System Preferences

The first thing you should do is update your OS. To do that, go to: Apple menu () -> System Settings.. -> Software Update

Don't forget to sign in your Apple ID to sync in your iCloud account

There are a couple of tweaks you could make to the System Preferences. These settings below are all optional, so consider them as suggestions.

General

  • Check Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices

  • Recent Items : None

Appearance

  • Appearance : Dark

Accessibility

  • Motor

    • Pointer Control

      • Check Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present (I primarily use a mouse. So I find it annoying when I accidentally move the mouse pointer when typing on the keyboard.)

Control Center

  • Spotlight -> Set to Don't Show in Menu Bar

Desktop & Dock

Your dock is probably flooded with all of macOS' default apps. I usually drag them all to the trash to make it cleaner. Then I would usually hide the Dock (cmd + option + d) because accessing apps through spotlight search is faster.

  • Dock

    • Size : Small

    • Position on screen : Left

    • Uncheck Show suggested and recent apps in Dock

  • Desktop & Stage Manager

    • Set Click wallpaper to reveal desktop -> Only in Stage Manager

  • Hot Corners

    • Set all to none

Wallpaper

  • Update your favorite wallpaper.

Siri & Spotlight

  • Uncheck Ask Siri

Users & Groups

  • Set up your Password, Apple ID, Avatar, etc.

Internet Accounts

  • Add your Google, Yahoo, or iCloud accounts to sync in with the Mail, Calendar, Messages, and other macOS apps.

Keyboard

  • Set Press 🌐︎ key to -> Do Nothing

  • Set Shortcuts -> Spotlight -> uncheck Show Spotlight search

  • Set Shortcuts -> Spotlight -> uncheck Show Finder search window

Fun fact: Spotlight was redesigned completely on OS X 10.10 Yosemite and resembles a lot to Alfred. I still prefer using Ueli over Spotlight for various reasons (Just do your research). That being said, we'll be disabling the Spotlight search keyboard shortcut since we'll be using Ueli anyway.

Mouse

If you're using a Magic Mouse:

  • Adjust tracking speed to preferred speed

  • Set Secondary click -> Click Right Side

Trackpad

  • Point & Click

    • Enable Tap to click

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