Visual QuickStart Guide [Electronic resources] : Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger نسخه متنی

Configuring .Mac Preferences

.Mac has several features that work directly with your Macintosh:

Sync enables you to synchronize data on your computer with your .Mac account and other Macintoshes. This is extremely useful if you have more than one Macintosh or often access your data on the .Mac Web site.

iDisk disk space can be synchronized to match an iDisk folder on your computer. Your iDisk's Public folder can be accessed by others, making it easy to share files with friends or associates.

Backup uses the Backup application to automatically back the files you select to your iDisk disk space.

To take advantage of these features, you need to provide configuration information on your Macintosh so it can communicate with .Mac. You do this with the .Mac preferences pane.

Tip

I explain how to set .Mac preferences for iDisk later in this chapter.

To open the .Mac preferences pane

Choose Apple > System Preferences (Figure 7 ), or click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.

Figure 7. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.

In the System Preferences window that appears, click the .Mac icon to display the .Mac preferences pane.

To set .Mac Account preferences

In the .Mac preferences pane, click the Account button to display its options (Figure 8) .

Figure 8. Enter .Mac log in information in the .Mac preferences pane.

Enter your .Mac member name and password in the appropriate boxes.

Your computer goes online to validate your password. If your account information has been correctly entered, a message like the one in

Figure 9 confirms that your password is valid.

Figure 9. When Mac OS X has verified your .Mac account, it tells you.

Tips

If you created a .Mac account when you registered Mac OS X, .Mac preferences (Figure 9 ) should already contain your .Mac login information.

Clicking the Account Info button in the .Mac preferences pane (Figure 9 ) launches your default Web browser so you can log into your .Mac account. It then displays the Account Settings page (Figure 10 ), with basic information about your account.

Figure 10. Clicking the Account Info button displays the Account Settings page on the .Mac Web site.

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To synchronize data with .Mac & other Macs

In the .Mac preferences pane, click the Sync button to display its options (Figure 11 ).

Figure 11. The Sync options of the .Mac preferences pane.

Turn on the Synchronize with .Mac check box.

Choose an option from the pop-up menu:

Automatically synchronizes when the data has changed.

Every Hour, Every Day, or Every Week synchronizes periodically.

Manually requires that you initiate a synchronization.

Turn on the check box beside each item you want to synchronize with .Mac.

To add a Sync menu to the menu bar (Figure 12 ) turn on the Show status in menu bar check box.

Figure 12. You can add a Sync menu like this one to your menu bar.

Click the Sync Now button.

A dialog like the one in

Figure 13 may appear. Choose an option from the pop-up menu and click Sync:

Merge data on this computer and .Mac merges whatever data is on your computer with whatever data is stored on your .Mac account.

Replace data on .Mac replaces whatever data is stored on your .Mac account with the data on your computer.

Replace data on this computer replaces the data on your computer with whatever data is stored on your .Mac account.

Figure 13. A dialog like this might appear at least once the first time you perform a synchronization.

If a dialog like the one in

Figure 14 appears, click Review now. Then use the dialog that appears (Figure 15 ) to select the correct entry for each conflict and click Done.

Figure 14. Merging your computer's data with .Mac data may result in conflicts.

Figure 15. In this example, there s a duplicate record. Choose the one you want to keep by clicking it and then click Done.

Wait while all data is synchronized. When synchronization is complete, the sync date appears in the Sync options of the .Mac preferences pane (Figure 16 ). You can close the .Mac preferences window.

Figure 16. The last sync date and time appears in the Sync options of .Mac preferences.

Tips

Enabling this feature by following step 2 automatically registers your computer with the .Mac server. If you have more than one computer, you can see a list of registered computers by clicking the Advanced tab in the .Mac preferences pane (Figure 17 ). The computers in this list are the ones that will be synchronized with .Mac.

Figure 17. The Advanced options of the .Mac preferences pane lists all computers that will be synchronized with .Mac.

If you choose Manual in step 3, you must click the Sync Now button in the Sync options of the .Mac preferences pane (Figure 11 ) or choose Sync Now from the Sync menu (Figure 12 ) every time you want to synchronize data.

In step 7, the dialog in

Figure 13 may appear more than once the first time you perform a synchronization.

To disable .Mac synchronization

In the .Mac preferences pane, click the Sync button to display its options (Figure 11 ).

Turn off the Synchronize with .Mac check box.