mac tips

Search mac tips

Click and hold a Dock icon for App-specific Expose

Feb 4, 2011 - 7 Comments

If you click and hold on any open applications Dock icon, you will launch Expose for just that app and it’s corresponding windows. You can also access this app-specific Expose with the F10 key (Function+F10 on newer Mac models and keyboards), I’ve used this trick for a long time to quickly switch between windows in … Read More

Clear the “Open With” menu in Mac OS X

Feb 3, 2011 - 4 Comments

The more apps you install on your Mac, the more bloated your “Open With” menu gets. Some apps that are completely unrelated to the file type may show up in the “Open With” menu and just serve to clutter your choices. This is annoying, so lets restore the menu to what it should have. How … Read More

How to Monitor Bandwidth on a Mac

Feb 2, 2011 - 14 Comments

If you are using metered internet service either through an official Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot service, a jailbroken iPhone WiFi hotspot, or a local cable or telecom monopoly that’s imposing bandwidth caps and limits on your internet access, or any other bandwidth restricted service, you’ll probably want to keep an eye on your bandwidth consumption so … Read More

Change the Default App a File Opens with on a Mac

Feb 1, 2011 - 11 Comments

Want to change what the default app is that launches when you double-click or otherwise open a file from the OS X Finder? It’s easy to do, and you can change any individual files default application by doing the following from the Mac Finder: Select the file (or file type) that you want to adjust … Read More

Set Twitter for Mac to Livestream New Tweets & Automatically Scroll to Top

Jan 30, 2011 - 8 Comments

If you use Twitter to keep an eye on things or to livestream news and events, this feature in the Twitter for Mac desktop app is a must use. It allows the Twitter app to automatically update and scroll to the most recent tweets, giving you a live and constantly updated feed of what’s going … Read More

Enable Growl Notifications in Twitter for Mac

Jan 28, 2011 - 4 Comments

You can get desktop Growl notifications in Twitter for Mac, here’s how: From Twitter for Mac, go to the Twitter menu and open Preferences Click on the Notifications tab From the drop down menu, select ‘Growl notification’ for either Tweets, Mentions, or Messages Close out Preferences and changes are immediate Now just a word of … Read More

Change the Screen Shot Save File Location in Mac OS X

Jan 26, 2011 - 102 Comments
Screen shots default save location in Mac OS X can be changed

By default, anytime you take a screen capture in Mac OS X, the resulting screenshot file will save to the current users desktop. This makes retrieval very easy and is very appropriate for the average Mac user, but for those who take a lot of screen shots in Mac OS, they may find their desktop … Read More

Stop Mac OS X from Shutting Down by Quickly Launching an App

Jan 25, 2011 - 1 Comment

If you’ve ever accidentally shut down your Mac, you’re not alone. That dreaded feeling when everything starts closing when you didn’t mean to reboot, ahh! But don’t freak out, there’s an incredibly simple way to stop the shut down process in OS X! All you need to do to stop a Mac shutdown is immediately … Read More

Set a Screensaver as Desktop Wallpaper in Mac OS X

Jan 22, 2011 - 25 Comments

Using a Terminal command, you can turn any screensaver into your background wallpaper on the Mac. In the screenshot above I have the iTunes Album Art screensaver running as the Mac OS X desktop, but you can choose any screensaver you want. Here’s how to do this: Launch System Preferences Click on Desktop & Screen … Read More

How to Password Protect your Mac

Jan 21, 2011 - 7 Comments

There are several steps to password protect a Mac, we’ll cover the essentials so that if someone is to turn on your Mac, wake it from a screensaver, or wake from sleep, they will be required to enter a password in order to use the computer.

Show Print History in Mac OS X

Jan 20, 2011 - 22 Comments

You can check your entire print history in Mac OS X by accessing the browser based CUPS utility. This is a very helpful tool for managing printing as well as tracking down origins of printed items, and it works on all versions of Mac with all printers.

How to Add a Spacer to the Mac OS X Dock

Jan 19, 2011 - 6 Comments

You can add blank spacers to the Mac OS Dock as a way of customizing the appearance a bit. This is accomplished by issuing a defaults write command in the Terminal. Each spacer is about the same width as an icon would be, except nothing takes the place of the space, it simply separates other … Read More

Lock a Mac Screen

Jan 17, 2011 - 49 Comments

Any time that you are away from your computer, it’s a good idea to lock the screen. This provides a level of privacy and security to the Mac that is very easy to use and implement and it should be considered a must-use trick, particularly for anyone working in public spaces, offices, schools, or anywhere … Read More

Disable the Apple Remote Control

Jan 15, 2011 - 11 Comments

The Apple Remote Control used to be bundled with all new Macs, but unless the remote is paired specifically to your Mac a single remote can control multiple Macs at the same time. This is annoying if you’re trying to control a single Mac with the remote and suddenly FrontRow is activated on all other … Read More

Tweet from anywhere in Mac OS X with Twitter for Mac

Jan 14, 2011 - 7 Comments

The Twitter for Mac client has a great feature that lets you send tweets from just about anywhere in Mac OS X, including the Finder. I’ve tested this out in the Mac OS X Finder, iTunes, Chrome, Safari, iChat, TextEdit, Terminal, and can confirm that this works all over the place. To access the ‘Tweet’ … Read More

Turn Off the MacBook or MacBook Pro Screen with the Computer Still On

Jan 14, 2011 - 26 Comments
OS X El Capitan on a Mac

You can turn off the internal MacBook Pro screen and still use the computer as long as it’s hooked up to an external display, and no you don’t have to use it in clamshell mode to achieve this. Here are two ways to keep your Mac laptop with the lid open but the internal display … Read More

Check and Install Mac OS X Software Updates from Terminal

Jan 13, 2011 - 19 Comments

Want to update Mac OS software from the Terminal? You can check for available updates, ignore packages, and install any or all Mac OS X Software Updates directly from the command line. To see what updates are available for a Mac, or to install a software update from the Terminal of Mac OS X, amongst … Read More

Quickly Access System Preferences Using Option & Function Keys

Jan 11, 2011 - 6 Comments

If you want to quickly access the Mac OS X System Preferences, you can do so with an indirect keyboard shortcut trick by holding down the Option key and then hitting various function keys. This jumps directly to the System Preference panel corresponding to the function key. For example, Option+Brightness pulls up the Display preference … Read More

Subscribe to OSXDaily

Subscribe to RSS Subscribe to Twitter Feed Follow on Facebook Subscribe to eMail Updates

Tips & Tricks

News

iPhone / iPad

Mac

Troubleshooting

Shop on Amazon to help support this site