Chapter 2
Life! Give My iMac Life!
IN THIS CHAPTER
Turning on your iMac
Checking your iMac for proper operation
Setting up macOS Monterey
Registering your iMac
Using Migration Assistant
Copying information from a Windows PC
If you’ve already been through Chapter 1, you got as far as unpacking your iMac and connecting at least one cable to it. And unless you bought this computer solely as a work of modern art, it’s time to actually turn on your iMac and begin living The Good iLife. (Plus you still get to admire that Apple design whilst using TV.) After you get your new beauty powered on, I help you here with an initial checkup on your iMac’s health.
I also familiarize you with the initial chores that you need to complete — such as using macOS Setup as well as moving the data and settings from your existing computer to your iMac — before you settle in with your favorite applications.
In this chapter, I assume that macOS Monterey (version 12) was preinstalled on your iMac or that you just completed an upgrade to Monterey. (If you’re upgrading, your iMac is already turned on — and you can skip the next section!)
Throwing the Big Leaf Switch
Your iMac’s power switch is located on the back of the computer, at the lower-left corner of the case (as you look at the screen). Press it now to turn on your iMac, and you hear the pleasant startup tone that’s been a hallmark of Apple computers for many years now. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t immediately see anything onscreen because it takes a few seconds for the initial Apple logo to appear.
In my experience, a simple, quick press of the power button on some iMacs sometimes just doesn’t do it. Instead, you actually have to hold down the button for a count of two or so before the computer turns on.
While the Apple logo appears, you see the familiar “moving bar” progress indicator appear. That’s the sign that your iMac is loading Monterey. Sometimes the bar can take a bit to disappear. As long as it’s moving, though, something good is happening — after all, Monterey has to load file sharing, networking, and printing components (and such).
At last, your patience of a whole 5 to 10 seconds is rewarded, and you see the Monterey Setup Assistant appear.
Mark’s Favorite Signs of a Healthy iMac
Before you jump into the fun stuff, don’t forget an important step: a quick preliminary check to make sure that your iMac survived shipment intact and happy. Although the shipping box that Apple uses for the iMac series is one of the best I’ve ever encountered in 40 years of swapping computer hardware, your computer could still have met with foul play from its shipping travels.
If you can answer yes to each of these questions, your iMac likely made the trip without serious damage:
Does the computer’s chassis appear undamaged?
It’s pretty easy to spot damage to your iMac’s svelte metal and glass design. Look for scratches, puncture damage, and misalignment of the screen.
Does the LED screen work, and is it undamaged?
I’m talking about obvious scratches or puncture damage to your screen. Additionally, you should check whether any individual dots (or pixels) on your LED monitor are obviously malfunctioning. Bad pixels either appear black or in a different color from everything surrounding them.
Techs call these irritating anarchists dead pixels. Unfortunately, many new LED screens include one or two. After all, even the standard 21.5” Intel iMac screen sports more than 1 million pixels.Can you feel a flow of air from the vent on the back (or the bottom)?
Your iMac’s processor, internal drive, and power supply generate quite a bit of heat, so the fan system never turns off completely. If you don’t feel warm air from the fan system after your iMac has been on for an hour or two, you might have a problem.
Do the keyboard and mouse work?
Check your iMac’s Bluetooth connection by moving the mouse (or running your finger across the trackpad); the cursor should move on your screen. To check the keyboard, press the Caps Lock key and observe whether the Caps Lock light turns on and off. (Don’t forget to check for good batteries in all your wireless input devices and make sure they’re turned on.)
If your iMac reports that there’s no Bluetooth keyboard, mouse, or trackpad present, remember that you can always connect a standard Mac USB keyboard and pointing device to help you troubleshoot the problem. You’ll find information on connecting (or pairing) Bluetooth accessories in the Bluetooth Bonus Chapter, available at www.dummies.comand my website,www.mlcbooks.com.
If you do notice a problem with your iMac (and you can still use your Safari browser and reach the web), you can make the connection to an Apple support technician at www.apple.com. If your iMac is lying on its back with its foot in the air and you can’t get to the Internet, you can check your phone book for a local Apple service center, or call the AppleCare toll-free number at (800) 275-2273. Chapter 20 also offers troubleshooting information.
Harriet, It’s Already Asking Me Questions!
After your iMac is running and you’ve given it the once-over for obvious shipping damage, your next chore is to set up your iMac. Unlike most other tasks in this book, I don’t cover the setup process step by step. Apple “tweaks” the questions that you see during setup on a regular basis, and the questions are really very easy to answer. Everything is explained onscreen, complete with onscreen Help if you need it.
However, I do want you to know what to expect as well as what information you need to have at hand. I also want you to know about support opportunities, such as the AppleCare Protection Plan and Apple’s iCloud Internet services — hence, this section. Consider it a study guide for whatever your iMac’s setup procedure has to throw at you.
Setting up macOS Monterey
After you start your iMac for the first time — or if you just upgraded from an earlier version of macOS — your iMac will likely automatically launch the Monterey setup procedure. The setup process takes care of several tasks:
Setup provides Monterey your personal information.
As I mention in Chapter 1, your iMac ships with a bathtub full of applications, and many of those use your personal data (like your address and telephone number) to automatically fill out your documents.
Apple has recently strengthened its efforts to guard your privacy online. If personal stored information starts you worrying about identity theft, I congratulate you. If you’re using your common sense, it should. However, Apple doesn’t disseminate this information anywhere else, and the applications that use your personal data won’t send it anywhere, either. And the Safari web browser fills out forms on a web page automatically only if you give your permission — and security-conscious iMac owners like me prefer to enter things manually. I applaud Apple’s decades-long commitment to privacy and security, and I trust them with my personal data.Setup configures your language and keyboard choices.
macOS Monterey is a truly international operating system, so Setup offers you a chance to configure your iMac to use a specific language and keyboard layout.
Setup configures your email accounts within Apple Mail.
If you already have an email account set up with your Internet service provider (ISP), keep that email account information handy to answer these questions. (The list should include the incoming POP3/IMAP and outgoing SMTP mail servers you’ll be using, your email address, and your login name and password. Don’t worry about those crazy acronyms, though, because your ISP will know exactly what you mean when you ask for this information.) Monterey can even automatically configure many email accounts for you — including web-based services such as Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail, and AOL Mail — if you supply your account ID and password. Sweet.
Setup allows you to sign up for an iCloud ID and Apple’s iCloud service.
iCloud makes it easy to share data automatically between your iMac and devices like an iPhone or iPad, along with Apple email accounts (through both web mail and the Apple Mail application). I go into all these in more detail in Chapter 9. For now, just create your iCloud ID (also often called an Apple ID), sign up for iCloud, and take the opportunity to feel smug about owning an Apple computer.
Setup sends your registration information to Apple.
As a proud owner of an iMac, take advantage of the year of hardware warranty support and the free 90 days of telephone support. You have to register to use ’em, but rest assured that all this info is confidential.
Setup launches Migration Assistant.
This assistant guides you through the process of migrating (an engineer’s term for copying) your existing user data from your old Mac or PC to your new iMac. Naturally, if your iMac is your first computer, you can skip this step with a song in your heart! (Read more on Migration Assistant in the section “Importing Documents and Data from Your Old Mac.”)
Registering your iMac
I’ll be honest here: I know that many of us (myself included) don’t register every piece of computer hardware we buy. However, your iMac is a different kettle of fish, and I strongly recommend that you register your purchase with Apple during the setup process. You spent a fair amount of moolah on your computer, and it’s an investment with a significant number of moving parts.
Even the hardiest of techno-wizards would agree with this important Mark’s Maxim:
If you don’t register your iMac, you can’t receive support from Apple.
Rest assured that Apple is not one of those companies that constantly pesters you with email advertisements and near-spam. I’ve registered every Apple computer I’ve owned, and I’ve never felt pestered. (And I have an extremely low tolerance for pester.) However, just in case your tolerance is even lower than mine, Apple’s registration process allows you to disable this email communication.
Importing Documents and Data from Your Old Mac
If you’re upgrading from an older Mac computer running a previous version of macOS to your new iMac, I have great news for you: Apple includes the Migration Assistant utility application that can help you move (whoops, I mean, migrate) all sorts of data from your old Mac to your new machine. The list of stuff that gets copied over includes:
- User accounts: If you set up multiple user accounts (so that more than one person can share the computer), the utility ports them all to your new iMac.
- Network settings: Boy howdy, this is a real treat for those with manual network settings provided by an ISP or network administrator! Migration Assistant can re-create the entire network environment of your old Mac on your new iMac.
- System Preferences settings: If you’re a fan of tweaking and customizing macOS to fit you like a glove, rejoice. Migration Assistant actually copies over all the changes that you’ve made within System Preferences on your old Mac! (Insert sound of angelic chorus of cherubim and seraphim: Hallelujah!)
- Documents: The files in your Documents folder(s) are copied to your new iMac.
- Applications: Migration Assistant tries its best to copy over the third-party applications that you’ve installed in your Applications folder on the older Mac. I say tries its best because you might have to reinstall some applications, anyway. Some developers create applications that spread out all sorts of files across your hard drive, and Migration Assistant just can’t keep track of those nomadic files. Also, some other applications make the trek just fine, but you might have to re-enter their serial numbers.
If you’re migrating from an Intel Mac to a new M1 iMac, you may also find that some applications can no longer be launched — unfortunately, these apps are not compatible with Apple’s processor. I recommend checking with the software developer to see whether a new version of the app that supports the M1 processor is available.
Setup launches Migration Assistant automatically if you indicate that you need to transfer stuff during the setup process, but you can also launch Migration Assistant manually at any time. Click the Launchpad icon on the Dock (which bears a rocket-ship icon); then click the Search box at the top of the screen and type Migration. Click the Migration Assistant icon to launch the application. Note that Migration Assistant will close any running applications, so make sure to save and close any open documents.
To use Migration Assistant to copy your system from your older Mac, you need one of the following:
- Wired or wireless network connection between the computers: If you’ve already hooked up your new iMac to your wired or wireless Ethernet network while using Setup Assistant, eschew cables completely and click Use Network instead. (Note, however, that a Wi-Fi migration will be much slower than migrating with either a direct cable connection or a wired network connection.)
- Thunderbolt cable (compatible with all recent iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro and MacBook models): A Thunderbolt connection will transfer your data between the two computers at lightning speed! (Bad pun intended.) Apple sells a Thunderbolt 3 cable that’s perfect for the job for $39 at the Apple Store.
- Time Machine external drive or an AirPort Time Capsule backup unit: If you’re using Time Machine on the older Mac with an external drive, you can migrate directly from your most recent backup — just plug your external Time Machine drive into your new iMac. The same option applies if you’ve invested in Apple’s Time Capsule wireless backup device.
If you’ll be using a Thunderbolt cable, make sure that the two machines are connected with the cable first. If you’re using a network connection, both computers should be connected to the same network. Typically, you’ll also have to load Migration Assistant on the source Mac (or a free Windows program downloaded from www.apple.com, if the source computer is a PC).
After the two computers are connected, simply follow the onscreen instructions displayed within the Migration Assistant window. The application will lead you through the process step by step. If you need to return to the previous step at any time, click the Back button that appears at the bottom of the screen.
Manually Importing Documents and Data from Windows
If you’re a classic Windows-to-Mac Switcher, you made a wise choice, especially if you’re interested in the creative applications supplied by Apple. Although you can choose to start your Apple computing life anew, you probably want to migrate some of your existing documents and files from that tired PC to your bright, shiny new iMac.
If you’re switching from a PC to a Mac, you can run the Windows version of the Migration Assistant on your PC (available from Apple’s website) to automatically handle most of your migration tasks for you, and you should witness the miracle of your PC’s photos, video, music, and documents suddenly appearing on your iMac. Unfortunately, you’ll have some exceptions. Some stuff won’t make the move because the Windows Migration Assistant simply can’t recognize and transfer files and folders from some nonstandard locations. For example, folders you created yourself at the root of your PC’s hard drive likely won’t be recognized, and naturally, your Windows programs won’t run under macOS.
Here’s the good news, though: You can easily copy those files that weren’t transferred! Moving items manually from a USB flash drive or over a network is easy.
The macOS Help system contains an entire subsection on specific tricks that you can use when switching from Windows to Mac, including how to connect to a Windows network and how to directly connect the two computers.
In general, you can move documents, movies, photos, and music without a problem. Table 2-1 illustrates what can be moved between Windows (versions 7, 8, 8.1, and 10) and macOS, as well as the application that you use in Monterey to open those files and documents.
TABLE 2-1 Moving Media and Documents betwixt Computers
File Type | Windows Location | macOS Location | Mac Application |
|---|---|---|---|
Music files | My Music folder | Music folder | Music |
Video and movie files | My Videos folder | Movies folder | QuickTime/DVD Player/TV |
Digital photos | My Pictures folder | Pictures folder | Photos |
Office documents | My Documents folder | Documents folder | Mac Office/Open Office/Pages, Numbers and Keynote |