OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion
75
votes
52answers
12k views
What un(der)-documented features have you stumbled upon in Mountain Lion?
This question serves to share and collect the enhancements which are not documented by Apple, or documented poorly.
Please justify your answer; if it is something that is well documented by Apple and ...
40
votes
7answers
20k views
I am missing the option to see the remaining battery life as time in the menubar?
In previous versions of OS X the battery indicator in the menubar included options to show the remaining battery life as percentage or time (or nothing).
In Mountain Lion, there's only an option to ...
30
votes
7answers
26k views
How do I turn off App Store notifications in Mountain Lion
The App Store on Mountain Lion pushes update notifications through Notification Center. Unfortunately, this also happens for users that are not system administrators (and so cannot run the App Store). ...
29
votes
3answers
12k views
How can I trigger a Notification Center notification from an AppleScript or shell script?
I'd love to be able to take advantage of 10.8's Notification Center features in AppleScripts and shell scripts I write.
Is there a built-in command or a third-party library I can use from either an ...
28
votes
3answers
1k views
What's the dot in the centre of the red window close button for?
When I'm working with certain applications / windows in Mac OS X (I'm using 10.8, although I'm not sure that's relevant), I sometimes see a black dot in the centre of the red window close button. What ...
27
votes
4answers
1k views
Is there a way to access a Mac's geolocation from terminal? (Mountain Lion)
(Note the Mountain Lion update at end of question)
Some GUI apps use OS X location services, but I want to retrieve a Mac's physical location from the command line. This could be useful for running ...
24
votes
3answers
22k views
Mountain Lion with Java 7 only
I performed a clean installation of Mountain Lion and installed JDK7.
java -version in Terminal returns java version "1.7.0_05" correctly, still Java Preferences and some other Java programs (such as ...
22
votes
8answers
75k views
How can I view hidden files in the Finder?
I noticed that whenever I add files and delete them, their physical space remains on the disk drive. I uninstalled NTFS Tuxera and I still have the same problem.
So I had to insert the disk under my ...
20
votes
3answers
2k views
How can I open a single app by an unidentified developer without allowing all
I know to secure safety it is now not allowed anymore to open apps that were not downloaded from the mac app store.
But surely there is a workaround for this to open an app that you know is 'good' ...
20
votes
4answers
9k views
Where are system environment variables set in Mountain Lion?
In Lion (and previous releases) it was in .MacOSX/environment.plist. After upgrading to 10.8, the file is still there, but the variables aren’t taking.
I’ve also tried adding them to ...
18
votes
7answers
2k views
How can I permanently dismiss Updates Available notifications?
With the Notification Center in Mountain Lion, I get an alert when software updates are available. The problem is, my only options are 'Details' and 'Update'. I don't want to interrupt my work to ...
17
votes
3answers
7k views
Sendmail Error on OS X Mountain Lion
I get an error when trying to run sendmail. I am on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
sendmail: fatal: chdir /Library/Server/Mail/Data/spool: No such file or directory
17
votes
3answers
21k views
How to always show “Library” in the Finder its “Go”-Menu without holding a modifier key?
I often use the "Library" folder in my home folder ~/.
The Library folder there (~/Library/) is shown (unhidden), and that is not the question.
I would like to also always show the menu point ...
17
votes
1answer
3k views
Why ever does Parallels 8 recommend max 4 GB RAM for a VM?
I'm a VMware Fusion user and am trying out Parallels since VMware has some quirks that are annoying on Mountain Lion on a retina MacBook Pro (16 GB RAM).
I'm wondering about the baffling Parallels ...
16
votes
5answers
3k views
How can I skip the Trash when deleting a file?
I frequently connect different external USB hard drives and flash drives to my computer and I would like to facilitate deleting files and regaining disk space from them.
If I simply delete the file, ...
16
votes
4answers
5k views
How can I modify the list of Applications under 'Open With…'?
I recently went to open an audio file, and wanted to open it in an editor instead of a player. I right-clicked it, hovered over 'Open With...' and was met with a very unsightly list.
I have seen a ...
16
votes
3answers
9k views
Where did Icon Composer go from Xcode?
I can't seem to find Icon Composer on the Xcode versions at run on Mountain Lion.
Where is it? Has it been taken out? How to get it back?
16
votes
8answers
2k views
What features from Lion will be lost when upgrading to Mountain Lion?
I know Mountain Lion has some cool new features that Lion did not have, but will it overwrite any of Lion's functionality?
16
votes
4answers
6k views
Why does Apple not support Power Nap on some of the Macs that have Power Nap capability?
Apple has already released the OS X Mountain Lion Technical Specifications which lists some Macs as excluded from certain features of Mountain Lion including:
Power Nap
When is a Mac excluded from ...
15
votes
4answers
12k views
How do I get my user directory working for web sharing again?
I had web sharing enabled in Lion and a web site at http://localhost/~user, where user is my User directory. When I upgraded to Mountain Lion, web sharing (Apache) remained enabled and I can go to ...
15
votes
4answers
6k views
Delay in keyboard responsiveness after wake with Mountain Lion?
After upgrading to Mountain Lion, now when I open the lid to my 2010 13" MacBook Air, there is a 3-5 second delay between when the screen powers on and when the keyboard will respond to key presses in ...
15
votes
3answers
10k views
How to hide notification center button in Mountain Lion?
I am using Mountain Lion.
The only advantage (for me) over the gesture is that Option + clicking the button enables/disables showing alerts and banners (toggles the switch in the notifications ...
14
votes
11answers
28k views
Will Mountain Lion make an older computer run faster or slower?
Performance/responsiveness is a common concern with new software, especially on older machines. In general, upgrading from Snow Leopard (10.6) to Lion (10.7) wasn't too bad, but now Mountain Lion ...
14
votes
1answer
4k views
How to compile mod_wsgi, mod_fastcgi, etc on Mountain Lion by fixing `apxs:Error: Command failed with rc=65536`?
I've updated to OS X Mountain Lion.
Update has removed all of my python and apache modules including mod_wsgi.
Now I'm trying to recompile mod_wsgi (it compiled without problems on Lion).
I use ...
14
votes
1answer
516 views
How do I remove the iCloud-first behavior in Mountain Lion?
In Mountain Lion, I have iCloud activated for Documents. I'd like document-saved-in-the-cloud to be an option, but not the default, as in "if I choose iCloud from the dropdown, save in iCloud, else ...
14
votes
1answer
6k views
Can I still set my account picture to an image from disk in OS X Mountain Lion?
I can't seem to browse my hard disk for a custom image to use as my account picture anymore since installing OS X Mountain Lion.
The new popover shows that I can now only choose from the default set ...
14
votes
4answers
2k views
MBP SSD upgrade - which settings to change?
After replacing the harddisk drive in MacBook Pro with a Solid State Disk I am wondering which settings I should change and how.
Thinking of things that are supposed to protect the SSD like
...
13
votes
2answers
6k views
Mountain Lion sleeps too aggressively
For me, Mountain Lion always seems to sleep whenever there is no user action, even when the computer is still doing something. In my case it always sleeps in the middle of running a batch operation in ...
13
votes
5answers
3k views
How can I enable Trackpad tap-to-click for the login window in OS X 10.8?
In older OS X versions, this used to work just fine:
defaults write /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1
It would enable tap to click for built-in MacBook ...
12
votes
6answers
6k views
What Is the Keyboard Shortcut for Sleep Display Without Eject Key?
I read that if you want to put your display into sleep the keyboard shortcut is Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Eject ⏏, but what is it in Mountain Lion or Lion using a retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air without an ...
12
votes
7answers
3k views
How do I enable the Debug menu in Calendar?
The following command entered in Terminal will enable the Debug menu in iCal (Lion):
defaults write com.apple.iCal IncludeDebugMenu YES
I would like to accomplish the same thing in Calendar ...
12
votes
4answers
6k views
No email notifications when Mail.app isn't running?
On Mountain Lion, I don't get email notifications in Notification Center when Mail.app isn't running.
This is not the expected behaviour (it is inconsistent with the Mail.app behaviour on iOS) and ...
12
votes
3answers
7k views
How can I switch between the two Java versions in Mountain Lion now that Java Preferences is gone?
I have two versions of Java installed with Mountain Lion:
Apple's Java 6 Update 37 (Java for OS X 2012-006)
Oracle's Java 7.
The update from Apple removes Java Preferences. In another question ...
12
votes
1answer
976 views
How to disable or delay “Time Machine hasn't backed up your computer in x days” message?
Mountain Lion has a very useful feature where it can alternate between multiple backup destinations. I use this to back up to both a network share at home and an external drive I keep offsite. Because ...
12
votes
2answers
358 views
How do I use AirDrop from the Terminal?
Is there a way to share a file over AirDrop via Terminal on Mountain Lion? How so?
11
votes
6answers
3k views
How can I expand the number of special characters I can type using my keyboard?
I am aware that when I press ⌥ or ⇧⌥ on my Mac, I can type a variety of special characters. I also know that I can insert special characters using the character palette. Is there a way to expand the ...
11
votes
7answers
18k views
How to view logs in Airport Utility v6, or install 5.6 in Mountain Lion?
So I just upgraded to Mountain Lion, and I'm watching some Netflix over my Apple TV, when it stops streaming and tells me it's not connected to the network any more. Sure enough, my Air has also lost ...
11
votes
2answers
5k views
Why does my Mac's list of “Open with” applications start listing the apps twice and sometimes three times?
When I right-click on a file on my Mac OS desktop and then in the contextual menu, I move to the "Open with...", the list of potential applications to "open with" has applications listed multiple ...
11
votes
4answers
4k views
How to re-download Lion from Mountain Lion
I'm currently running Mountain Lion, but I'd like to redownload Lion (to create a bootable install drive).
However, when I click the download button in the App Store, I receive a message telling me my ...
11
votes
5answers
5k views
How to revert Safari 6 Web Inspector?
The new Safari 6 Web Inspector UI is a usability nightmare for me due to loads of tabs/panes with small icons and no labels.
It also seems to complicate common tasks like showing a list of XHR ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
How can I prevent my Mac from periodically whooshing at me?
Seemingly randomly throughout the day, my mac will "whoosh" at me. I set up Messages, but whenever I switch to Messages after the whoosh, I don't have any new messages and usually my buddies are set ...
11
votes
3answers
2k views
Can a Mac's airport card run 802.11 N, G, B or A only?
Occasionally it's nice to hard code a wired connection network port to not auto negotiate and force things to be 100 half duplex even though a higher speed is configured and negotiable on the switch.
...
10
votes
2answers
826 views
Why does File:/// crash my app?
Whenever I type File:/// into the URL bar in Chrome, into Text Edit, and more, it crashes the app. I found out about this after reading this blog post.
How can I avoid this crash and make it ...
10
votes
4answers
482 views
Is there a way to forward Growl notifications to Notification Centre?
Since there's a lot of apps that support Growl, and only a handful have been updated yet, I'd like to know if there's a way to convert those Growl notifications into Notification Centre notifications.
...
10
votes
3answers
6k views
Desktop image is not showing in Mountain Lion with dual monitor
I have a MBA connecting via HDMI to Samsung Monitor.
Problem is desktop background for Samsung monitor is not showing. There is only grey desktop and doesn't have any changes even I try to change the ...
10
votes
6answers
4k views
What hooks exist into Notification Center / twitter so that I can tweet programmatically?
I'm specifically looking to design a custom action for LaunchBar so that I can initiate a tweet from that utility. Since Notification Center has a "Click to tweet" button, I wondered if Notification ...
10
votes
6answers
51k views
How to mimic Safari 5 Activity window with Mountain Lion, to save FLV video files?
With Safari 5 in Lion, I used the Activity window to save video files.
Safari 6 has no Activity window.
With Mountain Lion, what is the best way to replicate what I could do before?
10
votes
6answers
4k views
How to set screen resolution with a keyboard shortcut on Retina MBP?
I've found myself switching between the 1440x900 and 1920x1200 "effective resolution" setting depending on what I'm doing (need more space on screen, etc).
Is there a way to toggle between these two ...
10
votes
4answers
6k views
Can sudo's annoying message be removed from Mountain Lion 10.8.0?
After the upgrade to 10.8.0, whenever I do a sudo, I always get this message:
dyld: DYLD_ environment variables being ignored because main executable (/usr/bin/sudo) is setuid or setgid
I have ...
10
votes
13answers
13k views
Wi-Fi connection randomly disconnects on 2012 MacBook Air
My 2012 MacBook Air has problems with Wi-Fi – random disconnections, every few minutes.
The problems occurred with Lion, and persist after an upgrade to Mountain Lion.
It seems the Wi-Fi drops ...
