12 Settings I Change on Every New Mac (From a Former Genius Bar Tech)

I've set up hundreds of Macs. Here's what most people skip.

Between my five years at the Genius Bar and the parade of MacBooks I've reviewed since, I've probably set up over 300 Macs. And here's what I've noticed: Apple's setup assistant gets you about 60% of the way there. The other 40% — the stuff that makes your Mac actually feel like your Mac — gets skipped because people are too excited to start using it.

This isn't a list of 47 tweaks. It's the 12 settings I change on every single Mac I touch, in the order I do them, and why each one matters. Whether you just picked up an M5 MacBook Air or you're resetting an older machine on macOS Tahoe, this is the playbook.

1. Run Software Update before you do anything else

I know. Boring. But macOS Tahoe has had several point releases since launch, and 26.3 patched some genuinely important security issues. Go to System Settings → General → Software Update and let it finish. Yes, even if you just unboxed it five minutes ago. Apple ships hardware with whatever build was current at manufacturing time, not today.

While it downloads, you can keep going with the rest of this list. Most of these settings don't require a restart.

2. Turn on FileVault — right now

System Settings → Privacy & Security → FileVault.

If this isn't already on, turn it on immediately. FileVault encrypts your entire startup disk, which means if your MacBook gets stolen from a coffee shop (it happens more than you think — I saw it constantly at the Portland store), the thief gets a very expensive paperweight instead of your banking passwords and family photos.

On M-series Macs, FileVault has essentially zero performance impact because the encryption runs on the hardware. There's no reason not to enable it. Store the recovery key in iCloud or write it down somewhere safe — not in Notes on the same Mac.

3. Fix the Dock (it's wrong by default)

Apple's default Dock is stuffed with apps you probably don't use (looking at you, Freeform and News) and sized too large for productive work. Here's what I do:

Remove everything you don't use daily. Right-click → Options → Remove from Dock. Be ruthless. You can always find apps through Spotlight.
Shrink it. System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Size slider. I keep mine at about 35%.
Turn on auto-hide. Same settings panel. This gives you back vertical screen space, especially on the 13-inch Air where every pixel counts.
Disable "Show suggested and recent apps." This one's at the bottom of the Desktop & Dock settings. The suggested apps section just adds visual clutter and I've never found it useful.

4. Set up Hot Corners (the most underrated Mac feature)

System Settings → Desktop & Dock → scroll all the way down → Hot Corners.

Hot Corners let you trigger actions by moving your cursor to a screen corner. I've used the same setup for a decade:

Top-left: Mission Control (see all windows)
Top-right: Desktop (sweep everything aside)
Bottom-left: Lock Screen
Bottom-right: Quick Note

The Lock Screen corner is the one I recommend to everyone. Walking away from your laptop at a café? Flick the cursor to the corner. Done. It's faster than closing the lid or remembering a keyboard shortcut.

5. Fix the trackpad settings

The default trackpad settings are... fine. But "fine" isn't what you paid for. Go to System Settings → Trackpad and change these:

Tracking speed: Move it up to about 70-80%. The default is sluggish. You'll feel the difference immediately.
Tap to Click: Turn it on. Physically pressing the trackpad is louder and slower than tapping.
Three-finger drag: This one's hidden. Go to System Settings → Accessibility → Pointer Control → Trackpad Options → Dragging Style → Three Finger Drag. This lets you move windows by dragging three fingers across the trackpad. Once you learn it, you can't go back.

6. Configure Apple Intelligence (or turn it off)

macOS Tahoe ships with Apple Intelligence enabled by default on supported hardware (any M-series Mac). Here's my honest take: some features are genuinely useful, others are noise.

Worth keeping on:

Writing Tools summaries — actually helpful for long emails
Spotlight's AI-enhanced search — the natural language queries work surprisingly well
Notification summaries — saves time when you have dozens of notifications

Worth turning off:

Genmoji in professional contexts — fun, but not for work
Image Playground if you don't use it — it takes up space in the app library

You can manage all of this in System Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri. My advice: leave the core features on for two weeks, then turn off whatever you haven't used. Let your actual usage decide, not speculation.

7. Set up Time Machine (seriously, do it now)

I cannot tell you how many people came to the Genius Bar with dead drives and no backup. The conversation was always the same:

"Can you recover my photos?"
"Do you have a Time Machine backup?"
"A what?"

And then silence.

If you have an external drive — even a cheap USB-C one — plug it in and go to System Settings → General → Time Machine → Add Backup Disk. That's it. macOS handles the rest automatically. It runs hourly backups in the background and you'll never notice it.

If you don't have an external drive, at minimum turn on iCloud Drive and make sure Desktop & Documents sync is enabled (System Settings → Apple Account → iCloud → iCloud Drive → turn on "Desktop & Documents Folders"). It's not a full backup, but it's better than nothing.

8. Fix Safari's privacy settings

Safari is already the most privacy-respecting major browser, but macOS Tahoe added a few settings worth enabling:

Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection: Safari → Settings → Privacy → set this to "in all browsing" (default is only private browsing)
Hide IP address: Same panel, turn on "Hide IP address from trackers"
Block pop-ups: Safari → Settings → Websites → Pop-up Windows → set to "Block and Notify" for all sites

If you're a Chrome user because of extension compatibility, fair enough. But at least use Safari for banking and anything sensitive. Its container isolation is stronger than Chrome's on macOS.

9. Set up Spotlight properly

Spotlight in macOS Tahoe got a major overhaul — the new quick-key shortcuts and AI-powered search are genuinely useful. But by default, it indexes everything, including stuff you don't need cluttering up your results.

Go to System Settings → Spotlight and uncheck categories you never search for. I turn off Bookmarks & History, Fonts, Music, and Presentations. This makes the results faster and more relevant.

Also: learn the keyboard shortcuts. Command-Space opens Spotlight (you probably know this), but in Tahoe you can also type quick actions directly. Try typing "convert 50 USD to EUR" or "timer 10 minutes." It's faster than opening an app.

10. Turn on Find My Mac

System Settings → Apple Account → Find My → Find My Mac → turn it on.

Also enable "Find My network" so your Mac can be located even when it's offline (it uses nearby Apple devices to relay its location). And enable "Send Last Location," which sends Apple the Mac's location when the battery gets critically low.

This costs you nothing and has saved countless stolen MacBooks. I once helped a customer at the Genius Bar track down their stolen MacBook Pro to a specific apartment building using Find My. Portland PD actually recovered it.

11. Set up Focus modes for actual productivity

System Settings → Focus.

At minimum, set up a "Work" focus that silences social media notifications and a "Sleep" focus that blocks everything except calls from favorites. The defaults Apple suggests during setup are a decent starting point, but customize the allowed apps list based on what you actually need during work hours.

The most underused Focus feature: linking a Focus to a specific Space or window arrangement. When you activate Work focus, your Mac can automatically switch to your work desktop layout. Set this up in the Focus settings under Filters → Desktop.

12. Create a second admin account

This is the one tip from my Genius Bar days that almost nobody does, and it saves people constantly.

Go to System Settings → Users & Groups → Add Account. Create a second administrator account with a password you'll remember. You don't need to use it day-to-day. It's your escape hatch.

If your main account ever has login issues, corrupted preferences, or weird behavior, you can log into this second account to troubleshoot. Without it, you're looking at recovery mode and potentially reinstalling macOS. I saw this scenario play out at the Genius Bar at least once a week.

The settings I specifically leave alone

Just as important as what to change is what not to change. A few things that are fine at their defaults:

Display scaling: "Default" is genuinely the right choice for most people. Going to "More Space" on a 13-inch screen makes text too small for comfortable reading.
Firewall: macOS's built-in firewall is already on by default in Tahoe. Don't install third-party security suites — they cause more problems than they solve on Macs.
Battery settings: The M-series power management is excellent. Optimized Battery Charging is on by default and it works. Leave it alone.

One last thing: the 15-minute rule

After you've gone through all twelve settings, spend 15 minutes just using your Mac. Open Safari, check email, write a note, play some music. This isn't a waste of time — it's calibration. You'll immediately notice if the trackpad speed feels wrong, if the Dock is still too big, or if a Hot Corner keeps triggering accidentally.

Tweak as you go. A Mac setup isn't a one-time event — it's something you refine over the first week of use. But if you nail these twelve settings on day one, you're starting from a much better place than Apple's defaults give you.

Got questions about a specific setting? Drop a comment below or find me on Twitter @applereviewblog. I answer everything.