Many people find Macs frustrating, especially when they've come from using Windows for years, or perhaps even decades. Some people are nearly driven to insanity by the sudden changes to their workflow, so let's simply list ways to do stuff that Windows users have been doing for years, and suddenly need to learn (often subtle) differences to get them working.

Common Pitfalls/Stumbling Blocks:

Menus in Windows Versus Menus in Mac:

When I'm talking about menus, I'm talking about the usual File, Edit, View, Help, etc menus that are in every program/application you use... usually at the top of the window.

It might shock you, that even though Mac's OS (operating system) uses windows for each application just like the Windows (capitalised for the operating system, not lower case, which I use to describe each window that an app can have) Mac OS (sometimes called OS X) puts the menus in a different spot to Microsoft.

In Windows, let's say you've opened a file in Microsoft Word. Inside the window for Word, there's the usual menus in the top left of that window. File, Edit, View, Help, etc. You'll note the little buttons in the top right of the WINDOW for minimise window (hide), maximise window (full screen) and close. If you move Word's window around the desktop, the menus follow inside the window. If you have three Word files open, each in a separate window, each has a separate set of menus. Not so on a Mac.

In Mac OS, the windows, and the menus are separated. If you open a Word document in Mac OS, the menus are NOT in the window, but located at the top of the Desktop. So let's say you start typing into the document, and want to zoom in to make reading easier. This function would normally be in the View menu > Zoom, but it's not in the Window. (Many Windows users panic here). Simply move your mouse to the top of the screen (the top of the desktop if you prefer, where the clock and date is), and you should see the usual Apple Menu, <Name of Application> menu, File Menu, Edit Menu, View Menu, Tools Menu, Window, Help Menu. It's possible that the top bar has been set to auto hide, (like the task bar in Windows) so simply pushing your mouse to the top of the screen should reveal the bar and all the menus.

Context is everything:

Apple's OS only shows ONE application's menu at a time. If you've clicked outside of that Word document window (say the desktop) this changes the context of the menu listing from the Word app to Finder (Finder is the app in OSX similar to Windows file Explorer, where you see files and folders). Suddenly you can't find the File > Print Preview for your Word document, because Finder doesn't have that feature.

Don't panic!

To fix this, simply click inside the Microsoft Word window again, to change the context back to the Word application, and you'll find the relevant menus at the top of the screen.

Where's my minimise/maximise/close buttons?

In Windows, the buttons are in the top right corner of the window. In Mac OS, they're in the top left. Most of them are familiar:

• "X" = Close,
• "-" = Minimise, and
• two arrows pointing diagonally in opposite directions away from each other is "Maximise" and if maximised, that button changes to two arrows pointing inwards to restore the regular window size.

Important note: Windows and Macs have those three buttons in a different order to one another.

Windows: Minimise, Maximise, and Close (Left to right)

Mac OS: Close, Minimise, and Maximise (Left to right).

So take the time to hover over the icons before you click it. Macs sometimes have them as three featureless circles until you hover over them with the mouse pointer (but not click). I can't confirm why they've done that, but I've read that the brightly coloured buttons attracted young children in unhelpful ways, others reported "burn in" of certain colours on screens, I can't confirm or refute any potential answer, but knowing Apple, it's probably because they simply thought is suited someone's sense of aesthetics.

When I closed the window, I've quit the application, right?

Actually, no. This is something users transitioning from Windows to Mac can struggle with. It's ok, I did the same thing. :-)

Closing the window doesn't shut the application down. The window and the application are decoupled. If you close the window, you'll find that yes, you're still prompted to save your changes to your file, but even when the window is closed, the menu is still up at the top of the screen. Select the menu with the name of the Application (if Word, the "Word" menu), and select quit. (Or use the Command + Q shortcut outlined below).

Three things to keep in mind:

1. Remember: Using the "find word on this page" function in your browser (Control + F keys on Windows) or (Command + F keys on Macs) and then typing the words you're looking for will help you to find the right bit below.
2. If you're used to windows commands like "Control + S" for saving files, "Control + C" for copy, etc. Try replacing the control key with the COMMAND key on a Mac. You'll often find, that the "short cuts" are similar. If command doesn't work, try control + whatever letter corresponds with the shortcut you're trying to use. Some apps written for both Windows and Mac have kept the Windows based shortcuts.