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Restarting or Shutting Down the Mac

Because they’re commands that affect the entire system, Restart and Shut Down are located in the Apple menu, so you can access them from any program rather than having to switch to the Finder, as in pre-OS X versions of the Mac OS. You’ll use Restart most often after installing new software, and you’ll use Shut Down when you want to turn off your computer.

To restart the Mac, choose Apple menu, Restart.

In the dialog box, click Restart. Click Cancel to exit the dialog box without restarting.

To shut down the Mac, choose Apple menu, Shut Down.

In the dialog box, click Shut Down. Click Cancel to exit the dialog box without shutting down.

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Tip: No Fresh Start Needed

You don’t have to restart the Mac if you only want to switch users. Instead, choose Apple menu, Log Out; this command quits all running programs and presents you with the login screen, but it doesn’t require the computer to completely reboot.

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Tip: As Easy as Pressing a Button

On a Mac laptop, press the Power key briefly to bring up a dialog asking you whether you want to restart, shut down, or sleep your Mac.

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Using the Dock

The Dock serves more than one function. First, it’s where you can see which programs are running and switch among them. The Dock contains an icon for each active program at any given time. Second, it’s a good place to store things you use often, whether they’re programs, folders, or documents. And finally, it’s where you’ll find the Trash. The Dock has a dashed vertical line dividing its two sides. Program icons are stored on the left side, whether the programs are running or not, and folders and documents you add to the Dock yourself are stored on the right side.

Click a program icon in the Dock to switch to that program (if it’s running) or to start it up (if it’s not running). Running programs are indicated by glowing dots under their icons.

Drag programs from the desktop into the Dock’s left side and documents or folders from the desktop into the Dock’s right side to store them for easy access.

Click and hold an icon in the Dock to see a menu of actions you can perform on that object or a list of folder contents. If you don’t like waiting, you can Control-click or right-click.

Drag icons of files, folders, and inactive programs off the edge to remove them from the Dock in a puff of virtual smoke.

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Note: Disappearing Act

When you drag programs or documents off the Dock, they disappear in a puff of smoke. But don’t worry about the original files—they’re still on your hard drive. Dock icons are just pointers to the files, not the files themselves.

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Tip: Moving Day

If you don’t like the order of the icons in the Dock, you can drag and drop them into an order that suits you better.

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Using Contextual Menus

The more you use your Mac, the more you’ll appreciate time-saving techniques. Contextual menus pop up right where you’re working, instead of requiring you to mouse up to the menu bar or take your hands off the mouse to use the keyboard. Their contents vary depending on what you’re doing at the time.

Press Control and click any object on the desktop.

Click the contextual menu command you want to perform.

In an application, such as Safari, Control-click any object to see if it has a contextual menu.

Choose a command from the contextual menu to perform that function, or click elsewhere to dismiss the menu.

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Tip: Remember the Context

Contextual menus contain different options depending on what you click to see them. Try Control-clicking the desktop itself, and don’t forget to Control-click objects in document windows, such as pictures or misspelled words.

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Note: The Easy Way

If you have a multibutton mouse, you can use the software that came with it to program one of the buttons to perform a Control-click. Most people use the right