FINISHED: Apple / MacOS Tip a day for a year !

Wednesday 3rd December
Tip 20 – MacOS [7] - Snapshot of a window OR copy whole screen

Hold down [shift] & [cmd] then press [4]

The mouse pointer will change to a camera. Now as you move the camera around the screen it will highlight whichever window or entity it is over, such as the docking bar etc. When it is over the thing you want press then mouse button. A file will be saved to your desktop called “Picture 1”. If you do another it will be saved as “Picture 2” etc etc. To abort without saving a file press [ESC]

Hold down [shift] & [cmd] then press [3]

This will copy the entire screen as is to a file (this was mentioned on a previous tip but I have added it for clarification following installing Tiger again)

BOTH these above tips are TIGER or LEOPARD. I have now installed TIGER onto my mac pro as a dual boot system to check these tips for you Tiger users!
 
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Thursday 4th December

Tip 21 – User Accounts [1] - Woops I forgot the admin password and I am locked out!

To reset the admin password boot from your install disc [see tip 8] then select your language and you will see the installation and utilities desktop.

Click Utilities and there is an option to reset a password, follow the on screen instructions.
 
Now that tip 21, is a belter. (y) not to say the others aren't useful of course :D
 
Friday 5th December
Tip 22 - Saving space on your hard drive [1] – Removing foreign language help files.

Confirmed Snow Leopard Compatible

You can save VAST amounts of space by removing all the foreign language instructions stored by software and by the operating system. You can do this manually but there is a program called DELOCALIZER which will do this for you. On a fresh install you can get back more than half a gig of space!

Just type DELOCALIZER into google and install it. Then click [select all] followed by [en_GB] basically to select everything BUT GB English then click [Clean] .

It does take its time but it is worth it!

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13503

EDIT 2/9/09 - removed macupdate link and confirmed Snow Leopard compatibility.
 
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Saturday 6th December
Tip 23 – MacOS [8] - Turn on RIGHT CLICK.

Click the Apple icon in the top left corner and select system preferences, click on [Keyboard and Mouse] now click on the [Mouse] tab.

By default the right mouse button is set to ‘Primary Button’. Click on this and change it to ‘Secondary Button.

The right click sensor often appears not to work due to a finger being on the left hand button part of the mouse if the right button appears not to work try removing your left finger from the mouse completely.
 
Ah, so that's why the right click doesn't always work... Thanks again
 
Sunday 7th December

Tip 24 – MacOS [9] - Change the default application for a type of file.

Find a file of the type that you want and show it’s information [see Tip 4] now go down the list to [Open with:] (if the arrow is pointing to the right click it) . There is a file type shown under this and it will show the current application associated with this file type. You can change the default application for this file by selecting a different one from the list or browsing to the correct application. If you then click [Change All..] you will change the default for all files of this type.
 
cowasaki said:
Friday 5th December
Tip 22 - Saving space on your hard drive [1] – Removing foreign language help files.

You can save VAST amounts of space by removing all the foreign language instructions stored by software and by the operating system. You can do this manually but there is a program called DELOCALIZER which will do this for you. On a fresh install you can get back more than half a gig of space!

Just type DELOCALIZER into google and install it. Then click [select all] followed by [en_GB] basically to select everything BUT GB English then click [Clean] .

It does take its time but it is worth it!
Click to expand...

Can't find this app anywhere for download at the moment.
 
I think it is a problem with their server because the links were working last week when I wrote the tip. I am writing them in advance and am up to jan now so something must have happened in between.

Monolingual does exactley the same though so whilst delocalizer is unavailable just use that with the link above - the tip is still ok just different means.
 
Monday 8th December

Tip 25 – Applications [3] “VUESCAN” - Using a PC Scanner

Lots of older PC Scanners do not have drivers available for the Mac. This can be a right pain when you have to spend a lot of money replacing a perfectly good piece of hardware for no good reason!

There is an alternative which costs significantly less than buying a new printer and that is a piece of software called VUESCAN. This is an Apple application that will connect to most USB scanners that do not have MacOS drivers and control them.

Give it a try and download the latest version from Hamrick’s website: www.hamrick.com
 
Tuesday 9th December

Tip 26 – MacOS [10] - Printer prints in black and white or in poor quality.

Your Apple computer will attempt to print to any printer attached to it which it thinks it can print to but on some occasions it just cannot manage it and often this results in a black and white image. My R2400 for example comes out in black and white under Leopard as standard.

In order to fix this problem visit the web site of the printer manufacturer and download the latest printer driver.
 
remember that any saved space means quicker backups and time machine going further back. 1gb saved onbs computer with 40gb is quite significant. Obviously with bigger drives it matters less!
 
Wednesday 10th December

Tip 27 – Bootup [3] - Ejecting a disc stuck in your drive

Try ‘Tip 2’ and add the eject button to your top bar, if this does not work restart your computer and whilst doing this hold down your eject button. This will force the drive to eject the disc.

<NOTE> this does not work with wireless keyboards and so if you have chosen the wireless option always keep a cheapy £3 USB keyboard lying around for use with startup options!
 
Many thanks for keeping these going (y) I'm still finding them invaluable :)
 
Thursday 11th December

Tip 28 - Networking [8] - Automatically reconnecting to a share on restarting

Attach to the share as previously described in tip 15. When the share is up and running click on Apple>>System Preferences>>Accounts
Unlock the padlock
Click on your user name and then click on the LOGIN ITEMS tab.
Click on the right hand “+” button and a file window will appear.
Click on the share name and click [ADD]
Now every time that the computer restarts it will automatically re-attach to that share.
 
Right, nights weekend again so I'm posting Friday to Monday in one go then I'm off till next year :)
 
Friday 12th December

Tip 29 – User Accounts [2] - Changing a users avatar

You can change a user’s avatar by opening APPLE >> System Preferences >> Accounts. Now unlock the page by clicking on the padlock symbol in the bottom left and entering your password. Now click on the user in the left hand pane.

Using one of the built in avatars

Click on the existing avatar within the window then click on the avatar you want to use instead.

Using your own picture

Now click on the picture you wish to use and drag it onto the existing picture within the user account setup window you can now resize the picture using the slider and move the section of picture by clicking on it and dragging. Once you are happy with the picture click [SET].

Using the built in camera to take a picture

Click on the picture and click [Edit Picture]

Click on [Take a video snapshot] and the computer with countdown whilst showing you a preview. It will then take a picture which you can edit using the instructions above.
 
Saturday 13th December

Tip 30 - User Accounts [3] - Create a spare user to avoid problems later !

This is an important tip. Occasionally problems can occur with a user account making it impossible to boot into it. This can happen at any time and although you can get usually get past this by resetting the password using the restart disc (tip 21) some errors can make this impossible. One of these faults is a damaged keychain as has happened to me in the past.

For this reason you should keep a second user account with admin privileges which you can use to gain access to your information should there be a problem.
 
Sunday 14th December

Tip 31 - MacOS [11] - Adding and removing an application from your doc

Find the application that you wish to add and drag it to the doc, into the place that you want it to appear.

If you now right click the icon you can select “Open at login” and the program will start when you login, which you can use for things like iCal and Mail to make sure that they are always running.

To remove an item simply drag it off the dock onto the desktop and it will vanish.
 
Monday 15th December

Tip 32 – Bootup [4] - Startup boot options

Turn on your computer or perform a restart then as your computer begins to boot press one of the following keys or combinations:

[C] = Boot from DVD or CD media (see tip 8)

[D] = Startup in AHT mode (Apple hardware test mode) - you must have your install disc in the drive (first drive)

[OPTION] + [COMMAND] + [P] + [R] = Reset NVRAM (like BIOS)

[OPTION] = Start up in the startup manager so that you can select any bootable volume

[OPTION] + [N] = As above with Netboot server shown too

[EJECT] or [f12] or [mouse click] = Eject (see tip 27)

[N] = Boot from netboot server

[T] = Startup in firewire target mode (see tip 16)

[COMMAND] + [V] = Verbose mode

[COMMAND] + = Single user mode

[SHIFT] = Safe boot boot temporarily disabling login items

[X] = Force boot into Mac OS X
 
cowasaki,

I have sent you a PM, I hope you can read it and have a solution for me .. I am about to post a thread about this, as the matter is very urgent.

Sorry to highjack the thread off a bit.

Thanks
 
Tuesday 16th December

Tip 33 &#8211; MacOS [12] - Finder shortcut keys

[COMMAND] + [W] = Close window
[COMMAND] + [OPTION] + [W] = Close all windows
[COMMAND] + [RIGHT ARROW] = Expand folder (list view)
[COMMAND] + [OPTION] + [RIGHT ARROW] = Expand folder and nested subfolders (list view)
[COMMAND] + [LEFT ARROW] = Collapse folder (list view)
[COMMAND] + [OPTION] + [UP ARROW] = Open parent folder and close current window.

and from Marcel...

[COMMAND] + [DOWN ARROW] = Enter folder (if a folder is hilighted)
[COMMAND] + [UP ARROW] = Navigate 'upwards' out of current folder.
 
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You missed :

[COMMAND] + [DOWN ARROW] = Enter folder (if a folder is hilighted)
and
[COMMAND] + [UP ARROW] = Navigate 'upwards' out of current folder.
 
Marcel said:
You missed :

[COMMAND] + [DOWN ARROW] = Enter folder (if a folder is hilighted)
and
[COMMAND] + [UP ARROW] = Navigate 'upwards' out of current folder.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, well spotted :)

... added to my original post (so not missed by people)...... Thanks
 
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On the new Mac keyboard, there isn't an Option key, is that the one labeled ctrl ?
 
Aha, thank you ...
 
I must admit I use keyboard shortcuts ALOT more on the mac than I did on my PC.

CMD W or CMD Q being the most common (because its not as easy quitting a mac app as it is in windows, usually).

I also use CMD + SHIFT + EJECT to send my mac into sleep mode when Im leaving my desk for the night :)
 
Marcel said:
I must admit I use keyboard shortcuts ALOT more on the mac than I did on my PC.

CMD W or CMD Q being the most common (because its not as easy quitting a mac app as it is in windows, usually).

I also use CMD + SHIFT + EJECT to send my mac into sleep mode when Im leaving my desk for the night :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, that saves me uploading tip 53 :) !
 
Wednesday 17th December

Tip 34 – MacOS [13] - Linking an Apple remote to a specific computer or disabling remotes

I have a Macbook pro and my wife and children have Macbooks. It was funny when one of us pressed a button on our remote control and everyone’s laptops went to the menu!

To avoid this happening you can pair a specific Apple remote to a computer by clicking on the Apple icon>>System preferences>>Security

To disable remotes click on the “Disable remote control infrared receiver” box, to pair the computer to the remote click on the [PAIR] button and follow the on screen prompt.
 
Thursday 18th December

Tip 35 – Hardware [1] - Fitting a second optical drive on your Mac Pro

The Mac pro is unique amongst Apple computers, currently, in its ability to have two internal optical drives. The firmware for your optical boot drive needs to be Apple specific but there is nothing to stop you attaching a different drive in the 2nd slot. I would pick a drive that Apple themselves use because the door mechanism can easily get jammed if the drawer is even slightly larger but basically you can just order a Pioneer IDE DVD writer. This will cost you about £18 (significantly cheaper than Apple charge &#9786;).

Now for the fitting, well this couldn’t be easier. Remove the side cover of the computer by pulling the lever at the back.

Hold onto the optical drive carrier and pull this out carefully.

Plug the optical drive into the drive power plug and switch on the computer whilst pressing the eject button on the front of the drive.

When the drawer opens power down the computer and disconnect the drive power plug.

Remove the front of the drive drawer by pulling it from the bottom and push the drawer back in.

Select “Cable select” as for the drive using the removable link on the back of the drive (just copy the location from the existing drive!)

There are four spare screws screwed into the drive carrier supplied by Apple, use these to screw the drive into the carrier.

Plug the power lead back in together with the remaining IDE plug.

Carefully slide the optical drive carrier back into the computer and replace the side cover.
 
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