OS X Mac Tips & Tricks

Faster Search for Mac OS X using Terminal

2011-08-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Using Spotlight for file searches can be fast (even faster if you are using SSD) and it is also speedy to use the search field in the upper right corner of the Finder window, but there is an even faster way of searching through the files on your hard drive using Terminal. In Terminal, you can use the Unix Command locate, this command relies on creating an index database for performing searches,

Find LCD Panel Model Number for your MacBook or iMac

2011-08-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

The latest release of the Macbook Air reportedly has two different manufacturers for its high resolution display. Many people are now trying to verify which make and model display they have. You can determine the model number by typing (or copying and pasting) this lengthy Terminal command: ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6 After executing the

Automatically fix the Clock Time on your Mac

2011-07-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Does your clock on your Mac occasionally display the incorrect time? This usually happens due to the battery and system hardware not syncing, thus there are lapses in the time count. You can solve this problem by going to System Preferences, under the System pane go to Date & Time. Once there, check the "Set date and time automatically" box. Now you should be fully synced if and when you have an

Change Name or Names on Mac Login Screen

2011-03-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

In System Preferences you can easily change the name that appears next to your login picture on the screen when you first start your Mac computer. Follow these few steps:First, go into System Preferences, and then under Accounts you will see the field to change Full Name, this will change name that appears in black text next to the user icon before you log on.What about the name that appears in

Stop Safari crashing from Flash

2010-10-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

All too often does one encounter a time when Safari will freeze and not respond to any input, and sometimes crashes altogether, losing any precious open webpages you didn't want to lose in the first place.It's best to update to the latest Flash 10.1 because this latest version seems address some of the freezing in Safari, but unfortunately, not all of it.If your browser becomes unresponsive due

Enable Magic Mouse Free-Scrolling in Leopard

2010-07-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed the ability to scroll through web pages with the trackpad on the Magic Mouse in a way that is similar to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.It seems that Apple has only made this feature visible in System Preferences in Snow Leopard, but they have not added it to the interface on Leopard.You can enable this kind of scrolling manually by typing some basic commands. Simply start

How To Enable Password For Screen Saver

2010-01-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

Maybe some of you might be wondering how to set a password for a Screen Saver on your Mac. It is a little confusing at first when you go to look for an option to enable your login password, because upon first glance there is not an option to set a password for Screen Savers in the Desktop & Screen Saver pane in System Preferences, like one might expect to find in the Screen Saver section of

Moon Phase Widget

2009-10-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to find out which moon cycle we are in? There's not very many resources online for finding out about the Lunar Calendar, but now there's a nice and simple Dashboard Widget called Moon Phase which shows the current moon cycle and how many days and hours until the next cycle.It is available for download here. It requires Mac OS 10.4 or later.

Weather Radar Widget

2009-10-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

You can use this little Dashboard Widget called Radar In Motion which actively pulls the latest Radar information from Weather.com or the NOAA, and displays the Radar images in various ways every time you look in your Dashboard. The Widget inclues a fair amount of options for displaying the latest Radar information.You have the option of viewing the latest images by city or zip code, along with

Free SMS Dashboard Widget

2009-10-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

You can send free text messages to any provider in the US or Canada by using this very simple little Dashboard Widget from txtDrop.com. No more looking up your carrier's website to send text messages if you don't have your cell phone handy. Just quickly bring up this little Widget and send your SMS instantly.There's a Universal Binary available for download at their website. It requires Mac OS

Monitor Your Mac Widget

2009-10-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

You can monitor many different statistics on your system using the iStat Pro Dashboard Widget. This handy all-in-one Widget seems to cover just about every statistic you would want to know on your Mac or Macs currently running and using different resources.It features detailed information on CPU, Hard Drives, CPU and Hard Drive Temperature, Bandwidth, IP Addresses, Detailed Memory Usage (

Show Random Desktop Picture After Restart

2009-08-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Those of you might already be aware that you can choose a folder of pictures to display in random order in the Desktop & Screen Saver section of System Preferences. But, sometimes when you reboot the mac, it reverts back to the default Desktop Image for the machine.There's a handy way to get around this. You can go to the Desktop & Screen Saver section in System Preferences and choose Random

Album Art For Dashboard Widget

2009-08-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

Quickly displays the artwork of any currently playing song in iTunes. It also has the ability to fetch artwork from Amazon if no artwork is provided by iTunes.It also includes a star rating for different songs. You can pause/play/skip songs in the same window or go directly to the iTunes Music Store.Album Art Widget Version 2.9.2 can be downloaded here.

Instant Spell Check in any Application

2009-07-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

You can instantly check the spelling or grammar of anything you write in Safari, Mail, TextEdit, or any Application which has a space to write text. You can simply type the text out as you like, and then highlight the word or set of words and right-click, or type Control + left-click to bring up a window with a selection that says "Spelling and Grammar", then clicking the sub-selection "Show

Save or Backup iPhone Notes

2009-07-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Want to have an easy way of backing up your notes from your iPhone 2.0 or 2.2.1 or any firmware prior to 3.0? Unfortunately, iTunes does not allow you to backup any of your notes you have saved to your iPhone unless you upgrade to the new 3.0 firmware. If you do not want to upgrade your firmware, but still want to have your notes saved, rather than transcribing potentially many many sticky notes,

Add and Remove Safari Buttons

2009-07-25T14:29:00.001-07:00

You can remove the plus sign button for adding bookmarks, or remove the forward and backward buttons for page navigation. The layout in Safari is very flexible this way, you can even add buttons you perhaps were not aware of before, like a Downloads button or an Autofill button.All you have to do is go to the View menu, and select "Customize Toolbar...". From there you can select and then drag

Disable Safari PDF Viewing

2009-06-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

You can use a simple Terminal edit to disable Safari from natively browsing PDF files, so that you can use Acrobat or any other PDF viewer that you might have available.Quit SafariRun Terminal, and type the following: defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport -bool YESRestart SafariIf you want to revert this process, you can quit Safari, run Terminal and type the same command with the

Recall Windows When Restarting Safari

2009-05-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

Want Safari to remember which web pages you had open so they will all appear when you restart the browser? If you do not have Private Browsing enabled, and you do not empty your Cache and History, you can easily recall all of your previously opened windows.When browsing with several web page windows open, and/or tabs open, choose to quit Safari by right-clicking on the icon in the Dock or typing

How To Always "Open With" One App

2009-05-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

There are several kinds of file formats which you might prefer to always open in a specific Application. There's a way to natively set a file or set of files or all files to "Open With" one application. This seems to work uniformly on all formats, except when certain Applications override OS X associations.To set one file to always open with one specific Application:Select the desired file in

How to Convert DOC to PDF

2009-05-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

You might be wondering if you can easily turn your Microsoft Document files into PDFs on the Mac. But, it turns out that there's an easy way of converting your microsoft .doc files to the PDF format natively in OS X.1: Open your Microsoft Document file with TextEdit.2: Type Command + P, or go to File and select Print.3: Look to the lower left of the Print pane and you will see a "PDF" button.

Hotmail Account and Gmail in Mail

2009-05-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

As you probably already know, Hotmail accounts, for some unknown reasons, are not compatible with OS X Mail. I posted previously about a decent Hotmail plug-in for the Mac. But, I have been exploring another good alternative to accessing your Hotmail account with OS X Mail. One way is to create a Gmail account (which has seamless integration with Mail), and use the Gmail Mail Fetcher. Once you

Keep Application Position in Spaces

2009-05-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

There's a way to retain your window's position when moving between different Spaces. This can be useful if you want the same window ratio without having to readjust or move in the next Space.Press the shortcut key for the Spaces Overview. Hold the Command key while pressing and holding a window when you drag-and-drop to another Space.Simple! Easy!

Disable Volume Change Sound

2009-05-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when listening to music or audio from a movie you might not want to hear the volume feedback sound when you go to adjust the volume on the audio. This can be especially annoying when you are trying to be a DJ, for friends or whomever they may be, and playing songs without disrupting the audio when adjusting the levels for each track. You can turn off the volume sound with a few

How To Change Icon Size

2009-05-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

A quick easy way of adjusting your icon size is to select the icon for the file on your Desktop or somewhere in Finder, and type the key shortcut Command + J, in order to use the Show View Options command on the View menu in Finder. In this window pane you can adjust the pixel length-width ratio, space between file icons, Font Size, Label Position, and others.

Warp Quartz Composition

2009-04-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Warp 1.1 is a nice Quartz Composition of whirling stars from OurApples.com. It is another nice addition to your Quartz Screen Savers or Desktop.Note: If you want to use any Quartz file as a Screen Saver, you can simply place the file in the Library/Screen Savers/ folder.