TekkieBob - All Things Tech!

New to the Mac? Had a Mac for years? Either way you need to know the "in's and out's" of the System Preferences of your operating system. Getting under the "hood" of your Mac need not mean getting you hands dirty. Don't worry, you don't need to be a computer geek or even slightly nerdy to master your Mac's look and feel. 1 What this series will cover Putting stickers all over the outside of your laptop is not the only way to customize it. In the next several blog posts, we will discover many obvious and also some hidden treats in the System Preferences . Want to control how often pictures change in your screen saver? Or perhaps you type the same response to emails, over and over again? Or maybe the screen dims too quickly for your taste. All of this is can be under your control. Apple sets your Mac's settings out of the box to work in a generally easy manner. But you are you , why don't you make your Mac work the way you want ...

Fed Up - Full Hard Drive Syndrome Getting the "Start-up disk is full" warning?  Here are some tips that can help you reclaim some drive space. Backup, Backup, Backup Backup (as in save important stuff just-in-case) before you do anything that will significantly impact your computer's internal storage.  If you have an external hard-drive with at least 2x the capacity of your internal drive, consider using Time Machine to create automatic backups of your data.  Time Machine, built into your Mac, will automatically check your computer every hour for changes and back them up incrementally.  This means it will only save changes, not re-copy all of you data over again.  You can use an external drive physically attached to your machine (USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt) or storage on your network, often referred to as Network Attached Storage or NAS.  One of the best and easiest solutions is to use an Apple Time Capsule.  It is easy to configure and you can "...

Duplicates!!! When you control+click (or right click if you have enabled that option) on Mountain Lion, and there seems to be several duplicate applications listed and/or apps you no longer use, here is a Terminal shell script that will fix that.  Just copy and paste the code below in a Terminal window. /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain user (Terminal can be found using Launchpad or Spotlight) After pasting, hit the Return key and allow time to run, then type "killAll Finder" without the quotes, and Return.  This will rebuild the "Open With..." menu.   If you do not see an immediate effect on the lists, restart your Mac.   Should be no need to restart. (Thanks, JK) Duplicates and old apps gone! If you wish, you can make a Service that will do it using Automator as well: Open Automator (Launch Pad or Applications folder) Create...

Change the Default Font of Notes App in OS X Mountain Lion : The new Notes app in OS X Mountain Lion features a default font that is hard to read and looks a bit goofy. If you want a more professional looking font that’s easier on the eyes, you can easily switch the default font from “Noteworthy” to the always classic Helvetica. From the Notes app, pull down the “Format” menu Open the “Font” submenu followed by “Default Font” and select “Helvetica” for the cleanest looking font, or choose “Marker Felt” to match the default Notes font in iOS Changes take effect immediately. Helvetica is shown below: Formatting can be lost as you’ll see in this video: You can change it in the iOS Notes app too .

How to Zip Files in Mac OS X OS X Daily Ever wondered how to make a zip file in Mac OS X? We recently demonstrated how to password protect zip archives , but in the comments a reader asked a more simple yet completely valid question: " what about just making a standard zip file? " Well, making zip files on a Mac is easy, and with compression tools built directly into OS X there is no need to download additional software or add-ons, here's how. How to Make a Zip Archive in Mac OS X You can use this to create zip files of files, folders, or both: Right-click on a file, folder, or files you want to zip Select "Compress Items" Find the newly created .zip archive in the same directory If a single file is being zipped, the zip archive will maintain the standard file name but append the .zip extension. If more than one file is being zipped, the archive will be named "Archive.zip", and if multiple archives are created, they ...

--> Do You Need to Defragment a Mac's Hard Drive? About Focus on Macs In my mailbag this week, I found a couple of questions about defragmenting a Mac's hard drive. This question usually comes from new Mac users, or individuals who switch to the Mac from the Windows environment, where disk defragmentation utilities abound. Some individuals want to know which third-party disk defragmentation app they should use, or wonder why there is no defrag tool in OS X. Courtesy of Apple OS X does have disk defragmentation capabilities, but they're built into the system rather than a separate tool. Since OS X 10.2, Apple has included automatic defragmentation in the Mac OS. In essence, the Mac OS has built-in safeguards that attempt to prevent file fragmentation from occurring; it's also able to repair fragmentation, should it occur. This means that for the average Mac user, there really is no reason to worry about disk defragmentation, at least not as ...

life hacker has some good tips on using your Mac. This one is handy if you use Launchpad on Lion. TekkieBob likes to use Alfred as an app launcher. (Hands on the keyboard) What is your preference? Clean Out and Customize Lion's Launchpad : 'via Blog this'

Back | Forward Buttons When using Finder to browse through your folders, sometimes you want to go back several folders to where you started.  Clicking the back button several times works but it is more efficient to press and hold the back button and a list of your history will show... Hold down the back button This will save you some time in your daily workflow.

Enable Outline Mode in OS X's TextEdit : "If you want to quickly jot down a few notes for later reference, opening up Microsoft Office is kind of a pain. It turns out there's a secret outlining mode built right into TextEdit on the Mac. You probably wouldn't want to use it for more serious work, but having an easy, automatic outlining mode can be pretty handy for adding structure to your notes. In TextEdit, just hit Option Tab to turn any rich text file into an outline. It works just like Microsoft Word's outlining mode (or other similar office apps)—just hit enter to create a new bullet point with the same indent, and hit tab to indent the current point."

Smart ways to work with smart folders | Business Center | Working Mac | Macworld Great article about Smart Folders for OS X. Great way to keep organized. If you have that common "where-did-I-put-that-file?" syndrome, then this is a must read!

AppleInsider | Offbeat: Steve Ballmer signs MacBook Pro - running Windows, of course : "Ballmer gained attention last September when a Microsoft employee at a private company meeting snapped a picture of him using an iPhone. Ballmer grabbed the phone and made lighthearted remarks while the onlooking audience booed. He then put the phone on the ground and pretended to stomp on it. After the incident, one Microsoft employee said of the situation: 'You just don't pick up the CEO of Chevy in a BMW.'" What a perhaps unwitting but good choice of car to use as an example. Cheap vs. High End.

Use mouseover highlights in Snow Leopard's Stacks | Mac OS X | Mac OS X Hints | Macworld : "To use mouseover highlights on an as-needed basis, you just need to change how you activate your Stacks. Instead of clicking on your Stack and then immediately moving the mouse into the Stack area, click-and-hold on the Stack icon until your Stack appears. Now when you move into the (grid or fan view) Stack, you’ll see a mouseover highlight effect (a blue background in fan view; a silver one in grid view)."

From TUAW: What is your favorite? Most popular free Mac apps of 2009 : " Filed under: Software , Freeware Lifehacker has put together their list of the 15 Most Popular Free Mac Apps of 2009 . Keep in mind, these are Mac OS X apps, not iPhone apps. The list is based on the popularity of apps they've covered in 2009 and don't represent total download numbers. Here are some of their choices (in no specific order): Magnifique Picasa for Mac Pollux doubleTwist Thunderbird Google Chrome PwnageTool / QuickPwn Namebench Quicksilver Glims While I don't agree with all their choices, it is a rather interesting list. But what about you guys? Tell us your favorite Mac apps of 2009 in the comments! TUAW Most popular free Mac apps of 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments "

Official Google Mac Blog: Google Chrome for Mac goes beta! Now that Chrome is Beta on the Mac, there are some things you may wish to know. I have been using it for a few weeks now as my primary browser. Pros: Fast! Fast! Fast! Tabs work well. If a page crashes, it is just the tab not Chrome. Also Tabs can be saved etc, much like Safari and FireFox. Themes. Cute touch. I like the Brushed Aluminum theme. Cons: Still Beta. A few bugs and features missing. (Bookmark management for one.) Have you tried it? You like, hate, don't care... Love to hear your comments!

There are reports all over the Internet about a new Mac Mini to be possibly released at MacWorld.  TUAW is reporting that a new version of the Mini will include an optical drive that can be swapped for a second hard drive.  The housing will look much like the Time Capsule with a "lip" for consealing the optical dive slot and cooling. Whether true or not, I would like to see a few features in a new Mac Mini. More RAM (Of course.) NVIDIA chipset. FW port for external HD My main use for a Mini would be for media.  A Mini on my network using Front Row would be great for movies and TV.  (Sorry, Apple TV.)

In a previous post , I discussed the frustration my wife had trying to print address labels with her Mac. She tried using Address Book , Pages and just about anything else she could think of to no avail. Avery DesignPro for Mac was the answer! Here we will explore the basics of the application to help get you started. For full information, see the documentation that is supplied in the help files. The Application As can be seen from the screen shot, there are several options available to you at start-up. At the top are options for different kinds of labels. (Address, shipping, DVD/CD, etc..) You can choose a prepared template or make your own. Search to find the Avery label stock that you have. If you want to print a full page of labels with the same address (for example, your return address) be sure to select All Same On. (See above) It may be easier just to type in by hand for single addresses. When you are ready, print the labels and save your work for next time! If ...

Welcome to this 3rd installment of the Mac Productivity Series. Mail for Mac OS X Mail is a very robust e-mail client. Mail integrates with your Address Book, iChat, iCal, and even Finder smoothly and seamlessly. Some Major features: Smart Mailboxes - These dynamic folders can be configured just about anyway you like. For example, suppose you want to keep track of all email you get from Aunt Dora, but only what she has sent in the past 30 days that you have not yet responded to. Set up a smart mailbox like so: (Picture Smart Mailbox) Now all mail from dear ol' Auntie Dora that you have not had time to reply to is conveniently located in it's own mailbox. This will change automatically as the messages change. Any new messages your dear aunt in your inbox will also show up in this folder. If you reply, that message will no longer be there. If the message is more than 30 days ago, it will disappear from this folder. (The messages will still be in your inbox or where eve...

Address Book. Most Windows users are used to using something like Windows Address Book or Outlook to keep track of contacts. For Mac users, Address Book does this and a whole lot more! Who do you know? Address Book is designed to keep your contacts organized YOUR way. Your business contacts. Your family. Your friends. Keeping them together is a snap with Address Book for Mac. So many people today have several phone numbers, E-mail addresses and even physical addresses. (ie: Home, Work) Address Book allows you to record almost anything about people that you know. You can enter addresses, phone numbers, anniversary dates, E-mail addresses and even the dog's name if you want! Looking at the picture here, you can see that you can add anything you wish to remember about a contact. (All of this is searchable, by the way, in Address Book) You can also import contacts . Using the vCard format or even text formats you can import contacts. Simply click File>Import and you will ...

Alex has commented to the previous post that Spotlight is integrated with Calculator. Here is a screen shot showing how to use it: In this instance 58 x 8 = 464 (using the asterisk as the multiplier symbol) Great tip, Alex!

In this first installment of our 5 part series , we will be discussing Spotlight. Spotlight for Macintosh is designed to help you find ANYTHING in your Mac. Think of it as Google for your computer. How does it work? Spotlight searches your Mac in the background and continually updates an 'index' of any changes or new files it finds. This index can then be used to instantly, as you type, search your Mac for whatever your search terms are. For a technical discussion, please read Wikipedia's article . How can it help me? Spotlight is integrated into Mac OS X and can be used from your desktop, any finder window and using keyboard shortcuts. Look at the top right of your Menu Bar and you will see an icon that looks like a magnifying glass. Click on it and a small search field will come up. Type in any word or phrase. Your Mac will instantly display a list of files and folders sorted by type that match your criteria. Note the picture here. Here the term "Hello"...