Chapter 5. The Nuts and Bolts of System Preferences

Your Mac was designed to do a lot of things really well right out of the box. Apple's engineers have put together a system that, for the most part, works wonderfully well with almost any device or software designed for it (and even many that aren't), and with almost any network setup you can think of, with no tweaking of any kind necessary. However, those engineers are but flesh and blood, and cannot realistically be expected to think of and prepare for every possible scenario you, or any other user, may experience or require. On the positive side, they are very bright folks who have done a terrific job of giving you the ability to make any adjustments to your system that may be necessary for your particular circumstances. This is where System Preferences comes in.

What Are System Preferences?

System Preferences is your one-stop location for making changes to the way your Mac interacts with you, your network, the Internet, devices such as printers, and other users on the Mac and on your network. They give you the tools needed to make adjustments necessary for proper functionality and compatibility between your Mac and other entities.

Want to speak to your Mac and have it speak to you? System Preferences is the place to start. ...

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