101 really useful tips for Mac beginners

No matter how long you've been using a Mac for there's always more to learn and useful tips to discover.

Whether it's realising that you can find a folder much quicker by using Finder's Go To Folder option or that you can turn iCal into a nifty little radio alarm clock that will play your favourite tunes to wake you up.

It's these hidden gems that make owning a Mac such a glorious experience. So, here we've gathered together what we think are the best-ever 101 Mac hints and tips to help you get more from OS X as well as all the applications you use on a daily basis such as Mail, Safari and, of course, Finder.

On each page we've selected a particular tip that's deserving of our Top Tip award, so look out for them.

So, without further ado, let's get started.

• 15 Terminal commands to supercharge OS X

01. Change Desktop Background

Right-click the Desktop and choose Change Desktop Background to choose from the images supplied by Apple.

If you'd rather use an image of your own, your iPhoto Albums are listed too, or click the + sign below to browse for an image in any of the common file formats, including Photoshop PSD as well as the more obvious JPEG, PNG, TIFF and GIF.

Use the Change Picture option to make the background change over time; you get a smooth transition between images. All the images you save into the selected folder will be used. Your choices are previewed live on the Desktop.

02. Change window background

You can also change the background of a window. In any Finder window, press Cmd+1 to view as icons, then Cmd+J to show View Options.

At the foot of the options panel, Background is set to White by default. Switch to Color and click the swatch that appears, to pick a colour, or choose Picture and click Select… to browse for an image.

By default, this takes you to Library > Desktop Pictures, so you can choose from the same images provided as Desktop Backgrounds, but you can navigate to any image file. The image won't scale or tile, so ideally pick one as big as your screen resolution.

03. Tweak screen furniture

Open System Preferences (the cogwheel icon in your Dock) and click Appearance to change aspects of your Mac's user interface.

The first option just lets you choose between blue or grey for buttons, tick boxes and drop-down menus.

Change the Highlight Color, used when selecting text, if you don't find the default pale blue very clear. You can alter the way scroll bars work, handy if you're accustomed to an earlier version of Mac OS X or Windows.

Use smooth scrolling means that when you click within a scroll bar to jump up or down, the window will roll to that point rather than switching instantly.

04. Adjust Exposé controls

Exposé helps you find the right window among all the applications you may have open. It's activated by shortcut keys and/or moving the mouse pointer to corners of the screen – control this in the Exposé & Spaces pane of System Preferences.

Exposé was originally assigned to keys F9 to F11, but newer Apple keyboards use F3. Press this to reduce all open windows side by side, then click one or press F3 to cancel.

Hold Cmd with F3 to sweep all windows away, revealing the Desktop. Hold Ctrl to see only windows belonging to the current app. Add the Shift key to do the same but slower.

05. Label tool bar

If you can't remember what all those toolbar icons actually do, help is at hand. Hover over one to pop up a tip describing it, or right-click the toolbar and choose Icon & Text to have each button labelled.

06. Choose Desktop items

Occasionally you will find some options that you might have expected to find in System Preferences are actually tucked away in Finder's Preferences.

These are accessed from the Finder menu (every Mac application normally has its Preferences on this menu, next to the Apple menu, which always bears the name of the app) or by pressing Cmd+,.

In the General pane, you can opt to show icons for any connected network servers on the Desktop, or declutter your Desktop by removing the icons that normally represent your hard disk and any CDs, DVDs and iPods (note that these can still be accessed from any Finder window).

07. Configure Spaces

For those of you who like to multitask Mac OS X's incredibly handy Spaces feature gives you several Desktops to work on.

Hold down the Ctrl key and press the cursor keys to move between Spaces, which is shown on-screen as a neat grid of six boxes. If you wish you can have more or fewer Spaces: go the Exposé & Spaces pane of System Preferences and click the Spaces tab, then click to add or remove rows and columns until you're satisfied.

Here you can also preset which space an application will launch in. However, note that different windows belonging to the same application can be situated in different Spaces.

Click a window's title bar and hold the mouse button while pressing Ctrl and a cursor key to move it over to another Spaces box.

08. Customise Dock shortcuts

Items at the right of the Dock, such as the Applications and Downloads folders, are represented by the icon of the last item added. For a more descriptive generic icon, right-click the item and switch from Stack to Folder.

When you click one of these items, its contents pop out in a fan if there are only a few files and folders: click one to open it, or drag it to a folder to move it.

If there's more to show, you get a grid of icons filling as much of the screen as is needed. You can force either of these arrangements or choose a plain list instead, also on the right-click menu.

09. Repair preference files

A common cause of odd behaviour in Mac OS X is corrupted preference files. Try repairing them. Open Disk Utility (in Applications > Utilities), then select your main hard disk in the list on the left.

In the First Aid tab of the main pane on the right, click Repair Disk Permissions. If you're having serious issues with the system, you can also click Verify Disk to check your hard disk for problems, which again can often be fixed if found.

10. Customise key shortcuts

Many of the keyboard shortcuts built into Mac OS X are listed in the Keyboard & Mouse pane of System Preferences, under Keyboard Shortcuts. You can also change them here to whatever you'd like.

11. Open Preferences quickly

Hold Option and press any of the function keys that show a system function symbol to open the relevant pane of System Preferences. For example, Option+F1 or F2 (brightness) opens the Display preferences pane.

12. Change alert sound

In the Sound pane of System Preferences, you can choose which sound is played when the system gives you an alert. Or use any sound file of your choice: full instructions are available here.

13. Activate function keys

The F keys on a Mac don't work as function keys by default; they have dedicated purposes, such as adjusting volume. To use them as function keys, hold the fn key. You can reverse this in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard.

14. Stop the squeeze

Apple's Mighty Mouse has pads either side that, when squeezed, activate Button 4, which triggers Exposé. Many users find they do this by accident. Turn it off in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Mouse.

15. Customise the Dock

By default, the Dock pops up from the foot of the screen when you move the mouse there. Change its size, position and behaviour in System Preferences > Dock. Magnification refers to the way icons get bigger as you mouse over them.

16. Show thumbnail icons

Every file and folder has its own icon in Finder. For most files it's usually a generic icon indicating its file type, but for pictures it can be a more useful thumbnail image.

You can turn this on or off by pressing Cmd+J in a Finder window, and this will show its View Options.

These vary for each of the four views: Icons, List, Column or Cover Flow; switch between them by holding Cmd and pressing the number keys 1-4 (you can still do this with the options pane open). For each view, tick Show icon preview. To apply this to all windows, click Use as Defaults.

17. Custom windows

To change what appears in the Sidebar at the left of every Finder window – for example, to remove things you don't use – choose Preferences from the Finder menu and click the Sidebar tab.

18. Add to Dock

You can add anything to your Dock. Drag program icons onto the left-hand end, or if a program is already running, right-click it in the Dock and choose Keep in Dock. Drag commonly used files or folders onto the right-hand end.

19. Customise window toolbar

The toolbar at the top of each Finder window shows a few handy options, but can include many more. Right-click it and choose Customize Toolbar to add buttons. Cmd+drag to remove them.

20. Create custom icons

To create your own icon for a file or folder, open any image in the Preview app. Use the Selection tool to draw around the area you want, then press Cmd+C to copy it.

Now go to Finder, select the file or folder you want to customise, and press Cmd+I (Get Info). Click the small icon in the top-left corner, so that it shows a blue outline, then press Cmd+V to paste your copied selection.

The only catch is that the icon lacks a mask, so you won't be able to click the thumbnail to select the item, you have to click on its name instead.