7 Mac OS Customizations You Should Try
When I used to own a PC I can remember having the erase my hard drive and reinstall my operating system on more than one occasion. This is something I really haven't had to give much thought to after switching to Apple. I've had the same user profile on my current machine since I bought it in 2012. Recently I formatted my hard drive and started over. After I did I noticed some customizations that I did once and never gave a second thought. I'm sharing my top seven customizations in the hopes that someone else might find them useful.
1. Scroll direction
Apparently I'm unnatural, at least according to my mac. To scroll down on a website I prefer to drag two fingers down, not up. You can easily change your scroll direction by clicking the apple logo in the upper left hand corner and opening System Preferences. Select trackpad and from there, select the scroll and zoom tab. Now uncheck the first box.
2. Right Click on a trackpad
If you're tired to having to use two fingers to right click on your mac, change your track pad settings. Under the same trackpad menu click the Point & Click tab. Under the Secondary Click area choose Click in bottom right corner.
3. Default view in Finder
By default a new Finder window will open to All your Files. You can easily change this to any location you wish. Simply open Finder, click Finder > Preferences and choose from the dropdown menu where it says New Finder windows show. I set my to my desktop since it's where I usually drop all the files I'm currently working on.
4. Staying with finder, customize the ribbon
You may want to add some helpful shortcuts to your finder ribbon such as get file information or delete file. You can easily customize your toolbar to your liking. Open up A new Finder window then select View > Customize Toolbar. Add or remove whatever elements you like.
5. Change your default apps.
If you're like me you try to avoid using many of the built in mac applications. I prefer Chrome over Safari, VLC over Quicktime, and Swinsian over iTunes. It is easy to change your default programs. Find a file type you would like to change, in my example lets use an mp3.
6. Using the Mail App
If you set up your email with the Mail application, you may feel overwhelmed with the massive amount of unread junk mail. Turn off the notifications by simply going to your System Preferences > Notifications and choosing Mail from the list. Now uncheck the box for Badge app icon.
7. Don't be afraid to pay for software
Don't be afraid to seek out alternative programs. There are all sorts of free and low-cost options out there. If you find one that works particularly well for you feel free to share it in the comments section.
I hope you've find this useful. If you have your own customizations I'd love to hear about them.
