Category: OSX

  • Changing windows minimize effects…

    There are actually a few tricks you may do with minimizing windows in OS X. In system preferences you can select either ‘genie’ or ’scale’ effect. But there is another one, called ’suck’. This one can’t be enabled via system preferences, but it can be via the terminal. So open your terminal and type the…

  • Creating a login hook…

    Did you know that you can have Mac OS X run a script whenever you log in to your computer? You can if you create a “login hook.” A login hook tells Mac OS X to execute a certain script when a user logs in. Unlike Startup Items that open when a user logs in,…

  • Hide Accounts in the Login Window…

    In OS X it is easy to create as many user accounts as you need. It’s definitely useful being able to have an account for each family member, or an account just for troubleshooting. However, this also leads to an extremely long list on the login window, and an annoying scroll bar down the side.…

  • Get yourself a smart dock…

    By modifying this small setting, you can make the Dock show which applications are hidden by displaying them as a semi-transparent icon. To do this, open up the Terminal (Applications/Utilities) and type the following: defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool yes For this change to take place, you have to relaunch the Dock, using Activity Monitor.…

  • Add Quit menu option to Finder…

    You can make Finder quit-able by issuing the following command in Terminal window: defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem 1 You’ll need to option-click and hold on the Finder’s Dock icon, and then relaunch the Finder to see your changes take effect. The new Finder process will have a Quit menu option which allows you to quit…

  • Show hidden files in Mac OS X Finder…

    By default, Mac OS X’s Finder keeps system files – which generally start with a dot, like .bash_profile – out of your sight. But that makes editing one of these files extremely difficult if you, say, want to customize your Terminal prompt. Execute the following in terminal (to undo the change set TRUE to FALSE):…

  • Change the menubar clock format…

    In a Terminal window, type: defaults write -g AppleICUTimeFormatStrings -dict-add 2 “MMMM d, y hh’:’mm’:’ss’ ‘a” Press Return and then type: killall SystemUIServer Press Return again and the menu bar will disappear — click anywhere on the desktop to reload it, if necessary. Bingo…Long format clock.

  • How to find out your OS version…

    Open up a terminal window and type the following command: sw_vers This command will give you info on what version of OS X you’re running. You can also try the traditional UNIX command: uname -a this returns Darwin information on OS X.

  • Tweak the Finder for a faster feel…

    The Finder uses visual feedback to let you know what it’s doing. For instance, when you double-click on a folder to open a new window, you get a subtle zoom-out effect. This helps you understand what your machine is doing, but they can also make a not-so-powerful machine feel slower than it is. With a…