I’m a lifelong Windows user and I just purchased my first Mac — a 21.5″ iMac — 3.06/4GB/500GB. In this series I’ll list some tips and concepts that will be valuable to Windows users who are moving to the Mac and OS X for the first time.

Adding or joining a workgroup in OS X 10.6 is a little different than you may be used to in Windows. First, if you are connected to your Windows network (i.e. you have a Windows workgroup already setup), OS X should be able to automagically find your workgroup. If not, here’s how to change it:

1. Go to System Preferences > Network
2. Select the connection (i.e. Ethernet) and then click Advanced at the bottom right.
3. In the Advanced menu, find the WINS tab (next to TCP/IP, DNS)
4. Click the WINS tab and you will see a Workgroup drop down. Type the name of your workgroup in the box or use the drop down to see the list of available workgroups and make your selection. Then click Ok.

That’s all you need to do. And if you’d like to see how to add a Windows network share icon to the desktop (i.e. how to map a windows network drive and add the icon to your OS X desktop — like you are used to doing in Windows), you can read this post.