Apple’s latest big cat is a great deal for Mac owners, introducing some much needed changes, exciting features and increased eye candy too. However, like any operating system, OS X Lion has its quirks and there’s a few design choices which may irk longtime Mac OS users. Read on below for a selection of these and how to fix (or revert) them.
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Some OS X Lion Issues & How To Fix Them
By | August 9, 2011 | 51 Comments
How to Speed Up Your Mac For Free!
By | February 7, 2011 |
We all know the feeling of a new computer… everything is super quick, and there are no bugs or problems to be found. Even if you have a Mac though, which are by reputation more durable than a PC’s (if only for their relative sparse nature on the internet), you often still find that a year later, that feeling is usually gone, only to be replaced by an entirely different one. This one is often frustration and confusion. How and why did this premium computer I bought get so slow, and how do I fix it? Plenty of services will do it for you for $50 or more, but why pay someone else to do things you can easily do yourself?
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How to Secure Your Mac
By | August 9, 2010 |
As Apple’s Mac computers grow in popularity, so too will the frequency with which they are targeted in attacks. While the debate about whether or not Mac’s truly are inherently more secure than PC’s rages on, and probably will for some time, its inarguable that being extra secure is never a bad thing regardless of what system your using. With that being said, here are some of the best ways I’ve found to secure your Mac.
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How to create your own OS X Dashboard Widgets from Safari
By | July 26, 2010 |
One of the many unique ideas Apple has pioneered in operating systems is the use of desktop widgets. Apple first introduced widgets with the Dashboard when they released OS X v.10.4. Since then, they’ve grown in popularity, in number of widgets available, and have been copied in several iterations for every major operating system. While they don’t all replicate Dashboard’s functionality, most desktop, tablet, and mobile computers, be them full blown machines or cell phones, have some sort of widget system incorporated. One of the coolest parts about the OS X implementation though, is the ability to create your own, quickly and easily, from any web page you visit often. This gives you the ability to quickly check your Dashboard for info that you get several times a day, rather than having to open up Safari, navigate to a page, and find what you’re looking for.
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How To Change Your Time Machine Backup Interval
By | June 5, 2009 |
Time Machine is Apple’s all-in-one backup solution that takes a snapshot of your hard drive and incrementally backs up any files that have changed since the previous backup. The default configuration is pretty sparse; there’s an On/Off slider, Disk Selection, and an Options area where you can exclude folders from the backup.
You might think hourly backups are a bit excessive. Apple does not give you a convenient way to change the default backup schedule. Luckily this is easy. Here are two ways you can change the hourly backup schedule to one of your choosing.
5 Ways to Un-Minimize Finder Windows in OS X
By | May 29, 2009 |
Command + M minimizes any given window in OS X’s Finder, but getting the window back from the dock is a different story. Unfortunately, Finder’s poor management of “un-minimizing” a window is maddeningly inconsistent and seemingly an obvious omission given the importance of such a feature. Here are five ways to un-minimize windows in OS X.
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2 Ways to Batch Rename Files in OS X
By | May 16, 2009 |
Whether it’s changing file names of pictures from “IMG_XXXX.jpg” to organizing your MP3s, batch file renaming can both save you time and reduce frustration. Here are two free and easy ways to rename large groups of files in OS X.
Automator
Batch renaming in Automator is quite simple, even if you’ve never used it before.
1. Open Automator, choose “Custom” when the screen prompts you to select a starting point.
2. Drag the Automator action “Get Specified Finder Items” to the right-hand window pane.
3. Drag the Automator action “Rename Finder Items” to the right-hand window pane.
Change Sidebar Categories in Finder and iTunes
By | May 12, 2009 |
In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through the steps you need in order to change various strings in OS X’s Finder and iTunes. The same process can be applied to pretty much any other applications.
I find Leopard’s sidebar to be a very handy place to store my most frequently used folders and as a way to access any external or USB drives I have plugged in at the moment. What I can’t stand, however, are the obnoxious capitalized categories (DEVICES, PLACES, etc.) that Apple forces upon us. Let’s change those to normal capitalization. [Read more...]
