Mac OS X Hints

Allow personal home page when using WebKit

Fri, 16 May 2008 07:49:00 -0700

If you're using WebKit (a version of Safari with a newer web page rendering engine), here's how to make it use your preferred home page instead of the WebKit nightly home page.

Use Safari 3 to help with text searching tasks

Thu, 15 May 2008 09:17:00 -0700

Use Safari 3's enhanced find features to ease the task of searching text files for various words and phrases.

Burn multiple CDs at once in iTunes

Tue, 13 May 2008 10:37:00 -0700

If you’ve got a machine with more than one CD burner, here’s a simple method to use them to burn more than one music CD at once in iTunes.

Copy paths from Finder selections

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:01:00 -0700

There are a number of ways to see and/or copy the path to a given selection in the Finder. Rob Griffiths explores your options.

Add more solid desktop color options

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:12:00 -0700

Discover two ways to use more than the 10 provided solid-colored desktop backgrounds.

Mouse-only access to title bar icons in 10.5

Tue, 06 May 2008 08:10:00 -0700

Learn a simple way to access title bar icon menus (proxy icons) in Leopard.

Quick and easy folder sharing in 10.5

Fri, 02 May 2008 09:10:00 -0700

Learn how to easily share folders with anyone in Leopard.

Use a spring-loaded Path Bar in 10.5's Finder

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:31:00 -0700

The Path Bar in OS X 10.5 is a useful addition to the OS, but it's not "spring loaded." Or is it? Learn one spot where you can, in fact, use a spring-loaded Path Bar.

Search for some iTunes lyrics in Leopard

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:20:00 -0700

In OS X 10.5, you can use Spotlight to search for lyrics in certain types of iTunes music files.

Turn off the ‘Use disk for Time Machine?’ warning

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:41:00 -0700

Learn how to disable the “Use this drive for Time Machine?” dialog that pops up in Leopard when you connect an external drive for the first time.

Open new windows via Command-Tab in Leopard

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:00:00 -0700

A simple trick to open new windows—or undock a docked window—using the Command-Tab application switcher in OS X 10.5.

See Spotlight’s indexing progress

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:55:00 -0700

Learn a simple trick to see how much of your hard drive Spotlight has indexed during a re-indexing operation.

Disable the 10.5 X11 warning-on-quit dialog

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:44:00 -0700

If you use X11 in OS X 10.5, you’re probably annoyed by its new ‘are you sure?’ warning whenever you try to quit the program. Learn how to disable it.

Open Mail links in the background

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:19:00 -0700

Here’s a quick tip on how to make Mail open links in your browser while keeping the browser in the background.