Mac Start menu?

Question

Level 1

10 points

Mac Start menu?

I just bought my first ever Mac (MacBook) yesterday after my Dell laptop randomly decided to crash. After just 6 hours of playing around with it, I already feel very comfortable with it and will never again buy a Windows machine.

One thing I was curious about though, is there anything on Mac that would be similar to the Windows Start menu? I don't want every single program that's installed on my Mac to be on the dock, yet I don't know if I like having to go into Macintosh HD every time I want to open something that ISN'T on the dock.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Jun 18, 2007 5:08 AM

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Answer 1

First Magus

Level 7

21,299 points

Jun 18, 2007 5:18 AM in response to linxsay

Yes just open finder and in the left hand window is a folder named applications. That is where all the apps are at.

Mort

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Answer 2

Jun 18, 2007 9:10 AM in response to SpacedDaisy

Alternatively, drag the application folder to the dock (it should drag to the right of the line between yours apps and the trashcan in the dock).

If you have the entire applications folder there, a right click will open up a contextual menu above for clicking of apps and leave your dock a little less populated when not running the apps.

Cheers.

If I want to get to apps quickly, I just click once on the finder in the dock which should pop up a finder window and then click on applications in the sidebar. super quick.

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Answer 3

Jun 18, 2007 1:41 PM in response to linxsay

Actually what you want to do is download a copy of Quicksilver. You can locate this free software here:
http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

It will allow you to hit CTRL + Spacebar and start typing the first few letters of the App you want to use. Then just hit enter to launch it.

This is also available in Spotlight but Quicksilver is much better at doing this.

Enjoy!

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Answer 4

Jun 19, 2007 2:06 AM in response to linxsay

The super-duper fast way to get to your applications is to:
1) Press Cmd+tab and select the Finder
2) Press Shift CmdA

Your Applications folder is now up and it took all of 2 seconds. Oh, and if you want your Utilities instead, replace the A with a U in the above steps.

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Answer 5

Faulty486

Level 2

475 points

Jun 18, 2007 2:43 PM in response to linxsay

Another convenient place to put "shortcuts" to your most used apps is the title bar area of the Finder window. You can drag an app to the area to the right of "Action", and it becomes a shortcut like in the Dock.

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Answer 6

Thom F.

Level 2

372 points

Jun 19, 2007 4:01 AM in response to linxsay

I use a program called TigerLaunch. You can do a search for it on versiontracker.com. It puts an icon in your menu bar and then you just load it with the apps you use most. Click on the icon, the list comes up, click on the app you want and it opens. Pretty easy. Of course, as someone else had already mentioned, you can put your App folder in the dock as well. Lots of easy solutions. Find one that works best for you.

Thom

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Answer 7

Jun 18, 2007 6:37 AM in response to linxsay

Just put the programs you use most on your dock, and whenever you need to use the other programs, find it on your HD.

Drag & drop out to remove it from the dock, drag & drop a program on it from your applications folder to put it on there.

You can also have shortcuts on the desktop if that'll help.

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Answer 8

linxsay Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 18, 2007 9:15 PM in response to linxsay

Wow. Thanks for all the great input. I'll try the suggestions and see what works best for me =)

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