience of this Missing Manual is advanced beginners or intermediate Mac users and I would agree that these groups are well served by this book. Nevertheless, the brand new beginner will find informative side bar "Up to Speed" articles with introductory information and the more advanced user will find "Power User's Clinic" boxes filled with technical tips, tricks and shortcuts intended for the more experienced Macintosh aficionado.

Having read the book cover-to-cover (no small feat, mind you), I found it to be sprinkled with delightfully witty comments that serve as a brief break from the serious and extremely informative text that covers every aspect of OS X-Tiger. Truly all aspects of OS X are covered, from installation to new Tiger features like Spotlight to System Preferences and the use of all of the "free" programs included in OS X. Although you won't become an iLife expert by reading this book's chapters on iTunes, iPhoto, etc., a fine overview of these programs is presented and you'll be able to use them productively with the basics that you learn from Mac OS X: The Missing Manual.

I've been using OS X since it first came out and I feel pretty comfortable using it. Given my long experience with OS X, I didn't expect to learn a lot about it from this book. Yet I was repeatedly surprised at finding tips and tricks previously unknown to me that this book noted about most every aspect of OS X-Tiger.

My one regret is that I didn't take notes or mark up the book as I was reading all the tips that were new to me. There were so many new tips to me that I'm sure that I've forgotten the majority of them already!

This experience leads me to make a recommendation to you about Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. To get the most of it, read it a bit at a time with one of those yellow fluorescent hi-lighter markers in hand and don't be afraid to mark up important information. Then grab the book and sit in front of your Mac and review the information that you've highlighted via hands-on experience at the keyboard. If you do so, I guarantee you'll be a Mac expert when you finish this book.

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual has appendices about OS X installation options, trouble-shooting, "Where'd It Go?" (relative to previous versions of OS X, OS 9 and Windows), tips about obtaining more info and a comprehensive "Master Mac OS X Secret Keystroke List." The index is extensive and inclusive of all of the important topics covered in the book.

Finally, Mac OS X: The Missing Manual also "contains" a missing CD (which really means that no CD-ROM is included), in contrast to many "manual" books of this sort. Instead, the reader is encouraged to visit the MissingManuals.com web-site to view a chapter-by-chapter list of links of the shareware and freeware mentioned in the book. The "missing CD" reduces the cost of the book and provides a method of keeping the software listings up-to-date, so I don't consider the lack of a CD to be a drawback, especially now that most users have high-speed access to the Internet.

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition is 100 pages longer than the previous Panther edition and the author claims that there is not a single page that hasn't changed since the last edition. So even if you own a previous edition, you should consider purchasing this new Tiger Edition. Apple keeps adding new features to OS X with every new version. Are you using them to your benefit? You may never know about what you are missing until you read Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition! I highly recommend it to each and every one of you...

Reviewer: Jim Macak

Jim is President of Double Click, Inc, the Macintosh Users Group of Milwaukee, WI.

He is an Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist and provides Macintosh help and consulting services in the Milwaukee area as "YourMacDoc."

(http://www.yourmacdoc.com/)



Another Winner from David Pogue,  December 05 2005
Submitted by tucsontutor   [Respond | View]

The Missing Manual Tiger by David Pogue

Just the Appendixes C and D make this book worth the price...They tell Mac (Appendix C) and Windows (D) folks where things are in Tiger versus their previous operating system.

It covers the new features in detail: Spotlight - what’s the keyboard shortcut to open spotlight; how to search when you only know part of a word (usable also in text edit). He explains how to set preferences, how to keep certain items private, changing sort order, etc. Then he goes on to explain how to use the Find command (you can do much more detailed searching using Find).


Dashboard is another new Tiger feature that is covered in great detail. Dashboard is triggered by pushing the F12 key, but I have a laptop and F12 is the eject key, However by holding down the Fn key AND F12 I can open Dashboard. Did you know that you can refresh widgets by holding command and clicking R, open more than one copy of a widget and open the widget bar with the command = keystroke? Each of the 14 standard widgets are described in detail. He mentions a shareware program that will let you have a widget open while you’re using another program. Do you share your computer? Learn how and where to install widgets so they’re available to everyone, or just to you!

Another major item Apple features in Tiger is Automator. This lets you build a series of actions just by dragging tiles in the right order. Remember AppleScript that let you build instructions for a repetitive task? This is a simpler version. For the average user, one of the more useful actions might be in Safari to get text from a web page, or make a list of all the URLs from a web page, or the combine PDF files.

Security has been improved. Don’t know what a firewall is, let alone how to configure it? Pogue explains this is layman’s terms. Don’t know what the Root account is? Don’t mess with it, but understand it and learn how to activate/deactivate it ( it comes on page 455. Need to understand permissions and be sure they’re set correctly -he has pages of data on how to do this. During a download, when Tiger says “this contains an application, do you want to continue?” you can expand that box to see what program it refers to, thus preventing spyware from being downloaded. In addition, if you are installing, it will also ask for permission. In addition to the Secure Empty Trash, Disk Utillity can super erase ALL free disk space. Don’t want the people who share your computer to see where you’ve been surfing (make that present a surprise), turn on Private Browsing in the Safari menu before you begin.

Since this book is over 800 pages, I can’t review all of it for you. However, I find it an INDISPENSIBLE Macintosh tool. I always find the answer I need in Pogue’s books!


Even better then the Panther manual,  November 22 2005
Submitted by JOe Edwards   [Respond | View]

Another superb missing manual from O'Reilly and Dave Pogue
I am building up a shelf full of them and this one came free with my subs to MacWorld!
Its my first very own Mac and the book is essential. I have been supporting my daughter's Powerbook with the Panther Edition although she is now teaching me!

Keep up the good work.


Even better then the Panther manual,  November 22 2005
Submitted by JOe Edwards   [Respond | View]

Another superb missing manual from O'Reilly and Dave Pogue
I am building up a shelf full of them and this one came free with my subs to MacWorld!
Its my first very own Mac and the book is essential. I have been supporting my daughter's Powerbook with the Panther Edition although she is now teaching me!

Keep up the good work.


Great book,  October 27 2005
Submitted by Steve Holland   [Respond | View]

I just bought my first Mac ever. Old time PC user. I was lost until I got the book in. Could not be without it.

Steve


Where did it go?,  July 22 2005
Submitted by solohans   [Respond | View]

The Missing Manual is already beginning to pay for itself. I found the keycaps application that used to be in the Application/Utility folder. Buy a copy and find out where it's hidden. Find out more secret to Tiger too! Great handbook packed with lots of sound info.

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