Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Chapter 8. System Preferences

The hub of Mac customization is System Preferences, the modern-day successor to the old Control Panels of Windows or the older Mac OS. Some of its panels are extremely important, as their settings determine whether or not you can connect to a network or go online to exchange email. Others handle the more cosmetic aspects of customizing Mac OS X. This chapter guides you through the entire System Preferences program, panel by panel.

Note

Only a system administrator (see Section 11.2) can change settings that affect everyone who shares a certain machine: its Internet settings, Energy Saver settings, and so on.

The tiny padlock in the lower-left corner of a panel (see Figure 8-11, for example) is the telltale sign. If you, a nonadministrator, would like to edit some settings, call an administrator over to your Mac and ask him to click the lock, input his password, and supervise your tweaks.

The System Preferences Window

You can open System Preferences by choosing its name from the

menu, clicking its icon in the Dock, or double-clicking its icon in the Applications folder. At first, the rows of icons are grouped according to function: Personal, Hardware, and so on.

But in Mac OS X 10.2, you can also view them in tidy alphabetical order, as shown at bottom in Figure 8-1. That can spare you the ritual of hunting through various rows just to find a certain panel icon ...