Function Flip is a Preference Pane (i.e. it appears in System Preferences) which can turn those special function keys back into normal F keys one by one.

Long version:

When I first got my new MacBook, there were certain F keys I had been using for other things; F8 for Spaces, F5 for CoverSutra etc., which on the MacBook keyboard now have special functions.

F1 = Lower Brightness
F2 = Increase Brightness
F3 = Exposé
...
F5 = Lower Keyboard backlight
F8 = Play/Pause

and so on...

These are their default functions. You can however flip their functions the other way around by going to:

System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse and ticking the box “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”.

You then use the Special Function by holding down the fn key.

So, for example, to turn the volume up you would hold down fn then F12. Slightly inconvenient, but it still allowed me to use my own F keys. I was used to Exposé using F9, 10 and 11.

Function Flip solves this problem of having to decide between one or the other, allowing you to flip individual F keys.

So now I can use the brightness keys etc., as well as assigning some of the Special F keys I don’t really use to other functions. I rarely use the Backlight keyboard Special function keys, so now use F5 for Spaces, and F6 for CoverSutra.

Also, although I had been using F9 & F11 for Exposé, those functions can be done using the Multitouch trackpad, allowing me to use the volume up & down keys as intended. I did change the standard Exposé key F3 to show Application Windows, instead of all windows. Perfect.


Hopefully all that won’t have been too confusing, it’s definitely worth installing and is probably explained a lot better on the developers site.

Ah, there is one other thing: To make it work, you must go to System Preferences>Universal access and tick, “Enable access for assistive devices”.

Tags: function flip, Apple keyboard, macbook keyboard, f keys

It finally got to me, having ignored it for a long time, red underlines under my words no more! I’m talking about how Mac OS X decided that despite living in the UK, I really should spell colour without the u and stick a z in everything else. I over exaggerate of course and maybe it’s my fault.

I finally looked up how to stop it (without right-clicking on each word and having the Mac learn it).

If you’re British too and want to banish those red underlines. Here’s what to do:


Open System Preferences and select International.

Click on Edit List...

From the drop down window tick British English and press OK. Make sure: Order for Sorted Lists, is set to English.

Log out or restart and you’re done.


Update: A much quicker way comes from Christopher Phin of MacFormat:

“...an easier way to switch to British English is
to right-click on any word, choose Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar and then switch from 'English' to 'British English'. Hardly obvious, but an essential tweak for a new Mac!”

I don’t think I’d’ve ever found that one. Thanks to him.

Tags: british dictionary, mac os 10.5, red underlines, british english

Maybe you prefer the old icon?

You many want to change your icons, especially ones in your dock, but one is rather stubborn; the System Preferences icon. Even though it’s a standard application, you can’t just change the icon as you would any other. I’d normally just use the great free app. LiteIcon to change icons likes these, but for some reason it doesn’t appear as one of the choices. It does appear in Candybar, but Candybar costs.

Thankfully, I’ve worked out how you can do it quite easily, without messing about in Terminal (there may be some simpler way I’ve missed of course):

In the Applications Folder, select System Preferences
From the File menu, select Get info, or the keyboard shortcut, Command+i
You may need to click the Padlock icon at the bottom right to unlock it by entering your admin. password.

At the bottom of the window you will see Sharing & Permissions
Click the + (plus button)
Pick your user name in the list that appears and click Select.
Your name will then appear along with the others in the list
Next to your name, on the right under Privilege, change Read Only to Read & Write
Highlight your name again and select the Cog button at the bottom (to the right of + & -)
From the pop up menu, choose: Make "Your name (Me)" the owner.
Where “Your name” is your user name.

You will then be able to change the System Preference Icon in the normal way.

If you don’t know how to do that, see this link.

After you’ve changed it, you can highlight the system name in the list, select the Cog button once again, and set it as the owner. You can then highlight your own name in the list and press the - (minus) button to remove yourself.

There, your icon has changed - if not, just drag it out of the dock, and drag it back in again.

Tags: system preferences icon, icons

If you're looking for some new desktop pictures/wallpaper, take a look at vladstudio.com. They also have some pictures which also act as a desktop clock. Plus eCards etc.

You will have to pay a registration fee for the high quality pictures to support the artist and have no signature in the corner, but the free low quality versions seem perfectly fine to me for a desktop.

Tags: desktops, wallpaper

If you're stupid enough to still have a Facebook account, you may at least want to follow some of these security tips from the BBC's Click show.

In other social networking news, it looks like they've had to downgrade their ad revenue forecasts, boohoo. You know you're there to be monetarised right?

Tags: facebook, security

I recently inherited an old iMac G3 from my brother (thank you).

I love it, I never had one of the original coloured iMacs, however; it refused to start, instead flashing the folder question mark at me.

Simple fix you'd think? Just stick in a Mac OS CD, and off you go! Not quite. Every version of the OS I stuck in the CD slot, it spat back out. It also ignored an external USB drive with an OS on.

Puzzled, I thought I'd best try and remember some of those start-up keys, problem is there are so many and some are from my Mac OS 9 days, I wonder if any normal Mac user would remember any?

I tried resetting the PRAM (Preference Ram) etc. which involved holding down various keys, until I remembered to just hold down the Option key!

Holding down the Option key at start-up allows you to decide on which drive to boot your Mac from, in this case it allowed me to select a Mac OS 9 CD, and finally started.

Strange, I thought it would've just selected it itself when putting the CD in, but there you go. It's now up and running Mac OS 10.3 Panther very happily.

Not everyone will know these various start-up keystrokes, so I thought I'd provide links (rather than retyping them all).

Apple's list

and a more in-depth explanation of the keys from Peachpit.com.

Tags: keyboard shortcuts, imac

The Cult of Mac have posted a quick step-by-step guide on how easy it is to replace your iPods battery. It looks to be quite a simple process really (maybe not as easy as sticking in a few triple-As). Well worth trying than coughing up for a brand new iPod, unless that's just the excuse you wanted?

Maplin have a good selection of replacement batteries for most iPods, for around £18 which come with the tools you need.

I don't use the web browser Opera much, but I have noticed it does seem to eat less processor (meaning my fan comes on less) than say Camino. The problem is unlike Camino, Opera looks like some alien application, and what's with the tabs being at the top?

There is an easy way to fix all this, just read David Storey's tips on how to make it more Mac like.

I agree with most of his recommendations, apart from I'd chose Samui 2 as a more Mac like skin; so it ends up looking more like this (oh blessed be, the tabs are below):





There are many others. To change skins, in Opera, select: Tools>Appearance.

Some people aren't really fans of the new Leopard dock with its 3D look, but there are ways to change it if you wish. I'm not a Leopard user as of yet, but here are some tips I've gleamed:

If you like the way the Leopard dock looks when on the side, then you can have that look at the bottom, just follow the instructions here. There are many other tweaks you can make to the 3D dock. Play around to see what you like.





Whilst we're talking about the Dock, with it came Stacks, which look to be useful, but some would still like Tigers old hierarchal view. Quay is a utility that can bring this functionality back. I can't say I'd miss it, whenever I was feeling industrious I'd put folders in the dock, then just forget to use them, so it's likely I'd prefer Stacks.

There is also another problem with stacks that the top icon is the icon it uses which can become confusing. There is a solution you can try from Japan which solves the problem with overlay icons.


Also the new translucent menubar can be changed to something more like tiger, or just more opaque.

The other complaint are that the folders aren't as easily recognisable as their Tiger counterparts. At a glance it's not quite so obvious what's what; you can of course change your folders, one you might want to try are these.

You can easily change most icons on the Mac, from folders, documents, applications you name it. There's a simple guide from Apple here.

However; there are some system icons like the trash, finder icon and other standard icons that can't be so easily changed. There are ways to do it manually, but the whole process is made far more easy using Candybar, from Panic, you can try the demo, it costs $12.95. I came across a free alternative today called LiteIcon which works pretty much the same way.

There are many places to get replacement icons, from individual icons to complete system sets.

Iconfactory
InterfaceLift which also has a wide selection of desktop pictures (for details of how to change that, look here).
Apple's download page.
Veer (free registration)

No doubt there are many more, just search for Mac OS X icons.

Why anyone is using MS Publisher is strange enough, but when you get sent a .pub file it's even more annoying, you just can't open it on a Mac! There is an answer (if you don't happen to have Virtual PC or an intel Mac).

You should be able to convert a .pub into a PDF file online (for free) at pdfonline.com

I've never tried it myself of course, so let me know if anyone has any success. Of course, you could always ask whoever sent it to you to use an open standard (it's worse if the sender is a public organisation who ought to know better).

Do you have a cluttered desktop? Dump everything there and never know where anything is? kinkless.com has the answer to a tidy desktop in five steps, including short videos explaining the process step by step.

It's well worth taking a look.

Link

If you ever come to selling your old Mac and really don't want people recovering all your sensitive information, it's well worth erasing it correctly; that's more than just reinstalling the OS.

There's a nice guide at The Small Dog Apple Blog.

MacWorld (US) have made an easy to follow video on ways to reduce your spam in Mail. It's well worth watching.

Link (via iTunes)

If you're ever looking for little tips on the Mac, Apple have their own page called Mac 101. It covers most of the basics, but who knows, you might find something you've missed.

It’s been updaed for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Also, if you’re new to 10.5, there’s a video guide available that covers some of the new features.

Link

More for the switchers, an interesting list of Windows Apps and their alternative on the Mac over at Blalther.org.

The only odd one is IE to Parallels on the Mac, obviously you can use Safari, FireFox, Camino etc. He explains why he's done that at the bottom of the article, but I'd have still pointed out the choice of browsers.

Here’s a little tip, that not a lot of people know:

When Apple updated Mac OS X to 10.4.9 they changed the delay time for the eject key. This was to help out PowerBook/Macbook users who may accidentally hit the key and eject a disc.

Of course, this could cause much confusion, as it did my brother who was hitting his key on his PowerMac at work and wondering why his CD wasn't ejecting.

Just hold down the eject key longer.

So, you now know how to hide away those documents you want to keep extra secure, but you're thinking really you just want to keep some text more secure, notes, or passwords.

You can use Keychain Access for this.

Open Keychain Access: Applications>Utilities>Keychain Access

This is where your stored passwords for e.g. mail accounts, websites etc, but you can also create Secure Notes.

From the File menu, select New Secure Note Item, a drop down window will appear. You can then give your note a Name, and then enter whatever text you wish to keep secure. Click Add.

Your note will then be created, you can see it by selecting Secure Notes from the left hand sidebar. Double clicking on your note, then click the Show note tick box. You will be requested to give your password; you can also choose to Allow Once or Always Allow. Select one and your note will be shown.

This tip I found whilst listening to the MacObserver's Mac Geek Gab

Talking of security, have you documents that you need to keep secure? Perhaps a text document with all your passwords, or sensitive documents/data.

There are a number of ways to keep things like this secure.

If you have such data on your Mac, especially on a portable Mac you often take out of the house, the first thing you may want to turn on is FileVault. FileVault will automatically encrypt & decrypt your Home directory/folder on the fly without you needing to do anything.

System Preferences>Security>Turn On FileVault

You can also set your Mac to require a password when waking from sleep. FileVault may slow your Mac a little, so you could consider only using it when taking your Mac out.

This might be over-kill or even not enough security for some, and you want to hide away some files.

One option is to create a password protected Disk Image with AES encryption, it's simple to create one:

Open Disk Tools: Applications>Utilities> Disk Tools

From the File menu, select New>Blank Disk Image

A window will appear:

Give the new image a name, perhaps something that won't draw attention to it, so calling it Top Secret may not be the best idea.

Select Where you wish to save it.

When choosing the Size of the file, keep in mind what you are going to put on it, if it's just a few text files then something like 2.5mb may be fine, but if it's audio/video you may want to choose something larger.

Select AES-128 under Encryption and Format should be a sparse disk image. Sparse Disk Images are meant to grow as you add files.

Click Create and you will be asked to provide a password:

Choose a strong password, 8 characters or more numbers and letters. Remember to uncheck the Remember password (add to Keychain) box. If you leave it checked you will be circumventing part of the security of the Disk Image.

Press OK

Your Disk Image will be created and appear in your Finder windows sidebar.



You can then copy those documents you wish to keep safe to it, once you're done press the eject button to it's right.

To open your Disk Image again, locate where you've saved it, and double-click. It will then appear back in your sidebar.

If you're a FireFox 2 user, you may be interested in its built in ability to save your sessions. This means, when you quit and open FireFox back up, it'll reopen the pages you were working on in Tabs. This can be very helpful if say you always open the same set of web pages, or if FireFox has quit on you right in the middle of things. It may be turned on automatically, but I found mine wasn't.

To switch it on, select Preferences from the Firefox menu, command+,

Beneath the main Tab>Startup you can select Show my windows and tabs from last time.

Close the Preferences and you're done.


I'm hoping this will find its way into Safari.

I was thinking, Smart Playlists in iTunes, had it been created by someone in the UK, would've been called Clever Playlists, don't you think? Well, there's a nice post over at kottke.org, with a really nice tip on creating a handy Smart Playlist in iTunes, go take a look!

If you're asking, what is a Smart Playlist? You can read about them on Apple's website, needless to say, they're like standard iTunes playlists, but instead of just being tracks you've dragged and dropped, they're dynamic, and are able to say list all your iTunes from a certain year, type etc, but you can combine them.

To quickly create one, in iTunes select New Smart Playlist from the File menu (option+command+n) or hold down the option key, the standard + button in the bottom left of iTunes will change to a Cog wheel, click on it and up will appear a Smart Playlist window. Set whichever settings you like (like the one above). Click OK and it will appear on the left, then all you have to do is give it a snappy title.

I've some simple ones, like a Smart Playlist that lists songs by date added. They can change the way you listen to your music.

There's also a website dedicated to them, so if you can't think of any yourself, there's some ideas for you over at smartplaylists.com

Here's a handy tip. If you happen to use a standard scroll wheel mouse (none of your fancy Mighty Mice), you can do sideways/horizontal scrolling.

It's very simple, when you want to scroll to the side instead of up and down, just hold down the shift key. Nothing to it!

As promised, we're back to how you can share/sync your bookmarks for free:


There's actually a handy online bookmark sharing site called del.icio.us.

It's what they call a social bookmarking site, as you can see what other people have bookmarked etc.

The first thing you need to do is create a del.icio.us account. So go to del.icio.us and set one up, then come back here.

Done?

Right, now you want to know how to get all those bookmarks you have already into it?

Pop along and download Safarilicious


Once installed, open it and type in your new del.icio.us user name and password under the options tab. You can click the check box which only updates Bookmarks which aren't in your del.icio.us account yet; but as this is probably your first time it'll upload them all.

Click to the Preview tab and hit Export! Safarilicious will then upload your bookmarks to your account.

Once complete go back to your del.icio.us account, click on Your Bookmarks and take a look; you should see a whole load of Bookmarks and their various tags down the right hand side.

Tagging helps you find Bookmarks, they're not like folders as say a bookmark on TV could appear under Entertainment, TV, telly, etc. they can have as many tags as you like.

If you would like some Bookmarks to be private, just click Edit next to the Bookmark in question, then click the tick box: Do Not Share, here you can also add any other tags and rename the bookmark etc.


Now, you'll want to know how to download all those bookmarks from del.icio.us to another Mac.

You'll need another handy utility, the aptly named delicious2safari. Go download and install that now (on the machine you wish to download them to, this could be the same machine you're on, or another)

Open delicious2safari and put in your del.icio.us name and password, decide where you want the Bookmarks to be downloaded to, I'd suggest the Bookmarks Menu for easy access and click Get my bookmarks!

They should then download and you will find them in a folder in your Bookmarks menu.


So you could use this method for syncing bookmarks between Macs or keeping a handy backup of your bookmarks which can be accessed from a Mac/PC on the net. Just log into your del.icio.us account like you would an online mail account.


You can post bookmarks from Safari to del.icio.us at http://del.icio.us/post/

Say you were using a computer elsewhere and wanted to access that Bookmark once you're home, you can add it to del.icio.us and it'll be available wherever you are, you could also then re-sync your del.icio.us bookmarks with Safari.

There is also a quicker way adding Bookmarks to del.icio.us using toolbar buttons. Just go to http://del.icio.us/help/buttons and follow the instructions on how to add them to your menu.

So you could easily bookmark a web-site in del.icio.us with one click.


Of course, once you have your Bookmarks in deli.icio.us you could just stop using your normal bookmarks menu and just use del.icio.us. You won't have to keep going back to the del.icio.us web-site to do this. Just go and download Menulicious or delibar, both will put a menu in your menubar where you can quickly access your bookmarks from.

That's not all, there's a very good del.icio.us Bookmarks application: Cocoalicious. Go download and install that as well.

When you open it the first time it should ask you for your del.icio.us user name and password, you can click a check-box so it remembers this information in future.

You will then be able to browse your Bookmarks by clicking on the tags on the left and then the Bookmarks on the right. It will even show you the website, so you'll not be wondering what site it is.

If you want to open the selected bookmark in Safari (or your default browser), just double click!

Pressing the i (info) button on the top left will show you the information on the selected bookmark, here you can change the name, add tags or make the bookmark private. This really is a lot more simple that using the del.icio.us web-site. Any changes you make here will be reflected on your del.icio.us account without you having to do anything else.

You can also post directly to your del.icio.us from Cocoalicious. Under the File Menu you can select New Post or press the + button, you can type in a web-site's URL etc.

Or, from the File Menu you can select New Post from Safari, which will select the web-site you currently have open in Safari, making bookmarking to del.icio.us even quicker.

There may be some other applications I've missed, or better ways of doing it.

I think that covers it, if you're a bit confused I can go into more detail. Hope it works!

Oddly; as we're on the subject of backups so was the MacObserver. In collaboration with Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus they have written a whole guide to backing up here.

Right at the start of writing this little blog, said I was going to write about how to backup your Mac; it's very important you do.

If you don't; then one day, you'll be crying over a whole lot of lost data when your hard disc drive dies. I've been there and it's not a pretty site. You don't want to hear a tech person ask "have you got a backup?"

Tyler Hall had recently covered backing up on a Mac, so instead of rehashing, take some time and read his: how-to-backup-your-mac-intelligently.

You might also want to read this review of SuperDuper, the backup software. You can download it here.

If you really want more information on other backup software, you can find it at Plasticsfuture.

I think I will take time to write a more friendly guide to backing up. I realise it can seem mumbo-jumbo.

I promised in my Sharing post some information on syncing bookmarks between multiple Macs. Well, I've had a think, and here's part 1.

The most obvious way is to use .mac from Apple.

"Keep multiple Macs in sync and access your information from anywhere. Update Address Book contacts, view iCal calendars, and access Safari bookmarks on multiple Macs. With .Mac syncing, all your information stays current on every Mac you use. And, because .Mac is web-based, you can get to your stored information from any Mac or PC with an Internet connection. See how it works..."

What's the hitch? Well, .mac isn't free. It' costs £69 (€99 Ireland) per year, there is a 60 day free trial available.

Obviously that pays for more than just the syncing. With .mac you get a lot of features (mail, web hosting, iDisk etc) , it's up-to-you if you think they are worth the cost, some argue that a lot of them are available elsewhere for free, though will lack the full integration of .mac.

If you're a FireFox user, then there's a free solution available from Google. Google Browser Sync.

"Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers."

I like some features in FireFox; search, moveable tabs etc. There are also a lot of extras out for it, but I find it uses up too much CPU compared to Safari and isn't as quick.

Bookit from Everyday Software is another sort of syncing. It allows you to sync your bookmarks between multiple browsers as well as using .Mac to sync with other machines on the internet.

"With all the browsers available for the Mac OS keeping your bookmarks organized can become a real problem. But with Bookit keeping your browsers' bookmarks synchronized is quick and easy. Bookit compares the bookmarks you have and then lets you synchronize the bookmarks that are not in all of your browsers. Finally, Bookit creates identical bookmark files for each browser. If you use more than one browser regularly, give Bookit a try, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
With Bookit you can combine bookmarks from multiple computers using built-in .Mac support"

That's it for now, in part 2 I'll explain another way to keep your bookmarks in sync, for free.

I was talking to my Mum earlier today. She has an iBook, an iMac and stores information on both machines, sometimes forgetting which one she saved a file on etc. (I'm just as bad). To save her having to go from one to the other, I told her I'd explain how to access either machine using the network with sharing.

There are a few ways to do this, but this is the most simple:

Open System Preferences (from the Dock or Apple menu) and select Sharing

At the top you will see your computer's name, rename it if you wish with a unique name.

You'll also be presented with a list of Services.

Just click the check box for Personal File Sharing

Then close System Preferences. Do this on each Mac you want to access.

To access one Mac from the other:

From the Finder (desktop):

Select the Network icon from a Finder window sidebar.

Note: If you don't have a Finder window with a sidebar either click the 'lozenge' shaped icon on the right hand corner of the window.

Or in the Finder, select the File menu & New Finder Window

In the window pane to the right, you should see the names: Library, Servers and the other Macs/servers/computers (with the names you assigned) shared on your network. In my case Paul's Computer.

Double click on the Mac you wish to access, and up will pop a log in window.

Select the Registered User radio button. Then type in the user name and password of the Mac you are accessing (not the user name of the Mac you are using to access the other Mac, of course you can set them to be the same)

You could also select Remember my password in keychain, this should make things quicker on repeat log ins

Note: The user name and password information is set using Accounts in System preferences. It's the same name & password you log in with and use to authorise installations etc

Press Connect; another window will appear showing you the volumes/folders you can access on that particular machine.

In this case when connecting to Paul's Mac, it is showing me his main hard disc, Macintosh HD.

Note: Macintosh HD is the default name of the internal hard disc drive on a Mac, you may have renamed yours. If you've not, I recommend you do, it makes things less confusing when connecting to other Macs.

His home directory folder paul and Cod Deluxe, which is a DVD game Paul had inserted at the time.

Your list will differ.

Most of the time selecting the home directory (paul in this case) will give you access to the all information you may want, including the desktop of the machine in question. Selecting the main hard disc drive Macintosh HD will give you access to everything.

Select the one you want and press OK.

The volume of the Mac you selected will appear in the Finder. You should see it in the sidebar on the left, just below any other volumes (Hard Discs, Disc Images, DVDs etc) you have installed.

You can then select it and treat it like any other folder/volume/hard disc etc. Copy files to and from, or open files directly.

Remember speed and copying of opening files will depend on your network speed.

Once you've finished just click the little eject button to the right, or drag it to the trash.

That's it!

She also wants to share browser bookmarks between each machine, I'm going to do a little research.

Some new users to the Mac may not be aware of some command keys.

Apple have a good list here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

Some I found useful when being asked to save a document:



Cancel = Command + .
Don't Save = Command + d
Save = Return key

It doesn't work in ALL applications, but I often find hitting command+d very useful.

Command is also known as the Apple key.

Some users moving from using a full size keyboard to an iBook, PowerBook or MacBook Pro, miss the Forward Delete key.

If you're one of those. Holding down Function (fn key) + Backspace is the same as forward delete.

Bored? Just fancy spying on your fellow countrymen? Then, google this

inurl:"axis-cgi/mjpg"

You'll get a list of webcams, that you can view. (I'm not talking dodgy stuff). It's mostly watching people sitting around their offices, unis or around town

How is this possible you're thinking? Well, they're either open on purpose, or someone has forgotten about security for our amusement.

enjoy!

Sorry about the lack of Stu's News. I was busy being a juror for the past two weeks. Justice was done (in part).

As I think I blew your minds last time I thought we'd just have a bit of fun.

One

Ever get that tired eyed feeling using your Mac? It's just too bright? Well, here's a fun little tip.

Hold down the following keys:

Cntrl+option+command+8

(Command=Apple)

ooooh, you're thinking. You're also thinking "How do I turn this off?"

Just repeat the key-sequence and it'll return to normal.

Two

So, you like how Mac OS X animates everything? You like it sooo much you wish it didn't do it quite so quickly!

Well. Next time, before you press the minimise - button in a window, or press F12 to bring up the dashboard. Hold down the Shift key. It'll all go in sloooow moootion.

Three

You've a bunch of photos you just want to do a quick slideshow with? You really don't want to open them in iPhoto?

In the Finder. Select all the photos you want to see.

Then, either cntrl+click on them, right click and select 'slideshow' or select slideshow from the cog menu (it appears on most Finder windows)



The screen will go dark and present the photos you've selected. There are options at the bottom to skip through them, show all selected. fit to screen and an X to return to the finder.

Four

Last one for now, and one I'm sure you're well aware of.

Fast application switching. Got a lot of applications open? Why use the mouse to flick between them when you can just

Command+Tab

Keep pressing Tab to choose the Icon of the application you want to switch to. You can also use this in combination with the mouse.

Press Command+Tab but keep your finger on the Command key. You can then run the mouse pointer along the icons shown. Release the Command key with the pointer on the Application of your choice and you'll be switched to it (no clicking needed)

One More Thing!

A game for those wee nippers, Ladybugs!


That's it! Next time I think I should cover everyones favourite. Backups! You do do them, right?

Junk mail, it's a pain. Unless you really do need "R a I U x e" at a great price? "Are you currently wasting over 3% for your dwelling?" No? Perhaps you do want to help some Zimbabwe businessman with a great investment? I'll leave out those things that really should only be delivered in brown packaging. If you know what that is, then you don't need to ask me. If you need to ask, you're too young and you don't want me to blush.

Here's some steps to get rid of a lot of it from your POP account. My example is based on using Apple's Mail.app. You could also apply it to other email applications which there are many. I'll add links to the more popular ones at the end.

This may all seem a little technical, but stick with it.

Part 1: Junk mail filtering.

Your mail application has a good junk mail box so you may as well use it. You probably already are, but just to make sure

Open 'Mail'

From the Mail menu, select Preferences. Then select the Junk Mail icon. You will be presented with a number of preference options. Check the following options are selected:

Enable junk mail filtering is ticked.
Move it to the junk mailbox (Automatic).
Sender of message is in my Address book.
Trust Junk mail headers set by my internet service provider.





Close the preference panel. That'll give you basic junk mail filtering.

Remember when junk comes in, don't delete it. You need to teach your Mail to recognise what you think is junk mail.

Select the junk mail in question, then click on the 'Junk' mail icon, or from the menu select : Message>Mark>As Junk Mail

The mail will then be moved to the Junk Mail folder. You'll also want to check the Junk mail folder from time to time to make sure no legitimate email has ended up in there. If it does, just select it and press the 'Not Junk' button, you can then drag and drop it into your inbox.

Another simple tip for getting rid of email is seeing if it's true junk mail. That email from some catalogue might be genuine email. Sometimes mail you receive are from places you have signed up to, or their associates. You will often know which these are, they also tend to have an 'unsubscribe' option at the bottom of the mail. If you no longer want that mail It's a quick and easy way to cut down unwanted mail. It also makes junk mail filtering simpler.

Okay, you've done all that and you're still getting junk mail?

Here's my tip: Get a GMail email account by Google!



It has a very good junk mail filter, and practically unlimited storage space it's also available wherever you are in the world. Online its interface is innovative, making managing your email a lot more easy. You can also access your GMail using Mail.app.

I know, you don't want to change email address yet again? Well, as long as you've a decent ISP (internet service provider) you won't have to. It's all about email forwarding.

Put simply. Set your standard POP email account to forward all it's mail to your GMail account, and then add that GMail account to 'Mail'. That way you're getting all the benefits of GMail's Junk Mail filter and Mail.app.

Simple right? Well, here's how:

Part 2: eMail forwarding

First you need to check that you can forward email.

Most ISPs email comes with a web based option. All of these are different so I'm unable to give you specific instructions. In general you go to your ISPs homepage and look for a 'webmail' or 'your account' link. Log into your account and look for an option that allows you to forward your email to another email account. Something like this:



Yours will look different and sadly some may not even give you the option (AOL users see note at bottom). If it doesn't you can skip the rest, or decide to switch to GMail completely. I'd recommend you do.

You can forward email? Great! You now need a GMail Account.

Part 3: Getting your GMail account

Now, Google doesn't just give out Gmail accounts to anyone, it's all a bit exclusive at the moment and you'll need to be referred by someone who has a GMail account. You're in luck, I have one and I'll send you an invite (if you need another, just ask). Once you receive the email invite, follow the instructions to setup your GMail account.

Once you have your GMail account setup and open in a browser window, click on Settings in the top right:



Then from the settings that appear select the Forwarding and POP Tab. Select enable POP for all mail and click Save Changes.




Now you have a GMail account you'll want to add it to your Mail.app. I find it a lot more simple to use than checking my mail using a browser unless I really need to.

Part 4: Using GMail in Mail

Go back to Mail, and again select Preferences from the Mail menu. Click the Accounts Icon.

You'll notice in the bottom left of the window + & - buttons. Click on the + button. You will be presented with a drop down window to create a new account.

Change the account type to 'POP' Fill in the three fields with the relevant information.



Description: Anything you like, though something like 'My Gmail' might be helpful.
Name: I think you know the answer to that one
Email Address: Your GMail address. It'll either be in a format of 'name'@gmail.com or 'name'@googlemail.com. (where 'name' is the one you chose in GMail)

Press Continue:

Fill in the Outgoing Mail Server settings:

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.gmail.com
Tick: Use Authentication
Username: The name you chose for your GMail without the '@googlemail.com' part.
Password: Your chosen password



Continue.

If asked:
Incoming Mail Security. Tick Use Secure Sockets Layer and from the menu select Password then press Continue, then 'Done'.




Your account should then be created.




Select server settings and change the Server Port to '587' and press okay.



Then, click on the Mailbox Behavior Tab. Choose how you want your account to handle email. I like mine to be set up like the image below, but you may prefer some other settings.



You will now need to disable the email account that is forwarding to your GMail account.

Select your CURRENT email account from the left hand part of the accounts settings window (not your new GMail account) Then select the Advanced Tab. Untick the enable this account option & include when checking email. This way you won't end up with duplicate emails in your Inbox.





Close Mail's preference window. You can now pick up your GMail in Mail! Click 'Get Mail' and you should get a welcome to GMail message in your Inbox.

Part 5: Forward your mail

Return to your web based email account from Part 2. Where you found the option to forward your email, set your new GMail account as the forwarding address.

Now when email is sent to your standard email account it will automatically be forwarded to your GMail account and checked for junk mail. You can then pick it up like normal in Mail where It's also checked for junk again

So you now have double junk mail filtering, and hopefully a lot less spam!


Mail Alternatives:

If you don't want to add your GMail account to Mail, you might want to use the GMail Notifier. It notifies you when you get an email.

There are many other mail applications, each claim improved junk mail handling and have pros and cons. I prefer sticking to Apple's Mail.app but you may find one of these more to your liking. You will still be able to use the GMail technique above.

Have Microsoft Office 2004? You could try using Entourage, some swear by it. If you do use Entourage, install Entourage 2004 Junk E-Mail Filter Update 1

Some other eMail applications:

GyazMail

Eudora (Eudora has changed since this post. It has moved to open source.)

MailSmith

Thunderbird

You could also try ridding yourself of Spam with SpamSieve

AOL:

You're using AOL and their mail? Why? Okay, I'm sure you have your reasons. It's doubtful AOL will allow you to forward your mail. They're a pain like that. There are some third party products that do allow you to but it may not be worth it. I'd recommend you make the switch from AOL mail to GMail. It's a much more flexible mail system and you won't feel 'locked' into it as with AOL. If you really don't want to you can still use AOL mail with Apple's Mail application getting the benefits of its mail filter.

Follow the instructions above for Part 4 making the following changes.

Account Type: IMAP
Email Address: name@aol.com
Incoming Server: imap.aol.com or imap.uk.aol.com
Outgoing Server: smtp.aol.com or smtp.uk.aol.com
Uncheck: Use Secure Sockets Layer

IMAP means the email you access using Mail is still available on the server, so you can access it from a browser at another location. More info on AOL IMAP here

You can also use Mail.app for your AIM mail account. See here for more details.

Seems spelling is important then? Well, as you liked that one, here's another little spelling tip. You know how to spell the word now, but you don't know what it means and you're in a hurry? Getting your there their they're muddled up? Is that accept or except? Ok, that's just me, I'm sure you want to know the meaning of more challenging words like tautology.

There's a quick way to find out (again, this is probably a Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger feature).

Hold your cursor (mouse) over the word in question and hold down:

Command-Control-D (Command is also know as the Apple key)

Up will pop a little explanation of the word in question like this:



Very handy (scribbles down meaning) ahem, yes.

Find that combination of keys a pain? It's simple to change them to something you prefer. I went for Command-Option-S at first, but then made it F1. Those F keys may as well serve some use. (Remember some, mainly high end applications use the F keys.)


Here's how:

Open System Preferences then select Keyboard & Mouse




Select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Scroll down and highlight

Dictionary>Look up in Dictionary



Then, 'click' on it's short cut. At the moment it should be Command-Control-D.

It should then be highlighted once you've clicked (if not, try double clicking).

You can then select the key combination you prefer from the keyboard, which will overwrite Command-Control-D. In my case I pressed on the F1 key. You can choose any combination of keys, whatever suits you best.

Examples: Command-option-'letter', cntrl-option-'letter', option-shift-'letter'. There are many to choose from. Or as I did, use a function key (don't use F9-F12)

Avoid using standard ones! Check down the list in keyboard shortcuts.

You don't want to use Command-'letter' like Command-S, or you may find you're trying to look up a word and it's saving, quiting, opening, doing a little jig. Stick with using a combination of keys, so it's less likely to clash with any standard ones. If you feel you've messed up, just click on Restore Defaults and start over.

Note: If you're going to use an F key on an iBook or PowerBook, you have to hold down the fn (Function) key then F1 etc or you'll just be adjusting your brightness or turning up the volume. You can reverse this if you prefer in the 'Keyboard and Mouse' preference panel by selecting the 'keyboard' tab and checking the box:



So you'd now hold down the F key to change brightness/volume.

You're done!

Quit System Preferences. You will now be able to use your new keyboard shortcut instead. Go give it a try. You should be able to use this function everywhere, not just on words you type. Try clicking on words in web pages for example.

Next time, I'm going to help you reduce your Spam.

btw, I've gone back to using command+option+s.