1278. Mac Dock icons

I am new to using the Mac and the fact that the icons expand as I move my mouse over them in the dock makes me crazy. I would also like my dock to appear on the left hand side of my screen like I had it in Windows. How can I do these things?

This is easy to do.

Go to the Apple Icon at the top of your screen and click on it.  You will see the Dock menu.  If you expand the options you will see the "Turn Magnification Off / or On.

You can also choose the location of the dock to the left, right, or bottom.  Gee no option for the top?  I wonder why.  I can do that with Windows.

Well actually you can and are the instructions on how to do this.  Thanks to http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20021018053306151

1. Open up the Terminal 
2. Type defaults write com.apple.Dock orientation top 
3. Restart the Dock process. You can either log out then back log in again, use ProcessViewer (in /Applications -> Utilities), or using "ps" and "kill" if you know how to do such things.

To change it back:

1. Open up the Terminal 
2. Type 'defaults delete com.apple.Dock orientation' 
3. Restart the Dock process as above.

Be warned though: If you have auto-hide on, it is very tricky to get the dock to appear; you need to hover just below the bottom edge of the top menu. If you have troubles, just use the Apple menu to make it visible again (Command-Option-D). 

You can also hide the dock so you can get more space on your desktop.  Then you can hover your mouse over the area you have set and the dock will appear.