OS X Yosemite: The Missing Manual

Switching Locations

If you travel with a laptop, you may find yourself frequently opening up System Preferences→Network so you can switch between Internet settings: Ethernet at the office, WiFi at home.

The simple solution is the →Location submenu, which appears once you’ve set up more than one Location. As Figure 17-6 illustrates, all you have to do is tell it where you are. OS X handles the details of switching Internet connections.

Creating a New Location

To create a Location, which is nothing more than a set of memorized settings, open System Preferences, click Network, and then choose Edit Locations from the Location pop-up menu. Continue as shown in Figure 17-6 at bottom.

Tip

You can use the commands in the menu to rename or duplicate a Location.

Figure 17-6. Top: The Location feature lets you switch from one “location” to another by choosing its name—either from the menu (top) or from an identical pop-up menu that appears in the Network pane of System Preferences. Automatic means “the standard, default one you originally set up.” (Don’t be fooled: Despite its name, Automatic isn’t the ...