Chapter 5. The Finder and Its Icons
In This Chapter
Getting to know the Finder
Navigating the Finder
View(ing) the Finder
Setting Finder preferences
Using aliases: The greatest things since sliced bread
Getting info-mation on icons
On your Mac, the Finder is your starting point — the centerpiece of your Mac experience, if you will — and it's always available. In Finder windows (or the Finder's Desktop), you can double-click your way to your favorite application, your documents, or your folders. So, in this chapter, I show you how to get the most from the Mac OS X Finder.
Introducing the Finder and Your Desktop
A Finder window is a handy friend. Use the Finder to navigate through files, folders, and applications on your hard drive — or to connect to other Macs and Internet servers — right from your Desktop.
Figure 5-1 shows a typical Finder window with all the standard features highlighted. You find out the details about how each feature works in the sections that follow.
The Desktop is the backdrop for the Finder. It's always available and is where you can usually find your hard drive icon(s).
Your hard drive (and other disk) icons appear in the upper-right corner of the Desktop by default. In "Setting Finder preferences" later in this chapter, you find out how to make them not appear there if you so desire — but unless you have a good reason to do so, my advice is to leave them showing so you can always find them on the Desktop if you need them. If you don't see a disk icon on your Desktop, ...
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