Mac OS X Leopard: File name Fix THE DOUBLE-CLICK FILENAME FIX If you’re working in a window set to Column view, you’re going to run into this all the time—when a file’s name is longer than the width of the column, the middle part of the filename is replaced with dots to make it shorter. That’s not usually a problem, but if you have one fi le named “Grandma Ford Final Portrait” and Read more
TELL YOUR ICONS WHERE TO GO, TEMPORARILY AT LEAST If you have selected Icon view for your desktop or a folder, you have several options for keeping your icons arranged neatly. To make all the icons line up on an invisible grid, Control-click anywhere inside the window and select Clean Up from the contextual menu. If you select Arrange By from the contextual menu, not only can you force the icons Read more
Mac OSX Leopard: GO WITH THE FLOW (ALL THE COOL PEOPLE DO) Apple’s System 1 introduced the world to viewing folders as icons. System 7 gave us List view. When OS X added the option to view your fi les in Column view, the geeks couldn’t have been more ecstatic (unless they actually got a date with a real, live female who wasn’t a sister, cousin, or prom queen who lost a bet). Well, Leopard ha Read more
HOW TO SEE IF YOU CAN WRITE TO A FOLDER Mac OS X has various levels of security to control who has permission to mess with certain folders or fi les. If a network administrator set up your Mac, chances are pretty good that you’re locked out of some folders. When you try to drop a fi le into one of these locked folders, you get a “Just who do you think you are, Jack?” message. (If you listen Read more
HIDE THE BARS If you’re one of those people who likes to work without a toolbar and sidebar (kind of like working without a net, but not quite as dangerous), just click the button in the topright corner of any Finder window and they will disappear. If you decide you want them back, just click the button again. But here’s another neat thing: if you open a folder located inside a “bar-less” Read more
TEMPORARILY OVERRIDE THE OPEN FOLDERS PREFERENCE Whether you prefer the “everything opens in the same window” or the “give me a new window” scheme, occasionally you may want to get crazy and open a new window the other way. You can override the preference you’ve set by pressing the Command key when you double-click on a folder. If you want to get really crazy, Optiondouble- click on a Read more
Address Book: HIDING YOUR PRIVATES In Mac OSX Leopard If you’re sending someone your vCard, depending on who they are, you might want to limit how much info you give them. For example, if this contact is a business contact, you might not want them to have your private email address, or your home phone number (if you still have a land line phone), or your credit card number. Well, luckily, you ca Read more
Lost connections Remember that if you’re disconnected in the middle of a game, you won’t be able to rejoin it again. Playing again Even if you resign in an internet game, you still have the opportunity to play the same opponent again. Minesweeper It’s tricky yet addictive and you’ll be glad to know that everyone’s favourite old game, Minesweeper, is still available in Windows XP. Differ Read more
Symbols If you need to type a specialist symbol that’s not on your keyboard (for example, many keyboards don’t feature the symbol for the Euro, which is essential for most business documents today), try accessing the Character Map, which is found under the System Tools menu. There’s a large selection of useful characters located here. Image slideshow If you save all of your images and photo Read more
Updates Right-click on My Computer and go to Properties. From there, make sure you select the Automatic Updates tab to ensure you don’t miss out on any essential updates and upgrades. Commands You may need to run processes from the command prompt. For quick access to this, click on Start > Run, type cmd and then press Enter. Defrag regularly Run Disk Defragmenter about once a month because t Read more
