Apple pushed a Performance Update out for certain models running Leopard or Snow Leopard last evening, aiming to fix occasional hard drive performance issues the Mac maker says affects a small number of users. More »
Windows only: Like the look of OS X Leopard’s Stacks feature—which provides attractive, quick shortcuts to any folder on your desktop—but you’re on a Windows PC? Free application StandaloneStack brings Leopard-like stacks to your quick launch toolbar.
Leopard’s virtual desktop tool Spaces is great, but sometimes the app breaks, leaving you with windows on desktops you just can’t get to. Luckily there’s an easy solution: Open Terminal and enter killall Dock. When your Dock restarts, Spaces will be back in operation.
Apple pushes out a Leopard update that puts the current OS X version at 10.5.5 today. The Mac OS X 10.5.5 update changelog lists improvements and bug fixes in Mail, Address Book, iCal, and MobileMe. Get the 136MB update download through Software Update; as per usual it’ll require a restart to install.
Mac OS X Leopard only: Our favourite free virtual private network client for the Mac, HamachiX, has been updated (finally!) to work with Leopard. HamachiX is a graphical front end to the Windows Hamachi product, and essentially it lets you access your Mac remotely over the internet as if it were on the local network. That means you can listen to shared iTunes libraries, remote control your Mac, and access file shares as well. HamachiX isn’t as easy to use or quite as stable as the Windows version, but it lets you network with PCs running the client as well. Here’s how to create your own virtual private network with Hamachi.
HamachiX
Macs may be more expensive, and Mac users more elitist (ahem), but blind Apple loyalty aside, there are a number of neat features bundled into your Mac that make it super useful and fun. We’ve covered dozens of Mac tips over the years in these pages, but today we’re highlighting 10 lesser-known Mac tricks that come baked into Leopard. From pure eye candy to outright productivity-boosters, read on to get reminded of some of the more obscure things you can do with your Mac, fresh out of the box.
As Windows user, one of the strangest things about Mac OS is a running, active application can be in focus without any actual windows open. If you use Command+Tab to switch between apps and don’t want to get stuck in no-open-window limbo, use the following key sequence to open a new window on your way there: Hold down Command+Tab, then press Option, then release Command. It doesn’t work for all applications, but it does for Safari and Terminal at least.
Mac OS X Leopard only: Reader Ben points out that there’s a lot more to Mac OS X’s built-in Dictionary than definitions. He writes in: I just noticed that in Dictionary.app (at least in Leopard), under to “Go” menu, there is an option labelled “Front/Back Matter.” Clicking this brings up a whole slew of useful reference material, including a language guide (complete with a list of clichés to avoid), a list of the chemical elements, and the text of the Constitution. Next time I’m on a place, I think I’m going to brush up on the Bill of Rights.
It’s true: the Ready Reference area of Dictionary.app’s Front/Back Matter is a treasure trove of good stuff for writers or anyone who wants to see if they can name the capital of all fifty states in the U.S. Thanks, Ben!
Mac guy Rob Griffiths points out a few brand new command line utilities in Leopard, like the handy dot_clean command, which sweeps away Mac system files that start with a dot and annoy the hell out of you when you use that thumb drive on your PC. Griffiths writes: Prior to 10.5, you had to manually delete them on the other system, or use Terminal trickery to remove them on the Mac prior to copying. As of 10.5, though, you can just use the dot_clean command on the directory in question. Type dot_clean /path/folder to join the dot-underscore files with their parent files. Read OS X 10.5′s manual pages (man dot_clean) for more information.
Now you don’t have to disable .DS_Store file creation entirely; though you may still have to deal with Windows’ annoying Thumbs.db system files on your Mac. Leopard’s Unix tricks [Macworld]
Weblog MacApper prefers to keep a clean Dock, and as such doesn’t particularly like the new Time Machine icon cluttering up the Dock. Since Time Machine is basically an extension of Finder, the post suggests adding a Time Machine shortcut directly to the Finder toolbar. Setting it up is simply a matter of heading to your applications folder and dragging the Time Machine icon to your toolbar. Once you’ve done that, just activate Finder and click the Time Machine button whenever you want to hit up your files in Time Machine. Simple, yes, but it makes a lot of sense. If you want the Time Machine button to fit in better with the rest of the toolbar buttons, go download this Time Machine button. The Quickest Tip for Time Machine [MacApper]
