Users Manual

If you switched to the Mac from a PC, check out the Apple Support articles
for a list of Mac keyboard shortcuts and the differences between Mac
and Windows keyboards and . For more keyboard shortcuts,
see the Apple Support article .
Security features on your MacBook Air
Your MacBook Air provides security features to protect what’s on your computer and
prevent unauthorized software apps from loading during startup:
Secure storage: Your MacBook Air storage drive is encrypted with keys tied to its
hardware to provide advanced levels of security. In the event of a catastrophic failure,
data recovery may not be possible, so you need to back up your system to an external
source. See the Apple Support article . You
can set up Time Machine or another backup plan to regularly back up the contents of
your computer. See in the macOS User Guide,
and the Apple Support article .
Save space on your MacBook Air
With Optimize Storage, you can automatically free up space on your MacBook Air by
making files available on demand. Your oldest files will be stored in iCloud and on your
email IMAP or Exchange server, so you can download them at any time. There are also
tools to identify and delete big files.
Mac tips for
Windows switchers
What’s it called on my Mac?
Mac keyboard shortcuts
About encrypted storage on your new Mac
Back up your files with Time Machine
Back up your Mac with Time Machine
Secure boot and Startup Security Utility: Support for secure boot is turned on
automatically. It helps ensure that only legitimate operating system software is loaded
on your computer at startup. See the Apple Support article About Secure Boot.
If your MacBook Air doesn’t start because it detects an untrusted component, it will
start up from a secure recovery partition and automatically correct issues if possible.
To learn more about the Startup Security Utility or to find out how to set other
options, such as starting up from an external device, see the Apple Support article
About Startup Security Utility.
Data Protection : In addition to the default storage drive encryption in MacBook Air,
third-party app developers can use file-level encryption to better protect sensitive
data, without impacting system performance.