Top 5 Mac OS X Tips

The Mac is currently one of the most popular computers in the entire world because it is regarded as the perfect alternative for the old fashioned Windows PC. At this time, numerous software companies are planning to develop Mac compatible applications because the number of the owners is continuously increasing. I believe you agree the Mac is an intuitive computer because it can be used with ease without having to work a lot to install a simple application. Although there are a lot of useful applications, I'll present you the most useful commands to enhance the Mac provided by Apple and Matthew Swain, a blogger writing about Mac OS X Tips (some of them must be typed in the Terminal located in the Applications/Utilities folder).

1. This command can be used to make your minimized to dock application translucent. The command is especially useful if you're working with multiple applications at the same time and you want to view the hidden ones. You can replace YES with NO to restore the default option.

code

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES

2. Select a text into your favorite browser, text editor or other application. After the highlight is done, drag the text to a desired application displayed on the dock (for example, the mail program). The operating system will automatically paste the text into a new mail window to send it to a friend without having to do the old copy paste action.

3. This code is especially useful if you intend to use the classic Dashboard widgets to avoid the installation of a separate application like Yahoo Widgets. Using the command, you can bring your Dashboard widgets to desktop with ease. After you type the command, restart your dock, go to Dashboard, click on a widget and hold the click while pressing the F12 button to return to desktop. The widget should appear on your desktop. You can replace YES with NO to restore the default option.

code

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES
killall Dock

4. The command is very handy if you receive a lot of emails in the HTML format and you just want to read the text without having to download the entire content of the page. The command will convert your messages to plain text. You can replace TRUE with FALSE to restore the default option.

code

defaults write com.apple.mail PreferPlainText -bool TRUE

5. This trick allows you to disable the Dashboard if you're not a widget fan. You can replace YES with NO to restore the default option.

code

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES
killall Dock

Personally, I find all these commands very useful for a beginner but sometimes, there is even an easier method to configure your Mac's hidden settings. For example, you can download OnyX, a freeware application able to help you configure the hidden options of your Mac. The downloadable tool was also tested by Softpedia and is available as a free download on this link.

Top 5 Mac OS X Tips

The most useful tricks to enhance your Mac

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