Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

chapter 14: the freebie programs 387

chapter

14

R

ight out of the box, Mac OS X comes with a healthy assortment of nearly 50

freebies: programs for sending email, writing documents, doing math, even

playing games. Some are dressed-up versions of Mac programs that have been

around for years. Others, though, are new programs that not only show off some

of Mac OS X’s most dramatic new technologies, but also let you get real work done

without having to invest in additional software.

These programs reside in two important folders on your hard drive: Applications

(in the main hard drive window) and Utilities (within the Applications folder). The

Applications folder houses the productivity programs; Utilities holds a couple of

dozen maintenance programs for setting up printers and network connections, fixing

problems on your hard disk, and so on.

Tip: You can jump straight to the Applications folder in the Finder by pressing Shift-c-A, or by clicking the

Applications button in the Finder Sidebar (it’s the icon that looks like an A). Similarly, Shift-c-U takes you

to the Utilities folder.

You might consider adding the Application and Utilities folders’ icons to the right side of your Dock, too, so

that you can access them no matter what program you’re in.

This chapter guides you through every item in your new software library, one program

at a time. (Depending on your Mac model, you may ...