In OS X, version 10.2, the System Preferences provide you the settings to configure your Mac to function exactly the way you want. This is the latest and greatest version of what were Control Panels in earlier versions of the system software.
There are three ways to access the System Preferences:
| From the APPLE menu, select SYSTEM PREFERENCES: |
On the DOCK, click once on the SYSTEM PREFERENCES icon: |
In your APPLICATIONS folder, double–click on the SYSTEM PREFERENCES icon: |
 |
 |
 |
The System Preferences window appears:
To open a System Preference pane, click once on the desired icon. Use any one of the sliders, checkboxes, and drop–down menus to select the desired settings.
However, first be aware that the window for System Preferences functions a bit differently than a typical window. When you click on one of the icons, the bottom part of the window changes. That bottom part is called a pane. For example, if you click on the DESKTOP icon, the bottom part of the window is referred to as the Desktop System Preferences Pane.
Once you are finished with the selected pane, to go to a different pane you have several options:
- Click the SHOW ALL button on the left part of the toolbar.
- Click one of the other icons on the toolbar if that is what you want. To add a frequently accessed Preference Pane to your Toolbar, click and hold down the mouse button on the desired icon, then drag an drop it on the Toolbar.
- Go to the VIEW menu, and select the desired pane from the list.
Another important factor is that many of the System Preferences need to be unlocked before any changes can be made, and only users with Administrator privileges can do the unlocking. For most machines on campus, there is only one user, and on your machine, that would be you. So, if you find you need to unlock one of your preferences, use the username and password that was created when OS X was installed on your Mac.
To unlock a Preference Pane:
- Click the lock located in the lower-left corner of the System Preferences Pane.
- A dialog box appears. Enter your name and password.
- Click once on the OK button.
When you are finished making changes in the Preference Pane, you may want to re-lock it. To do so, click on the lock icon again and it will lock itself instantly.
The System Preferences are conveniently organized according to function into the following categories:
PERSONAL ⇒ These panes enable you to customize your OS X environment to suit your own individual needs and taste.
|
The DESKTOP pane allows you to select from several different collections of background pictures or use one of your own pictures. |
|
The DOCK pane allows you to customize the Dock size, magnification, position, and effects. You can also set the Dock to automatically hide and show according to the placement of your cursor. |
|
In the GENERAL pane, you can select a different appearance for your buttons, menus, and windows, and from a variety of highlight colors for selected text. You can also change the placement of scroll arrows and what happens when you click in a scroll box. There are choices for how many items appear in your RECENT ITEMS (APPLE menu), and for a text smoothing cut off point. |
|
The INTERNATIONAL panel lets you select a different language for your Mac to work in, and, with the DATE, TIME, and NUMBERS tabs allows you to configure the time, currency, and other OS X number displays to be appropriate for the language. The KEYBOARD tab allows you to select from a variety of different keyboard layouts, primarily according to a particular language. |
|
The LOGIN ITEMS panel lets you define which applications launch automatically at start–up. |
|
The MY ACCOUNT panel lets you change the current user's password. If you turn off automatic login, you must type a name and password to log in. From time to time, you may want to change your password to protect your computer. To change another user's password, use Accounts preferences. You may need to know the name and password of an administrator user to make this change. The MY ACCOUNT panel also lets you select an image that will be shown at login.
|
|
In the SCREEN EFFECTS panel, you can select from several built–in screen saver modules, including using your own pictures from the PICTURES folder. Using the ACTIVATION tab, you can select the amount of inactivity time before the screen saver starts, and whether or not to require a password when waking from the screen saver. Again, the password would be the one you defined in your User account when OS X was installed on your Mac. The HOT CORNERS tab allows you to select a corner to start the screen saver immediately when the mouse cursor enters that corner. |
HARDWARE ⇒ The panes in this category allow you to control all the devices that are connected to your Mac.
|
The CSs & DVDs allows you to select what OSX should do when you insert a blank CD or DVD, or a music, picture CD, or a video DVD. |
 |
The COLORSYNC panel is designed to maintain the color integrity of your images between all color input and output devices such as scanners, cameras, the monitor, and a color printer. Most of us do not have to worry about this particular feature — it is primarily aimed at those professionals who work with digital images. |
 |
The DISPLAYS panel allows you to select all of your monitor settings, including resolution, color depth, refresh rate, contrast and brightness using the DISPLAY tab, the position, height, width, etc. using the GEOMETRY tab, and to create a color profile to use with ColorSync in the COLORS tab. |
 |
In the ENERGY SAVER panel you can set when your system sleeps after a period of inactivity in the SLEEP tab, and when to wake or to restart automatically after a power failure in the OPTIONS tab. |
|
Using the KEYBOARD panel, you can set the key REPEAT RATE and turn on FULL KEYBOARD ACCESS which allows you to control all aspects of your Mac from the keyboard. |
 |
Use the MOUSE panel to set the tracking and double–click speed functions of your mouse. |
 |
With the SOUND panel, you can choose between a variety of alert sounds and volume with the ALERTS tab, and set the balance for your speakers using the OUTPUT tab. |
INTERNET & NETWORK ⇒ The panels here allow you to configure the way your Mac communicates with the local network here at F&M and with the Internet.
|
Using the INTERNET pane and the associated tabs, you can specify which Internet applications you want to use for email and web browsing, and define which home page and search engine you want your browser to use. If you fill in the requisite information for the EMAIL and WEB tabs, you should be good to go no matter what type of Internet application you open. |
 |
The NETWORK panel controls all of your Internet and local network connections. By default, it is set to automatically recognize what type of connection you have. If you use your Mac in multiple locations (for example, at home and on-campus), you can use the drop-down LOCATION menu at the top to create multiple connection methods. Be sure you know what settings your are changing and why. Otherwise, you may lose your network connection all together! On campus, one important feature which should be turned on is APPLETALK. Click this link for those instructions. |
|
With the QuickTime pane, the most important thing to set is your CONNECTION speed. On campus, in the CONNECTION tab, select INTRANET/LAN. Using other tabs you can control the way movies are played, how your browser's QuickTime plug-in functions with streaming video, and easily update your QuickTime software. You can also turn off the automatic update feature if you hate getting those reminders when QuickTime launches. |
|
The SHARING pane enables a Mac to be accessed from other Macs on a network via File Sharing, and other computers on the Internet via FTP and the Web. We recommend that you leave the SHARING features set to the default. One feature everyone may want to check is the COMPUTER NAME, which is used for file sharing and AppleTalk. You can place your server username (i.e., College Server, Curriculum Server, etc.) into the COMPUTER NAME box, and when you log on to a server as a Registered User, the correct username will appear in the window. |
SYSTEM ⇒ This is more or less a miscellaneous group and allows you to configure several aspects of your system and its functions.
|
With the ACCOUNTS pane you can create, set-up, and edit new password-protected user accounts. Under the LOGIN OPTIONS tab you can also choose the appearance of the startup login window. |
|
The Classic environment is what enables your OS X machine to automatically launch OS 9 applications. Using the CLASSIC pane, you can start, stop, and re-launch Classic as well as set it to launch automatically when you turn on your Mac. Using the ADVANCED tab, you can turn the OS 9 Extensions on and off, define how long it is before Classic goes to sleep when inactive, and if the Classic environment ever starts acting flaky for you, the first step is to click once on the REBUILD DESKTOP button. |
|
The DATE & TIME pane allows you to set your Mac's clock - time of day, date, and time zone. Additionally, using the MENU BAR CLOCK, you can display the clock on the menu as well as how it is viewed (as text or icon, with seconds, with AM or PM etc.) |
|
SOFTWARE UPDATE checks for new and updated versions of your Apple provided software. After you install OS X, on the first startup, Software Update should run automatically. Afterwards, you can schedule your software updates to run automatically or manually. Click this link for more instructions on the Software Updater. |
|
The SPEECH pane allows you to control all aspects of your Mac's ability to speak to you, and you to it. |
|
The STARTUP DISK pane lets you choose between starting up you Mac in OS X or in OS 9. |
|
The UNIVERSAL ACCESS features are primarily for people who have difficulties typing or using a mouse. The best resource for the features available here is the System Prefs Help available from the HELP menu. Once Help is displayed, type Universal Access into the edit bar at the top of the window, and click once on the ASK button. |
Here are links to more OS X tutorials: