Ever wanted to know where exactly a specific file came from? Perhaps some document that appeared in the Downloads folder of a Mac, or maybe a weird file that’s laying on your desktop, what is the origin of that file? Maybe it’s an archive file, maybe its an mp3 or m4a file that you want … Read More
There are numerous ways to eject a DVD from a Mac, but using a relatively unknown menubar item you can do this directly from the menubar too. To enable this feature, navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/ and double click on Eject.menu The easiest way to do this is with the “Go To Folder” key combo, which … Read More
I was asked recently about the Mac OS X swapfile, specifically how to disable Mac OS X swapping entirely. I decided I will take this opportunity to talk a bit about Mac virtual memory (swap), it’s location in the Mac file system, and also to explain how to disable it.
Updated on 11/23/2010: Civilization 5 for Mac has been released by Aspyr. You can order Sid Meier’s Civilization 5 for Mac on Amazon and it will ship for free. You can also watch a Mac version video trailer, and we’ve been given a Civ 5 for Mac release date of November 23! The wildly popular … Read More
You can watch what a process is doing with your filesystem by using the opensnoop command. To try this out, launch the Terminal and then follow along to learn how to watch by applications, file usage, process ID, and more.
You can play any song or audio file directly from within the Quick Look windows of Mac OS X, and that means music can be played from Finder as well as Open and Save dialogs, or anywhere else you can use the Quick Look function.
If you want to mass upload a ton of pictures to Facebook from your Mac, using the Facebook built-in photo uploader tool can be annoying. Another solution is to use Mac OS X’s highly customizable Services feature and download the Facebook Services automation scripts, which then allow you to select any number of pictures from … Read More
If you’re looking for a discrete and barebones keylogger for Mac OS X, logkext will likely fit the bill. For the unfamiliar, a key logger does what it sounds like; it quite literally records every single key press and key stroke on a computer, and stores that typing data within an encrypted log file so … Read More
You can easily hide or show the “Macintosh HD” main hard drive from the desktop of Mac OS X, along with any other internal volumes and removable drives by adjusting some Finder options. If you like to keep your disk drives available on the desktop for easy access like this, here’s what you can do … Read More
If you come across a song playing in iTunes that is not playing at an appropriate level, perhaps it’s playing back way too loud, or maybe it’s far too quiet and it doesn’t play loud enough for your preference, you can individually increase the volume level of any specific song in your iTunes Library. Likewise, … Read More
You know those Motorola Droid commercials where a robotic voice says “Droid”, or more accurately Drooooid? Oddly enough, your Mac may have been the originator of this sound, and without any additional software you have the ability to play and save the sound yourself right in OS X.
iTunes 10.0.1 is a minor update that replaced the iTunes store arrows with a Ping pull-down menu button instead. I think it clutters the iTunes interface a bit so here’s how to remove this feature. Launch the Terminal and type or paste the following: defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool TRUE Then quit and relaunch iTunes … Read More
An underused feature of Mac OS X is the ability to use any Finder window as an application launcher. This is actually a feature of the Toolbar, which is usually thought to just hold things like the back and forward buttons, list and icon views, etc. But in fact, that same toolbar can launch apps … Read More
Office 2011 for Mac is scheduled to be released at the end of October according to Microsoft, but ZDNet claims that the official release date will be October 26. This expected ship date date came from Amazon sales page for Office 2011, but now the date is no longer shown. which is now confirmed as … Read More
PixelStick is a great utility for designers who want to quickly measure distances and angles on their screen. Just launch the app and start dragging the endpoints to adjust measurements and get the pixel dimensions. This is an awesome tool, and it’s free to download. You can grab PixelStick for free from the developer, Pixelated … Read More
If you need to convert a .docx file to .doc, don’t pay for one of the many conversion sites or utilities out there. Your Mac has the ability to handle the file conversion entirely on it’s own already built in, and it’s completely free, no downloads or third party software is required. To convert the … Read More
AppleJack is a really handy troubleshooting utility for Mac that works even if you can’t load the Mac OS X GUI. Running in Single User Mode, it’s a simple menu-based tool to run a series of tests and repairs on the Mac OS. With AppleJack you can easily: * Repair Disk * Repair Disk Permissions … Read More
If you frequently access a file server from a Mac it’s pretty helpful to map the network drive to your desktop. There’s two ways to do this, one method is just mapped for one time use and will reset after a reboot, and another method is a more permanent route that allows the mapped network … Read More
