Upgrade to and Learn Lion with New Take Control Ebooks

What seems like ages ago (that is, roughly three weeks back), we announced the release of a portion of Joe Kissell’s “Take Control of Upgrading to Lion,” containing as much information as we could provide without violating our non-disclosure agreement (see “Prepare for Lion with New Take Control Books,” 30 June 2011). At the same time we offered pre-orders for Matt Neuburg’s “Take Control of Using Lion.” (Everyone who bought them in the intervening weeks should now have received email from us with instructions on how to get the free
updates; if not, just look in your Take Control Library.)

Now that the big cat is out of its proverbial bag, we are pleased to announce the release of full versions of both books, available now — that’s over 300 pages of Lion-taming information! Each book is available independently for $15, but we also designed them to work together to help you upgrade successfully and get started using Lion’s new features, so you can buy them together at a 20-percent discount (you pay $24 instead of the $30 list price). Read on for details.

Take Control of Upgrading to Lion — It’s foolhardy to dive into a major OS upgrade without verifying that you have the right software and hardware to proceed and making a backup to which you can revert if things go wrong. Join best-selling author Joe Kissell for the necessary pre-upgrade check and expert backup advice, along with suggestions on how to clear the decks of useless cruft so you can start using Lion fresh. In particular, in “Take Control of Upgrading to Lion,” you’ll learn how to:

• Part with Rosetta: Understand and work around the fact that PowerPC-based software won’t run under Lion, given the absence of Rosetta.

• Handle your hardware: Thoroughly check your hardware for Lion compatibility. Also, get ideas for new hardware — it might be time for more RAM, disk space, or other peripherals, particularly a Magic Trackpad.

• Deal with duplication: Learn what a disk duplicate is, why having one is essential before installing Lion, and how to make one easily and affordably. Also, get help with backing up a Windows volume, should you be running Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp.

• Verify that all systems are go: Test your Mac to be sure all the hardware and disks are running properly — better to discover and correct a problem now than on upgrade day — and find advice on clearing extra files and software off your disk so that you get a fresh start with Lion.

• Consider a few geeky details: If you secure your data and documents with disk encryption now, or would like to do so under Lion, get advice on what to do before you upgrade and learn how Lion’s much-improved FileVault 2 will operate. Also, read what Joe thinks of partitioning and what you might want to do about it before installing.

• Make a plan: Learn how to install Lion if you’re installing over 10.6 Snow Leopard, and consider the pros and cons of several techniques for how to install onto a Mac running either 10.5 Leopard or 10.5 Tiger. Also, if you have more than one Mac in your home, get ideas for downloading the Lion installer only once, but using it legitimately on your different Macs. And, if a nearly 4 GB download is unrealistic, get guidance for how to best obtain Lion now and in August (when Apple plans to release a Lion installer USB drive).

• Solve problems: If your Mac won’t restart after installation, this ebook explains exactly what to do (knock on wood!).

• Avoid slowdowns: Put off a few tasks (running Spotlight, turning on Time Machine) that will slow you down during your first few hours in Lion.

• Get set and go: Joe reminds you to run Software Update, helps you set up an extra user account while noting a few account-related changes in Lion, discusses the pros and cons of the new FileVault 2 and gives directions for enabling it, explains the Incompatible Software Folder, provides the need-to-know-now Time Machine basics (including encryption of Time Machine backups), helps you understand what’s going on with Apple Mail plug-ins, and more.

• Go beyond… Learn why the $49.99 Lion Server is interesting for Lion users, and how to complete a basic installation.

• Reconnoiter with Recovery Mode: A final chapter explains the new-in-Lion Recovery HD volume, and even tells you what to type in Terminal so you can check it out. It also explains how to boot in Recovery mode, in case your Mac won’t boot and you don’t have a convenient way to boot it otherwise.

Take Control of Using Lion — In “Take Control of Using Lion,” author Matt Neuburg looks deeply at important new features in Lion while also discussing older features and third-party options that may work better for you, all with the goal of helping you understand Lion’s benefits, learn new habits, and get back to work quickly after your upgrade. Major topics help you to:

• Understand Auto Save, so you can let Lion save for you with confidence.

• Learn how Resume works, and how to disable it when you want a clean start.

• Figure out how to navigate Lion with the new Mission Control feature.

• Enter and leave full-screen mode, and switch among full-screen apps with Mission Control.

• Set up and use Launchpad, and get ideas for additional ways to launch apps.

• Memorize useful new trackpad and Magic Mouse gestures for controlling your Mac.

“Take Control of Using Lion” also answers many key questions about Lion, such as:

• Where did my scrollbars go, and how do I get them back?!?
• How do I make the text in my Finder window sidebar larger?
• Where did my user Library folder go, and how can I access it easily?
• How do I sort items in the Finder, and what does “Arrange” mean?
• What is this All My Files entry in my sidebar?
• Where have the Appearance and Accounts preference panes gone?
• What is the fun new way of entering accented characters?
• How do I change the size of my mouse pointer icon?
• Is there a way of zooming just a portion of the screen? (Yes!)

That’s it for now, but rest assured that we have more books about Lion in the pipeline — both new books and updates to existing titles — so stay tuned!