MacTricksAndTips.com

Did you know that your hard drive is full of hidden files. All of them are hidden to keep your computer running smoothly. But every so often you may want to view those files to see if your computer is acting out of the ordinary or you have mistakingly names something starting with a dot (.) and want to find the file again. There are three ways you can do this. Through an application, through a preference pane, or good old command line. Each have there pros and cons.

For any one that has a wireless network and has the menu bar item, you will no that the items on the drop down list are a bit limited. For example you can’t see signal strength or any other factors, if you have a choice of wireless networks this could be a problem. As a result you could install a piece of software to do this for you. There is a work around for this.

Sometimes you may want to change the permissions of subfolder and all of there files. This could be down to the simple need to enable them to be read only for part of a server network or in my case allowing files and subfolders and files to be read and write for website development. Its took me a while to figure out how to do this, and it is blindingly obvious.

Did you know that if you press enter on any Finder entry it will enable you to edit the name of that file or folder. Pretty neat if you want a way to rename stuff quickly, but not very useful if you want to open the file or folder in question. After some keyboard bashing I have found some quick keyboard shortcuts to enable you to move around in Finder quicker and easier.

The sidebar in Finder 10.5 is great, I like how it works and how it is designed. But there is one small problem that could be improved and that is separators. Separators are designed to visually split up your interface. You can usually move these about. They are a great way of simply organizing your workspace.

In my previous post I mentioned about Quicklook plugins. It got me interested into how many plugins there are and what ones you can get. As a result I have looked all over the web for some the best Quicklook plugins. These are designed for nearly every file time imaginable. Some of them are really cool and should probably be included with the system, some are more unique and are for special groups of users who use specific files. There are 20 plugins in total. Arranged in alphabetical order, all of the links will take you to the download page. Most are free although there are a couple that you have to pay for. Clicking on any of the images will give you the full size version if you want to take a closer look. If I have missed off any please leave a comment. As a side note, usually all Quicklook plugins will enable the same features in coverflow.

If you use your desktop a lot you usually end up with a lot of files and shortcuts scattered about the place. You may run out of room quickly but there is a new option that has been implemented in the new Leopard build to enable you to change the spacing between the icons.

You may notice at the top of an average finder window the toolbar containing small icons to help you work better with your make. You can of course right click and customize your toolbar from the appropriate menu. But I have found a cool tip by accident that lets you change the view of the toolbar. A bit mundane but cool none the less.