Getting Rid of the Side Bar, Buying RAM, and Moving Photos From Email to iPhoto :: My First Mac - Help Buying and Getting Started with Your New Mac

Getting Rid of the Side Bar, Buying RAM, and Moving Photos From Email to iPhoto

Quick Scan

Drag the dimple on the right of the Side Bar all the way to the left to get rid of it.

Buying third party RAM is usually a smart choice after you already have your Mac.

Drag your photos from Mail or most anywhere right onto the iPhoto icon in the Dock.

Customizing Your Finder Windows

What Else Do I Need to Get With a New Mac?

iPhoto Cheat Sheet

Importing and Backing Up Pictures in iPhoto, and Playing with Camera Video

Maximizing Windows, Grouping Folders in Finder, and Sizing the Dock on the Right

Getting Rid of the Side Bar, Buying RAM, and Moving Photos From Email to iPhoto

By: Chris Kerins
Published: Thursday, August 16, 2007
Categories: My First Mac Q&A

Welcome to My First Mac's Q&A column. It is said that Macs are easier to use, but they are still complex in their own right. Here are a few questions we have received lately from readers like you. Sometimes we reformat the questions for clarity and presentation.

This week we have questions about getting rid of the Side Bar, buying RAM, and moving photos from email to iPhoto.

		When I open a folder under Mac OS 10.4.2, a sidebar of all hard drives and other icons appears. This is annoying because it takes up my screen space. How can I permanently turn this feature off? Mac OS 10.28 did not have this feature.

		This feature is called the Side Bar, but I have good news and bad news about it. First the good: There are two approaches to get rid of it. The first is to grab the dimple in the middle of the vertical bar separating the Side Bar from the main viewing area. Drag that all the way to the left to get rid of the Side Bar. You may want to stop at just icons for a compromise. Now if the top Tool Bar is bugging you too, you can get rid of both at the same time by clicking the tic-tac in the top right to just have the window area and title bar showing. For more information about the Finder window, see Customizing Your Finder Windows. Now here's the bad news: Getting these states to be persistent is erratic. Sometimes the Finder will remember the way you like it and sometimes it won't. I haven't figured out the rhyme or reason to it. If you have figured it out, let us all know in the Comments section below.

		I now own an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz iMac. When I bought it, I decided to stick to the 1 GB of RAM that came with it. However, it seems to me that the time to upgrade has arrived. My question is: Apple is selling a 2 GB upgrade for $350. What do you think about buying my 2 GB RAM elsewhere and saving a few dollars?

		I would definitely suggest buying your RAM elsewhere unless you are getting it with your Mac. In most respects, Apple makes it difficult to upgrade elements of your Mac, but the main exception is upgrading your RAM. It's usually a snap to add RAM by yourself at home. Just follow the directions in the back of your manual. If you don't have your manual anymore, look it up here on Apple's website. The thing to look for when buying RAM is getting it from a reputable company that backs their products with a long warranty. The reason is that RAM is usually the first component to fail and crash your Mac, so make sure you can send it back and get a new chip easily. Take a look at DealRAM for some prices.

		I am always getting photos from friends and family in my email. How do I get these photos into iPhoto?

		Normally I get pictures from friends in JPEG format from their digital camera that they send as attachments. If you are using Apple Mail, you see these typically at the end of the email message. There are 2 simple ways to get these into iPhoto. The first is to click and hold the save button at the bottom of the header area and above the message area of your email. If you hold the button down, a menu that pops up that should have an item called Add to iPhoto. Boom! Couldn't be easier. The second way is to just click the photo and drag it onto the iPhoto icon in the Dock. That should launch iPhoto and start the import process. this only works for the photo you dragged, so you may have to do it more than once if you have a lot of photos. Now if you are using a web based email system, you first will need to download the photos, probably to the Desktop. Once they are there, select them all and drag to the iPhoto icon in the Dock much like the second way above. You can delete them afterwards.

You can send in your questions via the Contact page or email us at editor[AT]myfirstmac[DOT]com. Because of the volume of email we receive, we can't reply to each and every question personally. We read each question that comes in and reply to the ones that fit the scope of this column. We also save some questions for future columns.

If you need your specific question answered right away, try asking it in the Comments section of a related article.


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Your Comments:

In response to Question 1:

The Finder should remember the preferences, as long as you don't navigate out of the initial windowafter making them (sorry about the terrible phrasing!)

So you must:

1) Click on the Finder in the dock (or whereever) so a new windowopens - probably showing your home folder (You can change this in the Finder Preferences)

2) Make the changes you want (Get rid of sidebar, change size of window, change location of windowon screen etc...)

3) Close Finder windowwithout navigating away from the first location shown - otherwise the prefs won't work next time you open a new Finder window.

4) Open a new Finder windowto see the changes - adjust until perfect!!!

This should work for all Finder windows - ie. if you have a specific folder in the dock, you can do the same process as above so it's how you like it.

If this doesn't work, trash the finder preference file (I presume there's one!) and then try again.

Have fun...

Bob
08/16/2007 at 04:54 AM

I agree with your remarks about the ease of installing RAM, and I also encourage your reader to buy those chips carefully. I picked up some chips at CompUSA, an authorized Apple dealer. Either I got a set of bad chips or the technician sold me the wrong stuff. They fit perfectly and worked for a few months before crashing the system. Apple took out the chips and sent them back with a warning not to use unauthorized products. I ended up spending the extra cash at an Apple Store to ensure my state of mind... and maintain my warranty.

Jo
08/16/2007 at 05:40 AM

I'm planning on getting a new iMac and trying to figure out my RAM options. Does one still have to replace the RAM in matched pairs? Would it be possible to install a 2gb card in the empty slot for a total of 3gb RAM? Or should I get a 1gb x 2 kit? But then I end up with an orphaned 1gb card. I haven't been able to find a clear definitive answer on the web. TIA for your advice.

Wilfried
10/29/2007 at 10:32 AM

My understanding is that matched pairs work best. I think unmatched still work, but I don't know the downside of that. Sorry, not definitive.

BTW, odds are you won't get 1 1GB stick in the iMac. It should be 2 512s.

Chris K
11/05/2007 at 10:00 AM