SMS are short messages that people normally send from one cell phone to another. This is commonly known as "texting".
Using iChat, you can send SMS to a US cell phone as well:
In iChat, go to File / Send SMS...
Enter the phone number of the cell phone you wish to text and click OK.
A new chat window will open. Type your message.
The number you texted will appear in your Buddy List so that you can easily text them again later.
Warning: Not everyone has a txt message plan on their cell phone where they can receive a certain number of text messages on their phone without paying for each one. Text messages that don't fall under a txt plan can cost the recipient up to $0.20 each. Before you you text someone, it is a good idea to make sure that they are willing and able to receive text messages.
If you have one primary user account on the computer, you can set your Mac to automatically log in to that user on startup. This can be handy because it bypasses the Log In window, but the down side is that no password is required to access the user account. This of course means that anyone can access the data in your account.
To set your Mac to automatically log in to one user account:
Go to System Preferences from the Dock or the Apple Menu.
Go to the Accounts area.
Click on the padlock on the lower left to authenticate. An Administrator's user name and password are required.
Click on Login Options.
Check "Automatically Log in as" and select a user account. You will be prompted the password to that account.
Conversely, turn this feature off and when you start up your Mac you will get the Login window. Personally, I prefer this option for more security.
Click on the battery indicator on the menu bar and choose "Better Battery Life." This will cause the Mac to change a variety of internal settings that will slow down your computer but use less power. (Be sure to change it back to "Normal" or "Better Performance" later.)
If you have multiple user accounts on your Mac, you have two choices for managing them:
One user must log out before another user can log in, or
Use Fast User Switching.
Fast User Switching allows multiple accounts to be logged in at once and puts a menu item on the right side of your menu bar that shows the short user name of the current user. Drop down the menu and you will see the names of all the other users.
When you select a name from the list, you are switched directly to that user account without logging out of the first user account. You can use the Fast User Switching menu to switch back and forth between users as much as you want.
Turn on Fast User Switching Click to see a larger image
To turn on Fast User Switching:
Go to System Preferences from the Dock or the Apple Menu.
Go to the Accounts area.
Click on the padlock on the lower left to authenticate. An Administrator's user name and password are required.
You can set various levels of privacy in iChat that determine who can chat with you. To set your privacy level, go to Preferences and choose the Accounts pane and then the Security tab.
You can choose from any of these five options:
Allow anyone
Allow people on my Buddy List
Allow specific people
Block everyone
Block specific people
Anyone who is allowed to chat with you can also see your availability (available / away / offline). Anyone who is blocked will always see you as offline.
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