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

The Finder has a lot going for it, especially compared to Explorer in Windows. But we find Finder’s quick-and-dirty key commands the most useful, particularly Command-I, which, when pressed when a file or app in the Finder is highlighted, brings up the Inspector and shows you all the gory details, including the file or app’s type, size, where it’s saved on your hard drive, when it was created and last modified, and so on. If you’re looking at a list of files, you can also right-click the file name and choose Get Info. To bring up the Inspector in Quick Look, type Command-Option-I.

Acrobat Pro is a powerful tool, but you don’t need to spend $449 to own your own copy, since creating a PDF of any file is built right in to OS X.

Switchers will love this one: In OS X Leopard, making a PDF out of any document doesn’t require Adobe Acrobat. All you need to do is open the file you want to PDF and choose File > Print (or Command-P). In the printer field, click the up/down arrow to the right and select Adobe PDF.

dock
A short, sweet dock is a beautiful thing. Note that your alias folder Dock item will take on the icon of the first item in the list, in our case, it’s Adium.

It’s best to leave applications in the Applications folder and generally use Mac OS X’s built-in organization, rather than moving apps around so you can open them from, say, your Desktop—that’s what the Dock’s for, after all. But you can still keep most-used apps and files accessible by creating a folder of aliases and stashing it in your Dock. On your Desktop, create a new folder by right-clicking and choosing New Folder, or by pressing Shift-Command-N. Give it a name; we’re calling ours Most Used. Go to the place on your hard drive where your frequently used apps and docs live. For apps, that’s obviously the Applications folder. Find your most-used apps in the list and right-click each, then select Make Alias. The alias will appear directly below the original app. Drag the alias from the Finder window to the alias folder you created on your desktop. Do the same with frequently used files. When you’re done, drag your aliases folder onto your Dock (to the right of the separator between app icons and the Trash). Now if you really want to get tricky, you can remove all of the duplicates in your Dock (by dragging each one off or right-clicking each one and choosing Remove from Dock), leaving just your alias folder and anything else that’s there by default (open apps most likely)—freeing up a nice chunk of Dock real estate (see also #20, “the Dock Is Cool, But It Ain’t Perfect,” for more Dock customization tips).

It looks like a bunch of gobbledygook to normal people, but your IT dude could find some dirty laundry lurking here, unless you purge Safari’s cache in the Terminal.

If you think that checking Private Browsing in Safari’s preferences actually keeps the websites you visit private, think again. Anyone--your boss or IT guy included--can see exactly where you’re surfing by executing the following Terminal command: dscacheutil -cachedump -entries Host

To purge Safari’s cache for real, execute this Terminal command: dscacheutil -flushcache

Other World Computing makes beefing up your Mac’s memory as easy as possible—just short of bringing you a cold beer after you’re done, to toast your Mac’s new memory bump. Most fairly recent Macs—except the MacBook Air, whose RAM is soldered to the motherboard—make it easy to add more RAM yourself. And OWC has how-to tutorials and videos to get you going—as well as some of the most affordable prices on Mac memory that we’ve found.

Here we present the steps for adding more RAM to an Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with only 2GB of RAM, but OWC sells RAM for many Mac models and provides DIY installation info, including video how-tos in some cases—on its site at www.macsales
.com/memory. There are also excellent DIY upgrade resources at www.everymac.com.

To install more RAM in an Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, you will need a #0 magnetized Phillips screwdriver, a non-marring work surface (spreading a clean towel on a desk or table works fine), and a tool called a spudger or, in Apple parlance, a “black stick”; these are available for $2.95 at iFixit. Most RAM installation manuals will tell you to also use an ESD wrist strap or mat to avoid damaging sensitive internal components with electrostatic charges, but you can touch any metal, grounded appliance while it’s plugged in to remove any static electricity in your fingers before getting started.

FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

macbook
Grab your specs. Those are some tiny screws.

1. If you’ve used the notebook recently and it’s still warm, let it cool down before you get started. Remove the MacBook Pro’s battery and turn the machine over so the battery side is face up. Remove the three screws from the memory door.

step2
Here’s what RAM looks like.

2. Remove the memory door to expose the existing memory modules.

Use your thumbs to spread the tiny metal tabs to remove the RAM.

3. To remove each memory module, carefully spread the two locking tabs for the slot (top or bottom) away from the card on both sides and allow the card to pop up slightly.

4. Pull the card straight back and out of the memory slot

Slide the new RAM in until it clicks.

5. To install a memory card, insert the card at a 25-degree angle behind the locking tabs of the top slot. Firmly push the card straight into the slot until it is fully and securely seated along its length. If the back of the card drops down before it is fully seated, raise it up enough to push it fully into the slot.

NOTE: If installing two cards, install into the bottom slot first. When finished installing memory into the bottom slot, use your spudger, leveraged against the frame to push the back of the card toward the slot, to verify that the card is firmly seated. Align the notch in the memory card with the tooth in the slot before inserting.

6. When the card is fully seated, push it straight down until the tabs click onto both sides of the card, locking it into place.

You’ll hear a click when you slide in the RAM, but use your black stick to be sure it’s in.

7. To ensure that the memory cards are seated securely, for the lower card, use a black stick leveraged against the frame to evenly push along the back of the card.

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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