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Set the Path Bar to be Relative to Home Directory in Mac OS X Finder

Dec 3, 2011 - 6 Comments
Finder Path Bar from the Home Folder

Finder on the Mac can show the path to the currently browsed folder (that is, something like Lion->Users->John->Music->MP3 collection). Just click View->Show Path Bar. However, there’s a slight problem—the path is listed from the root of the hard disk up to the current directory. I f all you ever do is browse your home directory, … Read More

Run Firebug on iPad or iPhone

Dec 2, 2011 - 11 Comments
Firebug on iPad

Firebug is an extremely popular web development tool that allows a user to inspect and modify page elements in real time, be it HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. It’s most known for being a plugin for the Firefox browser, but thanks to Firebug Lite and a little bookmarklet hack, you can run Firebug Lite directly in … Read More

Change the Login Screen Wallpaper in OS X Lion

Dec 2, 2011 - 31 Comments
Change the login wallpaper in Mac OS X Lion

NOTE: New instructions are available to change the login screen background image within OS X Mavericks. Please refer to those if you are looking to customize the login wallpaper in the latest versions of OS X. Here’s how to change the wallpaper that lies behind the standard login screen on OS X Lion & Mountain … Read More

Disable the Empty Trash Warning in Mac OS X

Dec 2, 2011 - 2 Comments
Disable the Empty Trash Warning in Mac OS X

Tired of having to approve the Trash being emptied in Mac OS X? You can disable the Empty Trash warning message dialog window in two ways on the Mac, either on a per-trash emptying basis, or by completely turning off the dialog.

Secure Keyboard Entry Adds More Security to the Terminal in Mac OS X

Dec 1, 2011 - 5 Comments
Secure Keyboard Entry in Mac OS X Terminal

Command line users who wish to add an additional layer of security to their keyboarding within Terminal app can find a helpful privacy feature built into the Mac client. Whether aiming for generally increasing security, if using a public Mac, or are simply concerned about things like keyloggers or any other potentially unauthorized access to … Read More

Show a Full Size Window Preview in Mission Control for OS X

Dec 1, 2011 - 5 Comments
Full Size Window Preview in Mission Control

Mission Control in Mac OS X groups together thumbnail previews of windows from the same app. By hovering the mouse cursor over a cluster of these thumbnails and scrolling up on a multitouch trackpad or Magic Mouse (or scrolling up the mouse wheel with other mice), you can cause the cluster to expand, showing more … Read More

How to “Save As” in Mac OS X Lion with an “Export” Shortcut

Nov 30, 2011 - 42 Comments

Mac users may have noticed that the longstanding “Save As” function has disappeared as of OS X Lion, and’Save As’ is something that many Mac users have become accustomed to using over the years. The default choices replacing “Save As” are two different features, Duplicate and Export, neither of which work quite the same, and … Read More

How to Enable Hidden Dock Stack Gestures in Mac OS X

Nov 30, 2011 - 6 Comments
Mouse Spring gesture from the OS X Dock

This is a neat little hack that lets you activate any stack within the Mac Dock by hovering over it and making the scroll gesture on a multitouch trackpad or Magic Mouse, or by rolling the scroll wheel on a mouse. Do the same trick while hovering the mouse cursor over an app icon in … Read More

How to Always Send Mail as Plain Text in Mac OS X

Nov 29, 2011 - 2 Comments
Always send Mail as Plain Text

Need to adjust Mac Mail app so that it sends new email compositions as plain text? This can be a popular change for some email situations, and it’s easy to make the adjustment to plain text emails in Mail for Mac. Email defaults to wanting to send as rich text, meaning bold text, highlighting, fonts, … Read More

Access US Only Websites from Outside the USA with a SOCKS Proxy & SSH Tunnel

Nov 29, 2011 - 7 Comments
Setup and use a SOCKS Proxy in Mac OS X

A wide variety of websites and online services are region restricted to the USA: Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, annual credit reports, some banks, the list is significant. Region restrictions are generally something you don’t notice until you need to access a website from outside the USA, and then they’re a huge pain. We’ll show you how … Read More

Disable Inertia Scrolling in Mac OS X

Nov 29, 2011 - 11 Comments
Disable inertia scrolling in OS X Lion

Flick down with two fingers on a trackpad or Magic Mouse in Mac OS X and you’ll experience inertial scrolling, where after your finger has stopped moving the page continues to scroll in the intended direction until it slowly stops. This fluid and natural scrolling experience comes from the iOS world, and while it works … Read More

Move Files from Android to Mac OS X and Vice Versa with Android File Transfer

Nov 28, 2011 - 22 Comments
Transfer files from Android to Mac

Have an Android phone or tablet that you want to transfer files and movies to and from your Mac with? Maybe you got a new Kindle Fire that is freshly rooted, and you’re looking to move some of your own movies and pictures to it? No sweat, there are some really easy ways to do … Read More

Go To the Parent Directory in Mac OS X by Keyboard Shortcut Quickly

Nov 28, 2011 - 9 Comments
Quickly Go To Parent Directory in Mac OS X

Need to jump to the parent directory of a folder on the Mac? Buried in a nest of folders in the Finder of Mac OS X? Mac OS includes a handy keystroke to immediately jump to the parent directory of a Finder window. For some quick reference, the parent directory is the enclosing folder in … Read More

Siri Dictation Comes to iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, & iPod touch with Siri0us

Nov 27, 2011 - 6 Comments
Siri0us on iPhone 4

A new third party tool called Siri0us has appeared that brings Siri Dictation (speech-to-text) to the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 4G. The add-on, which requires a jailbroken device, uses Nuance technology to work almost exactly like the dictation feature of Siri does to convert your speech to text. It’s accurate and initiated … Read More

Print Maps & Directions Directly from an iPhone & iPad with Maps App

Nov 27, 2011 - 1 Comment
Printed directions from iPhone

For those who prefer the old fashioned method of reading printed directions on paper, maps and directions can be printed directly from an iPhone or iPad via the built-in Maps app in iOS 5. This is handy if you need to give someone else paper directions, or if you don’t want to potentially get a … Read More

Show Long File & Folder Names on the Mac OS X Desktop

Nov 25, 2011 - 13 Comments
Show long file names in Mac OS X

Recently we covered how to show full file names on the Mac OS X desktop, avoiding the abbreviated labels that occur when a file or folders name is too large to fit in the allowed character count limit. That trick was done by increasing the desktops grid size, but as one of our readers pointed … Read More

Show All Windows for an App in Mac OS X with Mission Controls Exposé

Nov 24, 2011 - 20 Comments
Show All App Windows with Expose in OS X Lion

Exposé was replaced with Mission Control in OS X Lion by name, but that doesn’t mean some of the most useful functions of Expose are gone, and in fact what you could see in Expose is still around in the newest versions of Mac OS X, including Mountain Lion 10.8 and newer. One very popular … Read More

How to Reset a Forgot Password in Mac OS High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, by Using an Apple ID

Nov 23, 2011 - 9 Comments
Reset a Password in Mac OS X with the Apple ID

Forgetting a user account password can be a major frustration for Mac users, but fortunately there are a some simple and secure ways to recover and reset a lost password on any Mac. One of the best ways to handle this situation and reset a lost password is to use an Apple ID, which allows … Read More

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