Mac OS X Panther in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4. System Preferences

After finding your way around the Mac’s interface, the next thing you’ll want to do is configure your system to suit your needs. The primary way to do this is with Mac OS X’s System Preferences application. Using the System Preferences and the panels within, you can configure and customize your system and how you interact with it. You can perform actions such as set your Desktop image, configure your network settings (including those for your .Mac account), and manage user accounts if your system has more than one user.

This chapter covers the use of the System Preferences application and describes all the individual panes that Mac OS X ships with. It also explains how the application works, including ways to add panes of your own to its display.

Using System Preferences

The System Preferences application, as seen in Figure 4-1, contains many individual preference panels, each represented by its own icon in the application’s main display window. Long-time Mac users will recognize that most of the panels in the System Preferences application are similar to the Control Panels found in earlier versions of the Mac OS. For a listing of the differences between Mac OS X and earlier versions of the Mac OS, see Chapter 3.

Figure 4-1. The System Preferences application

The System Preferences are divided into four categories: Personal, Hardware, Internet & Network, ...