Switching to the Mac[c] The Missing Manual

The Folder Options control panel in Windows is a crazy collection of unrelated settings that boil down to this:

• General tab . Exactly as in Windows, it's up to you whether or not double-clicking a folder opens up a second windowor just changes what's in the first one. On the Mac, you make these changes using the Finder Preferences command. There youll find the option called "Always open folders in a new window."

• View tab . Most of the options here don't exist on the Mac. For example, you can't opt to make all the invisible system files visible (at least not without add-on shareware). You can, however, choose whether or not you want to see the file name extensions in your desktop windows (like .doc and .html). Choose Finder Preferences, and turn "Show all file extensions on or off.

• File Types tab . Just as in Windows, you can reassign certain document types so that double-clicking opens them up in the program of your choice. But on the Mac, you can reassign either a whole class of files at once, as on Windows, or one file at a time. To do it, use the Get Info window as described on Section 4.4.2.

• Offline Files . There's no equivalent feature on the Mac.