134 replies to this topic

[Swad]

Some members on this forum are new Mac users - others of you have been fans since the days of Lisa.  What are the little, everyday secrets that you use to make life with your Mac easier?

If you have favorite keyboard shortcuts or hidden features that most people don't know about, share them here!

[macgirl]

Maybe these are not new, and are commonly known, but for the new on OSX86

Make the Safari Debug Menu appear:
Quit Safari then in Terminal type
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

Make any App Icon Transparent in Dock when it is hidden
In Terminal type  defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool true
then type killall Dock

[Metrogirl]

My favourite - Command Q when the stupid Apple registration screen comes up right after installing.   Like I'm going to send all my details to Apple?

iTunes - set 'don't take me to the music  store, take me to my music library'.   Then it works as a perfectly good MP3 player without the rest of the garbage.   Set kiddy preferences to avoid showing music store.

Most of the below are well known but I'll list them anyway-

Holding down C when booting selects the CD for startup rather than HD.
Command Alt Esc is the OSX equivalent of CTRL-ALT-DEL
Command S when booting brings up single-user console

To put dashboard widgets on the desktop, drag them and hit F12 while still dragging.   You can put them back in the dashboard by dragging and opening the dashboard at the same time.

To put an eject icon on the top bar, go to /system/library/coreservices/menuextras and double-click on Eject.menu

[jabidi]

Hi everybody,

Well I try to put widget on desktop but that doesn't work.
Is it possible with osx86 version ?

[aquabot]

This is really dumb, but

When ALT+tabbing, I discovered that you can use your mouse to manually select the program you want, I find myself using it when I have 8 apps running and dont want to tab 20 times to get somewhere..

[Metrogirl]

I forgot an important bit with the widgets drag tip for OSx86 -

For the drag/F12 trick to work, first you have to open terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES   (return)

You might have to do this as root or sudo the command.

Then either logout and login again or reboot and your widgets can now be dragged onto the desktop.   Sorry I forgot this vital bit of information.

-S

[aitikin]

My personal favorite as just a nice trick (although I haven't confirmed it in OSX86 yet) is to hold the Command Option and Control keys and hit 8.  It will invert the colors on the screen.

[Centurion]

F9-F11 - Expose

I would kill for that in XP. It's one of my favorite features of OSX86

[phb]

When ALT-Tabbing. You can still use many commands.
Try for example CMD+Q to kill the selected program. Very handy to kill most programs before planning on restarting or such.
Another favorite is CTRL+F2, which gives focus to the menubar. Very handy =)

[carac86]

Centurion, on Dec 26 2005, 10:09 PM, said:

F9-F11 - Expose

I would kill for that in XP. It's one of my favorite features of OSX86

There ARE a number of programs on WIndows with more or less similar features  - I suggest something called XDESK which has that and a few other things related to managing many windows/applications (QuickView, better Alt+Tab, something like Alt+Tab for mouse) - even if XDESK is actually a virtual desktop manager.

[pc_guru]

A simple trick that maybe you all know it, [printscr] key in windows = command + 3 in osx, if you hit command + 4 you'll get a partial screen cap, you must to hit the numbers in the common keyboard instead of key pad. Command key = ALT key.

[Technobob]

pc_guru, on Jan 1 2006, 02:23 AM, said:

A simple trick that maybe you all know it, [printscr] key in windows = command + 3 in osx, if you hit command + 4 you'll get a partial screen cap, you must to hit the numbers in the common keyboard instead of key pad. Command key = ALT key.

It's alt + shift + 3 for full screen capture and alt + shift + 4 for seleted capture

[pc_guru]

Technobob, on Jan 1 2006, 07:11 AM, said:

It's alt + shift + 3 for full screen capture and alt + shift + 4 for seleted capture

Sorry, i did write this post yesterday very later in the night, and forget "shift" key. so it's Command + shift + 3 and Command + Shift + 4. By default in osx86 Command key = ALT key, but you can to change it.

[ghw9132]

phb, on Dec 26 2005, 07:54 PM, said:

When ALT-Tabbing. You can still use many commands.
Try for example CMD+Q to kill the selected program. Very handy to kill most programs before planning on restarting or such.
Another favorite is CTRL+F2, which gives focus to the menubar. Very handy =)

Command+shift+tab -- tab backward through application list

[guyin916]

does the "hold F12" work in osx86?  suppose to eject the CD/DVD out of primary optical drive..  at least on the ppc platform it does :-)  also, force eject of all removable media that support eject by holding left mouse button on bootup (cannot be usb mouse via hub as far as i know)..

also, if anyone was successful in hacking "front row" into osx86, command+esc :-)

[thunder.scripts]

Holding F12 ejects removable media, just checked

[suleiman]

ohhhh sweeet!

[guyin916]

yay!  =)  i use my logitech usb wireless keyboard on osx tiger ppc on the mac mini..  sometimes it does not work (like when osx is trying to read a cd/dvd that is badly scratched)..  in that case, i open terminal and type in "disktool -e" and all removable media is ejected.  also, dragging the volume folder to trash ejects media.

-p

[sirocyl]

Centurion, on Dec 26 2005, 05:09 PM, said:

F9-F11 - Expose

I would kill for that in XP. It's one of my favorite features of OSX86

Google for TopDesk.