Mac 101 – System Preferences: Internet & Network

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 | Mac 101

Do you know where the Internet settings are? Have you wondered about Network settings? Well, do day I will take you through the Internet & Network setting in the System Preferences. Let’s begin with .Mac.

.Mac
.Mac is a service that Apple provides. This service includes a number of features. It allows the user to host a web site, sync a variety of data, back up data and share photos. The service comes at a fee of $99 per year. If you have purchased this service this is where you would sign in and set up synchronization, back up and sharing. If you’ve never used the service before, Apple offers a 60-day trial. Which can be accessed from this Systems Preferences panel.

Network
This section contains settings that relate to the network. That’s pretty obvious. Here you can see the status of the network, change settings for Bluetooth, Ethernet, and Firewire connections. Network setup may seem complicated. On a Mac however, this process is usually pretty straight forward and painless.

QuickTime
QuickTime is a video player application that comes pre-installed on your Mac. Here you can adjust some settings for this program. First off, this is where you would register the Pro version of QuickTime if you purchased it. Further here you can modify QuickTime’s behavior in a web browser. This includes settings such as playing movies automatically and caching movies when possible. In addition, you can modify streaming settings, such as streaming speed and play back delay.

Sharing
This is where you have access to modify the sharing settings. Here you will find settings for sharing services, firewall and Internet. This is where you can give your Mac a name that will be displayed on other computers when it is shared. You can turn on and off the firewall and allow or disallow certain access. Furthermore, you can turn on Internet sharing and specify the type of connection to use, such as ethernet, firewire or airport. This is also the area where you can turn on services such as remote login, Windows sharing or Printer sharing.

This concludes the Internet & Network section in the System Preferences. We’ll continue the journey through System Preferences in the next installment of Mac 101. Please return soon. You can also receive these and other posts in your inbox by signing up for email delivery.

Next Lesson:
Mac 101 – System Preferences: System – Part 1