Darwin Nacionales

Setting up a new Mac

Darwin Nacionales -

1) Dock

a. Removing Unnecessary Shortcuts

The dock is the very first thing I update on my Mac. Out of the box, it comes with all the apps that I don't normally use.

To remove them, right-click on an icon and select Remove from Dock.

b. Resizing the Dock Icons and Updating the Animation

In System Settings, search for "Dock" and resize the icons based on your preference.

There are also other settings here that I like to change such as:

  • Position on screen -> change to Left
  • Show suggested and recent apps in Dock -> set to Disabled

2) Spaces

I like having more control over my Spaces so I change a couple of settings under Mission Control.

Here, I disabled the following:

  • Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use
  • Displays have separate Spaces

3) Finder

a. Directory Path and Status

As I frequently work with multiple directories and files, it is more convenient for me if I can see the current path to my directory like below:

To enable this, open Finder. From here, select View and click Show Path Bar and Show Status Bar.

4) Default Screenshot Save Location

Create a folder where you want your screenshots to be saved (e.g. Pictures > Screenshots)

Open Screenshot > Options > Save to (Other Location...)

Then select your preferred directory.

5) Basic Apps

The following applications are the ones I install by default:

6) Development Tools

For VS Code, make sure to add code command in your command line by doing the following:

  1. Open VS Code
  2. cmd + shift + P
  3. Execute: Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH