Comments on: Macs Little Features, Windows Big Mistakes

By: KMull

KMull — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:06:16 +0000

I’ve found in many Windows programs that Alt + F4 closes them, and Ctrl + W closes the inner window (say a project in Photoshop, etc.).

By: oldnumberseven

oldnumberseven — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:07:44 +0000

Meant to add, just select the device(s) and hit apple-e and they will all eject.

By: oldnumberseven

oldnumberseven — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:06:27 +0000

You will find that it is a lot better to eject your usb device, firewire drive, etc… rather than just pulling the plug as the OS has a few small files to write before the device is unplugged or turned off. You could wind up with some file corruption if you just pull the plug without ejecting first.

By: Fonzo

Fonzo — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:54:47 +0000

Dami: Macs do indeed prompt you when you remove a device. For some reason that doesn’t bother me as much, as I tend to not be focused on writing at the moment anyway. Windows however distracts me at times when I am deeply focused.

Alt-F4 huh? I guess that makes sense, sort of, but not really. I never noticed it in context menus, which doesn’t surprise me as I find most useful Windows features to be well hidden and non-obvious. It is definitely not the most intuitive shortcut, but I’ll give it a try.

Rick: That whole one-button Mac thing ended a few years ago. The newer Macs all register two mouse buttons, and the Macbook (and Pros) trackpad even registers the secondary mouse click when you hold two fingers down. It’s nice.

By: Rick Sparks

Rick Sparks — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:30:01 +0000

Re: #2 - You’re referring to program menus which are, indeed, variable to say the least. The standard keycombo to close programs in Windows (through XP as far as I know, I don’t have Vista) are “CTRL-F4″ - try it, you’ll like it.

Big downside for me when it comes to Macs - only one mouse button. Really? After all these years, I’d hate to give up my secondary or third buttons, especially when it comes to gaming.

Cheers!

By: Dami

Dami — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:16:56 +0000

Well, as far as focus-steals, I had a few on a mac as well. I believe if you unplug USB flash key or any other storage on USB or firewire withouth first ejecting it, error will jump in front, although I don’t recall if it’ll stop your text input.
Speaking of unplugging, OSX errors out when unplugging not ejectec hardware, XP and Vista doesn’t anymore.

Shortcuts - have you tried ALT+F4 on windows? Universal exit. On the other hand, pressing X on OSX doesn’t really close the app, it either minimizes or closes the file you’re working on, but the app is still there.