Mac OS

Mac OS, Mac OS X, or macOS, is the operating system that resides on Apple’s desktop and portable computer lineup. Built upon a Unix core, it is easy to use yet highly advanced, extremely stable, and an excellent OS for productivity and creation. Browse through our articles or use the search feature to look for something specific that is pertinent to the Mac operating system.

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Move the iPhoto Library to an External Hard Drive

Sep 5, 2011 - 9 Comments
Move the iPhoto Library

Need to move your iPhoto library? No problem, it’s easily done by a two-step process – first you need to physically move or copy the picture library to the new location, and then you have to tell iPhoto where the new location is. This is all really easy to do on the Mac, and it … Read More

Internet Explorer for Mac the Easy Way: Run IE 7, IE8, & IE9 Free in a Virtual Machine

Sep 4, 2011 - 473 Comments
Internet Explorer 7 running in Mac OS X

If you’re a Mac user that requires the usage of Internet Explorer under Mac OS X, you’ll find your choices are generally as follows: run IE on top of Mac OS X with Wine which can be slow and buggy, dual boot Windows and Mac OS X which is a nuisance because it requites rebooting, … Read More

Use Any Font in the Mac OS X Terminal

Sep 2, 2011 - 6 Comments
Use any font in the Terminal of Mac OS X Lion

The Terminal in modern versions of Mac OS X enforces a new monospacing character width standard, which in laymen terms means you no longer have to use monospace fonts in the Terminal. That means you can now use any font you want, even Comic Sans like the screenshot shows down below (hooray?).

Open the Home Directory as New Window Default in Mac OS X Finder

Sep 1, 2011 - 15 Comments
Open Home Directory in Mac OS X Lion as New Window Default

When a new Finder window is opened on the Mac desktop, the user defaults to seeing the new “All My Files” folder, rather than the users home directory. This is a change that arrived with the latest versions of OS X (began in Lion, but continues on through Mavericks), and while it can be useful … Read More

Sync Application Data & Preferences Across Multiple Macs with DropboxAppSync

Aug 31, 2011 - 12 Comments
Sync App Data Across Macs with DropboxAppSync

If you’re one of the many Mac users who uses multiple Macs, say an iMac at home or work, and a MacBook on the go, you should get DropboxAppSync. This free utility syncs your ~/Library/Application Support/ folder across multiple Macs via the free Dropbox service, allowing you to have the exact same app setups, like … Read More

“Go To Folder” is the Most Useful Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcut for Power Users

Aug 31, 2011 - 36 Comments
Go To Folder command in Mac OS X

If there’s only one keyboard shortcut you should remember in Mac OS X it’s this: Go To Folder. We refer to this keyboard command so frequently here on OSXDaily that we just sort of assume everyone knows it, but it’s so useful and powerful that it’s worth making an individual post about it.

Windows 8 vs Mac OS X & iOS – Visions of User Interfaces Collide

Aug 30, 2011 - 141 Comments
Windows 8 Ribbonized UI

I would be convinced this was an April Fools joke out of Redmond were it not August, but no, it’s the new Windows 8 Explorer default interface. While Apple is busy reducing clutter and creating minimalist interfaces, streamlining OS X and iOS, Microsoft is busy moving in the opposite direction. Believe it or not, these … Read More

Where iPhoto Pictures are Located and How to Access the iPhoto Library and Picture Files

Aug 30, 2011 - 25 Comments
iPhoto pictures location

iPhoto is a great picture management app, but you may still occasionally want to access the original picture files for a variety of purposes, either to import them into another app or for backup purposes. This is easily done in Mac OS X, but what exactly you are looking for depends on which version of … Read More

Make Activity Monitor Easier to Read with Hierarchical Process Sorting

Aug 30, 2011 - 3 Comments
Sort Activity Monitor by Hierarchy Process

If opening up Activity Monitor is confusing or intimidating to you, or you just find it hard to track down that errant Chrome Worker process, try sorting the list by “All Processes, Hierarchically”. Sorting by hierarchy breaks the processes down into apps and their child processes, grouping together things like all of the “Google Chrome … Read More

Pixel Version of Andromeda Galaxy Wallpaper from OS X Lion

Aug 30, 2011 - 10 Comments
Pixel Andromeda Galaxy

The default OS X Lion galaxy wallpaper is gorgeous, but there’s something fun about this pixelated version of it that makes it a joy on a desktop too. This is quite literally the default Lion wallpaper for Mac OS X Lion but it’s run through a pixel tool so that it is very pixelated, looking … Read More

iTunes Match Beta Available for Developers to Stream & Download Music via iCloud

Aug 30, 2011 - 2 Comments
iTunes Match Beta

The first beta version of iTunes Match has been released for developers to subscribe to. The service stores an entire music library within iCloud and allows you to stream or download your music from anywhere, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, a Mac, or even Windows PC. This is done without uploading files, instead iTunes Match … Read More

Mac OS X 10.6.9 May Bring iCloud Support to Snow Leopard

Aug 29, 2011 - 2 Comments
Mac OS X 10.6.9 and iCloud

An upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.6.9 may bring iCloud support to Mac users who haven’t made the jump to Lion and remain on Snow Leopard, at least that’s what a screen shot provided to MacRumors suggests. Sent in by a developer, the screenshot of the .Mac/MobileMe preference pane includes the text: “iCloud requires … Read More

Get Apple Hardware Test Boot Mode Back on Some OS X Lion Macs

Aug 29, 2011 - 8 Comments
Mac OS X Lion

Mac OS X Lion has changed how several helpful troubleshooting tools function, one being the reset password tool, and another is how Apple Hardware Test (AHT) mode works. Gone is AHT’s independent boot mode in favor of an internet based version that is dependent on Lion’s Internet Recovery instead. If you always have access to … Read More

Easily Manage OS X Lion’s Resume Feature for Every Application with Resuminator

Aug 26, 2011 - 9 Comments
Resuminator manages OS X Lion App Resume feature

Mac OS X Lion’s App Resume feature is both loved and hated. Most people seem to love the feature for most of their apps, but don’t want it enabled for others. Up until now, you’ve had to issue either app-specific defaults write commands or lock saved states folders, or just disable Resume completely. These are … Read More

No More Grey – Bring Back Color iTunes Icons to OS X Lion

Aug 26, 2011 - 58 Comments
Color iTunes Icons

Mac OS X and iTunes has been slowly going the way of minimalism with subdued grey interface elements and icons, some people like the change and others don’t. We just showed you how to get color icons back in the OS X Lion Finder sidebars, and in the comments, Prescott Perez-Fox posted a resource file … Read More

Paint with Fire using Motion FX

Aug 26, 2011 - 3 Comments
Motion FX for Mac OS X Lion

Motion FX is a very cool real-time video effects tool that uses your Macs built-in camera to detect movement and render a slew of special effects ranging from fire to smoke and any variation of colors or distortion in between. Using the apps Motion Detect or Effect Paint mode, you can literally paint with fire … Read More

Block Third Party & Advertiser Cookies in Safari for Mac

Aug 26, 2011 - 13 Comments
Block Advertiser and Third Party Cookies in Safari

Safari in OS X allows you to have greater control over cookie settings as stored in the Mac web browser. There are now options to block all cookies, allow all cookies, or to selectively block third party and advertiser tracking cookies. Each of these choices are easily set or changed within Safaris’ preferences, and if … Read More

Disable “Reopen Windows When Logging Back In” in Mac OS X Completely

Aug 25, 2011 - 96 Comments
Disable Reopen Windows when Logging In

You may have noticed that when you log out or reboot Mac OS X, you get a dialog window with a checkbox next to “Reopen windows when logging back in” that restores all of your currently open applications and windows. If you don’t like it and you’re tired of unchecking the box to no longer … Read More

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