Two weeks ago we began a series of primers for new Mac users, to help ease the transition for those who have decided to take the leap, and serve as reassurance for those who may be considering it.

You’ll remember that our last episode ended with the arrival of Ed, the self-described “PC expert” neighbor who held your hand through the last few excruciating Windows system cleanings and eventual hard drive reformats. Being the geek that he is (albeit an uninformed geek), he figures a computer is a computer, and you’ll probably need help, especially with making sure your system security software is installed and deployed properly.

Ed enters and sees the “minimalist” iMac box. “Oh, hey, it looks like just the monitor came. I’ll come back when the computer gets here”, he suggests.

You reassure him that, no, its all here. Ed watches with interest as you plug in the four cords required to get the iMac up and running and on the internet. It’s time to turn it on.

"Wait!”, Ed cries. “Shouldn’t we review the manuals?”

"There aren’t any. There’s this “Getting Started” brochure, and I’ve done everything already”, you reply.

"OK. Just go slow and be careful”, Ed cautions.

You press the button on the back of the iMac and it awakens, with the signature “bwong” Mac startup sound you’ll come to enjoy and welcome.

After a short “Hello” movie, you’ll be asked to fill in a few forms and answer some simple questions. You’ll enter your name and address information, which will become your record in your Address Book. You can even take your picture with the iMac’s built-in iSight camera to be your chat icon and show up on emails you send, if you wish.

You’ll notice that your iMac wakes up with its Airport wireless networking active. Needing no configuring, it will see your wireless network immediately and use it to sync your clock with Apple’s time servers (you’ll need to tell it your location – it’s smart, but not psychic), and register your iMac with Apple. You’ll also see that you don’t need to spend time entering your official Windows “certificate” number so Microsoft can determine that you didn’t pirate the operating system.

If you wanted to move data from another Mac, the iMac would walk you through it. It will also assist in setting up your email account(s), or you can wait and do that later.

Once these initial steps are complete, your iMac will determine if there are any new software updates available for your system and other installed software, and ask you if you want to download and install them. Go ahead. It’s best to start with a clean, updated slate.

That’s it. Your iMac is done “bugging you”, most likely for good. You’ll notice that your iMac desktop contains but one icon in the upper right corner. This icon represents your hard drive. It’s labeled “Macintosh HD”, but you can name it anything you want, and change the name on a whim.

You’ll notice no other icons on the desktop. Unlike PCs, the Mac desktop doesn’t “awaken” with a plethora of shortcuts (called “aliases” on the Mac) to software and services you don’t want or need. Your Mac belongs to you – it is not an electronic “billboard” for two dozen trial versions of software and ads for web sites and services. You won’t have to spend the next two hours uninstalling these “craplets” to make room for your stuff.

Next time: ten words on virus protection for the Mac, and 590 more on how much easier it is to us a Mac.