I’m a picky person- especially when it comes to my computers. I like things the way I like them. This is how I like my Mac:
The Dock
I like my dock small. But not too small. In the pre-Leopard days, I would make the dock as small as possible, but now with the new 3D dock background that just looks silly. I don’t like hiding the dock. Magnification is a must (mostly because it looks cool), and I always set it to just under 50%.
As far as non-app dock items go, I always keep it in the following order: Applications Folder, Home Folder, Downloads Folder, (and Trash). I also drag frequently used servers to the dock, just to the right of my Home Folder, for easy access.
Stacks
Display Type
I like to set the Applications and Home Folders to display as a Folder (instead of a Stack). If you don’t do this, the Home Folder will not show the little house icon. Instead, it will inherit the icon of the first item inside of it. That’s stupid, nobody wants that. I do like my Downloads Folder to be displayed as a Stack, though, because its contents are all temporary and that way I know when something is in there or not.
View Content As
For the Applications Folder, it’s view content as a List or bust. That way, you can browse your (billions) of applications in a list, as opposed to a confusing grid. Also, I call shenanigans on Fan mode. I want to like it, I swear, but it has a major flaw. Fan mode orders its items in alphabetical order, but descending (with “A” on the bottom). I can’t handle that, so I use Grid mode (which is just as pretty).
The Desktop
I like big icons. Right now, my desktop icons are set to 84×84. I also like to ‘Show item info’ with a 10pt font, and snap to grid.
Quick Look
I’m addicted to Quick Look. That is all.
Menu Bar
Must have menu bar widgets: Google Notifier, Spaces, battery (if laptop) with percentage showing, .Mac Sync, displays, Airport, volume, and clock (showing seconds) with flashing time separators.
Hot Corners
Top-right corner (which I don’t use as much anymore, since the Mighty Mouse has a lovely squeeze trigger), I like to Exposé – All Windows. Bottom-right corner, disable screen saver. Bottom-left corner, start screen saver.
Function Keys
I like the defaults. I’m addicted to F11 (Show Desktop). It’s just so useful. F8 (Spaces) and CTRL+Arrow (change Space) are pretty useful as well. F9 (Exposé – All Windows) and F12 (Dashboard), I use only when I don’t have my trusty Mighty Mouse.
If on a laptop (like my new MacBook), you better believe I check the “Use F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys” option. I can’t be bothered to push the function key (in addition to F11) every time i want to see my desktop.
Applications
I’m not going to bother going through all the different apps I use. Maybe some other time. For the most part, though, everything you need is free (well, free + $2000).
So there you have it. That’s how I like my Mac. I’m probably forgetting something, but I think you get the idea.
