“I’m kind of new to the Macintosh, how do I set up my desktop so I can have easy access to my favorite applications without having to dig through the hard drive?”
There are many methods for organizing information on a Macintosh, and just as many methods for different Mac OS’s. For the sake of this conversation, let’s focus on Mac OS 9 and address the same question for Mac OS X in another edition of inSync.
The following are just a few ways you can personalize your Mac OS 9 desktop and enable easy access to your favorite applications at the same time.
1. Make an alias of the application and drop it on your desktop. This is very easy, and common. Find the original icon of any given application and highlight the application by clicking on it once. Next go to the File menu and choose “Make Alias”. An alias icon will appear in the folder highlighted and ready to be placed on your desktop. Finally, drag this alias to your desktop. Just double click on the alias and the application will open!
2. Pop-up Windows is another method for having quick and easy access to many applications. If you run out of space on your desktop for aliases, try the following. Create a new folder on your desktop and title it “my favorite apps”, or whatever you like. Next drag aliases to the new folder and arrange them as you like. Finally, highlight this new folder and choose “as Pop-up Window” under the View menu. Your new folder now exists as a Pop-up window at the bottom of your screen.
3. The Apple Menu is another great place from which to access your favorite applications. Again, create an alias of the application. This time instead of dropping it on your desktop, drop it in the Apple Menu folder found in the System Folder on your hard drive. Once you’ve dropped the alias in the Apple Menu folder it will appear in the Apple Menu, which is located in the upper left hand corner of the desktop. You can even create sub-folders inside the Apple Menu folder that have multiple application icon aliases for extended personalization.
While there are many more ways to organize and personalize your desktop, these are three ways to improve your efficiency by giving easy access to your favorite applications.