Mac for Seniors

1 Your first step is to choose your territory, that is, where you live and will be using your Mac. You can scroll the list of countries up and down to find your own, or start to type it to get there quicker. Click your country to highlight your choice, then click Continue. 2 Now select your language and input source. The default ones for your chosen territory are offered, but if you want to change them, click Customise Settings and set the language your Mac uses and the keyboard layout to suit your needs. 3 Now choose your Wi-Fi network. Scroll up and down the list until you find your router’s SSID (service set identifier) and click on it. Enter the password in the field provided and move on.…

First, restart your Mac whilst holding down CMD and R; keep them held until you see the Apple logo, then let go of the keys. The Mac continues to boot, but instead of the regular desktop, a window appears showing four options as seen here. On the next screen, the Format pull-down menu should read APFS if it’s available or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if it isn’t. Select the appropriate option and click Erase to wipe your boot drive. When it’s finished, click Done, then quit Disk Utility (CMD-Q). From the window, select Disk Utility (the bottom of the four options) and click Continue. Select your startup disk (called Macintosh HD by default) and in the toolbar at the top of the Disk Utilities window, click the Erase icon to…

Siri. Siri is Apple’s personal digital assistant and you can use it on your Mac. Just click on this icon and a Siri window opens. See the Siri tutorial for more information on how to use this feature. Date, Time, Notifications & Widgets. Click on the time here and to open the Notifications and Widgets sidebar. If you go into System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar and click the Clock option in the sidebar, you can set how the date and time are displayed here.…

Connected Mac 1 Make sure that your Mac is within range of your wireless router’s Wi-Fi signal, then click on the Command Centre icon in the upper-right of the desktop (next to Siri). If the Wi-Fi is indicating it’s off, click the icon to switch it on. 2 Within the Wi-Fi icon you’ll see the option for Other Networks, click this to list the currently scanned and available Wi-Fi networks. Click your Wi-Fi network and enter your access password. Consult your router/ISP for the Wi-Fi password. 3 Ensure that the Remember this network option is ticked, so you don’t have to keep entering the password every time you boot your Mac. When the Wi-Fi is connected, you’ll notice the radar-like icon on the menu bar at the top of the…

Once you’ve set up your router according to the instructions supplied with the device, getting online using Ethernet is relatively easy. First of all, you need a cable that looks like this. There should be at least one supplied with your router. Plug one end of the cable into your Mac and the other end into one of the router’s Ethernet ports: it doesn’t matter which one. If your Mac doesn’t have an Ethernet port, you need an adapter. You can get one online or from an Apple Store. If your router isn’t close enough to your Mac to support a cabled connection, consider using Home Plug AV instead. This uses your household electrical wiring to send data. Ask at your local computer store about a Home Plug AV starter…

The Apple Menu Contextual Menu Files and folders have a Contextual Menu that you can access by right-clicking or CTRL-clicking on the item. This menu gives you a range of options, including renaming the file, move it to trash, duplicate or copy it, share it using the macOS Share options discussed later in the book and more. The Get Info option brings up a useful information window. Application Menus Each application has its own unique set of menus located next to the Apple menu. They will change when an application is active and will revert back to the Finder menu when no apps are active. Each is clearly labelled to make it easier. We’ll add specific details for application menus when we look into the applications themselves later.…