Mac Tricks And Tips » Noob2Pro

Noob2Pro Series Round Up – We Have Finished

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:02:28 +0000

Hey

I am afraid we have reached the end of the Noob2Pro series. I have covered all of the topics I wanted to cover and it seemed to reach a good end with out me repeating myself or covering topics no one is interested in. I hope you enjoyed the series and hopefully some new users have learnt a thing or two about the Mac that they didn’t know before. This post will list all of the previous topics and tell you what I have planned.

In order or appearance.

The plan was to make the series to last a month, it did sort of, if you count a month as February in length. It wasn’t going to be a series of post where I try and make a minor topic drag out and say i’ve done hundreds of topics when really its the same stuff over and over again. There was some extra topics which I could have covered such as iLife or iWork however I don’t really have much experience in these areas (I never use them).

I’m glad the series has come to an end. I was getting a little tired of it. I do play on releasing a PDF book in a couple of days when I have finished compiling everything. I may also release a long more detailed book covering more topics. However such subjects take a while to write so don’t expect it to arrive any time soon.

In the next couple of days this site will be back to its normal routine of tips and tricks. I have a post already planned, which I will have up a bit later today. If you want to submit some ideas of stuff you want to see please use the contact form. I like to try and solve your problems, I find it more interesting that just a normal tips post.

To conclude I hope you have liked this series. If you enjoyed it please share it with your friends, this post is a good round up of the topics covered.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Noob2Pro Series Round Up – We Have Finished,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Troubleshooting Problems – Noob2Pro #27

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:48:58 +0000

Hey

Applications on the Mac crash every so often. Some times this is a one off event that happens at random which you can just ignore. More persistent crashes and hangs can be a bigger problem. Troubleshooting these problems can take a while, however I am going to go through a list which I use to diagnose a problem and hopefully find a solution. This post will refer to application crashes, and not kernel panics. Kernel panics are usually harder to solver and nearly also involve some piece of hardware at fault.

Steps to solving application crashes:

1) Restart the app, probably a simple one to start with. I have apps open for long periods of time, if it starts hanging a lot its usually time to restart it.

2) Log off. This is usually done to clear caches and allow you Mac to reload files. Some times bits of code get overwritten in memory and cause frequent crashes if you have your computer on for a long time.

3) Restart. A more extreme version of number 2. This will clear all code from memory and allow you to start again. This will usually solve problems that are caused by apps running for too long.

4) Delete Preferences. If an app crashes frequently the preferences may have inadvertently be changed. Find the preference file in ~/Library/Preferences. Application name is usually at the end of the file name.

5) Update the app. The crash and bug you may be experiencing could be caused by dodgy code, this code may have been cleaned up in a new version. Head to the developers site and see if there is a new version of the app to download. This is the same as system updates though Software Update.

6) Disable plugins. If an application such as Firefox crashes it might be time to disable plugins and start them up one by one. You can then find what plugin is causing it and see if there is a solution on the plugin developers website.

That is the normal method I will usually take. If an application or system is constantly crashing it may be a deeper problem. The next couple of steps are more complicated yet allow you to nail the problem down more effectively. These methods contain a lot of computer output code which can be quite complicated so may not be suitable solutions for all.

1) Activity Monitor. This app is more than just a monitor for system resources, you can monitor what files and application opens. If you find that an app is crashing, select it from the list and press Inspect from the tool bar. On the window that opens select the “Open Files and Ports” tab and scroll to the bottom. When you Mac uses the program and accesses a file it will be added to the bottom of the list. You can then see which file is causing you the grief. For example Firefox would hang when I opened a new window. The file path to pop up in the window was the path the the Flash players file. I now know that Flash player was causing the problem and rectify it by downing the newest version of flash or searching for more help on this topic.

2) Spin Control. To access this app you need to have installed the developer tools from your install CD. Its located in /Developers/Applications/Performance Tools/. When an app hangs this little app will record the data from the application. Most of the time the data which is returned to you doesn’t make much sense. However you may come across a file name or something else which you can use to see what the problem is. If you haven’t got developer tools installed, it doesn’t matter as the information you receive from Spin Control will probably not help you.

3) Console. You would think the the log reporting application, Console, would be full of information about crashes. However I find the information found within the error logs to be not very specific. However if you do look through the various logs (it takes some searching) you may find a small bit of information which points to the reason why an application is crashing. Its worth having a check, however don’t let your hopes up.

To conclude, the best ways to solve why and app is crashing is to follow steps 1 – 6. For me this solves most of the problems I encounter. Only when applications are persistently crashing would I use the other three steps. If you find that a 3rd party app crashes a lot you may have to switch to a different app. If you find that your system is crashing a lot, it may be worth re-installing the operating system. Some re-occurring system problems may be due to hardware. If you have recently installed a new bit of RAM or a hard drive, you may need to check that out. Guides can easily be found on the web.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Troubleshooting Problems – Noob2Pro #27,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Cheat Sheets, Finding Shortcuts – Noob2Pro #26

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:05:16 +0000

Hey

This post is going to be relatively short however I think it will be quite useful for any new user to the Mac. One of the best ways to become a “Pro” user is to learn shortcuts to a program. Learning shortcuts to a program can be a bit difficult and some may not be that obvious. There are a couple of ways you can learn shortcuts, I am going to feature my favourite two here.

KeyCue

If you really want to find how many shortcuts a program has I recommend KeyCue, i’ve done a review here a while ago. In essence when you press down command KeyCue will pop up after a couple of seconds and show you every single shortcut available to you. I find this a handy way of seeing what you can do in an app. It’s also a great way of discovering new ways to do things which may no be apparent from the men options.

Short Cut Lists

Another way of learning short cuts is to look down a list. I prefer the KeyCue method since its more intuitive, however lists are generally more useful if you are away from your computer or want to browse them at your leisure. There a couple of places you can search for short cut lists however there are a couple of sites out there which I would like to point out. The first is Dan Rodney’s list, the second is Apple’s shortcut list, finally there is my version which I threw together a while ago.

I told you this post was short, however I still think its important. The quickest way to speed up when using a program is to learn the short cut. I always try and find the shortest method to a solution so I can save time. Hence why I get to sit back and surf the web while everyone else in my class is still on the first task.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Cheat Sheets, Finding Shortcuts – Noob2Pro #26,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Getting To Grips With Printing – Noob2Pro #25

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:22:30 +0000

Hey

Making sure you can print a document properly is a major concern. Nothing is worse than having a printer that doesn’t work. This post will hopefully enable you to set up your printer and allow you to use it. At the moment I don’t currently have a working printer, it broke, however this is the method I employed when I set up my printer the first time. If you have any problems please leave a comment.

Mac’s are smart enough to realise when you plug a printer in. Most of the time it will come up with a message saying you have plugged a printer in and it is ready for use. If that happens, you are ready to go and you don’t really need to do anything. The method I am going to show you is what you can do if you printer isn’t automatically recognised or you want to add a printer over a network.

The print settings are done from System Preferences, within this open up Print & Fax. If you don’t have any printers add the window should be blank. To add a new printer click the plus button in the bottom left hand corner below the sidebar section. This will open a dialog box which allows you to find your printer. Since there is a wide range of ways to add a printer to your network or Mac, there is a wide range of options. Each method just determines where it looks for a printer, everything after that is the same.

In window which you use to add a printer you are given a wide variety of choices. Default is used for printers connected to your Mac, most of the time your printer will be found in there, IP is used for printers with an IP address, Windows for printers connected to a windows computer, Bluetooth is self explanatory, Apple Talk printers are ones which are found over the Apple Talk system, finally More Printers is to find and set up printers which don’t belong under any of the other headings.

Once as you have determined where you printer belongs, it is time to add it to the system. First select your printer from the list. Most of the time it is obvious which one it is. In the bottom half of the window you now have to set up the name, location and drivers. The name and location are obvious. Theses are the ones you see when you select a printer. The printer driver is a bit more tricky. Some times you are supplied with a driver with your hard ware vendor, I recommend you use that since it is designed to work with your printer. Most of the time you have two choices. Use a default driver or a more specific driver. Under “Please Select A Driver or Printer Model” you have two choices either the generic post script driver, which will work most of the time, or you can use one specific to your printer model. I suggest the latter. In the window that appears, find the one related to your model. When you have press “Add” and your printer will be added. You are now ready to print.

To test out your printer, print a test page or photo. If everything works the page should come out. If not you need to troubleshoot. Most of the time it will be due to the fact the printer is not connected properly. Another tip is to make sure the printer has the correct drivers. One specific to your model will enable it to work correctly and allow you to have more advanced features. If you are really struggling (such with a network printer connected to a Windows machine), either Google your problem, or try and see what the vendor has to say. Most of the time printer manufactures will have solutions on there website.

Overall, actually adding a printer and getting it to work is very simple. You just have to make sure you select the right options. Printers connected straight to your machine will tend to work straight away. Printers connected over a network and on Windows machines may have trouble. If you printer came with drivers for Mac I would suggest you install them. This makes sure everything works correctly.

I hope this post helps. Printers can be fickle. Adding them with the method I have suggested is the best way. As I mentioned if a printer is connected straight to your computer it will usually be picked up straight away and can be used. If you have any problems please leave a comment.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Getting To Grips With Printing – Noob2Pro #25,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Network Tips For Your Mac – Noob2Pro #24

admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:23:25 +0000

Hey

We are continuing with the Noob2Pro series. Today’s post will focus on a variety of tips and tricks to increase your skills with the network portion of your Mac system. Some tips will include making sure you get the best up time, the fast speed available and other tips and tricks. At this point I assume you know how to work your network (you just have to plug it in) so I am going to skip over some of the basics. All these tips will use the System Preferences pane.

The first step is to open System Preferences > Network. This is where all of the tips will take place. The first tips I would like to point out is the ability to set different network options depending on your location. If you notice at the top of the system preferences pane there is a drop down list. Here you can add and remove locations (using the Edit Locations options). If you use a laptop at home and at work, you can set up various different rules. Any changes you make will only effect the locations you have selected. This is very useful if you need to have different settings at different places.

The next two tips will allow you to make sure your network is more reliable. In the Network preference pane select Advance, in the new window select the TCP/IP tab. This screen shows how your Mac connects to the network. Under Configure IPv4 I would recommend you select “Using DHCP with manual address”, in the address box add an address that isn’t used. I prefer this option as you can select your own address, but if there is a conflict (such as a game console joining the network) you will still be able to connect. This gives you the most reliability.

The second tip in the “Advance” settings it the DNS options. Under the DNS tab add the following IP addresses to the list (click on the plus button to add an IP address). The IP’s are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. These are the IP addresses for the OpenDNS server and allows a fall back if your ISP servers ever fail.

These three tips will allows you to use your network in the most efficient way. You can play around with the size of the packets travelling over your network, you can also set up proxies, but for the majority of people you really don’t need to do any of that. If you personally have an uber cool tip or trick you would like to share, please leave a comment.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Network Tips For Your Mac – Noob2Pro #24,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

9 Mac Apps For A New User – Noob2Pro #23

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:21:26 +0000

Hey

We are back on the Noob2Pro series, its been a long time since the last instalment, this is due to me being on holiday and doing various things after which took up my time. The previous post in the series was discussing how to find apps for a new user, this post is my recommendation of nine apps which should come included with the operating system. I’ve tried to keep it short and compact, if you have any apps which you think every new user should have installed please leave a comment at the end of the post.

Adium

If you are into instant messaging of any sort you need Adium, its similar to iChat except it covers pretty much every format available. Use it for MSN, Google Talk plus hundreds of others. The app supports a wide variety of plugins, odds are someone has made a plugin for the protocol you want to use. It doesn’t have Skype (due to the way Skype works), but that app is featured at the end of this post.

Growl

I have mentioned about Growl a number of times on this blog. The reason I mention it is due to the fact that it is an awesome bit of software. It is designed to show you pop up messages from different programs in a very simple and unobtrusive way. A lot of apps have used Growl to give the user extra information. I recommend using it since you can get a lot more feedback from app that you are running.

VLC

Although Quicktime is a good media player (its supposed to be improved in Snow Leopard), VLC is a must install. It can play practically anything even if the file isn’t perfect. It use it to play nearly all of my video files. It works every time and plays nearly every video format known to man.

Tweetie

In a world where Twitter is become more and more dominant you need a good app to view and send your Twitter messages. I recommend Tweetie. It allows you to easily send and receive tweets, but also has a load of other features to make you day easier. It also supports multiple accounts which I personally find very useful. You may also like to try Twitterific, which is a similar excellent application.

App Cleaner

The one problem with uninstalling apps on the Mac is that the app doesn’t pick up every single file, such as preference files, as a result 3rd party apps have been developed to remove these files and folders. The best free app that I have found is App Cleaner. It will remove those files for you and allow you to continue in peace. There are paid apps of this nature, but they do exactly the same thing.

iStat Menus

The best way to monitor your Mac is through iStat Menus. Its a simple application which allows you to customize what sort of information you see in the menu bar, this could be CPU usage, RAM usage plus a whole load of other settings. Its very useful and allows you to keep track of what is happening to your system.

Firefox

Some people prefer Firefox, some people prefer Safari. It really doesn’t matter which app you use for your web surfing habits. I have included Firefox as many people moving from Windows may be used to Firefox over Safari. I prefer Firefox since I can use lots of plugins to increase my productivity, I can’t yet do this on Safari as much as I want.

Little Snitch

This is probably not a must have install, but it is worth a look if you want something to do for 10 minutes. Little Snitch is an app designed to snoop in on out going connections from your Mac. Its really good at showing you what different apps are doing and what they are connecting to. You can easily see if any apps are making any hidden connections. The full app does cost however the demo is still very useful.

Skype

The final app which you should install as a new user is Skype, a great way at doing conference and voice calling over the internet. Useful if you have friends all over the place and want to keep in touch by talking to them. This app is free so it doesn’t cost you anything to use (unless you want to ring an actual phone).

If you have any apps of you own you want to add please leave a comment, i’m particularly looking for apps are designed for every one and would be useful on a default install.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read 9 Mac Apps For A New User – Noob2Pro #23,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Finding Apps For The Mac – Noob2Pro #22

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:00:32 +0000

Hey

In the last couple of days we have finished all of the major apps on your Mac. Today I am going to feature places on the Internet where you can find applications to fill up your Mac and meet your needs. There are plenty of places which you can use to find apps for the computer. This post is going to be short, however I hope it is going to be as useful as the others in the series.

Apple Downloads

The first place to have a look for new applications is the Apple website. Although not the best in terms of having every applications, it is well set out and does have some good applications featured on the front page. If you are ever bored one day take a wonder through the site and see what you can find. I like looking at the staff as they usually feature some really good apps that are worth downloading.

Mac Update

MacUpdate is designed as a website to track updates to application. However I like to use it to find new and interesting applications. It has one of the biggest repositories of apps. The search function is designed to find specific application, not general terms, however there is enough applications on the site to keep you entertained for a long time.

VersionTracker

VersionTracker is very similar to Mac Update. I’ve featured it on this list as a secondary source of applications. I prefer the interface on VersionTracker over Mac Upate.

iLoveMacApps

So far the sites featured hold every app on the market but don’t really tell you what they do. Hence I am going to feature website that offer reviews of specific applications. These are give you a lot more in depth understanding of what an app is about. They also pick up new and interesting apps. So I am going to start this list with lots of shameless self promoting. iLoveMacApps, is a rather new site where I try and find applications and review them for you.

MacApper

A app review site that has being going a long time is MacApper. I have long been a fan of this site, as the author digs up some really unknown apps.

Appstorm

A new website which I have being watching this some interest. Appstorm, reviews well known applications and gives you a lot of good feedback. Like MacApper and iLoveMacApps, they go along with the same theme or reviewing apps and giving you their opinion. Its a good way to find new applications.

CoolMacApps

A slightly different website this time. CoolMacApps, is designed to aggregate a list of popular applications. You should use this sort of list to find out what people are using. If a lot of people are using the applications, its probably really good and worth an investigation.

iUseThis

Similar to CoolMacApps, iUseThis is a website designed to see how many people use a specific application. You can also add to the website by click “i use this” to tell people which apps you use.

Google

To round off the websites on the list, Google is a very good source. Simply type what you want and add “mac app” to the end of the search phrase and you will find suitable apps for what you want. You may need to do a bit of digging. I usually combine this method with looking on an app review site.

Friends

The final place to look for an app is from a friend. Ask them what they use for a specific application or what they recommend. Chances are they will have used an app you need.

If you have any cool places to find applications please leave a comment below.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Finding Apps For The Mac – Noob2Pro #22,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Noob2Pro Weekly Round Up 4

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:00:18 +0000

Hey

We are flying through the Noob2Pro series, we are nearly at the end. There is only 8 more posts planned. I hope you are enjoy the series as much as I am. So far we have featured a huge variety of different posts to get you start on the Mac. A lot are introductions however I have included a hew advance tips and tricks to take it to the next level.

So far we have featured.

Next week will not feature as many posts, simply because I am going to be on holiday and writing so many posts in advance kind of gets the better of me. I will however feature a post on finding good applications, since we have come to the end of the system applications, top apps for the mac. I will then feature some extra posts on getting the best out of your Network, Printing and Windows. Time till tell however how many posts I will write. There is going to be a couple of other posts in between.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Noob2Pro Weekly Round Up 4,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Introduction To Terminal – Noob2Pro #21

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:00:09 +0000

Hey

Terminal, I think, is one of the best apps for the Mac, most people would probably disagree. You can access a lot of system files and folders as well as complete high level task which don’t need a user interface. Gaining an advance knowledge of Terminal takes a long time. I have learnt how to use Terminal over the last three years and I still regard myself as a learner. This post will introduce you to a couple of basic commands and how to change default settings on apps (which I feature quite a lot).

Terminal is found in the Utilities folder. The screen shot below shows you a basic window, you can change all of the settings on how Terminal looks through the preferences. Just about everything you do with Terminal is typed. You enter what you want to do and you press enter. The results will then come back to you in the Terminal window.

You can move around files and folders with the “cd” command. This means change directory. For example “cd downloads” will take me to the downloads folder (in the current folder, you start at the home folder). You can also type “cd downloads/websites” this will take me to the websites folder in the downloads folder. If you type “cd ../” this will take you a level up.

If you want to view what is in a folder type “ls”. This will show you the contents of a folder. You will find you use the ls and cd command quite frequently when moving around your Mac.

Copying files is done with a different command, “cp”. Simply type “cp file1.txt file2.txt”. This will copy file1 and name it file2. You can also move files with the “mv” command, using the same syntax. You can combine directories with copy and move commands, to move files to different places. For example “mv file1.txt ../documents/file2.txt”. This will move file1 to the websites folder in a folder above the current one (for example from downloads to documents in your home folder) and rename it file2.txt. The mv command can also be used to rename files.

The final mini command I would like to post is rm. This will remove a file from your file system. You usually use this file that are a bit stubborn. Simply type, “rm -rf file1.txt”. The -rf bit will allow you to remove the file easily. These are known as options which allow you to change the way a program works in Terminal. To find out more about options you will need to access the manual page (known as a man page). To do this simply type “man rm” a second page will come up. You can scroll through it with the arrow keys. This will tell you all you need to know about a command in Terminal and how to change it.

I frequently post Terminal tips and tricks on this site. Most of these are to change the default settings on a program. These are done in Terminal. To apply the setting simply type the command I give into Terminal and press enter. For example “defaults write com.apple.dock no-bouncing -bool TRUE; killall Dock”. This command is typed which allows you to stop the dock from bouncing. Notice the semi-colon (;). This separates the two commands, when you hit enter it will run the second one after the first.

Learning Terminal is quite hard. I really can’t put a whole load of knowledge into a simple post (I am also running out of time in the day). The best way to learn is to find a guide on the internet and read what it says. I may, at some point, produce another guide to Terminal, however don’t expect that any time soon.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Introduction To Terminal – Noob2Pro #21,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Keychain On Your Mac – Noob2Pro #20

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:00:15 +0000

Hey

Keychain is a rather powerful piece of technology on your Mac, it is designed to encrypt all of your passwords and keep them safe and secure. You don’t regularly use Keychain on a day to day basis, it is usually accessed by various applications. This post, however, is designed to explain to your a couple of features you should understand, and the ability to keep Keychain in tip top shape. Keychains are like wrappers for individual passwords, you can have many keychains (and even delete them). For the purposes of simplicity I will be sticking with the default keychain.

Keychain will always look similar to the screenshot below. Depending on how long you have being using your Mac, the list will vary in length. The list will contain passwords for applications, system settings, Internet websites (from Safari) and different certificates to make sure everything runs properly. Double clicking on any item will allows you to see its details.

There are two things I want to cover. Editing and adding an item to the keychain, and making sure the keychain is working correctly.

Editing a password in a keychain is rather simple. Simply double click on an item and you will be given its information. An example being an internet password. The dialogue box will show you the URL of the password, the account, comments and the password itself. If you know that a password is in the wrong place, you can find it in the list, and change its details. The keychain will automatically update and the new password will come into effect. This allows you to change an Internet password without using, for example, Safari.

Adding a password is just as simple, from what I gather you can only add Internet passwords for websites. To add an item, go to File > New Password Item. Here you can enter the details such as the location of the password (URL), the username and the password associated. There is also a very handy strength meter to tell you how strong your password is. I don’t see why you would add a password to the keychain this way, unless you were trying to do something specific. I personally just use Safari and allow it to add to the keychain.

The final part of keychain I would like to point out is making sure your keychain is working correctly and doesn’t have any faults. If you select Keychain > Keychain First Aid, you can check the integrity of your keychains and make sure they are working properly. Verify first, and the select repair to solve any problems. Most of the time nothing will be of fault. It will however make sure permissions are correct. The last thing you want is keychain not working.

There isn’t a lot of do with keychain. Most of the time it runs in the background. I only ever go into Keychain to change a password or to check a password. Most of the time you will never need to use it.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Keychain On Your Mac – Noob2Pro #20,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Using Activity Monitor On Your Mac – Noob2Pro #19

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:00:59 +0000

Hey

We all need to make sure our system is running correctly. The best way to access information on how your system is performing is through Activity Monitor. It is designed to show you information about your system resources. This includes, CPU, RAM, Disk, and Network, as well as individual system processes. Its not an app you use actively how every it is useful to have it running in the background. You mostly use Activity Monitor to troubleshoot problem applications and wonder why your Mac is running so slowly.

Activity Monitor is found under Utilities > Activity Monitor. You window should look similar to the one below. The window is split into two basic sections. The processes list and the resource tabs.

The process list shows you what applications are running on your Mac. You can filter the list based on who owns the application using the drop down menu in the tool bar. I recommend you select it to “My Processes” or “Windowed Processes” as these are the ones that usually go wrong. You can quit a process by pressing the “Quit Process” button in the top left corner or the window. You will have two options when the dialogue window pops up. You can either “Quit” the process and allow it to save all the files that it may be using, or “Force Quit” the app. This will kill the process immediately, you will end up Force Quitting applications that are not responsive. As a general rule don’t Force Quit applications you don’t know, you will probably end up breaking something.

The process list can be sorted using headings at the top of the columns. I tend to organise the apps list by CPU usage as this is the one I am most interested in. You can also organise it by memory, to see which apps are being the hogs. The process list is quite useful to see what is running and what is taking up your resources. I don’t recommend how every quitting apps which you don’t recognise, as quite a lot will be system apps that you need, prime example being “kernal_task”.

The bottom half of Activity Monitor is statistical information on your system. This is split into a variety of different tabs, each looks into a different area of your Mac. The CPU section, as you may have guessed, shows you the % of your CPU in use. This is split into Users processes which you run, System processes which the system runs. The “Nice” section is a percentage show by programs which have been given a higher priority by the system, most of the time you will never see and nice apps running. The histogram chart will then combine all of these processes and show you the output. If there is more green and red values, then your CPU is being used more. You can double click on the chart to see a zoomed in model.

The next section, System Memory, is dedicate to how much ram is being used by your Mac. This, again, is split up into different sections. Free memory is not being used at all. Wired memory is memory that can’t be moved onto your disk (it can’t be converted into Swap memory), generally system memory to help your Mac run. Active memory is being used by applications, this is generally the majority in the pie chart. The more apps you open the more bigger the Active memory size. Inactive memory is memory which has been reserved by an app, its called it for use at a later date, it allows you Mac to run faster since an app can automatically use the memory with having to ask for it. Generally you don’t need to worry how much memory is being used, the value by “Used” will by all that you need, if you find the value is getting to high and nearing your RAM limit, I would recommend you buy more memory.

The Disk Activity and Disk Usage sections are designed to show you what is happening to your disk. The Disk Activity will show you how much information is being written to disk, I hardly ever use this section. Its only really useful if you are having slow downs with an app and want to know if your disk is being used. The Disk Usage section will simply show you how much space is being used.

The final section, Network, is really useful. This will show you how much data is flowing in and out of your Mac. If you are wondering why the Internet is going slow, or why a file isn’t being downloaded particularly quickly, the Network tab is usually a good place to check. It will show you how your network is performing. If you find that it is being used flat out, its usually a good indication to go investigate what is happening.

Overall Activity Monitor is a good app for showing your system resources, what is using them and where problems may be occurring. If this type of information more accessible (since Activity Monitor is a bit bulky) check out iStat Menus. It can put all of this information on your menu bar which is a lot quicker and easier to read.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Using Activity Monitor On Your Mac – Noob2Pro #19,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Utilities Folder Apps – Noob2Pro #18

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:00:01 +0000

Hey

Today we are moving on to more minor applications in the Utilities folder. I actually use the Utilities Folder quite frequently. Due to the number of applications available there is going to be a couple of posts on the topic. Today I am going to feature Grapher, Grab and ColorMeter. In the next couple of days I am going to talk about Terminal, Keychain and Activity Monitor.

Grapher

Grapher is a graphing utility. Its designed for mathematicians and engineers, however any one can use it. Although you can do really complicated 3D graphs, it works well with simple 2D for your kids homework.

To enter a line on your graph enter the formula into the white space above the graph. Entering a complicated formula can be quite difficult, however it you do get the hand of it. Most numbers are entered into a box and the styling is done for you, for example functions to the power of, are defined by pressing ^, a small white box will appear for your number. If you want to do a x over y symbol (fraction), press the forward slash button ( / ). Its quite hard to explain, however if you play around with the formula bar you will get the hand of it. When you press enter the line will appear.

You can enter more than one graph on the same “piece of paper” by pressing the plus symbol at the bottom of the sidebar. This is very useful for comparing graphs and equations.

There are a couple of other features I would like to point out. There is the Examples menu which I would suggest you have a look at if you find this app hard to use. If gives you an idea of how to enter an equation and the effects of having more than one. Clicking on the “Implicit and Explicit Curves” will give a good example.

The best way to use this program is to play, I mess around with it when I am given an equation to see what information I can yield from it. Usually I can find the roots of a quadratic equation quickly by seeing where it crosses on the x axis, this saves me a lot of work trying to work it out by hand.

Grab

The next app to check out is Grab, its is designed to take screen shots of your computer screen, however I have pointed it out for one specific purpose. Normally you take pictures by pressing Command + Shift + 3 for full screen, or Command + Shift + 4 (release and then drag with the mouse over an area) for a specific portion of the screen. You can press Command + Shift + 4 and then press space bar to take a picture of just an app. You can do all of these in Grab, however there is one option that is very useful which you can’t access by a short cut, this is a timed screen.

A timed screen allows you to take a picture of an area after you have set it up, this is very useful for taking pictures of games in action or applications which will not allow you to take a screen shot normally (Front Row being an example). Simply press the option under Capture in the menu bar and wait the required seconds before the time runs out. Your image can then be saved.

ColorMeter

The final app which I would like to draw your attention to is ColorMeter, for anyone doing any for of design on screen I find this is a fantastic way to find the colour that you want. Basically its an eye dropper tool which will read the colour that your mouse is currently pointing to. I find this is a quick way to see what colour some one has used on a design with out having to open Photoshop. Simply point your mouse over the colour and read the RGB (or other colours values as set by the drop down menu).

There are two tips here I would like to point out, if you change the Aperture Size this will then take an every of all of the colours in the window. If you have it on the smallest it will take an average of just the pixel, the largest will take an average over a couple of pixels (I think a 15 x 15 pixel block). Every time you move your mouse the values will change, to lock the values simply press Command + L and this will lock the current colour value and allow you to read and store it more easily. You can also copy the colour value as a text and image under the colour menu option.

That about sums up the three small apps I wanted to tell you about today, tomorrow I will focus on Activity Menu, the app to view your system resources.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Utilities Folder Apps – Noob2Pro #18,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Pro Tips For Safari – Noob2Pro #17

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:00:58 +0000

Hey

We are moving on with some Pro tips for applications on your Mac and to make you into a real pro. Today we are going to feature Safari. The popular web browsing application. Although I don’t use Safari that frequently (I prefer Firefox) it does have some good features. Today I am going to explain to you some features that can take your usage of Safari to the next level. I am going to discuss some Private Browsing feature and what it does, some ways to control Safari background files and doing some cool things that you may not have noticed.

Some of the pro tips for this post will be featured on the File menu in Safari. Its unusual to use a File menu in a web browser, you never really need to open a file and most of the time you never print anything from the web, its seems to be there for reasons unknown. However Safari has a could of menu items that are useful.

The first is the ability to Mail links and contents in emails. These are accessed using the “Mail Contents Of This Page” or “Mail Link To This Page”. The Mail contents option will basically generate a HTML email for you and insert the web page. This will mean who ever gets the email will see a semi live copy of the website. The second option, email link, will just email a link to the web page you are view. I find this option far more useful, as it doesn’t make a massive email and is a lot easier to handle. Its great if you find a website and want to show it to your friends.

The second option which I would like to point out is the ability to clip a webpage and open it in Dashboard. This process will take a small portion of a website and put it on your dashboard. It will then update every so often. When you clip a website drag the sliders to cover what you want, make the box slightly bigger than the size of your area. This could a chart from Google Finance, the latest news bar from your favourite sports site. Clipping a website is very useful way to get information on your Dashboard. Don’t however make the area to big, otherwise you won’t have room for other widgets.

The two options mentioned are very practical and fun. This last tip is going to make Safari a bit more secure. This is Private Browsing. Under the Safari menu option there is an entry called “Private Browsing”, this stops Safari adding items to the History, automatically removes downloads, information isn’t saved in auto fill. Although Private Mode isn’t that secure, it is useful for blocking people who might snoop on your Mac when you use a public computer.

To make Safari slightly more secure after using it you can also remove files related to web surfing. Under Safari > Reset Safari you can give a list of items which you can remove, this includes your history, cache, cookies and a couple of other things. This will help stop people snooping on which websites you have visited when on a public computer. You can also do this every so often to reduce the size of the history and cache and keep your Mac running smoothly. If you don’t want to remove all of your cookies, you could just empty your Cache. I recommend you do this every couple of weeks, simply because you Mac can get cluttered up. This will also fetch new data if a website has been updated.

There are not many pro tips for Safari, however with a couple of simple tips you can be more secure while surfing and make sure Safari runs quickly and doesn’t get bogged down.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Pro Tips For Safari – Noob2Pro #17,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Using iTunes – #16 Noob2Pro

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:00:20 +0000

Hey

Today we are moving onto iTunes. The music player for Mac and Windows. Similar to the Mail post yesterday I am not going to do a major overview of iTunes, I am going to point out a couple of major points to make your life a little easier. I will focus on storing and making sure your iTunes library is in the best possible shape and using Smart playlists so you can quickly and easily access your music.

Your iTunes library is normally stored under your home folder, however its usually best to move it to an external hard drive to save space. My music library is getting a little large and it works best on a second disk. Your iTunes library works off two parts. The music files and the “database” xml file. You need both parts to listen to music. To find the current location of your library go to the preferences in iTunes and select the advance tab. The first section will be your music folder location. This will contain a file called “iTunes Library” with a variety of extensions. They all work in harmony with each other. If you want to find a new location for your library (i.e you currently have no tunes), close down iTunes. Open it again but hold down option. There will be an option to select “Create New Library” select this option and then choose a location on your external hard drive. iTunes will automatically set up the rest.

Moving your library is just as simple. The first step is to close iTunes if you already haven’t, then move all of the files across to there new location. This includes the music files and the “iTunes Library.xxx” files. The best rule is to move them all, including your music. In previous version there was only one file you need to be concerned about, however it seems these later versions have spawned numerous files.There is a method which you can use to have your music in one place and your library files in another place, however its probably easier to keep you music files with your library files. Anyway, one you have moved them all open iTunes again by holding down option and select Choose Library, navigate to where your new library is located and select “iTunes Library.itl” select open. Depending on how big your library is it will take a while for it to update various different bits of information. When you are done the library has been moved. Selecting this second option is (I think, but I can’t test this method) selecting change from the Advance menu in preferences. If iTunes finds it has files missing it will ask you for them and make sure everything is in check.

Hopefully by now you have a library on an external disk, there are two check boxes that I recommend you select, these are located in Preferences > Advance and are called “Keep iTunes Music Folder Organised” and “Copy files to iTunes Music folder”. This will keep all of your files in one place, and stop them being spread everywhere. The final step on having a well set up library is to consolidate all your iTunes files. Since iTunes works in mysterious ways you could have files all over your disk. Go to File > Library > Consolidate Library. This will move everything to where you library is located.

Now you have a library that is in one location and is not all over the place. The next main point I would like to point out is Smart Playlists. This is one of best ways to get a new playlist with little effort. I also find it is a good way to access certain music files. To create a new Smart Playlist go to Filer > New Smart Playlist, or press option and click on the the plus in the bottom of the sidebar. As with Mail, discussed yesterday, you can add rules to show certain music files. I have one set up for specific genres and number of plays. I have one which has my highly rated tunes and most played, coincidently this ends up containing all of my favourite music files.

That about draws to a close what I want to say. I could spend ages going through all of the finer points on how to use iTunes, however I find most people pick that up pretty quickly. I wanted to mention about getting your library sorted. I have many friends who complain that they have lost music or can’t find music, and it end up there are music files every where.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Using iTunes – #16 Noob2Pro,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Noob2Pro Weekly Round Up 3

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:57:26 +0000

Hey

Would you believe it we are three weeks into the Noob2Pro series. Since I don’t have a post every day due to time constraints we still have two more weeks to do. Good for you. Similar to the previous post this post is going to discuss what has happened within the series, so you can catch up if you have missed any of the posts, plus a little teaser for what is going to happen in the next week. If you have any comments on the series please let me know.

So far we have featured:

Due to the way the list is configured we are only on number 15 or the series. We have 15 more posts to come. I have plenty of things to talk about and to keep you entertained. In the coming week we should feature more applications, we are going to go into iTunes, Safari as well as the specific parts of the Utilities menu.

If you have anything you want to see featured please leave a comment below.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Noob2Pro Weekly Round Up 3,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Mail App – #15 Noob2Pro

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:39:47 +0000

Hey

We are about half way through the Noob2Pro series. Today we are going to focus on Mail. One of the best email applications for the Mac. Using Mail is easy as other Mac programs, but you need to set it up correctly. I am not going to go through every little tip about Mail in this post, but I will show you the best tips needed to use Mail effectively. To get a grips on how to use the Mail client, simply play around with it.

To begin, I must state, I can’t fully remember the set up process for Mail. As a result I will mention the main features in the Preferences. The process can be extrapolated to when you set up your Mac. To start when you set up an account there are two main options, POP and IMAP. I can’t remember what the acronyms mean. However POP will download your email to your hard drive and store it on your Mac. This is useful if you want a backup, however any emails on your email server (take Gmail for an example), will remain in the inbox folder and will not be touched. IMAP is more useful, it will again download the emails to your hard drive, however any changes you make to emails to be replicated on the remote server. If you move an email to a folder in Mail, the same process will happen on the remote server. This also means any changes you make will be the same over any computer with the same account settings. I would recommend IMAP.

In Preferences in Mail, you are given a variety of options to set up how your emails are delivered, you need an incoming server and username and passwords. All of these details are given by your email provider. You also need an outgoing smtp server. This is used for sending email. Normally one is provided by your email provider (such as Gmail) and one can be provided by your ISP. If you have problems sending emails. The quickest way to solve the problem is to change the smtp server. I have this problem when I am in University accommodation, I have to use there smtp server.

Within the accounts section, there is a couple of minor settings which you can change. Have a browse through them at your leisure. In Advance, you can set an encryption method, which I recommend. You can add as many email accounts as you wish, however I don’t recommend having to many, since you have to download lots of emails. Mail is smart enough to realise which email account and email is received from, so when you reply it will send it from the right account. You don’t have to worry about this aspect when you have more than one account.

Within preferences, many of the options are for the layout and visibility of using Mail. Most allow minor changes so look through them by all means. There are two things I would like to point out. Signatures and Rules. Signatures, as you may expect, are the small pieces of text at the bottom of an email. Its a lazy way of saving time. I recommend you enter a simple signature such as you name, plus another bit of information as you see fit. For example I have my website under may name when I am in correspondence to other website owners. When I use my Uni email, I have my registration number and course. It is a useful way to save time and present people with information. You can have as many signatures as you want. You can also set them to random to mix it up a little.

The rules section is a powerful way to organise and set up methods for incoming email. For example you set some capture criteria for an incoming email. This can be anything from message, to subject, to if it has an attachment. You can then set a rule or rules to what happens to the email. You can colour the email for easy identification, move it to a folder or even delete it. I recommend you set up a couple of rules to make it easy for yourself (colouring emails from families is a good method), but not to many as you could miss important emails.

The final two things I would like to point out to make Mail easier is Smart Mailboxes and RSS. Smart Mailboxes are a way of viewing only certain emails. They are like Rules, expect it is designed only to view email and not move them around. To add a Smart Mailbox, press the plus icon in the side bar and select “Smart Mailbox”, enter in a couple of rules, I recommend you set up a Mailbox of un-read emails, this way you can see what emails you haven’t read. Any Mailbox can be changed at a later date by double clicking on it. Set up a Smart Mailbox to suit your needs. You will more than likely set them up later when you have some emails coming in.

The final section is RSS. This is a method used by websites (such as my own, you can find my feed here) to give you the latest contents. There are many RSS readers out there, however I think Mail’s is one of the best (although many people do use Safari). In the Preferences under RSS set the reader to Mail. This way you can view any RSS feeds that you enter. RSS feeds are then treated in a way similar to emails. RSS feeds, and the contents of websites updates and posts, are stored in the sidebar under each heading so you can easily see which one you haven’t read. Use RSS feeds to keep up to date on the latest news, just look out for this symbol.

To conclude, I hope you have understood this post. Mail is a great email reader. It takes a well to set up and use, however I have pointed out four of the best ways to use this app. Personally the best way of learning this app is to use it.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Mail App – #15 Noob2Pro,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Using Front Row – #14 Noob2Pro

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:19:02 +0000

Hey

Today’s is going to be a simple post. For some reason I don’t seem to have much time at the moment. Anyway today we are going to move on to Front Row the multimedia type interface that you can use to work as a home media centre. It is very useful to have set up in a living room or when you are in bed and want to watch an installed movie.

I’m not 100% of the up take of Front Row on Macs, but any Mac that has come with a remote or has the ability to host a remote will probably have it installed. Front Row is located under Applications. When you double click on it, or use your Remote you will see an interface similar to the one below.

You can then navigate through the files and folders with either the arrow keys or the up and down on your remote. Each of the menu options can be accesses by pressing the enter key or the middle button on your remote.

If you want to access your music, makes sure iTunes is set up. This means that you need have the library set up and running. Front Row works on the fact that it accesses the individual apps and brings them together. As a result if you want to use iTunes, make sure you have the disk running so the library can be accessed. This is only the case if you store your music on an external hard drive. If it is internally it does matter.

Movies is a little more complicated, files which can be accessed by Front Row are stored in your movies folder in your home directory. Put any files you want to use here. If you have them on an external disk, simply make an alias to that folder and Front Row should pick it up. Front Row can play any file that quick time can play.

Photos, the final main section, works similarly to iTunes it will find files from your iPhoto library. As a result it means you need to have the library up and running if you want to access your images. If you use Aperture you can set this as your photo library under the settings area.

Front Row is fun to use. I have the remote by my bed so I can quickly access my tunes when I am in my room. I’m sorry this is only a short post today and I haven’t been up to date with posts every day, but the days just disappear. I should have a more regular schedule tomorrow.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Using Front Row – #14 Noob2Pro,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Using Time Machine – #13 Noob2Pro

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:13:08 +0000

Hey

Sorry for the lack of a Noob2Pro series yesterday, I had some server troubles and I wasn’t feeling brilliant (I slept on my arm last night, and now I can’t feel my left arm). Anyway life must go on and today I am going to discuss Time Machine, the fantastic back up app designed to work with your Mac. I think this application should be compulsory use for anyone who doesn’t have a major back up program.

There is a lot of different opinions about Time Machine. Some people love it because it is simple to use, does it job and works. Some people hate it because its not a proper back up app. I personally think it is great. Time Machine is designed to backup the important stuff personal to you. For example your applications, documents, pictures and music to say the least. I don’t think it backs up your system files, such as logs and caches (hence the disapproval among some people), when restoring your Mac, your install disk is combined with a Time Machine backup. I’m not 100% sure since I have never tried it out. However Time Machine is good for looking after your personal documents and for most people it does that job well.

Time Machine, when set up, will save everything to an external disk, when you make a change to a file or folder it records this change. At a given time in the day, usually every hour, it will write these files to disk. Then when needs be, you can fly back in time and look for either the latest file or a previous iteration. Meaning you can either pick up the latest backup of a file, or one a month ago when you have just realised you have deleted something important.

Setting up Time Machine is dead simple. First you need an External Hard Drive. You can pick pretty much any one up. The bigger the better. It doesn’t need to have any fancy features just a USB cable. When you have bought it and plugged it in you are ready to roll. I can’t fully remember how the process goes (there may be an automatic option when you first plugin your drive), however if you go to System Preferences > Time Machine, you can set it up from there.

The first step is to select “Change Disk”, here you can select the disk you want to backup. Select the one you have just added. When you click OK, the back up can begin. If it is a new disk it will take a long while as it has to create a lot of files and copy them across.

As a pro tip I recommend looking through the options. Here you can add folders and files to exclude. If you have large folders of files you know you wont use its a good idea to add them to the list. For example I would add your main temporary folder, or anything you use for development where the final copy gets saved somewhere else. This is done to save space and allow you to add more files that are important.

Using Time Machine is simple as well. Simply access Time Machine from the Applications folder. Here you can navigate the Finder window as normal. When you have gone back in time and found the file you want, press restore and it will restore it in the current Finder folder. Easy.

Time Machine is useful, set it up. However if you want a more “Professional” backup system, try SuperDuper, as this can create a fully bootable backup system. Its a great fail safe system, however it does cost and not as flexible as Time Machine.

There isn’t many Pro tips for using Time Machine. The best one I can offer is to actually set it up. You only ever need a backup when you don’t have one. So make sure you have Time Machine in place.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Using Time Machine – #13 Noob2Pro,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Dashboard – #12 Noob2Pro

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:49:08 +0000

Hey

Today’s post is going to feature Dashboard, the useful place to store widgets. Widgets are small applications designed to run in the background of your computer. It allows you to access a variety of different tools. You can have widgets which include currency converts, package delivery, and simple games. You don’t have any high end programs on you Dashboard, its designed to be a simple to use area for quick and easy access.

Using Dashboard is very simple (everything on the Mac is simple). Simply press F12 (or your set button) and the Dashboard will appear. This is a full screen overlay. Each little widget runs on its own and provides a different function for myself. You can customise the Dashboard to your liking, as you use your Mac you will use it for a variety of different purposes and get it just how you want.

To add a widget (for the default set). Click the plus button in the bottom left hand corner and drag it onto your screen. A cool water effect will lay the widget on your screen and allow you to access and run its features. You can move widgets around by clicking and dragging them. If you want to close a widget simply hold control and click the “x” button in the top left hand corner of each widget.

Adding widgets is easy as well. First find the widget you want, for example this tic-tac-toe one, if you are using Safari, when you download it the wdiget will automatically open and run on the dashboard for you. If you are using Firefox or another browser simply double click the .wdgt file. This will load the file onto you Dashboard.

When you are on the dashboard you will have the option to try out the widget before you “install” it. This simply allows you to make sure it works and you like it. When you hit keep it will load the file into your Dashboard widget repository. Your repository as mentioned is accessed by the button in the bottom left hand corner.

Widgets are stored in /Users/[Name]/Library/Widgets. These are the files that a run. If you want to prune your library because it is getting large, simply close the widget down and delete its file from this folder. There is an option in Dashboard to do this, but this method is actually a lot easier.

If you want to close Dashboard simply press F12 and it will return to your desktop. Dashboard will still keep running which allows quick access. If you want to stop it running, thats quite difficult. Open Activity Monitor, in Applications > Utilities. You will then have to quit each instance of DashboardClient. If you don’t want Dashboard to start in the first place, don’t open it. Dashboard only runs when it is first accessed.

Using Dashboard is as easy as pie, I really like it, since I can store a lot of useful bits an bobs. I like to use Stickies, since it allows me to store bits of information I will forget. I recommend you use it.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Dashboard – #12 Noob2Pro,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.

Noob2Pro Weekly Round Up 2

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:57:50 +0000

Hey

We have been going on the Noob2Pro series for the last couple of weeks. This post is going to summarise the last week and tell you what is going to be appearing in the next couple of days. Last week, we discussed a variety of different basics system topics, we then moved on to discuss the finer points of the systems features, such as Spotlight and Expose.

So far we have featured:

If you are wondering why the numbers don’t match, in the list above I have added number 4 and 1 into there list, where they are not present in the actual series. We have just finished number 11. Number 12 in the series and beyond are going to cover the basis system applications, this includes Dashboard, Time Machine, iTunes etc. It is going to, hopefully, tell you how to use these applications more effectively. At some point we are going to cover a must have list post, I don’t what this will feature but it will be at the end of this weeks series of posts. After that there isn’t much left to cover, just basic simple stuff such as printing and installing windows.

Stay tuned, the next post will be in a couple of hours. To keep you more advance uses entertain I will also have a none Noob2Pro related post.

Want to catch up on the latest Tweets about this site, follow me on Twitter.

You have just read Noob2Pro Weekly Round Up 2,

On Mac Tricks And Tips - The site all about Mac Tips, Tricks, Tools, Guides and so much more.