Gallery: How to Use OS X Mavericks
01new-mavericks
Apple's newest desktop operating system, OS X Mavericks, is the best version of the OS yet. You definitely want to get it—and since it's a free upgrade, there's really no reason not to. At this point, Apple has completely transitioned to a yearly update cycle for OS X, so the differences between upgrades aren't as wide-ranging as they used to be. That said, there are still a bunch of under-the-hood tweaks and fixes in Mavericks, not to mention heaps of nifty enhancements that will make your daily computing experience even better. For instance, the battery power management features have been significantly improved, the Finder is much better, and the way incoming messages and notifications are handled is really smart. If you haven't done so, go [here](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mavericks/id675248567?mt=12&ls=1) and download Mavericks, then come back and get up to speed on everything you'll want to know about your new OS. *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED*
02Finally! True heads-up displays
Finally! True Heads-Up Displays ------------------------------- While Mission Control, introduced in OS X Lion, gave power users a lot of nice tools to manage spaces, it still lacked one huge feature: the ability to 'pin' a persistent application on an external monitor. Now, spaces for two (or more) screens are handled completely independently. While this seems like more of a fix than a new feature, it's huge for anyone who's wanted a second, always-on display. So pop open TweetDeck, or Hootsuite, or Chartbeat, or your calendar app, or a video, or a status monitor on your other screen -- and now you've got a heads-up display even if you switch spaces on your primary screen. And if you don't have any program that needs constant monitoring, try Apple Maps' satellite function in full screen.
03Your power button works differently
Your Power Button Works Differently ----------------------------------- In Mavericks, the power button now tells your computer to sleep. If you're using a newer MacBook, the button is right above the delete key, which means a lot of potential accidental sleeping. Unfortunately, there's no way to change it back to its pre-Mavericks behavior. That said, hitting control + power, will bring up the old menu. Another way to access that menu is to hold the power button down for three seconds. Holding the power button for around five seconds tells your computer to force quit.
04Take off the safety
Take Off the Safety ------------------- The first thing any self-respecting power user will want to do is to allow Mavericks to install programs that aren't from the Mac App Store (i.e., those that aren't "certified" by Apple). Many useful apps, like Tor, fall into this category. This setting was introduced in Mountain Lion, and it's checked by default in Mavericks. To turn it off, check the appropriate box under System Preferences > Security and Privacy.
05Wake your apps up
Wake Your Apps Up ----------------- One of the biggest new features in Mavericks is a revamped suite of power-saving tools. The biggest feature is Power Nap, which turns off background applications so they don’t continue to eat up your CPU cycles and your battery. However, for some apps -- like your chat app of choice -- you may not want Apple's algorithm deciding when to shut it down. You can turn off Nap App in the menu accessed by right-clicking the application and selecting 'Get Info.' Note: Messages and Adium already have nap app turned off automatically.
06Wild Safari
Wild Safari ----------- As with the recent update to iOS 7, Apple spent a lot of time and effort making Safari on the desktop a better experience in OS X Mavericks. Under the hood, Safari's adopted a process-per-tab architecture, following the approach Chrome takes to resource management. Hopefully, you'll find this improves stability -- one runaway tab won't crush the entire browser. In addition, browser plug-ins are totally sandboxed, and this means when you want to run Flash or Silverlight, for instance, Safari will ask you if you want to run it this time, on this site, or always. In other efforts to make standards like Flash less prominent on the web, Apple's included a feature called Safari Power Saver which basically kills Flash processes. What this means is that if you activate Flash to watch a web video, and there are Flash ads on the page, those won't play unless you tell them to. Other user-focused features include a major update to Safari's Top Sites that makes the new tab page almost perfect, with a customizable grid of favorite pages, a iPhone-like view of your bookmarks on the left, and options for Reading List or Shared Links, Apple's Twitter quasi-browser. There's also a nifty button (marked '+') on the right side of the URL bar that offers easy access to file away bookmarks. A new feature that will let websites deliver notifications over Apple's Push Notification service makes an appearance, but there aren't many sites that support it at the moment (and considering Safari's market share, there may never be.) These kind of features might not persuade anybody to switch from Chrome, but if you're worried about battery life, maybe you should.
07Emoji
Emoji ----- Apple's not going to give up until their version of Emoji is the de facto standard for tiny graphical icons. Yup, those little avatars have fully invaded the desktop. The key combination you want to memorize is ⌘ + control + space. That brings up a menu that works basically identically to the Emoji keyboard on the iPhone. You can set a different hotkey under System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. Don't forget: Unless you're sending those tiny smileys to someone on an Apple product, they'll see a nondescript box.
08Finder
Finder ------ Apple's Finder, which hasn't changed much (cosmetically) since the NeXt days, got a huge overhaul. The most important improvement: TABS. Yup, your file browser now has tabs -- the same as your web browser. So say goodbye to the entire third-party ecosystem built around making file browsers with tabs. In practice, Finder tabs work almost identically to Safari's. ⌘ + click any folder to open it in a new tab. Finder also got a full-screen option, which wouldn't have made much sense before tabs.
09Tags (and how to turn them off)
Tags (And How to Turn Them Off) ------------------------------- One of the biggest surprises in Mavericks is Apple reintroducing its old Labels interface, which has been part of the operating system for years. It's called Tags now, and the primary change seems to be that you can apply more than one Tag to an individual file (or events, or reminders.) The ability to color-code and tag files is super-useful, but if you don't use it you might be wondering why you've got these colors in your sidebar. You can turn them off through a 'hide' button that appears when you mouse over the section, or you can remove them manually at Finder > Preferences > and unblocking "show recent tags in sidebar."
10Correcting Autocorrect
Correcting Autocorrect ---------------------- Apple now syncs your autocorrects between iPhone and the Mac, which means that there's at least one more [fun new prank](http://gizmodo.com/5855293/ios-5-shortcut-feature-enables-a-hilarious-prank) to pull on your coworkers.
11Font and center
Font and Center --------------- In Apple's Messages app, you have the ability to change the font color, typeface, and size of your messages to other Jabber or Google Talk users. Unfortunately, you can't send iMessages in Comic Sans, and depending what client your recipient is using, they might not see it either.
12Notifications
Too Weak Notifications ---------------------- Notification Center gets a bunch of small fixes that add up to make the service much more useful. First off: Now you can reply to notifications inside the notifications box itself. So if you receive an iMessage, there will be a little box for you to type a reply. Also, Low-Battery-You-Dolt and Company-Wants-Update pop-ups are now integrated into Notification Center, and they'll let you defer for an hour or a day. When Mavericks was announced at Apple's developer event, one of the biggest features promised was the ability to sync notifications between your iPhone and your Mac. So if you, for instance, read an email on your computer, your phone would know not to bother you. However, this functionality is currently missing from the first version of Mavericks, but when it does arrive, it will be sweet. As part of the beefed up Notifications feature set, Apple's augmented its 'Do Not Disturb' feature with the ability to schedule when you want to see notifications or not. But 'Do Not Disturb' is also the easiest way to remove all notifications from your computer. Simply option + click on the Notification Center icon in the upper right hand corner (it looks like three lines) to turn off all notifications. When it goes gray, you know it worked.
