Chapter 4 - The Dock

If you ever used the Launcher in OS 9, the Dock should be familiar to you. Located at the bottom of the screen or on one of the sides, the Dock is a new feature in OS X where you can reach frequently used applications, folders, or files. If there is a new application you want to add to the Dock, simply drag its icon onto the Dock. Want to add a folder or file? Drag its icon to the Dock. Applications go on the left side of the small divider, and folders and files go to the right. Applications that are currently running will have a small triangle underneath them. You can switch between applications by clicking on their icons in the Dock. If you minimize a window, as described in Chapter 4, the window will show up on the right side of the Dock. Something in the Dock you no longer want to see? Simply drag it out of the Dock and it will drop off in a puff of smoke. This does not delete the actual item from the hard drive, it just removes it from the Dock.

	Sherlock, in System 9 this application served to find items. Functions for searching your hard drive and searching the Internet have been split up. Details about Sherlock can be found below.
	System Preferences. This is the application used to set preferences for your computer. See Chapter 5 for more information.
	Finder. This is the actual application that is running all of the time to present your desktop and keep track of your files. You can always switch back to your desktop by clicking on the Finder icon in the Dock. You can also switch between open Finder windows by clicking and holding down your mouse over this icon and selecting from the list of open windows.
	Trash. Deleted items go here until you empty the trash to delete them permanently. Click and hold on this icon to select the 'Empty Trash' command.