50 Things Every Mac Geek Should Know

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50 Things Every Mac Geek Should Know

Posted 03/04/2009 at 6:01:09am | by Mac|Life Staff

Like a champion cyclist knows bike parts,a car buff knows model years, and a sports fan knows win-loss records, all Mac geeks worth the title must know these things.

Marketers and Madison Avenue operators like to reduce consumers to either/or “types”—paper or plastic, boxers or briefs, cotton or cashmere, Honda or Mercedes, Cristal or Bud--you get the idea. But what often fails to register in such a superficial worldview are the specific reasons behind what we choose when presented with a “this or that?” decision.

When it comes to computing, the question is Mac or Windows? And, as a Mac user, your allegiance to your platform of choice--as in marriage--isn’t entered into lightly. But once you renounce the Dark Side and join the growing legions of Mac enthusiasts, it’s not enough to maintain a casual connection to your Mac, iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV. The difference between a Mac user and a Mac geek isn’t just how attached you are to your Apple tech--or how often you publicly proclaim that attachment with logo T-shirts, “Think Different” bumper stickers, or by plastering everything you own with Apple logo stickers. Your level of geekitude depends on how deeply you strive to connect with your Mac and OS X--yeah, we know it sounds like psychobabble. The point, friends, is that being a Mac geek is distinguishable from being any other kind of tech geek, because although it helps to have some basic knowledge of technical geekery, like, say, the names of certain coding languages or the fact that Mac OS X is a Unix-type operating system, you need never have written or even seen a line of Unix code to join the ranks of Mac geekdom. All you need, really, is passion for your Apple gadgets--how you show it is up to you.

But to help give you the street cred--that is Mac knowledge--to back up the passion, we present the 50 things you really should know if you want to call yourself a Mac geek. If you’re a recent convert to the Way of the Mac, be sure you study this compendium so you can move up a few levels of geekitude. If you’re a longtime Mac geek, test your know-how against our list--and be sure to let us know what we missed by flaming us at editor@maclife.com.

steve and steve

1976 - 21-year-old Steve Jobs quits his job at Atari and persuades computer engineer Steve Wozniak to quit his job at Hewlett-Packard to start Apple Computer out of Jobs’ garage. On April 1, Jobs, Wozniak, and third founder, Ronald Wayne, introduce the first Apple computer, the Apple I personal computer kit, priced at $666.66.

1977 - Wayne sells his shares of the company back to Jobs and Woz for $800, and Apple Computer is incorporated on January 3 without him. On April 16, the Apple II is introduced at the first West Coast Computer Faire.

1980 - In May, the Apple III is released, competing with IBM and Microsoft in business computing.

1982 - Jobs, who started working on the Apple Lisa two years before, is pushed out of the development team because of in-fighting; he takes over the low-cost Macintosh project from Jef Raskin.

1983 - The Lisa team wins the development race, releasing the Lisa as the first personal computer sold to the public with a graphic user interface (GUI). Its high price and limited software doomed Lisa to commercial failure.

1984 - On January 22, Apple launches the Macintosh with the now-famous “1984” ad, shown during Super Bowl XVIII. Strong sales--a result, it’s now known, of the availability of the Apple LaserWriter printer and PageMaker desktop publishing software--lead the company to go public on September 7.

1985 - After in-fighting develops between Jobs and Apple Computer CEO John Sculley, Jobs resigns from Apple and founds NeXT Inc.

1991 - Apple introduces the PowerBook portable computer and the upgraded operating system known as System 7, which, with its enhanced networking capabilities and colorful interface, remained the architectural basis for the Mac OS until 2001. The company’s revenue was significantly increased with the success of the PowerBook and other products.

1994 - Apple joins forces with IBM and Motorola to create the PowerPC Reference Platform.

1997 - Apple CEO Gil Amelio decides to purchase NeXT and bring Jobs back to Apple as an advisor. On July 9, Amelio is ousted, and Jobs becomes interim CEO. At Macworld Expo, Jobs announces that Microsoft will release new versions of its Office suite for the Mac.

imac 1998 - Apple introduces the all-in-one iMac, designed by Jonathan Ive. With sales of almost 800,000 units in the first five months, the iMac put Apple in the black for the first time since 1993.

2001 - Apple announced Mac OS X, based on NeXT’s OPENSTEP and BSD Unix. In May, Apple opened the first Apple retail stores in Virginia and California. That fall, Apple released the iPod portable music player.

2003 - The iTunes Store opens up online.

intel 2006 - At the WWDC in June, Apple announces it will integrate Intel processors into Macs.

2007 - At the Mac Expo keynote in January, Apple announces that it has dropped “Computer” from its name. Oh, yeah, and it announces the iPhone and releases the Apple TV. In May, Apple’s share price surpasses $100.

app 2008 - On July 11, Apple launches the App Store in iTunes, which sells apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. On December 16, Apple announces that 2009 will be its last year exhibiting at Mac Expo.

jobs 2009 - On January 14, Jobs tells Apple employees in an email that he will take a medical leave of absence through the end of June to concentrate on recovering from a hormone imbalance and try to step out of the media spotlight for a time.

1. It’s designed to make it faster and easier to get computing tasks done. This is mostly thanks to its “plain English” approach, especially compared to Windows, which has a legacy of being built by engineers for engineers and is, as a result, less intuitive for the everyday nontechnical user.

2. OS X makes it easier to find out about your computer. (For example, to find out key info about your Mac, such as which version of OS X you’re running, system specs, and so on, select Apple Menu > About This Mac. If you need to know your Mac’s IP address, go to System Preferences > Network and the info you’re looking for will appear.)

3. OS X is more secure than Windows. Yes, we know it’s because until recently, Macs were so much less common than Windows PCs that hackers didn’t bother writing viruses and malware for OS X, and there were fewer pieces of Mac software out there in which to exploit vulnerabilities. But there are more Macs out there than ever, and the number of Windows threats grows daily. To date, there are still no known widespread viruses or Trojan horse attacks aimed specifically at OS X.

4. The Mac OS is just prettier than Windows. Does that sound petty? To some, we’re sure it does, but to anyone who would mock, we say, “Stuff it.” How’s that for petty?

We’re not talking about Command-Z for undo, Command-C for copy, and Command-V for paste--although we’ve practically worn out the Z, P, and V keys, we use those combos so often, and we’re always surprised at how many people don’t know about those easy-peasy ones. No, here are the must-know, tattoo-them-on your-knuckles OS X keyboard shortcuts. And while we’re at it, here’s a quick cheat sheet for deciphering the symbols on keyboard shortcuts lists you find online or in software user manuals and pull-down menus.

GUIDE TO KEYBOARD SYMBOLS

KEY	WHAT IT DOES
⌘	Command (sometimes referred to as the “Apple key”)
⌥	Option
⇧	Shift
⌃	Control
⎋	Escape

TOP 6 HANDIEST OS X KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

KEY COMBO	WHAT IT DOES
Command-H	Hides current app window (doesn’t work in all apps, particularly Adobe apps, which often use a different key combo for Hide, but it works in all Apple software and many other popular apps).
Command-Shift-3	Snaps a screenshot of the entire screen.
Command-Shift-4	Brings up crosshairs so you can draw a box around just the part of the screen you want to capture. (If you press Tab or Space after Command-Shift-4, then click on the window, you’ll get a clean shot of just that window, and nothing else.)
Command-Tab	Lets you tab through open applications to choose another app to switch to.
Command-Spacebar	Opens the Spotlight field without having to click its icon in the menubar.
Command-Option-Escape	Lets you force-quit a misbehaving or stalled app.

OS X’s command-line utility is called the Terminal. It can be a powerful tool for customizing the way your Mac behaves. Tinkering with the Terminal without a bit of background info isn’t advisable; heed our warnings in our “25 Terminal Tips Every Mac User Should Know” before trying out these basic commands. To launch the Terminal, go to /Applications/Utilities/Terminal, and execute by pressing Return.

FIVE TERMINAL COMMANDS EVERY MAC GEEK SHOULD KNOW

KEY	WHAT IT DOES
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG	Changes the default OS X screen-capture format from PNG to JPG (you can also use GIF or PDF, if you prefer one of those formats).
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES then execute: killall Dock	Disables the Dashboard.
diskutil secureErase freespace 3 /Volumes/name-of-drive	Securely erases data on the free space of a Mac hard drive called Macintosh HD (you would replace name-of-drive with the name of the drive you wish to erase, of course).
defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs –bool TRUE	Makes all links in Safari open as separate tabs, not separate windows.
defaults write com.apple.mail PreferPlainText –bool TRUE	Forces Mail to display all messages as plain text.

COMMENTS: 45

TAGS: Safari, MacBook, QuickTime, Garageband, Terminal, iChat, iLife 09

COMMENTS

iChat can have Growl notifications!
Submitted by caw61 on Wed, 2009-03-04 08:29

It's true!

Through the use of Chax (Latest Version 2.2)

http://www.ksuther.com/chax/

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We danced in the streets
Submitted by Markweee on Thu, 2009-08-13 04:51

We danced in the streets when we heard the news. We figured a few
hundred apps would be released. We'd play a few games, send a few
tweets from the road, and make a few Facebook friends while waiting in
line at our favorite taqueria.

english degree AND online doctorate degree

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Always wanted to change
Submitted by Heribertos Ellers on Mon, 2009-10-05 15:01

Always wanted to change Safari so that new 'windows" open in a new tab
instead. Unfortunately "defaults write com.apple.Safari
TargetedClicksCreateTabs –bool TRUE" doesn't work. Returns "Unexpected
argument TRUE" Medifast and lipotrim diet plans

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Neato
Submitted by GamreMack on Thu, 2009-10-22 21:43

My only beef with macs is that they don't work on a lot of mmorpg games =[. I'm a big gamer so I need to have a windows pc nearby to play my MMOs. Free MMORPG

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Mousing Over Dock Icons
Submitted by soxboston on Wed, 2009-03-04 10:32

Shift-Command isn't the right shortcut for this function. Shift-Control will enlarge the dock icons.

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thanks for the heads up
Submitted by Roberto Baldwin on Wed, 2009-03-04 12:58

It's been fixed.
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Enlarge icons in Dock
Submitted by edwinblaw on Thu, 2009-03-12 14:11

Must not have the right touch. Couldn't get to work. Dock preferences is only thing I've found to change magnification. ????Ed The only love you can buy is that of a dog.

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Calculator
Submitted by Jamie on Wed, 2009-03-04 11:56

Actually, Spotlight does your calculations for you right in the Spotlight bar. Pressing return exits Spotlight and launches Calculator, sans the math you were just doing

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Saving PDF's
Submitted by thebendds on Wed, 2009-03-04 13:36

That screenshot for saving PDF's is misleading. It looks like that computer already has Acrobat on it, in which case, yes you could save a PDF like that.

If you don't have Acrobat, go to File > Print, select the PDF button (near the bottom left of the dialog) and click "Save as PDF."

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Safari has a master password, sort of.
Submitted by execute on Wed, 2009-03-04 16:23

In Keychain Access, edit Safari Forms AutoFill's access control to: 'Confirm before allowing access' and check 'Ask for Keychain password'.

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Snake & Tetris in Terminal
Submitted by Tree.Boar on Thu, 2009-03-05 06:36

I am following the instructions to the letter, yet Snake and Tetris don't seem to be working.(Running OSX v10.4.11)

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I was thinking about buying an airport extreme...
Submitted by thefox on Sat, 2009-03-07 15:20

...so I could use wifi with my 1st Gen. iPhone at home, but thanks to tip #29 my iMac is now a wifi hub, for FREE!!! WOW!!! I'm a macaddict for life thanks mac life.

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I can't find my subscription ID
Submitted by eegoldbar1@mac.com on Sat, 2009-03-07 18:43

I would like to know what tip#29 is-I'm just starting. Thanks!

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Tip no 4: terminal
Submitted by paulori on Sun, 2009-03-08 12:27

Always wanted to change Safari so that new 'windows" open in a new tab instead. Unfortunately "defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs –bool TRUE" doesn't work. Returns "Unexpected argument TRUE"

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Safari tabs
Submitted by edwinblaw on Thu, 2009-03-12 14:21

Just select Safari Preferences>tabs>check box, cmd click opens a link in a new tab. Or did you already know that :-? Ed The only love you can buy is that of a dog.

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I don't think you need to
Submitted by LeftClicker on Tue, 2009-03-17 16:11

I don't think you need to restart, but I'm using Mac OS X 10.5.6. Remember: QUIT any application before you mess around with its defaults in the Terminal!!!

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defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG NOT WORKING
Submitted by Vstoklosa on Wed, 2009-03-11 22:18

Am I supposed to restart after typing defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG into Terminal? This isn't working after several tries.

os x 5.6

RSVP, thanks.

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JPG
Submitted by david67nyc on Tue, 2009-10-27 19:13

YOu'll need to log out and back in to see the cahnges take effect. :)

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defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG NOT WORKING
Submitted by Vstoklosa on Wed, 2009-03-11 22:20

Are we supposed to be in Root when we apply those Terminal commands? Just wondered cause I think I saw another one not working for someone. Thanks.

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Ah Contraré the Apple ][+ VisiCalc Applesoft Tutorial RULED 1980
Submitted by pegasus5327 on Sun, 2009-03-15 01:14

Then Apple //e rev (a), Applied Engineerings 1MB Ramworks, Beagle Brothers Super Macro Works, and Appleworks ruled in 1982. Then in 1983 came the ||GS.
Don't feel offended the Wikipedia site is damn spitefully misleading.

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#28 Privatunes ???
Submitted by romain.tweedy@v... on Wed, 2009-03-18 08:43

Has anyone actually looked for this tool, Privatunes? The page was last updated in 2007 and the link to the tool takes you to a dead end.

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My home name
Submitted by ideb61 on Thu, 2009-03-26 12:50

I bought my lil powerbook from a place called Second Rotation on eBay.
It has their damn name on my home icon for my docs (the one with the house on it) and I can't figure out for the life of me how to get it to mine. I changed me as the only user on the computer.. I don't understand why it didn't revert to my name dchamberlain61 like my user name?
Help

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short name can't be changed.
Submitted by maclifesubscrib... on Sat, 2009-03-28 00:15

short name can't be changed. use the system disks you got with the machine and do a clean re-install of the OS so it's really yours. Also, even if you're the only user, make an admin account used only for admin stuff, and surf/work/live in a standard user acct.

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#13:=404
Submitted by maclifesubscrib... on Sat, 2009-03-28 00:24

In bash, there is no command dscacheutil.
this would have been great (the kids know about private browsing, but never touch the terminal)
but IT DOES NOT WORK!

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Declutter Desktop
Submitted by mountaineerman87 on Sun, 2009-03-29 17:12

i executed this in the terminal and now i want to turn it off because it is really annoying!!!!!!! if anyone knows how to do so please tell me!!!!

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Reverse Declutter Desktop
Submitted by gadgetman007 on Sat, 2009-04-25 08:32

"defaults delete com.apple.dock single-app" then "killall Dock"

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Safari Private Browsing
Submitted by MaxMarco on Thu, 2009-04-16 09:45

I type this in the terminal:
$ dscacheutil -cachedump -entries Host

My terminal sends me the following:
-bash: dscacheutil: command not found

When I send: man dscacheutil
It sez: No manual entry for dscacheutil

What's up with that? What am I doing wrong on my Powerbook G4 w/
OS X Version 10.4.11?

"There are two things, science and opinion. The former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance."Hippocrates 460-377 BCE

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missing top 10 item-write to ntfs
Submitted by F3R on Sun, 2009-05-03 04:21

Read and write to any ntfs drive by installing macFUSE and NTFS-3G. This one is HUGE compared to most of the items that made your list.

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FYI: I quickly benchmarked browsers on my 10.4 Mac Mini.
Submitted by roystonlodge on Tue, 2009-05-05 05:35

With so many browser choices out there, I did a quick-n-dirty benchmarking exercise using http://www.futuremark.com/peacekeeper.

Firefox didn't come out looking so hot, falling well behind Safari. But the standard version of Safari didn't come out on top either. The browser that performed the best was the development version of Safari, otherwise known as WebKit. Of course, you have to put up with the bugs inherent with using a development version of a piece of software.

iCab, Shiira, and Omniweb all performed moderately better than standard Safari. Opera, Flock and Firefox were virtually identical. Camino and Seamonkey sucked ass.

The results are on my personal blog as a nice, eye-pleasing graph: http://web.ncf.ca/ao668/2009/04/benchmarking-os-x-browsers.html

(My computer's a 1.25mhz Mac Mini with 512MB of RAM running OSX 10.4.11)

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*shakes head* I love all my
Submitted by Nekollx on Fri, 2009-05-29 12:37

*shakes head*
I love all my PCs, Mac, Linux, Windows, PSP, but if you going to make a "50 tips" can you leave out the fluff.

I mean to optimize my Pro Tower do i REALLY need to know Steve Jobs Birth Day? And then spreading the lie that its more secure just because no one bothers to hack it is disingenuous at best and a outright lie at worse.

the rest of the tips...pretty nice

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Funny how there are more
Submitted by mickhhp on Fri, 2009-10-09 14:28

Funny how there are more people who will never use or buy a Mac commenting here than anyone else. If you guys hate Macs so much, just block the category. Other than that, you're just making lots of noise, and not convincing anyone of anything. rent a car | bijuterii

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Great list...
Submitted by Adult-Toys on Mon, 2009-09-14 22:14

Though, a top 25 would probably have been just as beneficial.

Adult Toys

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that's what i'm talking
Submitted by Nekollx on Wed, 2009-09-23 14:21

that's what i'm talking about. It like doing a report on "50 tips aboout your isp you should know" then including "land speed of the north african swollow" Just the (useful) facts man

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level of geekitude
Submitted by virgilm on Sat, 2009-09-19 00:39

Your level of geekitude depends on how deeply you strive to connect with your Mac and OS X

VirgilM part of Add Links team.

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Sorry mate but...
Submitted by artnok on Sun, 2009-09-20 15:05

Open Spotlight is CTRL + Spacebar.
CMD + Spacebar is nuttin'.
And that's one of the things YOU SHOULD KNOW.

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awww
Submitted by BabyCots on Thu, 2009-09-24 09:40

Nice list, but according to the list im no mac geek :( Baby Cots

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Thanks for sharing this
Submitted by sparesr4sissies on Fri, 2009-09-25 05:29

Thanks for sharing this information. I love the history stuff.
Painted Pine Furniture

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Great list indeed.. thanks
Submitted by lora.a on Wed, 2009-10-14 20:27

Great list indeed.. thanks for the classic pictures...

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This is an awesome post,
Submitted by JJFlemming on Sun, 2009-11-08 13:15

This is an awesome post, completely agree with the points made about the iPod!

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thank you ar..is
Submitted by ammarvvip (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-11 08:35

thank you ar..is nice4657
شات صوتي, دردشه صوتيه, شات مصريه, شات دردشة دردشه دردشة موبايل شات دردشه

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thanks you ar..is
Submitted by ammarvvip (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-11 08:36

thanks you ar..is nicegge4
شات صوتي, دردشه صوتيه, شات مصريه, شات دردشة دردشه دردشة موبايل شات دردشه

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thanksss ar..is nice شات
Submitted by ammarvvip (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-11 08:37

thanksss ar..is nice
شات صوتي, دردشه صوتيه, شات مصريه, شات دردشة دردشه دردشة موبايل شات دردشه

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thank you
Submitted by ammarvvip (not verified) on Wed, 2009-11-11 08:39

thank you fffffffffffff
شات صوتي, دردشه صوتيه, شات مصريه, شات دردشة دردشه دردشة موبايل شات دردشه

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THanks
Submitted by christmassms on Sat, 2009-11-14 05:00

Thanks for sharing the 50 things, I think every one can get benefit by using this service. Thanks web hosting reviews

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