Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

What Mac OS X Takes Away

Getting used to the new features is very easy. But if you’re used to the old Mac operating system, what’s harder is unlearning what you had worked so hard to master. You’ll find yourself especially alarmed at how few troubleshooting steps are required—or even possible—in Mac OS X. For example:

• Extension conflicts. The number one destabilizing factor of the traditional Macintosh has been banished forever: Mac OS X doesn’t use system extensions and control panels. It’s time to forget all of the troubleshooting routines Mac fans have had to learn over the years, including pressing the Shift key at startup, using Extensions Manager, and buying Conflict Catcher. You will never again perform an extension conflict test, trying to figure out which extension is making your Mac freeze. Those routines have no meaning in Mac OS X.

  Software companies can still add new features to your Mac, just as they once did using extensions—but now they’ll do it by writing startup applications, which is a much safer, more organized method that can’t destabilize your Mac.

• Memory controls. There’s no Memory control panel in Mac OS X. Nor will you find a Get Info window for each application that lets you change its memory allotment. This is great news.

  Mac OS X manages memory quickly, intelligently, and constantly. The reason you don’t allot a certain amount of your Mac’s memory to a program, as you had to do in Mac OS 9, is that Mac OS X simply gives each running program as much memory ...