Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

328 switching to the mac: the missing manual

To choose your own crew of self-starters, open System Preferences and click the

Accounts icon. Click the Login Items tab. As shown in Figure 12-5, you can now build

a list of programs, documents, disks, and other goodies that will automatically launch

each time you log in. You can even turn on the Hide checkbox for each one, so that

the corresponding program is running in the background at login time, waiting to

be called into service with a quick click.

Don’t feel obligated to limit this list to programs and documents. Disks, folders, servers

on the network, and other fun icons can also be startup items, so that their windows

are open and waiting when you arrive at the Mac each morning.

Tip: To quickly add something to the Login Items list, just Control-click (or right-click) its Dock icon and

choose “Open at Login” from the shortcut menu.

Parental Controls

If you’re setting up a Standard account in the Accounts pane, the Parental Controls

tab affords you the opportunity to shield your Mac—or its very young, very fearful,

or very mischievous operator—from confusion and harm. This is a helpful feature

Figure 12-5:

You can add any icon

to the list of things

you want to start

up automatically.

Click the + button to

summon the Open

dialog box, where

you can find the icon,

select it, and then

click Choose. Better

yet, if you can see

the icon ...