Premise

MacOS has a ton of features that it gets loaded with straight out of the box. But for someone who is used to a Windows computer, there are some features that do not come natively with the operating system. For some, this might be all they need to make excuses not to switch to macOS. However, there are easy fixes to these seemingly “missing” features, and this article will tell you exactly how to fix those problems.

• Premise
• 🪟 Alt+Tab
• 🪝 Snapping Windows
• ↕️  Scroll Direction
• 🆕 Right Click → Create New File
• 🔬 Running Windows Apps
• Closing

🪟 Alt+Tab

On a Windows computer, you can hit Alt+Tab to switch windows. On a Mac, you can do a similiar thing, but it only lets you switch between apps, not individual Windows:

Windows

Mac

Fix for missing “Alt+Tab”:

You can use a free program called “AltTab”:

AltTab

AltTab brings the power of Windows's "alt-tab" window switcher to macOS. Switch focus to any window Minimize, close, fullscreen any window Hide, quit any app Customize AltTab appearance (e.g.

alt-tab-macos.netlify.app

The best part about this program is it’s COMPLETELY FREE. There is no premium version.

This will make it so you can now see previews of every window instead of just the top one of each app.

Using Alt-Tab:

🪝 Snapping Windows

Out of the box, you cannot snap windows by dragging to the left or the right or dragging to the top of the screen.

Windows:

The fix for this is downloading one of these apps:

• BetterSnapTool (this is what I use) - 2.99$

‎BetterSnapTool

‎BetterSnapTool allows you to easily manage your window positions and sizes by either dragging them to one of the screen's corners or to the top, left or right side of the screen. This enables you to easily maximize your windows, position them side by side or even resize them to quarters of the scree...

apps.apple.com

• Magnet - 7.99$ (seems to have the most features).

‎Magnet

‎Every time you multitask with many apps open, you need all the windows arranged accordingly. Magnet makes this process swift and easy. In one drag to the edge of your display, you size any app into half of the screen. And by dragging its windows to corners, you snap them into quarters.

apps.apple.com

• Rectangle - free (also has a pro version for 10.99$)

Rectangle

Move and resize windows in macOS using keyboard shortcuts or snap areas. The official page for Rectangle.

rectangleapp.com

↕️  Scroll Direction

If you are like me, you are used to the scroll directions on a Windows computer. While out of the box you can configure the scroll direction to match a Windows computer experience, if you change the touchpad direction, you will also change an external mouse to be the OPPOSITE direction. (for some reason, Apple has NOT made these seperate.

There is a free program you can download to fix this:

• Scroll Reverser - Free

Scroll Reverser

For macOS 10.12 and later (Intel and Apple Silicon): Download Scroll Reverser 1.8.2 (9 Mar 2022; release notes) Languages: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.

pilotmoon.com

🆕 Right Click → Create New File

This is the newest one for me. When you right-click on a Windows computer, you can create a new file, new text document, rich text document, folders, etc. However, on a Mac, you can only natively create a folder.

To fix this, there is a program you can download from the AppStore called “New File Menu”.

• New File Menu (Free or 2.99$):

🔬 Running Windows Apps

You have multiple options for running Windows applications on macOS. If you have the Apple Silicon chip (2020 and newer), you have to use an emulator (BootCamp doesn’t work with newer models)

There are multiple options for you:

• Parallels - 99$ (this is what I use)

Parallels: Mac & Windows Virtualization, Remote Application Server, Mac Management Solutions

Parallels Official Site | Mac & Windows Virtualization, Mac Management

www.parallels.com

• UTM - Free

UTM

Not only can you run the latest and greatest operating systems, you can also emulate older operating systems whether it's on PowerPC, SPARC, or x86_64. Check out the gallery for some examples of what you can run. Run multiple instances of macOS on your Apple Silicon Mac with UTM.

mac.getutm.app

• VMWare Fusion - 199$ (this is geared toward business environments)

Fusion_Buy_Dual

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store-us.vmware.com

Closing

That should be a lot to get you started. I’ve found that there is almost always a way to make the macOS experience more tailor-made for yourself in a way that is useful. Try out these tips, and let me know if they helped.

If you found this helpful, consider following us on YouTube, Social Media, or joining the emailing list. Check me out at https://www.malachicorliss.com for all kinds of articles that will help you with tech, music, productivity, and more!

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Seeya tomorrow,

Malachi Corliss