In Depth: 18 great forgotten features of OS X: "
OS X is a superb operating system.
But its simplicity belies its depth; there are plenty of excellent features under the surface.
We've covered everything from using voice control to using Terminal to fine-control the configuration of your system and automating your common tasks.
Check these - and other great features - out below.
1. Sort out your user accounts
A computer can be an expensive and potentially space-filling device. Most households are only likely to have one Mac, but if you don't want everyone knowing what you've been up to, or someone else would like their privacy, or just simply, you like your Mac to run in the way you like it (with the Desktop you want and the settings you like) then User Accounts is a great feature.
You can create ordinary accounts as well as administrator accounts that have the rights to make big changes to your Mac and install software for everyone. To create more than one account, go into System Preferences, pick Accounts and create a new account in the same way you did when you first set up your Mac. It's also a good idea to switch off automatic login at this point, to avoid anyone using the default account and so they don't have to keep logging out as soon as you start up your Mac.
2. Activate your Keychain
Keychain saves you having to remember passwords, while keeping all your data secure. Available through most programs that access the net, including Mail and Safari, whenever you type in a password, you can save it in your keychain. When you return to that site, want to use the email server again or need to decrypt something, the keychain provides the password – providing you've authorised it – meaning you won't have to type it in.
Keychain Access in Utilities allows you to edit your keychain, find out what a particular password is and specify your security settings as you wish. You can also set the keychain to lock after five minutes of inactivity by using Edit > Change settings for keychain login.
3. Invoke your Dashboard
A simple press of F12 or a click of Dashboard in the Dock or the Applications folder will reveal the exciting world of widgets. These are handy little applications that give you access to things like weather forecasts, your calendar, and your Address Book without the hassle of having to launch the bigger applications like iCal.
PRESS F12: Dashboard has thousands of useful applications available with just the touch of a button
But, on top of these, there are also thousands of widgets that you can download for free, which perform an incredible range of tasks including games, file converters, webcam viewers, flight updates and lots more. And Dashboard also comes with a built-in widget manager to make sure things don't get too cluttered.
4. Enter the Time Machine
Making sure you have a backup of all your important data is vital. And that's not just your emails – don't forget all those purchases from the iTunes Store, your iPhoto library and every document you've got in your Documents folder. But remembering to do it is another matter. Time Machine is designed to make backing up and recovering your files easy.
Just plug a hard drive into your Mac and it'll ask if you want to use the hard drive for backing up files. Leave it on overnight and your Mac will save virtually every file it has onto the hard drive. Then, every hour afterwards, it'll scan to see if you've changed any files and if you have, it'll save those as well, without deleting the other copies it's already made.
Then, if you need to recover any of the previous versions of the file, just click Time Machine in the Dock or the Applications folder and locate the file you need – Time Machine will do the rest.
5. Get smart with Parental Controls
Once you've set up a separate account for your kids, you can – if you want – decide what they can use on the computer and how they use it via the Parental Controls (available from System Preferences) settings for their account. This can make it easier for your child to use your Mac, by giving them a simpler Finder to use.
But if you're worried about what they're using it for, you can restrict access to particular applications as well as websites in Safari; hide the swear words in the OS X Dictionary; limit who they can chat with and who they can email; limit how much time they spend on the Mac and when they're allowed to go on it; and keep logs of what they've been browsing, what they've been using and who they've been chatting to.
6. Automate your tasks
Automator lurks in the Applications folder and, as its name suggests, is designed to automate regular tasks. It's a bit like sticking bits of Lego together: want to grab everything on your Desktop that isn't a folder, move it to another folder, hide the Dock, then start playing a track in iTunes?
Then you can stick together all the parts of the process from the library of Automator functions – many applications now come with their own Automator actions as well – save the completed action and then every time you double-click or run it from a contextual menu or menu, your Mac will repeat that Lego collection.
7. Sync between Macs
MobileMe is Apple's 'in the cloud' system for storing information and syncing it between computers. Available almost everywhere on your Mac but configured primarily in the MobileMe pane in System Preferences, MobileMe provides users with gigabytes of online storage for sharing files.
Other features include an email account, software for backing up files to the internet or another medium such as a DVD, as well as a way to keep your contacts, calendar, keychain items and other information in sync. Programs such as Transmit and Microsoft Entourage can use MobileMe to sync their own information, too.
8. Run OS X and Windows
If you have an Intel-based Mac, Boot Camp gives you the chance to experience both OS X and Windows on the same machine. When you run it (find it in the Utilities folder) it'll split your Mac's hard drive into two separate chunks: one for Mac OS X, the other for Windows (this can be either Vista or XP SP2).
Then, providing you have a full installer CD or DVD, you'll be able to boot off the installer, install Windows on the chunk of the hard drive you've set aside, and also be able to choose which one you want to use whenever you start up – just by holding down the Option key. If you ever decide you don't want to use Windows any more, you can use Boot Camp to delete it off your Mac and restore the hard drive so that OS X can occupy all of it again.
9. Encrypt your Home folder
Although you can password-protect your Mac to stop people gaining access to your documents, if it is ever stolen, they can still take your hard drive out and read the data.
FileVault, accessible through Security > FileVault in System Preferences, encrypts everything in your home folder so that if your Mac is ever stolen, the thief won't been able to read the data. It will be seamless, so you won't notice it working. If you're worried about passwords getting lost, set a password for FileVault that will unlock any FileVault account on your Mac.
10. Securing your Mac
Keeping your Mac secure against sneaky thieves can be very easy, thanks to OS X's built-in functions, such as FileVault and Keychain – although you're going to have to decide how much inconvenience you feel like putting yourself through.
There are some features of the Security pane in System Preferences that are no-brainers if you're worried about people playing with your Mac's settings while you're away, as long as you don't mind having to enter passwords now and again. Requiring a password to wake a computer from sleep or a screensaver should always be your first move.
Anyone can press Cmd + CTRL and the power key to restart your Mac instantly, so if you disable automatic login this will prevent them getting in that way. Another option you could consider is Use secure virtual memory. This is probably for the more paranoid but is worth considering if you are worried about security. There are many security settings on your Mac, although some will make you work harder than others.
11. Turn Sharing on
Your Mac is a pretty powerful machine, and there might be a whole range of things you want to share with others, such as your files, any printers you've connected to it or even its net connection. The System Preferences > Sharing pane lets you share many functions of your Mac – both with Macs and Windows PCs.
NETWORKING: You can turn your Mac into a wireless router so that you have a network wherever you go
The most popular option is File Sharing, which lets you share either your whole Mac or just folders on it. If you click on the Options button, you can choose whether to share files using AFP (other Macs), FTP (anyone with a special FTP program) or SMB (Windows and Linux). Your Mac will then appear in the Finder sidebar of any other Mac on the network.
But it also gives you some remote control functions, allowing you to connect to it over a network and take charge of it. If you know UNIX, you can use Terminal to access your Mac and issue it commands by activating the Remote Login function; you can also allow other Macs to take over and control your Mac (but only if they have an account) using the Screen Sharing function.
If you have a MacBook Air and didn't buy the optional plugin DVD player, you can still access DVDs over a network by sharing another Mac's DVD drive using DVD or CD Sharing. And if you feel like it, you can turn your Mac into a web server as well with Web Sharing.
12. Create an AirPort network
If you want to link two computers together but you don't have any cables to hand (or there's no available WiFi network nearby), you can make your own network instead. All you have to do is simply go to the AirPort menu bar item, click Create Network…, accept the default settings and click OK.
Once this has been done, any other WiFi-equipped computer will be able to see your Mac's network. They can then join it and you will be able to use it as you would on any other network for sharing files, printers and so on.
13. Use Back To My Mac
If you did buy a MobileMe subscription and the gods of computer are looking favourably upon you, Back To My Mac will allow you to connect from any other Leopard-equipped Mac back to your home Mac (providing you've left it switched on).
You'll need to start it in the Back to My Mac tab of the MobileMe pane in System Preferences first, and then configure the Mac you're on with your MobileMe account details. But once you do, and if everything's going according to plan, you should be able to see your Mac appear in the list of devices in Finder's sidebars. You will now be able to grab files from it or take it over making it do whatever you want.
14. See all the keyboard shortcuts
Locate the Keyboard & Mouse pane in System Preferences, select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab and you'll see a list of all the existing shortcuts. Double-click on a shortcut to change it or click on the checkbox next to it to deactivate it. You can add new shortcuts by clicking on + in the window, selecting an application and then choosing the menu command you want to add a shortcut to.
15. Use Universal Access
If you have a disability, Universal Access, which can be found in System Preferences, will make your Mac easier to use. As well as providing access to VoiceOver (also in the Utilities folder and reads out the Mac's screen contents for those who have trouble seeing the Mac's display), it also makes the Mac's screen easier to read by changing the contrast.
It can also make the keyboard and mouse easier to use, if you have trouble with them. If you're deaf or work in an environment where constant beeps would be irritating, then you can use the Hearing tab to make the screen flash whenever there's an alert.
16. Get smart with your regional options
Although you may not need to run any of your applications in a foreign language, the International pane in System Preferences still has some useful functions. Formats lets you tell your Mac what languages you'd prefer to use. If you want to add British English, note that it isn't on the list so you'll need to click on the Edit List button to add it. You can then drag it to the top of the list.
By default, OS X's built-in spelling and grammar checker uses these preferences so changing this will ensure your spelling remains on the right side of the Atlantic. The Input Menu tab also provides a way to help those who haven't yet mastered all the key presses on their keyboard.
As well as giving you a way to switch between the keyboards for different languages, the available layouts include a Character Palette for embedding rare characters in documents and a keyboard viewer for seeing what happens when you click a particular key.
17. Use Terminal
Housed underneath OS X is the power of Unix. If you know your 'awk' from your 'grep', you can use Terminal in the Utilities folder to take charge of what's under the Mac's bonnet.
18. Activate voice control
Amazing though it may seem, it is possible to control your Mac just using your voice alone. The Speech System Preferences pane will enable you to activate this feature. Then, depending on how you've set things up, you can give your Mac orders, just by pressing a key to let it know you're talking to it.
The orders you can issue out are called Speakable Items and you can see a list of them by clicking on the Commands tab, then clicking on the Open Speakable Items folder.
However, do bear in mind that your Mac can't work miracles, so you will need to train it to recognise your voice. It'll also help to use a microphone if you want the best results.
Once you've got Speech working the way you want it to, you will be able to expand it to include even more sophisticated controls to help you out. If you wish, you can enable the Front Window and Menu Bar command sets so you can trigger menu options using your voice.
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(Via Clippings.)
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