Learn some techniques that will keep you and your Mac happy.

Mac users everywhere love that their computers do not need much babying and are pretty intuitive. You can help keep your Mac happy and safe and your documents accessible by considering some of the following:

• Know what system you use. Check under the apple logo at the top left of your screen and select About this Mac or About this computer to see what operating system (OS) you use.

If you use OS 9, you will see something like 9.0 or 9.1, etc. (Also called Classic when installed with OS X.)

If you use OSX, you will see a series of numbers that have corresponding names drawn from carnivore cats:

10.0=Cheetah
10.1=Puma
10.2 through 10.2.9=Jaguar
10.3 through 10.3.9=Panther
10.4 through 10.4.9=Tiger
10.5=Leopard [to be released Spring 2007]

If you are interested, you can read about the history of the Macintosh operating system here.

• Back up your important documents and data weekly or more! To read more about backing up your key data, go here.

• Keep your desktop clean for fast loading when you boot up. If you like to keep items on your desktop, at least keep them in a folder or two to expedite the boot process.

• Periodically go through your hard drive and toss out old and un-needed programs and documents. Keeping several versions of a program or documents you no longer need will just eat up hard drive space and make it difficult for you to get to documents you need.

• Install and use a good virus program. Even though so far Mac’s have had few viruses, it is wise for Internet users and anyone who swaps CD’s or DVD’s with other folks to have a good virus program and to USE IT! We recommend Virus Barrier by Intego. Go to the Intego site then to PRODUCTS ten to VIRUS BARRIER. Purchase and download VB 9 for OS 8.1 through 9.2; get VB X for any version of OS X.

• If you use OS X, run the software update when the screen pops up. It is especially important to run the security patches and system upgrades. You need not run upgrades for items you do not use, e.g., iPod, iMovie, etc.

• Disk housekeeping: like a home, your hard drive will work best if it is kept in top condition. You can do this by doing the following:
— If you use OS 9 or before, weekly rebuild the desktop. The Desktop file is an invisible file found in the main level of your hard disk. It is the file that keeps track of all the documents and applications that are on your disk.
To rebuild your desktop, reboot holding down the command [Apple] and option keys and selecting REBUILD when the inquiry window comes up.
— If you are using some version of OS X, you should periodically open your Disk Utility program (in your utilities folder), select your internal hard drive, and REPAIR PERMISSIONS.

• When you use a program—whether it is Mac Mail, your browser, or any other program, always look under the program symbol/name at the top of your screen and check out the PREFERENCES. This procedure lets you set a variety of preferred settings and actions in any given program.