Newbie with 10's of questions

OK, I got my Powerbook G4 17" on Tuesday morning and have been trying to
learn it for the past several days. I'm an experienced Windows user so
the transition has been in some ways difficult but in some ways easy.

Anyhow there are several questions that I'd like the answers to before I
screw up too much.

1) First does it cause problems with the system to continually install
and uninstall applications? I've been downloading software to try out
(such as MT-NewsWatcher that I'm using now) to try to pick the ones that
I like and discard the others. I know that Windows tends to deteriorate
over time with lots of installs and uninstalls.

2) Can someone recommend a good relatively technical book on Tiger (and
the Powerbook G4 for that matter)? As a matter of personal pride and or
idiosyncracies I refuse to buy any book with the word "dummies" or
"idiots" in the title. If it were a college text book that would be
ideal since I could probably convince one of the book reps for my
college to give me an evaluation copy :)

3) One of the areas where I think the Windows interface is superior to
the mac is that I can resize a window by grabbing on any boundary of the
window and dragging. At least the way my mac is configured originally I
can only resize by grabbing the lower right corner and dragging. Can
this behavior be modified and if so how? Alternatively, can you
convince me that I don't want to change the default way?

4) How do I install and uninstall apps? It appears that the standard
way seems to be to download a file and double click the disk image and
then move the contents to the Applications folder and to uninstall just
drag the folder or app to the trash? I know some programs have
installers but for those who don't am I missing something?

5) I just installed a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse (which I don't recommend
because there doesn't appear to be an on/off switch so to preserve
battery power you must remove the battery) and periodically all my
windows will shrink to a much smaller size and move around the screen.
What's going on? If it makes any difference I've changed the mouse
behavior so that I can perform a click by tapping the pad and set up the
mouse to run using the intellemouse software.

6) What are some good Web sites that I should be reading to learn
whatever I need to learn to become comfortable with the "mac way of
doing stuff"?

7) How should I treat the battery? On my Gateway notebook I have
typically plugged in the battery charger whenever it's convenient to do
so and the battery (which has a one year warranty) has died two and a
half times in three years. I did calibrate my battery on Tuesday night
but I'd like to know if anyone has experience and would recommend using
the powerbook on battery power only until the power goes down relatively
low and then recharging.

8) I've already ungraded my memory to 1.5gb (at 85 dollars for a 1 gig
stick it seems foolish not to). I plan to teach myself Final Cut
Studio. Will I need to upgrade to 2 relatively soon?

9) What do you recommend for a reasonably priced carrying case? I'd
prefer light weight but with the ability to carry a bunch of stuff. I'm
undecided about wheels, but would probably prefer nylon or some kind of
cloth instead of leather (or imitation).

10) I will be essentially the only person who uses my notebook (except
for the occasional time when someone uses it to check webmail or
browse). Is there some particular way that I should organize my
applications and other data files?

well that was only ten, but i'll be back tomorrow or soon with more.

thanks

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