BUTTONS ON THE DOCK

OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.X)

Note: The Dock is the Button Bar at the bottom of the screen. (The Dock can be moved to the left or right edge of the screen if you wish. Go to System Preferences, then click on Dock.)

Note 2: You may have more buttons on the Dock than those that are mentioned below. (If you want to remove a button that you don’t need, just click & drag it off the Dock.)

From left to right (the buttons may be in a different order on your Mac):

Finder = Apple Smiley Face = shows you what’s on your computer, hard drive, DVD Drive, desktop and so on. The Finder is the most important program on the computer, because it allows you to double-click on icons on the desktop, find your files and programs, click on buttons on the Dock, etc.

App Store = a stylized “A” = click on this button to go to Apple’s App Store where you can easily download and install small programs, such as Yelp (the restaurant and other business review app), Weather.com (for weather info all over the world), eBay (to quickly check your items for sale on eBay), etc.

Dashboard = black speedometer-type dial = shows you the calculator, clock, calendar and other handy programs. (Press down on the wheel button on the mouse, if you have a wheel button on your mouse, to bring up these items. Press the wheel button again to make them go away.)

Mail = a postage stamp = the Apple Mail e-mail program. This is the built-in e-mail program.

Safari = a compass dial = this is the built-in web browser for going to web sites, such as MSNBC.com or youtube.com.

iChat = a video camera pointing right inside a blue "call-out" bubble = this program allows you to chat with other people or make video calls to another person.

Address Book =  a brown book with small colored tabs on the right edge = the main address book for your Apple Mail e-mail program.

iCal = the calendar program = type your appointments; the computer will beep and display a warning on the screen when it’s time for that appointment.

Preview = two small photographs, one on top of the other = used to look at photos and Adobe Reader documents (i.e., .PDF files, including invoices, tax return forms, manuals and so on).

iTunes = a picture of a CD with a musical note on it = play audio CDs, transfer songs on audio CDs to your computer and iPod, iPad or iPhone, buy songs online, buy video clips and movies online, buy small programs and games for your iPhone online.

Photo Booth = a picture of a photo booth = you can take pictures or videos of yourself using the built-in camera on your Mac and send them to someone else using this program.

iPhoto = a picture of a tropical scene and a digital camera = this is a great program for editing pictures, downloading pictures from your Digital Camera, e-mailing pictures, burning a CD of your pictures, etc.

iMovie = a picture of a star with a film or video camera in the middle = download video from your camcorder or from the Internet and edit the video.

Garage Band = a picture of a electric guitar = play with a hand-picked virtual band on a virtual stage, turn your Mac into a recording studio.

Spaces = a rectangle divided into four equal windows = you can have four different windows, each with a different group of desktop icons or a different program open and then scroll through the windows.

Time Machine = a green clock with a curved, counterclockwise arrow = this is your backup program. Time Machine makes it really easy to restore a file that you accidentally deleted. You can go back  in time and see and restore many  different versions of a document or file saved over many days, weeks or months.

System Preferences = a gray button with a picture of a gear on it = change the background picture, install a new printer, change the font you see on the screen, change the date & time, etc. Just about everything on the computer is customizable with System Preferences.

Applications = a blue folder with an “A” on it = this folder contains all of your applications such as Dashboard, Skype, AOL Desktop 9.6, iTunes, iPhoto, etc.

Documents = a blue folder = this is your Documents folder. Documents you create in Microsoft Word and many other programs will usually automatically be saved in this folder. (Actually, this is a shortcut to the Documents folder. You will see just some of the documents in the Documents folder if you click on this button, arranged in a curved vertical “stack.”)

Downloads = a document with “PDF” on it  = files and attachments that you download from the Internet, such as printer software, will normally go in this folder. If you click on this folder, you will see some of the files you have downloaded arranged in a “stack.”

Trash = a metal trash basket = this is where your deleted items go. They are recoverable by right-clicking on them and clicking on Restore… if you have a mouse that has a right button (or you can just click & drag the item to the surrounding desktop).

You may also have a button for a, for example, HP Officejet Pro 8600 or whatever your printer is (this button will be near the System Preference button on the right end of the Dock). This button will allow you to cancel a print job, or check the ink levels in your ink cartridges and so on.