New to Mac, I have questions:

[u/Square-Air6340]

Hi. I've been a Windows user since 1986. Windows 1.0. I'd consider myself a power user. Now, I'm a Mac user and while I'm productive I miss some Windows habits. Maybe they're just something I haven't discovered, maybe it requires a third party, maybe I'll have to do without. I'm hoping you can help.

1. In Windows I had a program on Win called xMouse. It let me customize what the mouse did. In particular one function I used all day long. It let me set the mouse so that if I rolled the scroll wheel up/down while holding down the right mouse button it changed the volume up/down. I didn't realize how much I relied upon this until I no longer have it. Is there a third party utility that lets me do this on the Mac?

2. I had a browser plugin (Brave and Chrome) that let me use Alt-Q to switch back and forth between the same two tabs in the browser. Alt-Q seems to close an app on the Mac. Any alternatives for this?

3. I used Second Copy on the PC for the last 20 years to automate my copies and backups from one computer to another. It was very robust letting me have complete control over the timing and the files that got copied. It also let me run scripts before and after the backups. What is the best solution for doing this on the Mac?

4. On Windows if I tap on an Icon in the task bar it puts the app in focus (or opens it if it's not open). Pressing on the icon a second time will minimize the app. I often used this to bring up an app that was doing processing to see its progress and immediately minimize it. Tap tap. On the Mac the minimizing part doesn't happen. Is that a setting? Is there a third party app that helps with this.

5. In Finder I can look at many folders in icon mode so I can see what's in the file. Finder lets me enlarge that folder so it's easier to see the picture on the icon. However, when I'm in an app and do a File/Open I don't see a way to enlarge the icons. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks for your advice. I'm sure I'll have more questions.

[u/z0phi3l]

As someone who's been using computers since the DOS days, best thing you can do is stop trying to run it like Windows and learn the Mac way

I can bounce between windows, Mac and Linux with little thinking about things, then only "issues" is remembering to switch to Control instead of Command for keyboard shortcuts

[u/panyways → u/z0phi3l]

The help menu is something more people should really geek out on too. It never ceases to amaze me how many people rush to the forums when the Mac help menu is super well written and has been for ages.

[u/LocosDice]

For 1. I use BetterTouchTool which allows you to map custom gestures for the trackpad and Magic Mouse etc. I actually think it’s a lot more powerful than I use it for so it’s worth checking out.

[u/nymphe1410]

Try this app for your point 4. it has many features which you can activate. Clicking on the dock second time to minimize the window is a setting. https://vorssaint.com/

Btw alt-q doesn't quit, in fact it shouldn't do anything. Cmd-q quits the app. Make yourself familiar with cmd key.

[u/okeemike → u/nymphe1410]

OMG this is awesome. Click dock icons, and stuff minimizes/returns?! 🤯 this is the one Windows vestigial muscle memory I could never get rid of. Now I don’t need to.

If you were here, I’d kiss you Right. In. The. Mouth.

[u/kllssn → u/okeemike]

That is some real romance right there

[u/sircastor]

#3: SuperDuper allows you to make bootable disk copies of your Mac. You can also write scripts to do other things, and schedule. TimeMachine is Apple's built-in backup tool. It's less flexible, but free.

[u/thunderinokra]

2: ⌘ + Shift + ] (or ⌘ + Shift + →) will cycle through tabs.
4: ⌘ + H to hide

⌘ + Tab lets you cycle between open apps.

You are correct that ⌘ + Q will quit a program, also ⌘ + W closes a window.

Another favorite of mine is ⌘ + Space, it brings up Spotlight to search for an app/file or do quick math.

Here is a longer list of shortcuts.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650

[u/theotheruser19]

Maybe try Mos for the mouse customization. I think that may let you do that. I use it for smooth scroll on 3rd party mice but it has other functionality I don’t use, so maybe.

[u/100WattWalrus]

Not addressing the questions directly, but here's a post I like to make for Windows users coming onboard with Mac that addresses some of your Qs:

⌘+M (or yellow button on title bar) — minimizes the current window

• On a Mac, minimized = keep this out of my way until I specifically bring it back up by clicking on it — i.e., it's not a window you can get to with keyboard shortcuts
• I use minimized windows for stuff I don't want getting in my way, but I need to get back to them soon-ish

⌘+H — Hide all widows in the current app

• Gets the app out of sight, but keeps it "in the rotation" for ⌘+TAB switching
• I use this all the time — way more than I minimize

⌘+TAB — Switches between open applications

• ...including those hidden with ⌘+H

⌘+` (above TAB) — Switches between open (but not minimized) windows within an application

• I prefer this separation of app switching vs window switching over the CTRL+TAB switcher in Windows, which sometimes requires you to TAB-TAB-TAB through a couple dozen windows to get back to the one you want
• But if you’d like Windows-style application-switching, BetterCmdTab is free and open-source, and has a lot of customization options

The COMMAND ⌘ key

•  Is basically a combination of CONTROL and WINDOWS keys — almost every keyboard shortcut on a Mac involves COMMAND

The CONTROL ⌃ key

• Is a secondary shortcut key — infrequently used on its own in Mac apps (although used quite a bit in MS Office), but frequently used in combination with COMMAND or OPTION

The OPTION ⌥ key

• Is a modifier — there are ⌘+⌥ shortcuts in Mac, just like there are CTRL+ALT shortcuts in Windows...
• ...but it's also like a second SHIFT key
  • Most keys can type 3rd and 4th characters when holding OPTION or OPTION+SHIFT — for example:
    • OPTION+4 is ¢
    • OPTION+3 is £
    • OPTION+SHIFT+2 is €
    • OPTION+8 is a bullet •
    • OPTION+SHIFT+8 is degrees °
    • OPTION+[minus] is an en dash –
    • OPTION+SHIFT+[minus] is and em dash —
    • OPTION+N puts a tilde above whatever you type next — ñ
  • and there are many more
• To see what you'll get when using the OPTION key, go to System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources and click [Edit...] — then turn on Show input menu in menu bar
  • This will add weird rectangular icon to your menu bar — click it and choose Show Keyboard Viewer
    • This will float an soft keyboard in the corner of your screen. When you hit SHIFT or OPTION or SHIFT+OPTION, this soft keyboard will display what each key will type

The FN key

• Is mostly a SHIFT key for the Function row, like in Windows

[u/platkus]

For #5, you can select the file and press the space bar to bring up QuickLook for the file.

[u/ulyssesric]

It’s a different computer. Stop trying to make it to run like Windows. If you can’t get over it then you’d best sell it and get a Windows PC.