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Congratulation on your new Mac and welcome to the q8mug family. Now i know you started up your shiny new Mac and you are sooooooooooo in love with it but a bit lost as what to do next. So, yours truly is going to explain to you the fine art of making your Mac simple and easy to use as well as show you a plethora of programs that will get you on your way.

Installing Applications on your Mac
Programs on the Mac come in mainly two forms which are .zip and .dmg. To install a program you downloaded that has a .dmg extension just double click the .dmg file and an image drive appears in the Finder window. Locate the application file, usually .app and drag it to your applications folder. If the application you want to install is in .mpkg or .pkg form then just double click the .mpkg or .pkg icon to install your program.
Example: installing parallels.
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1-Reinstall OS-X (This is optional and my be skipped)
First thing I like to do on a Mac computer I get is reinstall OS-X. This will help me choose the necessary language files for my computer as well as install only the correct printer drivers that I know am going to use. This could save you some hard disk space too. All you need to do is insert OS-X CD or DVD that came with your Mac and then click on the Apple logo on the top left to select restart. When you here the Mac starting up sound press and hold the “c” key until the CD starts.
-Opt for a clean install where everything is erased
-When you get to the installation of OS-X screen select Customize
-Click on the Language drop down expand arrow to select the languages you want to install and leave out the ones you don’t need
-Then Click on the Printers Drivers drop down expand arrow to the select the correct printer drivers. If you own an HP printer then just select HP.
-Let OS X finish the installation.
-Input your registration information and you are all set.

2-Setup QuickTime and install different Codecs.
QuickTime is an excellent media player but it needs help playing specific video files like DivX and many AVIs. Click here to go to the Codecs page to download and install the codecs for your Mac. After installing the Codecs you my find the need for another player. Two important ones that no Mac user should ever be without. VLC Player and Mplayer.
-Click here to get Mplayer
-Click here to get VLC Player

3-Setup your Web Browser
Ok, now we need to download and install some good web browsers. I generally have 4 at hand just in case one of them goes haywire. I always recommend Firefox to be your primary browser but to each his/her own. Here is a list of browsers for your Mac:
-Firefox - My Pick. Highly customizable and compatible for most of your browsing needs. Click here to get it and install it.
-Safari - Native Mac OS-X browser which comes pre-installed.
-Camino - Firefox’s little brother, has most of Firefox’s abilities and agility’s but is adorned with the Aqua interface. Click here to get it.
-Opera - Another excellent browser. Click here to get it.
-Shiira - This is a relatively new browser but its quite good. Click here to get it.

4-Setup your Mac to read and write Arabic.
-Click on the Apple logo on the top left and select System Prefrences.
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-Click on the International icon.
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-Click on the Edit List… button. A windows with a long list of languages will appear. Go through it and select Arabic as well as any other language you want. Then click ok.
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-Click on the Input Menu tab.
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-Check Keyboard Viewer so you would be able to see the on screen keyboard.
-Scroll Down and Find the Work Arabic and Check the box next to it.
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-Make sure that Allow a different input source for each document is selected.
-Make sure the Show input menu in menu bar check box is checked.

5-Setting up your track pad gestures.
Your new Mac has a track pad that responds to your gestures. To scroll down and up in a web page for example or finder or any other application you would use to fingers and pull down or up. Another important gesture is the right click. Instead of ctrl+click an icon or an application to do a right click you would move the arrow to the icon, tab once to select and then put two fingers on the track pad and press the track pad button to do a right click.
To allow these gestures and others you need to:
-Click on the Apple logo on the top left and select System Preferences.
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-Click on the Keyboard and Mouse icon and then click on the Trackpad tab.
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-Check the options you want.
-Use two fingers to scroll
-Allow Horizontal scrolling
-Clicking
-Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click
-Ignore accidental trackpad input.

6-Setting up BootCamp
-Point your browser to http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/ or Click here
-Download and double click on the downloaded icon.
-Double Click on BootCamp.mpkg and continue following all instructions.
-Go to your Applications/Utilities Folder and find Boot Camp Assistant and double click it to launch it.
-Make sure to select the Burn a Mac Windows Driver disc and click continue.
-Set the Boot Camp to 20 to 30GB, 20GB is the best and click continue so that Boot Camp and partition your hard drive.
-When its done, Boot Camp is going to ask you to either insert a Windows XP or Windows Vista CD/DVD to complete the Windows part of the installation. If you want to leave the installation for later then just click restart.

7-Chatting
No Mac would be complete without the right chatting software. Most of us use MSN and so it would be a good idea to install it first. Head on to Microsoft Mactopia Site to download it. Now this is a .dmg file and you need to install it just like we explained at the top of this guide. Think of this as your first Mac quiz.
Other chatting clients include:
-iChat- you need wither a gmail account, aol account or a .mac account
-AdiumX
-Fire

Now you are on your way to using your new shiny Mac. If you need further help post a question on the form or check out other guides we have here.

Best of Luck to All of you and as always, suggestions are welcome. Click here to go to the discussion area.