Switching From Windows to Mac: Settings to Change

The first week on a Mac after years of Windows is mostly small frictions: the scrolling is inverted, the close button does not close the app, and Home and End do not do what you expect. Nearly all of it is settings or translation. Here is both.

The three settings to change in the first ten minutes

1. Scroll direction. System Settings → Mouse (or Trackpad) → Natural scrolling. It is right for a trackpad and feels backwards with a mouse wheel. macOS applies one setting to both, so pick whichever device you use more.
2. Function keys. Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Function Keys → Use F1, F2, etc. as standard function keys. Media controls still work with Fn held.
3. Right-click. Trackpad → Point & Click → Secondary click, set to two-finger click or bottom-right corner. On a Magic Mouse, the same setting exists under Mouse.

While you are in Keyboard, turn on Keyboard navigation so Tab reaches every button in a dialog rather than only text fields. That behaviour is what you are used to from Windows and macOS ships with it off.

Shortcut translations

• Ctrl → Command for the everyday ones: copy, paste, save, print, quit, undo.
• Alt-Tab → Command-Tab, and Command-` cycles windows within the current app, which Windows does not separate.
• Home / End → Command-Left / Command-Right for line ends, Command-Up / Down for the document.
• Ctrl-Alt-Delete → Command-Option-Escape for Force Quit.
• Windows key → Command-Space for Spotlight, which is the Start menu equivalent and rather better.
• Delete key is backspace. Forward delete is Fn-Delete.
• Print Screen → Command-Shift-4 for a region, Command-Shift-5 for the full toolbar.

The window behaviour that confuses everyone

The red button closes the window, not the application. The app stays running, which is why its icon still has a dot under it in the Dock. Command-Q quits properly. This is not a bug and there is no setting to change it; it is a genuine difference in model, and it takes about a week.

Related: the green button enters full screen rather than maximising. Hold Option and click it to get the maximise behaviour you expect. Double-clicking the title bar can also zoom the window, and that behaviour is configurable in Desktop & Dock.

Files and Finder

Finder is Explorer, with different defaults. Three changes make it behave:

# show file extensions and the full path
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true

# default to list view, folders first, search this folder
defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string "Nlsv"
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXSortFoldersFirst -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder FXDefaultSearchScope -string "SCcf"

killall Finder

Two Finder facts that trip up switchers. There is no Cut for files: copy with Command-C, then paste-and-move with Command-Option-V. And Command-Shift-G lets you type a path, which is the address bar you are missing.

Installing and removing software

There is no installer for most Mac apps and no uninstaller either. You drag the app from the disk image into Applications, and you eject and delete the disk image afterwards — leaving mounted disk images around is the most common new-switcher habit.

Removing an app is dragging it to the Trash. That leaves preference files and support files behind, which are small and harmless; if you want them gone, they are in ~/Library/Application Support and ~/Library/Preferences. Apps that install system components use a real installer and usually provide their own uninstaller, so check the developer's site before hunting by hand.

Where the familiar things live

• Task Manager → Activity Monitor, in Applications → Utilities.
• Control Panel → System Settings, from the Apple menu.
• Program Files → the Applications folder. Most apps install by dragging, and uninstall by dragging to the Trash.
• C:\Users\you → your home folder. Add it to the Finder sidebar in Finder → Settings → Sidebar, because it is hidden by default.
• Snap left and right → drag a window to a screen edge on recent macOS, or use the Window → Move & Resize menu.