we want to help you get more from your
Mac OS computer with these tips for
customizing your settings we'll show you
how to find settings quickly and adjust
them to make your computer work better
for you and if you share a Mac with
others you'll learn how you can each
personalize your preferences to suit
your needs you can find the system
preferences either on the dock or in the
Apple menu the options are grouped into
categories in the first row you'll find
settings to control the appearance and
functions of your desktop and
application windows you can set up and
customize items like your keyboard and
your mouse or trackpad with these
settings here you can change your
internet related settings finally you'll
find options to add new users and
address those with specific needs
you can click any icon to get more
detailed options here you can choose
colors for your desktop and windows and
change your default web browser to
return to the main menu select the grid
button if you're unsure where to find a
setting the search feature is a great
help maybe you want to backup your files
as you start typing a list of possible
matches will appear possible locations
will light up as you type and help you
narrow down your search if you see what
you're looking for
select it from the search results the
setting will open automatically let's go
up to the grid button to take a closer
look at the other settings options if
you're just getting started with your
computer some of the default settings
may not work well for you you may want
to customize items like your keyboard
and mouse or trackpad depending upon
what your computer has in this case
we'll choose Mouse here you can change
the direction of scrolling natural
scrolling as shown in the video insert
is the default but you may be more
customed to the reverse direction below
it secondary click or right click is not
checked by default selecting this will
enable right-clicking if you like you
can also adjust your mouse tracking
speed to make it faster or slower
with some settings you will need an
administrator password to make changes
for example under users and groups some
options will be grayed out clicking the
lock icon will prompt you to enter your
administrator password
this lock will stay open until you close
the system preferences you can add new
users by clicking the plus sign or
select a user to make changes to their
settings any user who knows an
administrator password can make changes
to all the user settings so you may want
to restrict who has access to an admin
password while we're here you may
consider choosing login items these are
applications that will open each time
you log into your account this may be a
great option for a couple of apps you
use every day however you may want to be
careful not to add too many apps to the
list since it can take them a while to
open each time you log in if you have
children using this computer you may
want to enable parental controls
let's click the grid icon and choose
parental controls from the menu again
you will be prompted to enter an admin
password then choose a user name from
the list
you have the option to limit which
applications can be used in the web
preferences you can limit web browsing
and even choose specific websites to
allow under the time tab you have
options for setting time limits for your
child as well now let's click the grid
icon to check out accessibility
Mac OS gives you many options to make it
easier for you to work on your computer
if you prefer to listen to text instead
of reading it you can enable this under
speech here you can select how you want
the voice to sound and even use shortcut
keys to enable it if you would like to
talk to your computer instead of typing
you can do this under dictation you can
get more details under open dictation
preferences if you have connected an
external hard drive to backup your files
you will need to set it up using time
machine when you connect the drive you
may see a dialog box asking you if you
want to use it to backup your computer
if you don't see it you can go to time
machine
where you can add the disk manually by
going to select disk
while system preferences controls
most of your computer's preferences it
doesn't change settings for applications
if you want to make changes to a
specific application you'll need to go
into the applications preferences for
example in Safari you can click the
Safari menu and then preferences to
change your settings just for this app
as you change your settings keep in mind
that they will only affect the current
user account if you have more than one
user on your computer each person can
separately adjust their settings and
customize them to their unique needs
now that you know the basics of
customizing your settings we invite you
to explore the system preferences for
yourself so you can personalize your Mac
OS experience
GCF global creating opportunities for a
better life