So what has changed from Tiger to Leopard? Look through this small section to find the little differences between Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) and Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard). I'm adding this page in here so you have an idea of what's different when trying to use a tutorial for a different OS. So if you have Leopard installed and are trying to use a Tiger tutorial, you can get an idea of what's different to hopefully aid you in getting what you want to work.
System Preferences:
Parental Controls is one of the new additions to System Preferences in Leopard. Some of the System Preferences themselves are also different. Exposé now has the addition of Spaces to its preference pane. The Spaces section can adjust things like screen corners, how many desktops you want Spaces to support, and keyboard shortcuts.
Bluetooth has some subtle changes. It now has a section to the left of the preference pane that lists all of your paired and previously paired devices. It also sports a + and - for adding and deleting a Bluetooth device. The sprocket icon is to adjust the settings of the selected bluetooth device or to get information on the selected device.
Print & Fax also has the same sidebar as Bluetooth. The side bar in Leopard lists currently installed printers and their current status. It too has the + and - to add or delete a printer. The share checkbox is next to the printer icon after you've selected the printer you want to share. The add printer section is totally different from Tiger. Its more refined and easier to select what you suits your needs. Everything is in the top toolbar from AppleTalk printers, Windows, Bluetooth, or IP based printers. A tutorial will be added soon on how to add a printer in Leopard. Its not too much different from Tiger, but just enough to where the Tiger printer tutorial may not help a first time Mac user.
.mac sports a new tab for Back to my Mac. Back to my Mac is a new addition from Leopard users with a .mac membership. If enabled, it allows you to access your Mac from a remote location if the Mac you're currently using is also using Mac OS 10.5 for its OS. This can be handy for helping family members, or just providing general tech support for someone. A broadband connection and .mac membership is required.
The Network system preference has changed quite a bit from Tiger. It has the same left hand sidebar as the Bluetooth and Print & Fax preference panes. The sidebar shows the current enabled network ports and their current status. It too has the + and - to add or delete a network port. The sprocket icon can do many different things. One of the things you need to get used to in Leopard is that after you've selected say Airport you need to click the advanced button in the lower right to change things like AppleTalk, IP settings, DNS Settings, etc. It no longer just shows those tabs like it did in Tiger.
The Sharing system preference is basically the same with just a few additions. In Leopard you can now add specific users to certain things. For example, if your account name is Joe and you have another user either on the same Mac or on the same network of say Jane, you can specify how much access Jane can have to certain things such as your main internal hard drive, or any other internal or external hard drives. The sharing preference pane in Leopard also adds in the option for Bluetooth sharing.
The Accounts system preference is split up a little because of the Parental Controls system controls. Items for users such as user access rights is now all managed from the parental controls preference pane. The Accounts preference pane is mainly for managing the accounts themselves. Its where you add or delete users, give them the account name, and any account passwords. Just as in Tiger, its also where you can specify any login items, meaning what applications you want to automatically launch what that user accounts logs in.
The final change in the system preferences is the addition of the Time Machine preference pane. This is where you enable or disable Time Machine, what device you want it to backup to, and any files/folders you want it to skip.
Finder:
As mentioned in the Finder section of OS X, it sports a whole new appearance from Tiger. Gone is the brushed metal, replaced by a dark gray gradient. Its also a consistent look throughout the entire OS. Every Finder window will have the same appearance. The sidebar in Finder also looks different from Tiger. Its appearance is very similar to iTunes. It how separates devices, network, places, and adds in search folders. The network section automatically shows any Macs, Back to my Mac Macs, and PCs that are currently on the network with something shared. The search section shows any recently searches and adds the ability for smart searches, kind of like smart folders in iTunes. Also new in every finder window is a new icon. Its in the top toolbar and looks like an eye. This new icons will give you a quickview of any selected item. This is a new feature in Leopard and isn't present in Tiger. A new view is also in Leopard. Its called coverflow, taken from iTunes. It will show the contents of any file or folder. You can even play quicktime movies right inside the window just to get a quick preview before opening it. You will also notice that the 3 buttons in the top left are shinier, almost more shiny plastic looking.
Dock:
The Dock when placed on the bottom looks entirely different in Leopard as compared to Tiger. The Leopard dock now has a shiny glass platform to sit on. The platform is also reflective to anything that comes near or under it. Also added to the Dock for Leopard is Stacks. This gives you the ability to add in a bunch of icons or a folder and view it as a stack.
Spotlight:
Spotlight in Leopard has been greatly improved over the Tiger version. Its MUCH quicker and fills in the results as you type. You can actually use it to launch your apps. It also supports searching over a network, external drives, and even boolean searches. If there's something it can't find, press the Time Machine icon in the Dock and spotlight will search your Time Machine backup for any different files that may have accidentally deleted files/folders. You will also notice that every Help menu has a spotlight like search box in it that will fast search the help articles for the topic you've typed in.
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