I am old and stupid at 65 years old and maybe should have stuck with the windows applications instead.

Actually... once you learn a few basics of the Mac system... you will have less problems than with Windows.
I guarantee it.

Absolutely no viruses is a good example. Have you ever been tearing your hair out trying to rid a PC of an infection? Most people have to call someone.
Then there is the cost of an antivirus app with subscription renewals each year.
While it is prudent to run AV on a Mac... I don't and haven't in several years.

You have inadvertently moved system files and it's not a common problem.. I hardly ever see this issue.

Do you have the install disks that came with the machine?

Thanks for the encouragement. I would like to ask you can you open apps and utilities under the finder app? Is not the dock just a short cut for the other apps and utilities? One more question please when you make a new folder how do you drag the apps into the folder on the dock? Thanks J do have all the install discs.

Yes, you can open apps/utilities under the Finder. Just open up the Finder and navigate to the program/utility you want.

OR, you can go to the Spotlight icon (top right of your window), type in the application/utility that you want and it'll start right up.

Not sure why you would want to create a new folder and put applications in it and put it on the dock? Yes, the dock is a shortcut to applications/folders, so what you are asking is to duplicate something that doesn't need duplicating.

Make aliases (shortcuts) using the Command-L keys, of the applications and put those into the folder in the dock.

If you put a folder in the dock, the icon that ends up on the dock is what you call a shortcut to the actual folder (in Apple-speak we call it an alias). So if you want something to show up in the folder that appears in the dock, just put the item into the actual folder. If you want to put something new into the folder, to get to the actual folder just click on the dock icon and select Open in Finder.

I'm not sure what you mean by the first question about opening apps under the Finder. The Finder just gives you visual access to all of the material on your hard drive, from utilities to apps, from documents to preference panes. So you use the Finder globally to see the object you want to open, and you double click on the object to open it. The dock, as you know, just gives you immediate access to whatever you've put on the dock via the alias for the item. If it helps, here's a picture of my dock:

(Open in a new window to embigify)

I have all of the apps that I use regularly immediately in the dock, starting from the Finder at the left to the icon for Excel on the right, which is on there because the application is open. To the right of the Excel icon, I have an icon that looks like a typewriter. That's an alias for the folder where I keep all of the writing/office applications, from the MS products to Text Edit, Keynote, Pages, etc. Next to that is the icon of a projector, an alias for the folder where I keep all of the apps that have to do with visuals of any sort. The next one is a Mailbox icon, and that's an alias for the folder where I keep all of the utilities. The next two icons are for documents. The first is for all of the files I use in my work, and the second for all of the files I use for my house stuff.

One more thing. The folders represented by the typewriter, projector, and mailbox have in them the aliases of the actual applications. The reason I do that is what Reboot explained earlier, that the applications themselves ought to remain in the Applications folder. I could have put the Applications folder itself in the dock, but as I think I said somewhere or other, for me that's overkill. I don't need immediate access to every single application on my HD. Anyway, some applications are nested inside folders within the folder for the particular application, and so it's awkward to get to the application if what's in the dock is the Applications folder itself.

Do you know how to make aliases of things on the HD? Just click on the object, whether an application or a document, and control click. In the menu that pops up, select Make Alias. That's it--and you can move that alias wherever you want and when you double click it, or click its image in the dock, it will invoke the original object.

One more thing. I use different icons for folders that include different categories of applications and documents because I find it easier to navigate the dock that way. I know what's in the typewriter icon, for instance, without having to search around for the folder that I need. You can change the icon that designates a folder very easily. To do so, select the folder and get the information window on the folder (Command-i or under the File menu). Do the same for the icon that you want to use to replace the default one--get the information window for the icon. In the upper left of the information window you'll see a representation of the icon. Click on it and hit Command-c to copy it. Then go to the information window for the folder, click on the icon in the upper left of that window, and hit Command-v to paste it. Presto-change-o the icon changes for the folder.

Again, changing the icon is not necessary, but at least for me it makes life easier.

Yeah, what you said.

The way I do it is to just have the most frequently / repetitively accessed apps in the dock, along with the Terminal app, Activity Monitor, etc. The Activity Monitor is more to just kill processes if the OS hangs, since the dock still normally remains responsive if the OS hangs or freezes (but it's really unnecessary, as the OS doesn't do that, but it's always nice to have a backup plan).

All apps go in the Applications directory, of course, however with a ton of them, my penchant for visual organizational structure suffers (despite that being an obsolete concept, but then I'm a dinosaur), so what I do is to make categorized folders with the aliases of corresponding apps in those folders, such as a folder for the Apple apps (with those aliases in them), a folder for third party utilities (with those aliases in them), graphics folder, etc, etc. This comes in handy as I use FinderPop a lot as a launcher or to open docs in other-than-their-mapped application, as well as to move, copy or alias docs to different locations, etc.

Ed

Jerry,

When I want an app in the dock I navigate to that app in the App folder, launch app and then navigate back to the Dock. It will active on the right hand side of Dock.
Click and Hold for a few seconds... you will get options which include letting it reside in the Dock permanently. For apps which I have launched recently and are not in the Dock.. I navigate to the Apple in the upper left corner and down to Recent Items/Applications.

Otherwise I just hit the key combo Shift-Apple-A which brings up the app folder quickly.

It may seem weird at first... but it will become second nature very quickly.

Oh.. and to organize the app aliases in the Dock... just click and hold on one foe a moment.. then drag to where you want it.

Dang it , Yoyo read your email their stacking up

Thanks for responding back to me. It takes some time to get use to.Like everything in life.J