Mac Tricks

Switch between languages OS X Keyboard

sergio — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:28:08 +0000

Here’s a trick from Devananda that deserved its own post:

hey!

I just wanted to share a shortcut that I found on accident! And I didn’t know where to share it and since you asked…….

I have to type in Korean sometimes so I have the keyboard shortcut to switch between the most recent languages by pressing ⌘-space. This can be configured in the keyboard section of system prefs. This means when I press ⌘ space once it switches to Korean keyboard and I can type in Korean 안녕하세요! 밥먹었어요? and when I press ⌘ – space again it switches back to USA keyboard and I can type in English again.

Anyway, if you press ⌘ – space and hold down ⌘ and then tap space bar again~ a little quick view window appears that allows you to choose any of the other languages you have set there by using the arrow keys!

I mean you can’t really appreciate this one until you do it…but I guess that goes for all shortcut/ hotkeys?

We love user tips and tricks, keep them coming folks!

Quickly Hide the Dock

sergio — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:14:58 +0000

Possibly the easiest, yet most useful shortcuts i have used to date. You can quickly hide/show your dock by pressing Command – Option – D

Anyone know of any other quick handy shortcuts?

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Upgrade To Mac OS X Lion – Yet

phil — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:09:58 +0000

You know, we always have to play fair. If you are like many, lazy, you may not give two pineapples about upgrading to OS X Lion. I mean, Snow Leopard is pretty satisfactory for almost any of our computing needs. Therefore, in this post I will go over some reason you may want to just hold out for a few months and trust your lazy instincts. Of course this does not mean that if you hear of an OS X Lion feature that is useful to you, you should just wait. On the contrary we are simply the suppliers of your fore-knowledge and make no claim to what you should or shouldn’t do with your lives. We leave that up to your spouse.

Number 1: Some apps don’t work. For instance, Nuance’s Dragon Dictate speech recognition software.

Check out Roaring Apps’ App Compatibility Table: Dragon Dictate receives a “tested and has some problems” rating. It has shown to simply crash on start-up for many people.

Many professional apps are struggling to gain confidence with the new OS X Lion. This means if you rely on your Mac to make dough, you should wait for better updates. Pain in the butt.

Number 2: Weird stuff is happening… Apple has trashed the “Save As…” file option for “Duplicate.” So, you duplicate the file (there’s no built in keyboard command for this) and then Save it. Wha?

In Mail you can’t enlarge the message list font. Dumb.

What is up with the ugly Calender interface? You all there Steve?

Number 3: The new touch commands are created to emulate the iPad/iPhone navigation experience. You can turn this off but it’s just annoying to have to think about it.

Number 4: Time Machine users beware: If your backup goes to a network drive, the mightly Lion will break it. Fix this by attaching a local USB or Firewire. Lion no likey.

Number 5: What is the rush?? Lion will be the new OS for at least two years or so. Wait till the bugs are exterminated, I’d say 6-8 months, then make your move. Don’t be me wrong, Lion OS X is great, in like January of next year.

Disable OS X Lion Reverse Scrolling … or not?

phil — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:21:22 +0000

So it’s obvious that Apple is testing the water with the new reverse scroll feature in OS X Lion. It’s natural for us on our iPhone’s and iPad’s, but not so much on our laptops. The idea is to standardize the touchy-feely experience Apple has been successful at pushing over the past few years, but is it too weird on our mouse and laptop? Since it seems that this may be the new default for all future devices, I’d suggest getting used to it. But, if it’s too confusing and brain-twisting, you can disable it. Here’s how:

Step 1: Click on the Apple icon on the top left of your screen.

Step 2: Click System Preferences

Step 3: Click on “Mouse”

Step 4: Uncheck Scroll Direction: natural

And now you are back to your comfortable pillow of mousing around. If you are bold and daring, I’d say try getting used to the new gesture. If you are not ready to step a few years into the future, stay cozy.

OS X Lion Free Downloads – 3 Must-Have’s

phil — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:42:49 +0000

OS X Lion is chock-full of neat little features and gadgets so I figured it’s time at Mactricks.net to start unveiling some of the necessary tidbits. Today, I’ll let you in on 3 free applications that you should download within at most the first 47 minutes of using the new OS X Lion. Why? Um, the word free is a good incentive, and of course, because the benefits are there. One of them is a super duper video converter for OS X Lion that allows you to convert any (ANY) video to play on your mobile devices. No more testing on your phone and walking into street lamps. Second is a slick and sly Twitter app, and third is Evernote. Sounds like an RPG, but it’s really just the best way in the world to keep your cyborg brain glued together.

Smart Converter:

Take those videos with you anywhere you go. Your grandma would love to see your little kitty eating your socks, wouldn’t she?

Download Smart Converter

Evernote:

Sync notes between your computer, the web, and mobile devices. One note, many places.

Download Evernote

(Random funny site): Check this out. Keyword search volume comparisons.

Twitter:

If an Apple could wear shorts, you’d be eating them Tweetdeck.

Download Twitter

Download Mac OS X Lion – Now!

phil — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:11:46 +0000

Download Lion

OS X Lion is Mac’s 8th OS release, and it doesn’t disappoint. With more than 250 new features and some big interface changes, there is a clear aim for making certain actions easier. The upgrade adds plenty to make it worthwhile for most Mac users. For example, Whether you’re using the track pad on the MacBook Pro, Air, or the Magic Track pad for desktops, you’ll be able to take advantage of multi-touch gestures that get you moving quickly without having to navigate using a mouse. Get it!

Download Mac OS X Lion Here.

Transparent Windows for Mac OS X Lion

phil — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:35:20 +0000

Mac OS X Lion Transparent Windows

This is a great little trick sent in from Tim. In Mac OS X Lion you can get transparent windows by following these easy steps. It’s a fun way to jazz up your experience on this incredibly advanced OS. Thanks Tim! Send in your tricks and tips using our contact form, and we may feature you on the site. Alright, back to the cool transparent windows…

Here are the steps:
Step 1: Have at least 2 windows open.
Step 2: Do the 2 finger scroll up on each window one after the other so that both the windows are transparent.
Step 3: Drag one of the windows into a new space.
Step 4: That window will now be transparent!

If you can’t get it to work go to this quick vid Tim made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjLMH5F_wRA

If you still can’t get it leave a comment

Exposé – Fast Computing for Mac

phil — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:13:48 +0000

Exposé for Mac

It has a fancy name, because it performs a fancy function. Using Exposé on your Mac can make your computing experience easier, faster, more productive, and less cluttered. So, what is Exposé exactly? Exposé allows you to hide windows, see and use supplemental screens, bring up your dashboard, and see a snapshot of all your applications, just by moving your mouse up or down to any corner on your screen. What? Allow me to explain…

Here are the steps to get started with Exposé:

Step 1: Click the Apple icon on the top left of your screen, and go to System Preferences.

Step 2: Click on Exposé and Spaces.

Step 3: Define what dragging your mouse to each corner will accomplish. Here’s what mine is set to: Top Left is All Windows; Bottom Left is Spaces; Top Right is Desktop; Bottom right is Dashboard.

Step 4: Enable Spaces by clicking on the Spaces button at the top of the window. Make sure the box is clicked that is labeled Enable Spaces.

Step 5: Move your mouse to each corner to see Exposé in action!

Note: When Spaces is engaged, you can click and drag windows into other Spaces. These other spaces are simply more desktops that you can use to organize your windows, etc. If you have any questions or are confused about anything, leave a comment and I’ll get right back to you. Enjoy!

Windows on Mac OS X with Boot Camp

phil — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:16:30 +0000

Windows on Mac

Can you run Windows 7 on Mac? Once again, the answer is Yes. It seems that Steve Jobs has you covered for just about everything, (using his proprietary software of course). So, in order to put Windows on your Mac, you need the Windows 7 Installation DVD
and Mac OS X Installation DVD or Boot Camp 2.1 on CD/DVD.

Applications > Utilities > click Boot Camp.
The Boot Camp Assistant will open. Click the Continue button.
Now you will be asked to Create a Partition for Windows. Drag the divider and set the size (Windows 7 needs about 10 GB minimum). When satisfied, click the Partition button. Then click Start Installation once the software is finished partitioning.
Reboot your computer. You will go through the setup process for Windows, then click Install.
Click Custom (advanced) Install.
Click to select the Disk Partition labeled BOOTCAMP. Then click Drive Options (advanced).
Click Format then Ok.
Once the drive has finished formatting, click Next.
Files will be copied and expanded. When this is finished, your computer will reboot.Windows will then finish the installation and reboot again. Continue through the Window setup process.
Eject the Windows disk and insert the Bootcamp disk. Install Bootcamp.
Make sure that Apple Software Update for Windows is checked.
Now you can run Windows on Mac!

Encrypting Your Private Information

phil — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:41:31 +0000

File Vault for Mac OS X

You may have sensitive information on your Mac OS X that you’d prefer the FBI or your neighborhood thief not to know about. The Mac OS X security feature is called File Vault. File Vault can be used to encrypt your file information using a special volume for your home folder that is password protected, so nobody buy you (or your ex who you stupidly told) has access to the information. Currently, even the law cannot penetrate this information if your computer happens to have been nabbed by a FEDS or evil corporate competitor. To use File Vault…

So, if you have a Mac OS X computer, it includes FileVault, which allows you to encrypt the information in your home folder.

A separate volume is created and all it’s contents are encrypted. FileVault uses the latest government-approved encryption standard, the Advanced Encryption Standard with 128-bit keys (AES-128).

To Turn On FileVault:

Click on the Apple icon in the Top-Left of your screen.
Click System Preferences
Click Security
FileVault will be shown. Start by creating a Master Password.
Next, turn on FileVault.

It will take awhile for FileVault to create the new folder and backup your information. If your hard drive is full, you’ll need to make some space. When I tried turning it on, I only had 20 gigs left of 250 gigs. It asked that I had 100 gigs free space to begin backing up and encrypting. So, make some space if you care about keeping your info secret from all beings.

When you turn on FileVault, you will set up a master password for the computer. This can be used as an alternate password if you forget your normal one, and is the only one that can be used to access your awesome encrypted Vault.

BE AWARE: If you turn on FileVault and then forget both your login password and your master password, you are screwed. You won’t be able to log in to your account and your data will be lost for the rest of time.

Conclusion. If you store sensitive information on your computer, use FileVault. If you carry all your company’s financial data on your portable computer, losing it could allow someone else access to sensitive data that might topple your business. If you are logged out of your account when your portable is lost, and FileVault is turned on, your information is safe behind heavy steel bars of encryption.