Easy Mac OS X Lion - Kate Binder [22]
Click Show All to see all the buttons; then click the button for the preferences you want to change.
Click buttons across the top of the preference pane to access various groups of settings.
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Tip: Haven’t I Been Here Before?
To return to a preference pane you’ve just visited, click the left arrow at the top of the System Preferences window. The left and right arrows take you forward and back through the preference screens.
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Tip: Asking for Directions
Not sure which preferences pane to head for? Type a word or two into the search field in the upper-right corner of the System Preferences window, and you’ll get a menu that takes you to the right place.
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Lock or unlock a preferences pane by clicking the padlock button.
If the preferences are locked (indicated by a closed padlock button in the lower-left corner of the window), enter an admin name and password when prompted and click Unlock. The preferences will stay unlocked until you click the padlock again to lock them.
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Tip: Down by the Dock
If you make many trips to the System Preferences, the Dock can be a quicker way to get there than the Apple menu. If it’s not in the Dock, open your Applications folder, find System Preferences, and drag it to the left side of the Dock.
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Tip: Now You Know Your ABCs
If the System Preference categories don’t make sense to you, choose View, Organize Alphabetically. This command reorders the buttons in good old alphabetical order, instead of dividing them by category.
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Changing Your Alert Sound
The alert sound is that annoying beep you hear when you do something your Mac doesn’t like or when you tell it to do something it can’t do. The nice part about this is that you can change the sound that’s played, as well as adjust its volume independently of the system’s overall volume level.
Click the Sound button in the System Preferences window to display the sound preferences.
Click the Sound Effects button to see your choices.
Click a sound in the pick list to hear it.
Click and drag the Alert volume slider to set the volume level for alert sounds.
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Note: Blowing Your Own Horn
If you don’t like any of the alert sound choices, you can add your own. They must be in AIFF format, and you need to store them in the Sounds folder within the Library folder that’s located in the System folder on your main hard drive.
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Changing Display Settings
Your monitor’s display resolution is the number of pixels it displays horizontally and vertically. You can change the resolution of most monitors. With a lower resolution, everything on the screen is bigger and you can’t see as many windows at one time, and with a higher resolution everything is smaller, but you can fit more.
Click the Displays button in the System Preferences window to display monitor preferences.
Click the Display button to see your choices.
Click a setting in the Resolutions pick list to determine the scale of the images on your monitor. If the setting you choose doesn’t look right, wait 15 seconds for the previous setting to be restored, and then click another.
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Tip: Don’t Keep Your Resolutions
If you expect to change your settings often, click Show displays in menu bar in the Displays preference pane to add a menu that you can use to switch resolutions.
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Note: The More, the Merrier
Expert users generally choose the highest resolution that still allows them to read text onscreen. It makes onscreen objects seem small at first, but you get used to that quickly. You can fit more windows onscreen at higher resolutions.
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Changing the Mouse Speed
When you’re in a hurry, there are few things more annoying than a slow mouse, or one that’s so fast you can’t keep track of it. Whether your mouse moves too slowly or too quickly for your taste, you can adjust its setting until it’s just where you like it.