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The Apple menu is a familiar sight to any Mac owner. Although Apple contemplated removing it during the original development and beta cycle for Mac OS X Version 10.0, the ruckus and cry from beta-testers ensured that it remains today. It's amazing how reassuring that little fellow can be when you boot the Big X for the first time.
Several important things are parked under the Apple menu.
Using Recent Items
If you're like most people, you tend to work on the same set of applications and files (and use the same network servers) during the day. Normally, this would be somewhat of a pain because each time you sit down in front of the keyboard, you have to drill down through at least one layer of folders to actually reach the stuff that you need. To make things easier on yourself, you could create a set of aliases on your Desktop that link to those servers, files, and applications . . . but as you move from project to project, you'd find yourself constantly updating the aliases.
Fortunately, Mac OS X is a smart operating system, and several years ago Apple created the Recent Items menu to save you the trouble of drilling for applications and files (and, with the arrival of Tiger, network servers as well). Figure 1 illustrates the Recent Items menu from my system. Note that the menu is thoughtfully divided into Applications, Documents, and Servers. When you open documents or launch applications, they're added to the list. To launch an application or document from the Recent Items menu (or connect to a network server), just click it.
Figure 1: Use the Recent Items menu to access files, applications, and servers you've been using.
To wipe the contents of the Recent Items menu — for example, if you've just finished a project, and you want to turn over a new digital leaf — click Recent Items and choose the Clear Menu item.
You can specify the number of recent items that will appear in the menu from System Preferences; display the Appearance icon and click the Applications, Documents, and Servers list boxes in the Number of Recent Items field.
 | You can drag any folder or server into the Sidebar column at the left of the Finder window, adding it to that exclusive club that includes your Home folder, Applications folder, and media folders. |
Playing with the Dock
If you want your Dock to go mobile, click the Apple menu and choose the Dock item to display the submenu. Here's a rundown of the options:
- Magnification: Click Turn Magnification On/Off to toggle icon magnification when your pointer is selecting an icon from the Dock. With magnification on, the icons in the Dock get really, really big. Check out the rather oversized icons in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Now here are some pumped-up icons!
- Hiding: Click Turn Hiding On/Off to toggle the automatic hiding of the Dock. With hiding on, the Dock disappears off the edge of the screen until you move the mouse pointer to that edge. You can press Command+Option+D to toggle Dock hiding on and off from the keyboard.
- Position: Click one of three choices (Position on Left, Bottom, or Right) to make the Dock appear on the left, bottom, or right of the screen, respectively.
- Dock Preferences: Click this to display the System Preferences Dock settings.
Bad program! Quit!
Once in a while, you're going to encounter a stubborn application that locks up, slows to a crawl, or gets stuck in an endless loop; although Mac OS X is a highly advanced operating system, it can still fall prey to bad programming or corrupted data.
Luckily, you can easily shut these troublemakers down from the Apple menu. Just choose Force Quit to display the Force Quit Applications dialog box. (Keyboard types can press Command+Option+Esc.) Select the application that you want to banish and then click the Force Quit button; Mac OS X requests confirmation, after which you click the Force Quit button again.
If you select Finder in the Force Quit Applications dialog box, the button changes to Relaunch. This allows you to restart the Finder, which comes in handy if your system appears to be unstable. (This trick is much faster than actually restarting your Mac.)
 | Forcing an application to quit will also quit any open documents that you were working with in that application, so save your work (if the program will allow you to save anything). If you relaunch the Finder, some programs may restart as well. |
Tracking down your version
Tracking down your version isn't a big deal, but if you choose About This Mac from the Apple menu, Mac OS X displays the About This Mac dialog box in Figure 4. In case you need to check the amount of memory or the processor in an unfamiliar Mac, the About This Mac dialog box can display these facts in a twinkling.
Figure 4: Display your Mac's memory, processor, and Big X version.
Apple includes a button that launches Software Update to both the About This Mac dialog box and the Apple menu.
Specifying a location
Mac OS X allows you to create multiple network locations — think of a location as a separate configuration that you use when you connect to a different network from a different locale. For example, if you travel to a branch office, you'd assign a location for your desk and a location for the remote branch.
A location saves all the specific values that you've entered in the System Preferences Network settings, including IP address, AppleTalk Zones, proxy servers, and the like. You can switch between locations by choosing Location from the Apple menu, which displays a submenu of locations that you can choose from.
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