Newbie Questions MBP 13" i5

Greetings,

Am I right in assuming the desktop icons are not the same as Windows, meaning I downloaded Flash, then tried to put desktop icon into trash and it said eject, and wasn't actually in the bin at all? So presume it wasn't the icon short cut, but the programme itself?

Essentially yes. That was a disk image which is kind of like a virtual hard drive. When you drag a hard drive to the trash it changes to that ejection symbol.

Secondly, am struggling to read the screen at the moment because it's tiny in Safari, Earlier I touched something and it became larger but it's gone to small again and can barely read what I'm writing

Go to the "View" menu > Zoom. Choosing actual size will normalize the view and you can zoom in and out from there.

The 'Caps on' key should show green light when down yes, it is intermittent and not a positive hit, takes a few hits to come on, Normal or?

The Caps lock key on the left hand side of the keyboard should remain green once you press the key. Press again to turn it off.

How should you set the Firewall, and other security settings, Thought the firewall would auto be set to on when new, but all off, including FireVault etc..Please advise how they should be set when on net etc, and other security settings?

Firewall is a personal choice. Most modern routers have a built in firewall so having the additional firewall may be unnecessary. But it does no harm. Keep in mind that if certain non-apple programs stop being able to access the Internet you may wish to turn the firewall off.

Is there any Word processing/Word type progs on here or it is all stuff to be bought?

The computer has "Text Edit" on it which is a basic wordprocessor. It will also open and edit and create Word documents if you need. You can of course purchase Word for Mac or Pages.

Any initial long charge or just when it's green?

Green means the battery is charged. For battery care and maintenance review this site: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Last question, for setting up email, so it downloads on my iphone as well as on here for my work email, which setting do you use so it doesn't not come in to one or the other after it's been opened on here or the phone? If that makes sense. I want it to go to this and phone after it's already come in to this and phone? Sorry if that makes no sense whatsoever

If the email account you are using is IMAP then messages come into all devices you've set up with that account. However if you read the message on one device it should also show up as read on the other. If you are using IMAP and you don't want messages to appear on your phone once you have accessed them on the computer (which honestly doesn't make sense to me as I'd want full access to all my messages on all devices) then you can drag those messages into a Mailbox in the Mail application on the Mac. Review this article for more information on configuring Mail: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2500

If you have a specific goal of what you want your email to do, please indicate whether you have an IMAP or POP email account and what you want to see happen on both devices.

Hope that information helps.

Am I right in assuming the desktop icons are not the same as Windows, meaning I downloaded Flash, then tried to put desktop icon into trash and it said eject, and wasn't actually in the bin at all? So presume it wasn't the icon short cut, but the programme itself?

When you download an app, you get a DMG file. When you open it, your Mac treat it as an inserted disk. Inside that disk, you find sometimes the installator, in PKG format, or usually just the app, that you have to drag to your applications folder in order to keep it. After that, you close the finder window and you EJECT the Disk. That's why you are not seeing anything in the trash, as it is a virtual disk. After this, you need also to delete the original DMG file that ou downloaded.

Secondly, am struggling to read the screen at the moment because it's tiny in Safari, Earlier I touched something and it became larger but it's gone to small again and can barely read what I'm writing

Just pinch in using the trackpad to zoom in. Pinch out you zoom out.

The 'Caps on' key should show green light when down yes, it is intermittent and not a positive hit, takes a few hits to come on, Normal or?

You need to press it harder tahn the other keys in order to activate it. It is set as this to prevent accidental activation of Cap Locks.

How should you set the Firewall, and other security settings, Thought the firewall would auto be set to on when new, but all off, including FireVault etc..Please advise how they should be set when on net etc, and other security settings?

Just turn on the Firewall if you like in System Preferences -> Security

Filevault protects your home folder. If you're concerned about your privacy turn it on.

Also, open safari, open its preferences and deactivate Open safe” files after downloading". This will ensure you don't open automatically the Mac defender Malware that has recently appeared.

Is there any Word processing/Word type progs on here or it is all stuff to be bought?

You have by default TextEdit that is like a NotePad. If you want something like Word, you will need to buy Office for Mac or iWord. Youc an also use something free like OpenOffice.

Any initial long charge or just when it's green?

Just be sure to calibrate your battery within the first days of use. After that, do it every 1 or 2 months

Last question, for setting up email, so it downloads on my iphone as well as on here for my work email, which setting do you use so it doesn't not come in to one or the other after it's been opened on here or the phone? If that makes sense. I want it to go to this and phone after it's already come in to this and phone? Sorry if that makes no sense whatsoever

Sorry, I don't understand you.

I just want the emails to come to phone and MBP regardless if it's been opened on the other, so guessing that should be IMAP?

Yeah, it's IMAP

It's taken 2 hour to get 10 new updates but is still coming up for more updates now too, Also on one restart on install it made a loud buzz not the same as the start up 'note'. Is that normal too?

If it's everything working as supposed then is it normal, I guess.

My old windows Word docs should be readable on here?

Yes. For best compatibility, buy Office for Mac

Is it worth replacing for a slightly dodgy Caps lock or live with it?

You just need to press them harder.

Preview opens your images and PDFs.

The thing in the bottom of the screen is called the Dock. I recommend dragging out the icons of the apps you don't use. Note that this will NOT delete the apps, but the shortcut in the Dock. After that, open your applications folder and drag to the Dock the apps that you find convenient having in the Dock

By the way, consider marking the answers as helpful or correct. Is the least you can do after asking too many questions 😉

When I click about this Mac, where does it say 320 0r 500 etc, and how do you know if it's Leopard, Snow Leopard etc? Where is the info, Just shows me processor in the lists, but where do you see how much space you have left etc?

Apple Menu > About this mac shows you the OS version. 10.6.x would be Snow Leopard. 10.5.x would be Leopard.

For information on the available disk space click here.

If you are having to press the caps lock key multiple times to get it to turn on and off and this is a new computer, you should get it fixed IMO:

Make an appointment: http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/

or

Call Apple: http://www.apple.com/uk/contact/

Forgive naff questions, first day with a Mac etc... but do I really have to sign in to Mobile Me just to tell me how much disk space I have on my Mac as that's what it's asking me? Bit strange.ç

Heck no! Just Ctrl-Click de Macintosh HD icon on your dektop and choose "Get Information". A window will pop up with all the information about the hard drive.

Is it normal after a first charge to get a battery time reading fluctuate so much from 9 hours to 6 hours to 7 hours to 5 hours during 99% to 91% within half hour or so? Today turned on this morning again and it's been saying, 3 hours, 5 hours, 4 hours, back to 3 hours up to 5 hours within a half hour. How accurate do these readings get, if at all? Do you get a 5 hour jump to 30 minutes?

The estimated time isn't really accurate. That's because it calculates the time according to what you're doing. If you are encoding a DVD, it will says you that you have 2-3 hours, while if you are just playing a song in iTunes it will says you you have 6-7 hours left (all this assuming your battery is fully charged).

First charge so no idea what to expect. When does a warning come up to tell you when to plug charger in during the cycle, or doesn't it? Just wondered if this is the norm for the battery time to be so unstable?

At nearly 5-10 porcentaje ypu get the warning. Make sure to calibrate the battery by following these steps.

Greetings,

Sounds like one or more of the settings for your email account is not correct. Perhaps a port or authentication. The only people that would know for sure what the settings SHOULD be would be those that run your email server. If this is a work email address contact whomever handles IT for your company. Email / print this form out and ask the tech person for the answers to all the items on the sheet. Then you'll have the information needed to figure out what setting needs to be changed so Mail can successfully talk to your servers: http://support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/HT1277/What-to-ask.pdf

Feel free to delete any messages you don't want. Whatever you are seeing is coming from the email server.

If you see a folder called "Spam" and you didn't add it by hand, its coming from the server and has been copied down to the mail program. Sounds like your email account is an IMAP account (which explains where these extras are coming from) as POP does not store folders on the server. Mail uses the term "Junk" rather than "spam" and yes they are about the same.

Cheers!