System Settings, Backup, and Security in macOS 13 Ventura

Name: System Settings, Backup, and Security in macOS 13 Ventura
Author: Nizar Dajani

Learn the essential skills to effectively customize your Mac using System Settings, backup and secure your computer, as well as manage users.

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Course: On-Demand

In this lesson, you will learn about System Settings. If you want to customize your Mac machine, then these settings are found in System Settings. And System Settings is an app, so you can open it like any other app. For example, it can be in your dock as I have it here, or you can go to Finder, then Applications and open it from this window. Or you can use Spotlight and type System Settings, and hit Enter. So, this is System Settings, and there's so much to do here. It's best to explore all these settings one by one and customize them based on your needs, wants, and preferences. The main window is currently divided into two main sections. The left section contains a scrollable list of settings. When you click on any of these settings, the available detailed settings then shows up on the right section of this window. For example, if I click on Sound, I see all the sound settings. And if I click on General, I see many subtopics which I can enter into. So I'll click on About, and that takes me into more settings. And I can click on the back arrow button to take me back one step backwards. One key distinction to understand is that System Settings have settings for your computer in general, like how to control display settings, battery settings, Bluetooth connectivity settings, and much more. However, each app that you open in your macOS also has another set of settings that are very specific to that app only. For example, if I open TextEdit, and then go to the TextEdit menu, then Settings, I see many settings which are very particular to this app only. So, please be aware of this distinction. System Settings is a system-wide set of settings that we can customize. And in addition, each app on your Mac also has another set of settings that are specific only to that app. All right, back to System Settings again. If I click on the Appearance category, I can see such settings like making the appearance of my computer as light or dark. It's currently set to light. And let me click on dark to show you the difference. I personally prefer the light option, so I will revert it back to light. And if I scroll down on the left side, I get to Desktop & Dock. And then on the right side, I can scroll down until I see the setting for Default Web Browser. The pull-down option shows all the browsers that I have installed on my Mac. And I opted to keep my default web browser as Safari. But this is the option to set and change your preferred web browser. And if you're not sure about a particular setting, you can always click on the question mark at the bottom right corner, and that will open a window explaining all the different settings and their options that appear in this current window. You also might find some settings that are locked and need an admin user's password to unlock it. For example, if I go to the Users & Group settings and click on the Add Account button, I am prompted to enter the admin user password. Therefore, while most settings are open and don't require a password to change them, some sensitive system settings do require an admin password to change them. And one last point about System Settings is that it contains a Migration tool and an Erase Assistant tool. Whenever you are ready to sell your computer to buy a new one, for example, it's suggested that you complete some tasks like sign out of your Apple ID, erase any data, and so on. So if I go to System Settings, then General, then Transfer or Reset. Here, you can use the Migration Assistant tool to help you move data to this Mac from another Mac machine, or vice versa, using a simple wizard. And this window also gives us access to the Erase Assistant. When I click on the Erase All Content and Settings button, the Erase Assistant window opens up, and I'm prompted to enter the admin password. So, I'll type it in. And now it's suggesting that I first back up my Mac because we are erasing it completely. Please make sure you always have a recent backup of your computer. Then I'll click on the Continue button. And you can see that I'm progressing forward with erasing all my data and settings. This task will do several things like sign me out of my Apple ID, remove all my Touch IDs, unpair any Bluetooth devices, as well as turn off location sharing. In short, all settings, media, and data will be erased. So, it's a convenient tool to use instead of having to do all these tasks individually. But since I don't want to do that now, I'll go to the Erase Assistant menu and quit the app. So in this lesson, you learned about System Settings. Thanks for watching. And stay tuned for the next lesson where I will show you backing up your files.

Essential Provider : Nizar Dajani 4 Lessons · 21m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

In this course, you will learn how to customize your Mac computer using System Settings, as well as the importance of backing up your computer and how to schedule regular backups. You will also learn how to manage user accounts on your Mac computer. This course will help you maintain secure practices when using macOS Ventura.Ensuring optimal security takes some planning ahead of time, but it will help you avoidmany common issues down the road.

macOS Ventura revamped System Preferences into System Settings, giving you more control in customizing your Mac. This course will explore the need to backup files, and you will learn how to use an external hard drive to copy and paste files and folders, as well as how to use the built-in Time Machine feature to automatically back up our files and folders every hour. You will also learn about the security features offered in macOS Ventura, as well as some common best practices to ensure and maintain security.

What You'll Learn

Customize system settings on a Mac using the revamped System Settings in macOS Ventura
Back up files and folders by copying to an external hard drive and using Time Machine for automatic hourly backups
Schedule regular backups to keep your Mac's files protected
Manage user accounts on your Mac computer
Identify the security features in macOS Ventura and apply best practices to protect your machine

Key Takeaways

macOS Ventura replaced System Preferences with System Settings, giving you more control to customize your Mac.
You can back up files by copying them to an external hard drive or by using the built-in Time Machine feature to automatically back up files and folders every hour.
Planning for security ahead of time helps you avoid many common issues down the road.
The course covers customizing system settings, backing up files, securing the Mac, and managing user accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to customize your Mac using System Settings, the importance of backing up your computer and how to schedule regular backups, how to manage user accounts, and how to maintain secure practices when using macOS Ventura.

What topics does this course cover?

The course covers four areas: System Settings, Backup Files, Security, and User Management.

How does this course teach backing up files?

It explains why backing up files matters, how to use an external hard drive to copy and paste files and folders, and how to use the built-in Time Machine feature to automatically back up files and folders every hour.

What changed with System Settings in macOS Ventura?

macOS Ventura revamped System Preferences into System Settings, giving you more control in customizing your Mac.

What skills does this course help build?

It supports skills including Mac OS, macOS Mojave, System Configuration, System Preferences, and Apple Certified System Administrator.