This is part two of a guide to the general preference settings that you should consider making if you want to know how to set up an apple iPad. For those experienced with the iPhone and iPod touch, this guide might not be of much use to you. See part 1, Set Up Your iPad: Detailed Look at General Settings here.

Over time, when using your iPad, your preferences might change. Typically the default preferences in the iPad are sufficient for new users, but I"˜m recommending changes you might want to make.

Mail, Contacts & Calendars Settings

In part one I covered general settings for the iPad. Now we move on to Mail, Contacts, and Calendar settings, which are found by tapping the Settings button on the Home page of your iPad.

how do you set up an apple ipad

Most of the default settings in this area should remain, but here are a few of my recommendations.

1. Apple has made setting your mail account pretty easy. Simply click on Add Account and you're presented with five popular and most used email services. Each selection will walk you through the information you need, including your email address and password. Other information is typically filled in for you.

how do you set up an apple ipad

2. Turn on Fetch New Data if you want the iPad to automatically fetch new mail from your account server. Your account must support push service, and most popular ones do. If you have MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo, or Google Mail "push" account, that means that your mail will be synched between your iPad and server account.

So when you read and/or delete mail from your iPad those messages will be read and deleted on the server side, and visa versa. A MobileMe account also pushes to sync your contacts, calendars, and bookmarks if you select those items in the account settings. A MobileMe account cost $99 per year.

how do you set up an apple ipad

3. The settings in area 3 of the screenshot are okay as it is, but if you have a tendency to accidentally delete emails, you might turn on the Ask Before Deleting setting.

If you constantly get people sending you large images in their emails, or if you don't want to receive unsolicited images, turn off the Load Remote Images setting.

4. Items in area 4 are self-explanatory, but one change you might want to make is the setting for "Sent from my iPad". This is the mail signature automatically put in emails you send out. It's a very cool way of showing people you are a proud and cool iPad owner.

However, to save a little time, consider clicking this setting and adding your name to the signature so that you don't have to type your name each time you send out an email. Or if you don't want people to know you have an iPad, then simply clear out this default signature and replace it with something else.

5. In this area, you will want to leave the New Invitation Alerts on, especially if you use a Microsoft Exchange or MobileMe account in which you receive event invitations and you want to be alerted when they arrive.

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Typically the Time Zone setting is automatically set when you turn on the iPad, but if not this is where you make that change.

And finally in this area, the default Calendar is set to Birthdays. You'll want to change that to another calendar - that is,unless you input birthdays into your calendar on a regular basis - so you don't have to manually do it when you're creating new calendar events.

For Safari settings, see this article for changes you might consider.

iPod Settings

If you have certain music you typically listen to on your iPad, you might consider changing the EQ (equalizer) settings to the type of music you mostly listen to. The changes you make in the EQ can affect how your music sounds. Try out one or more of them and see if they improve the sound of the music you listen to.

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The other settings in this area should be okay, unless you need to turn on the Volume Limit to keep music and sounds from playing too loud.

Video Settings

For general use, these settings are okay as it is. If you would like videos you play on the iPad to always begin at the beginning, you should switch off the Start Playing setting. If you need closed captioning, turn the setting on. And if you will be playing media content from your iPad on your TV using the separate adaptor, then change the settings in this area. NTSC is the broadcast standard settings for the Americas. For other regions, you select PAL.

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Photos

Change these settings for your slide shows. The defaults are okay, but you may want to change the timing and repeat settings if you're using your iPad for showcasing images on a regular basis, and you want your slide shows to, for example, automatically repeat.

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Store

This is where you simply view your App/iTunes account. No doubt after you purchased your iPad, you set up an iTunes store account to sync data to your iPad. I believe you can run your iPad without an iTunes account, using iTunes gift cards to download apps, music, and other items.

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Apps

When you purchase third-party apps from the Apps Store, some applications will have preference settings unique to their program.

For example, in Apple's iBook application, I changed the Tap Left Margin to "Next Page" because I usually hold the iPad in my left hand and this preference allows me to tap the left as well the right margin to precede to the next page. The few times I need to navigate back to the previous page can easily be done with the swipe of my right hand.

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It's a good idea to check the preferences of applications you use on a frequent basis to see if there are any changes you can make to improve the use of the program.

If you have an iPad, what settings do you think should be changed?