QuickTips Index
Spotlight Search: Setting the Finder’s Search Box Preferences
Spotlight’s search preferences in Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) now allow you to set the default behavior for searches performed in a Finder window.
Recent Items: Find Out Where Recent Items Are Located
In Snow Leopard, the ‘Recent Items’ entry in the Apple menu can show you where applications and files are actually stored on your Mac. Let the mouse cursor hover over the ‘Recent Items’ entry, hold down the command key, and the Finder will reveal all.
Display Hidden Files in OS X 10.6 ‘Open’ and ‘Save’ Dialog Boxes
Have you ever needed to edit or view one of the many invisible files on your Mac? There is now a simple keyboard trick that allows hidden files and folders to display in any ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ dialog box.
How to Perform a Clean Install of Snow Leopard OS X 10.6
Erase and Install of Snow Leopard: Previous versions of OS X had installers that could perform various types of installations. The most popular types of installations were ‘Erase and Install’ (sometimes called a clean install), ‘Archive,’ and ‘Upgrade.’ The Snow Leopard installer has no option for performing any type of installation other than an upgrade, but with a few extra steps, you can get it to perform an ‘Erase and Install’ for you.
Get Ready for Snow Leopard: Prep Your Mac for Snow Leopard
Get Your Mac Ready for Snow Leopard: Clean Up, Back Up, Repair Permissions, and Test Your Drive: Getting ready for Snow Leopard involves performing a few basic tasks, including cleaning up your Mac, backing up your files, and verifying that your startup drive is ready for a new OS.
Snow Leopard Technologies: Microsoft Exchange Server Support
Snow Leopard Preview: Believe it or not, at the time of this writing, Macs running Snow Leopard will be the only computers with support for Microsoft’s Exchange Server built into their OS. Not even Windows currently has built-in support, although of course many Windows applications, such as Outlook, do support Exchange directly. So, what does having Exchange Server support built into the OS do for you? Let’s find out.
Hook Your Mac Up to Your HDTV
Your new big-screen HDTV probably has more video connections than your old TV. Why not use one of them for your Mac?
Snow Leopard Technologies: 64-bit
Snow Leopard Preview: Snow Leopard moves the entire Mac operating system to a 64-bit architecture. This new OS architecture brings a 16 exabyte memory space, faster execution of instructions, and added security to Intel Macs.
Preference Panes: How to Remove Preference Panes From Your Mac
Removing preference panes from your Mac can be as simple as clicking your mouse once or twice. Instead of searching for the installation location of a preference pane, use this tip to remove it quickly and easily.
Safari 4 Debug Menu: Enable Safari 4’s Debug Menu
Safari 4 Debug Menu: You can enable Safari 4’s debug menu by changing a hidden preference within Safari, using the Terminal application.
Safari Develop Menu: Enable Safari’s Develop Menu
Safari Develop Menu: Enabling the Safari Develop menu brings a wealth of tools to web developers, as well as some helpful features for casual users.
Safari 4 Troubleshooting: Use Safari 4’s Re-render Menu to Refresh a Web Page
Safari 4 Troubleshooting: Safari 4’s Debug menu includes a Repaint command that will re-render the currently loaded web page, instead of taking the time to download a fresh version of the page. Re-rendering saves time and ensures the content of the page doesn’t change.
Safari 4 Shortcuts: Safari 4 Complete Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts List
Safari 4 Shortcuts: Safari 4 has a large number of keyboard and mouse shortcuts. So many, in fact, that it would take quite a few pages to list them all here. Instead of putting together a complete shortcut list, which would tend to change a bit as new functions are added, I thought you might like to know how you can view or print out your own, guaranteed-to-be-current list of all Safari 4 shortcuts.
Snow Leopard Technologies: OpenCL
Snow Leopard Preview: Snow Leopard packs a great deal of new technology under its hood. In this look at Snow Leopard technologies, we examine OpenCL, a method for your Mac to make better use of your graphics card’s GPUs (Graphics Processing Units).
Snow Leopard Preview: Snow Leopard Technologies: Grand Central Dispatch
Snow Leopard Preview: Snow Leopard introduces Grand Central Dispatch, a technology that promises to make using all of your Mac’s available processors as easy as using a single processor. About: Macs looks at what makes up this technology and how end users will benefit from it.
Icon View: Icon View Options
Icon View: The Finder’s Icon view options control how icons will look and behave when you open a Finder window that is set to use Icon view. You can control text and icon size, text location, and grid spacing, as well as many more attributes of Icon view.
List View: List View Options
List View: The Finder’s List view options control how a list will look and behave when you open a Finder window that is set to use List view. You can control text and icon size, decide which columns should be displayed, how dates are used, and whether size information should be included.
Cover Flow: Cover Flow Options
Cover Flow: The Finder’s Cover Flow view options control how the Finder will behave when you view folders in Cover Flow view. Because Cover Flow view is based on List view, its viewing options are nearly identical, with the addition of a large image preview of a selected item. Cover Flow options let you control text and icon size, decide which columns should be displayed, how dates are used, and whether size information should be included.
Column View: Column View Options
Column View: The Finder’s Column view options control how Column view will look and behave. You can control text size, as well as decide if and how icons should display. You can also select the sorting order to use.
Command Key: Use the Command Key to Control Background Windows
The command key has many uses with OS X. One that is often overlooked, and in my opinion, one of the most productive, is using the command key to work with background windows without bringing them to the front.
Duplicating Files: Option-Drag Duplicates Files by Adding Version Numbers
Duplicating files and adding version numbers is just an option key away. Starting with OS X 10.5, Apple added the ability to create incremental version numbers when duplicating files.
Multi-Button Mice: Enable a Right Mouse Button on Your Mac
Macs have had built-in support for multi-button mice and right-clicking since Mac OS 8 made its appearance in 1997. You can use the Keyboard & Mouse system preference to enable the function of each mouse button.
Share Any Attached Printer or Fax With Other Macs on Your Network
The print sharing capabilities in the Mac OS make it easy to share printers and fax machines among all of the Macs on a local network.
Sharing Files on Your Mac Network in OS X 10.4
Sharing files among the Macs on a home network is a straightforward process that's easy to set up.
Sharing Files on Your Mac Network in OS X 10.5
File sharing with the newest version of OS X provides finer control over who can access shared folders on a Mac network and what access rights they have.