By going up to the Apple Menu (\uf8ff)<\/strong> and choosing System Preferences<\/strong>, you get this screen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can add your Apple ID to the computer here and even manage your Apple ID settings from the Apple ID menu icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personalizing your Finder<\/strong> is key, and Apple makes this process very easy. You can very easily change your desktop background and even use some of their cool customization options. To access desktop background options, head back to your System Preferences menu, and select Desktop & Screen Saver<\/strong> here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once inside this menu, you have a ton of great options! Let\u2019s take a look at changing up your desktop background first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll see three options on the left-hand side of the panel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are three options at the top called Dynamic Desktop<\/strong>, which change your desktop as the time of day changes outside. These options are the Apple-provided standard desktop backgrounds that come pre-loaded with Finder. It\u2019s pretty cool, but I personally don\u2019t use it. Instead, you can navigate down to\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve connected your Apple ID and synced your photos from your phone to your iCloud account, all of those pictures will appear here. So you can take all of these random pictures of your dogs and set those as your desktop background if you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He really is that ridiculous looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although I love these little monsters, I like to find amazing art from the internet and set that as my desktop background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s very simple to do by navigating down to the Folders<\/strong> option. Here you can click on the Plus Sign near the bottom of the panel to add a folder from your computer to this panel. Now you can select from any of the images in that folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve picked the location of the images you\u2019d like to use for your background, you can further customize your desktop by setting it to Change Picture<\/strong> at select intervals, like daily or hourly, or gosh, every 5 seconds if you want a headache. The choice is yours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like to set my pictures to change every day, and I choose a Random Order<\/strong>. This way, my computer always feels fresh with new artwork in the background each morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have a laptop computer, you should absolutely be setting up a Screen Saver<\/strong>. The Screen Saver tab at the top of the panel will let you do just that. You can choose from a variety of screensavers like the good old Word of the Day, which I fondly remember playing on all of the iMac\u2019s we had when I was in high school, to a custom message reminding you to stop procrastinating reading articles on the internet. But not this one, because if you keep reading, I\u2019m going to tell you about my favorite thing in this menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the bottom right of the Screen Saver menu is the Hot Corners<\/strong> option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By setting up an action for each corner of your screen, you can tell your computer what to do once you put the mouse there. For me, I want to turn off my computer screen when I watch TV, so I just swipe my mouse to the upper left corner, and right away, my computer is asleep\u2014no need to hunt down that command in a menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keeping your computer secure, especially if it\u2019s a laptop and you\u2019ll be traveling with it, is crucial. That\u2019s why I recommend setting a computer password right away<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Head over to the Security & Privacy<\/strong> options in System Preferences and go to the General<\/strong> tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There you can set up a password and choose how quickly that password is required after your computer lid is closed or the computer goes to sleep. As a desktop iMac user in a secure space, I went with 5 minutes; but whenever I bring my laptop somewhere, I change that option to Immediately<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from essential documents that I wouldn\u2019t want to lose, I also have my Apple ID connected to the computer. A password might seem inconvenient, but it will definitely protect you from prying fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finder\u2019s controllable general settings offer a lot of flexibility for your day-to-day workflows. From System Preferences, check out the General<\/strong> tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finder will set your appearance to Auto<\/strong> by default, meaning your computer will be light during the day and dark in the evening. You can choose to keep it dark the entire time by changing this setting here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also modify specific details like the visibility of the scroll bar in the windows you are using and how many recent items should be displayed in the Recent Items menu. But what I really like here is…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which browser do you use? The question often results in divisive answers. Personally, I\u2019m a Google Chrome<\/a> user. (I can hear all of the Safari users out there groaning. That\u2019s okay!) For my fellow Chrome users out there, or whatever your web browsing software of choice may be, you can tell Finder to use that web browser as your default browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simply choose the appropriate web browser from the drop-down menu in the General settings menu of System Preferences. Now any links you open from a text message, email, or notes you\u2019ve saved will launch in your browser of choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your computer is going to be used by multiple users, then setting up different users is something you\u2019ll want to do. You do this very easily with the Users & Groups<\/strong> menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding a new user is simple. Just unlock this panel with the lock icon and your administrator password. Then just push the plus sign to add a new user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can create either a new standard user without administrator privileges, like the ability to add or delete software, or you can create a new administrator with all of the privileges of your own user account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Apple products tend to work right out of the box, you will need to manually connect your Bluetooth devices to the computer to get them working the first time. In System Preferences, you can hop into the Bluetooth<\/strong> menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"macOS](\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/brian-levin-system-preferences.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDesktop Backgrounds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nApple<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Photos<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nFolders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Customizing Your Desktop<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nScreen Saver<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hot Corners<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSecurity & Privacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
General Settings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSetting Up Your Default Browser<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Users<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nConnecting Bluetooth Devices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n