Mac OS 9.1: Visual QuickStart Guide [Paperback]

Maria Langer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Visual QuickStart Guide | Publication Date: February 2, 2001

Mac OS 9.0/9.x: Visual QuickStart Guide provides step-by-step tips on how to use the latest Macintosh operating systems, Mac OS 9 and 9.x. Using a reader-friendly, visual approach, this guide shows beginners and professionals alike how to take advantage of all the new features and capabilities of the Mac OS. Bestselling author Maria Langer includes detailed instructions on working with the OS interface and utilities, getting on the Internet, sharing files over a network, customizing preferences, and troubleshooting pesky problems. Experienced Mac users can flip through this book to get up to speed on the latest features of 9.x, while new users can start from the beginning for a thorough introduction to the Mac OS.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mac OS 9.1: Visual QuickStart Guide, like its popular series-mates, tightly integrates text--mostly bulleted lists of facts and numbered steps to follow--with small, salient illustrations. If a procedure refers to the Add to Favorites command on the File menu, a picture of the File menu--with the relevant command highlighted--appears immediately adjacent. And Maria Langer is among the most popular authors in this series, largely because she's very good at writing in this format.

This book centers on the needs of people who use Mac OS 9.1--on iMacs, iBooks, and desktop Macs--in home and small-office settings. More specifically, Langer assumes that readers do all of their configuration work themselves, without the aid of the dedicated experts who typically work in large organizations. More experienced users of Mac OS, though they may find a lot of the material elementary, will appreciate the coverage of networking and Internet connectivity. Confident novices will love this book for its detail and the fact that it's not at all condescending to newcomers. --David Wall

Topics covered: Mac OS 9.1 for anyone who uses it, explicit and well-illustrated how-to information on file management, software (both native to Mac OS and aftermarket), printing, networking, connectivity via local area networks (LANs) and modems, and performance.

From the Back Cover

Want to really learn how to use your Mac? Here's your chance, because Mac OS 9.1: Visual QuickStart Guide gives you everything you need to get straight to work managing your files, navigating menus, working with utilities and applications, customizing your system, finding your way on the Internet and sharing your files over a network. Like all Visual QuickStart Guides, this book is packed with step-by-step instructions, illustrations and loads of tips. Beginners can follow it as a tutorial, while current Mac users can use it to get up to speed with the latest OS release.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1st edition (February 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201730871
• ISBN-13: 978-0201730876
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,998,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maria Langer has been a freelance writer since 1990. She has written more than 75 books and hundreds of articles about using computers, software, and online services. She provides support for her work, as well as new content, on the Maria's Guides website. These days, she also writes about aviation and travel for a variety of print and online publications.

Maria is also a commercial helicopter pilot and owner of Flying M Air, a helicopter tour and charter company based in Arizona. Her company offers tours, day trips, multi-day excursions, and aerial photography services throughout the southwest.

And if that's not enough to keep her busy and out of trouble, she's also a serious amateur photographer. She shows off her best work on her photo gallery, Flying M Photos.

Maria blogs at Eclectic Mind, her personal journal of thoughts and experiences.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For newbies only ..., December 10, 2001

By 

etymologik (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mac OS 9.1: Visual QuickStart Guide (Paperback)

If you have NEVER used a personal computer before, are unsure what a "cursor" is, get completely confused when relatives tell you to "drag that file to the XYZ folder," and feel like an idiot when asked to select an item from a "pull-down menu," this is the book for you.

As it happens, such folk do exist -- my sister is one of them, and I bought this book for her for all the foregoing reasons. It has relieved her anxiety about computers dramatically. After all, where do you go for help if you've never heard of a "Help menu"? What do you do when your well-meaning sibling tries to explain things, but keeps using noises like "cursor" and "menu" as if you were fluent in some peculiar foreign language?

For its intended audience, this book does a fine job. But it's NOT for anyone who can already work a mouse, choose actions from a menu, or point a cursor at an object.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DISAPPOINTED!!!, June 12, 2001

By 

Macman "macdick" (SILVER SPRING, MD United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mac OS 9.1: Visual QuickStart Guide (Paperback)

i recently purchased this book from amazon and i was deeply disappointed with the purchase. the book was very superficial in it's coverage of the os 9.1 operating system. i read it cover to cover and constantly hoped that it would get meatier, but alas it did not. i recently purchased os 9.1 & os x and i wanted to learn everything about os 9.1 before going on to os x. i previously used os 8.6, and there was very little that this book taught me that i didn't already know. the repetition was "mind numbing" and if the author had truly filled up all pages and deleted all of the references of what she would tell you later and what she had told you before, the book would have filled half as many pages at best. there were many earlier books on os 9 that i could have and should have chosen, but this was a more recent publication and i assumed that it would be more up to date. practically anything of substance was deemed by the author to "be beyond the scope of this book". in my opinion, this book is of little or no use to a person familiar with mac os; only a novice would benefit from reading it.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easiest to understand, June 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mac OS 9.1: Visual QuickStart Guide (Paperback)

I am totally new to computers and I have many Dummy books and otherwise for my OS., but I was still having trouble understanding the 'helpful' books, til I got this one. She writes simply for a newby to understand yet covers what all the other books did, and shows enough pictures to guide you along. I'm sure there are many other books that are fine for someone who is more familiar, but this one did it for me. Thanks.