OS X El Capitan: The Missing Manual

The Best News You’ve Heard All Day

If you upgraded to El Capitan from an earlier version of the Mac operating system, breathe easy: You’re already online, since the installer picked up your networking and Internet settings from that earlier installation. The moment you see the OS X desktop, you’re ready to use the Internet (and skip the next 12 pages).

Read on, however, if you need to plug in the Internet settings manually. If you’re setting up a new Mac, or if you simply want to create a new Internet account, you definitely have some typing to look forward to.

Tip

If you haven’t yet set up an Internet connection, then reading the next few pages will guide you through plugging the proper settings into System Preferences.

If you’re more of a doer than a reader, however, you may prefer the “Assist me” button at the bottom of the Network pane of System Preferences. It asks how you want to connect to the Internet (by dial-up modem, DSL, cable modem, and so on) and then walks you through the process of typing in the settings, if necessary.