Essential tasks for a new Mac or macOS install - tweak it!

If you have just bought a new Apple Mac or installed a fresh copy of macOS, a good way to clean up and speed up, here are the essential tasks to perform to get it running the way you like.

Although macOS comes with predefined default settings that are mostly OK, everyone has their own preferences and it takes a few tweaks here and there to get the Mac just the way you need it. The Dock, windows, accessibility settings, menu bar items and many more settings need to be customized to suite how you work.

Here are some of the changes I make to macOS after installing it. There are even more and you really have to go through System Preferences and look and customise almost every setting.

Scrollbars and sidebars

The first item in System Preferences is General and an item you might want to change is Sidebar icon size. It does not say so, but this is the sidebar in Finder windows. Open a Finder window and on the left in the sidebar are often used locations like Applications, Desktop, Documents, Downloads and so on.

The Sidebar icon size setting changes not only the size of the icons used, but also the text. If you work on a small screen, such as a MacBook, the text may be too large and it is better to select the Small setting.

I always have a problem with scrollbars in windows. They seem to automatically hide and reappear at the most inconvenient times and instead of making windows easier to navigate, they make them harder. I always set Show scrollbars to Always.

The menu bar at the top of the screen can be set to automatically hide when not being used, however, it is used so much you may find this an irritation. Clar the checkbox Automatically hide and show the menu bar.

Desktop & Screen Saver

Open Desktop & Screen Saver in System Preferences, select the Screen Saver tab, then click the Hot Corners button at the bottom. The four items enable you to perform actions when the mouse is moved to the four corners of the screen. Choose a corner and then select Put Display to Sleep.

This enables the screen to be switched off simply by pushing the mouse into the corner of the screen, the top right corner in this case. It is useful if you are using battery power on a MacBook and want to do something away from your computer for a minute, like check your phone, go and get a drink, read something and so on.

Dock options

The best size for the Doc depends on the size of the screen and a large Dock is fine on an iMac with a big screen, but it gets in the way on a MacBook with a small screen. Set the size that fits best on the screen.

Another essential setting here for MacBook owners is Automatically hide and show the dock. The Dock takes up too much of a 12 in or 13 in screen, leaving little space for applications. Turning on this setting hides the Dock except when you push the mouse to the very bottom of the screen. You have more space to work with apps and windows.

Apple loves animating things and windows animate when appearing on the screen and again when they are minimised. In the Dock settings is a tick box to enable/disable animations when opening applications. I prefer none, it's up to you. I would also prefer no animation when minimising windows, but that is not an option and Apple forces you to choose between two animation effects, Scale and Genie. Scale effect is the lesser of two evils.

I also disable Dock magnification, which is another animation effect.

No Dashboard

The Dashboard has been in macOS for many years and it enables you to run widgets, which are small and simple apps, on the desktop. Does anyone still use desktop widgets? Apple thinks not and the Dashboard is disabled by default. I don't use widgets, so this is fine for me, but if you do like them, turn it on. There is an option in System Preferences > Mission Control.

Start the week

What day is the first day of the week? That's not a silly question and some people prefer to have Monday as the first day because it is the start of the work week. Monday is actually the default in macOS, but in Language & Region you can reset it to Sunday if you prefer. Some apps have their own start of the week settings, but some may use the System Preferences setting.

No displays

The Mac is able to use external screens, such as a big screen TV that has an Apple TV attached, external monitors and so on. If you do not regularly use external displays you might want to remove the icon from the menu bar to keep it cleaner and simpler. Open Displays and clear the tick against Show mirroring options in the menu bar when available.

Type faster

Hold a key down, such as when entering text, and the key will repeat, so you get aaaaaaaaa, or whatever key you hold down. The length of time you have to wait before the key starts repeating and the speed at which it repeats are in Keyboard in System Preferences. I find the default settings far too slow and drag both sliders to the right - Fast for the repeat and Short for the delay.

This is fine in theory, but you may find that apps do their own thing and ignore these settings, which is irritating.

Customize the trackpad

If you have a MacBook or an iMac with a trackpad, open Trackpad in System Preferences. There are many settings to cusomize here and you should go through each tab and set the ones you want. There are probably more than you need.

On the Point & Click tab is an option to tap to click, which is very useful and also set the secondary click to two fingers. In other words, Tap with two fingers instead of Ctrl+clicking, it takes one hand instead of two. The More Gestures tab has lots of options for tapping and swiping with multiple fingers. If you cannot remember them all or accidentally keep activating them, just set your favorites.

No automatic updates

Open the Software Update in System Preferences and turn off the options and advanced options. This means that the Mac will not automatically check for updates and install them. Instead, you must manually open this to check for updates. The reason for turning off auto-updates is that it is best not to be the first to install an update. Wait a few days and see if there are any reports of problems. If you don't hear anything, go ahead and install it.

With manual checking for updates you must remember to do it, but you can do it when it is convenient and not when you are busy with something. The automatic setting nags you to install now or later or tonight, but clearing the checkboxes puts you in control.

Date and Time

Do you really not know what day of the week it is? Do you need to look at the menu bar to find out? Why have the day in the menu bar? Reduce menu bar clutter and unnecessary informaiton by opening Date and Time in System Preferences, select the Clock tab and clear the tick against Show the day of the week. Also clear Show Date too. The date is shown in the Calendar icon in the Dock and clicking the clock in the menu bar shows it too.

Keep the menu bar clutter to a minimum and don't show seconds or flash the time separators.

Reduce transparency and motion

Some people like transparency effects in windows and the menu bar, but others don't. I am not a fan because it reduces the readability of text and is a distraction, so I always turn it off. Open Accessibility and Select Display on the left, then and tick Reduce transparency. There is an option to increase contrast too and it has an effect on window features, such as putting borders around buttons and boxes, and text, making light grey dark grey and other pale colours darker. You may find it easier to use the screen, but it does not look attractive.

Earlier when configuring the Dock, we disabled the animation of opening apps and windows. Here is another setting to reduce motion. It is up to you, but I find that many animations just slow things down and are distrcting.

Customize the battery indicator

By default, there is a battery level indicator in the menu bar and if you don't see it on your MacBook, go to System Preferences > Energy Saver and tick the checkbox. It doesn't give enough information, so click the menu bar icon and select Show Percentage. You can't tell exactly how much battery power is left from the graphic and two similar values like 30% and 40% look the same. Click the battery icon and tick Show percentage.

Customise the Finder sidebar

Open a Finder window and on the left in the sidebar are some useful locations, like the Documents folder, Desktop, Downloads and so on. Think about the folders you frequently access and drag them from the Finder window to the sidebar and drop them. Add your home folder, Dropbox, Google Drive or whatever you often access.