Login items

Sometimes it makes a lot of sense to have your Mac launch certain applications upon startup - these will be items which are constantly in use such as your email. I do not really suggest having too many items as login items, especially if you are a little impatient and like to get started right away, as having a large number of login items can delay startup by a few minutes. 

Also beware of certain software which has the effrontery to automatically give itself automatic login item status - this really gets up my nose.

Anyway, to add (or remove) login items go to system preferences, select “Accounts” and choose the “Login Items” tab as in the images above.

Then to add a login item simply press the “+” button at the bottom of the list and select the application you wish to add, and to remove a login item select it from the list and press the “-” button.

Schedules

Sometimes you need to carry out a task, such as rendering some video or a similar long job, and you need to be somewhere else at the same time. Either that, or you simply need to find your machine switched on when you get in to the office.

Whatever the case may be, the Energy Saver system Preference has a built-in schedule app which can start up and shut down your Mac when you’re not there.

Bring up your System Preferences (Apple Menu > System Preferences) and choose the “Energy Saver”.

Click on Schedule and input the appropriate startup and shutdown times - note the highly configurable “Day” options - just choose the option that suits you best from the pop-up.

Simple as that - you’re done.

Accidentally deleted a Mac application

Rarely, a user may accidentally delete a Mac application (or it may become damaged and not work) - that is to say, an application which came with the system such as Address Book, Safari, iChat and others. I encountered a case like this last week and my client was convinced that he would need to reinstall his system. Not always so, as in this case.

Yes I know that you can’t find software such as this to download, but if you are using OS X 10.3.9 or later you can use the System Disks that came with your computer to restore these software titles. Before doing anything like this ALWAYS back up your computer as a precaution, even though you won’t be erasing your hard disk.

The first step is to load the Mac OS X Disk 1 (you have to use the disks that came with your machine - using a disk that came with a different model will not work) and click the “Install Bundled Software Only” link. You then need to select the destination volume (usually Macintosh Hard Disk”, click “Continue” and, very important, select the “Customize” option. This will allow you to choose which software you wish to install. Needless to say, do not reinstall any software which is already installed and working well as this may cause problems.

Once you are satisfied that all is well select the “Install” option to proceed and then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Once the installation is complete you may need to restart your Mac, and I then recommend that you carry out a software update to ensure you bring your restored software up to date.

More about the Finder

When you are in the Finder, one great way of personalising your Mac is through the Finder Preferences. As is the case with all applications, go to Finder > Preferences to access them and you will see a window like the one above.

The General tab: Here you can adjust the way you would like your computer to work for your own personal comfort. You can choose to show or hide connected removable disks and servers, where you would like new finder windows to open from (i.e. Macintosh HD, Home Folder or any folder of your choice).

Choosing the Open folders in a new window option is, for me at least, a more efficient way to work, and Spring-loaded folders cause folders to open automatically when you hold a file or folder over them.

Labels: Here you can name your Labels as required.

Sidebar: Here you can choose what and what does not appear in the sidebar of each opened window.       In OS X 10.5 “Leopard” these items items are nicely grouped into Devices, Shared, Places and Searches.

Clicking the Advanced tab gives you some more advanced preferences such as showing file extensions (a little bit to “PC” for me), showing or hiding a couple of warnings and a secure trash option. Choosing the      

last option makes deleted items much harder to retrieve, but this can take some time especially if you have a large quantity or large items in the trash and is not really recommended.

The Finder

Flipping through your open applications (for example by pressing Command and Tab) you will notice that there is an application called the “Finder” which is ALWAYS running. No matter what you do, it’s there. So what is the Finder and what exactly does it do on your Mac?

The Finder is the very core of Mac OS X. It is the be all and end all, literally, of your system, as it automatically starts up at the beginning of every boot, and switches off at every shutdown - it can never be deactivated (only re-launched) while your computer is running. As the name suggests, the Finder keeps track of all files, folders and applications on your Mac. It is the very reason why the Mac is so good at multi-threading (doing multiple tasks simultaneously) and why the Mac is superior, by a long chalk, at finding and then listing the results of search results you may make when looking for something on your Mac. 

If something goes wrong with your Finder, you could be in trouble. Symptoms of Finder corruption include icons being displayed as generic document icons, when before they displayed, for example, a preview of a file or logo of a software.

As is the case with all software, the Finder has a preference file, called com.apple.finder.plist and located in your user library “preferences” folder. Sometimes trashing this can fix problems, but please do not touch these things unless you know what you are doing. Normally the only fix for drastic finder problems is a complete reinstallation, since certain problems would be hard to trace as the finder is just so vast.

Some third party developers such as Cocoatech or Xfile offer alternatives to the finder which could be interesting. It is also worth checking out your finder preferences which includes way to personalise your Mac - an option close to the hearts of most Mac users ;)

A little bit of history - it is interesting to note that the very first finder could only handle one application at a time and it was only with the advent of OS 4.x that multi-threading became synonymous with the Mac!

More about printers

In the same way that you maintain your computer by keeping it free from dust, emptying the trash (you ARE emptying the trash I hope!), performing regular software updates and similar day-to-day tasks it is important to ensure that your printer software is kept up to date for optimum performance.

It may well be the case that your printer or multi-functional is a year or two old, but manufacturers are obliged to keep the device’s software up to date in line with each system update. 

For example, I own a Canon Pixma MP500 (pictured above) which I bought quite a while ago. In fact it is no longer manufactured, but despite this Canon still update the software to bring it in line with the latest Mac OS version. These updates are not ongoing however and once a device has reached a certain age the manufacturer may stop issuing updates.

Sometimes it may arise that you own a printer which is very old and no drivers are available for it on the manufacturer’s website. The good news is that the people at sourceforge.net offer free high-quality drivers for many old printers here. So, before you throw away your old printer see if you can get it to work with Gimp Print!

Can’t print, won’t print.

Sometimes you send a job for printing and then wait for it, and wait, and wait, and wait. The printer is on, none of the ink has run out, there’s paper in the tray and still, no warning message, nothing. Assuming that the correct printer is selected in your system, what could be the matter?

More often that not a user may inadvertently press the “Pause Printer” button, and after repeated attempts at printing the document may end up with a print queue as long as your arm since sending a job to the printer which does not print merely adds the job to a queue. So, before clicking the “resume printer” button it is important to clear the print queue unless you want 37 copies of the same document in bright, expensive colour.

You can check the contents of your print queue at any time by just going to the system preferences and selecting the “Print and Fax” item - in the resulting window you can press the “Open Print Queue” button as in the picture above.

Retrieve jammed CDs & DVDs

Sometimes, no matter what you do, a CD or DVD remains in the drive and staunchly refuses to get out. You’ve held down the “eject” key, you’ve quit all your running applications, and you’ve even re-started, all to no avail. What to do?

Try this: re-start the machine and on hearing the startup tone press and hold the mouse button until the machine boots (on laptops hold the trackpad button or else attach a mouse to your USB port).

The disk should pop out automatically.

Compression

Mac OS X has built in tools for file compression (i.e. reducing file-size). This makes life easier if you have a large file that you wish to compress in order. say, to email to a friend.

The first way is to right-click (or Ctrl-Click) on  the file in question and select the “compress” command (OS X 10.5) or “create archive” (earlier OSs) - this will create a zip archive of the file or folder which can be opened on windows machines.

The second way is through “Disk Utility” (Macintosh HD > Utilities > Disk Utility). This fantastic software, included free with all versions of OS X, is a veritable Swiss Army Knife as it has so much functionality. Once launched, all you need to do is go to the File menu, and select “New > Disk Image from Folder” command and this allows you to create a disk image (.dmg) from any folder on your Mac. Note that your original folder remains untouched. Disk Image files can not be opened by windows machines.

If you are interested in compression, there are also a huge number of third-party utilities for file compression that do the work for you - here are some you can find at Versiontracker.

Scanning

Scanning is fun and easy, and most people these days have scanners so that they can convert their picture libraries into digital format so that they can share them online, via email and with various digital media such as CDs and DVDs, pen-drives and the like.

The most common problem I encounter is to do with resolution, where people are unsure which resolution (dpi) to use for certain tasks. Use too low a resolution and the image appears grainy; too high and the file sizes become enormous. One small point to bear in mind - scanning a poor-quality image with a high resolution will NOT improve the quality - you’ll just end up with a poor-quality image with a large file size.

Although not set in concrete, these are the resolutions I would use:

Images for web use - 72dpi - 125dpi

Images for offset print - 300dpi - 400dpi

Images for inkjet print - up to you but I would avoid going over 600dpi where possible

Many scanners include built-in filters for use during the scanning process (such as dust and scratches, unsharp-mask etc.) but if you have a decent photo manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements then I would not bother with the scanner’s own filters.

Software Updates

Do your software updates! Whether your machine is is set to check for updates automatically (through the Software Update System Preference) or you just do it automatically, make sure it is done.

Software updates often contain enhancements which are intended to make your digital life easier, more stable and secure. The last OS X update (just released - OS X 10.5.3) fixes some vulnerabilities in iCal and really needs to be implemented.

Software Updates are what make OS X the cutting edge OS that it is - it is constantly being improved and, best of all - it’s free.