OS X (previously Mac OS X) is marketing name for Apple's computer OS. Note the proper pronunciation is "ohh ess ten"
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Is there a good Hotmail client for Mac OS X?
I have had an Hotmail account since 1997 (i.e. don't ask me to switch - have hundreds of filters and folders and thousands of contacts) and I recently switched to a Mac and I am looking for a Mac ...
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3answers
744 views
How do I recover the administrator or root password on OS X?
I received a hand me down white MacBook with 10.4 on it and it automatically logs into a user account that isn't able to change much in the preference pane. How do I recover or change the ...
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4answers
1k views
What is this symbol? ⎋ (it is listed as menu shortcut)
The shortcut that is reported in the -menu, for Force Quit menu-item, is ⌥⌘⎋ (the last character is the Unicode broken circle with northwest arrow). What key should I press to invoke the Force Quit ...
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4answers
711 views
Switching from Ubuntu to OS X and I'm lost
Situation
I got tired of some bugs/annoyments in Ubuntu(=some programs coming along with it). For example after using compiz for a few days I found bugs that were
distracting my work flow pretty bad ...
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5answers
3k views
Is it possible to read iBooks without an iOS device?
I no longer have an iPhone or iPad, but still have books in my iTunes account that I would like to read. Is there a program for OS X that will allow me to read iBooks without an iOS device?
I am ...
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8answers
4k views
How can I stop OS X from automatically connecting to an NFS server on startup?
I upgraded to Lion today, but was having the same problem on Snow Leopard. When I start up my Mac and login, it automatically connects to an NFS server. I know this because I see the server in Finder ...
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7answers
9k views
How do I sync two folders in OS X Lion?
I have some files and folders on a USB drive connected to my iMac...I would like to sync them with a folder on my iMac...how do I do that?
Is there built-in functionality in Lion that allows me to do ...
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7answers
2k views
Editor or notes application with Markdown support?
Are there any editors or notes applications out there that support Markdown?
I am often having to make notes or documents where markdown formatting would be ideal, and have gotten into the habit of ...
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3answers
208 views
Change Image Format of a Screenshot
Lets say I want to save my screenshots as a .jpg instead of .png. How would I do this? Is there a bash command I can enter or a setting I can toggle?
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5answers
683 views
What scenarios benefit from Mac OS X allowing apps to run when no document windows remain?
As a rule of thumb programs on Mac OS X stay running when you close all their document windows.
This is the behavior I noticed in MacVim, VmWare Fusion, Chrome and host of other applications.
I ...
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7answers
25k views
Is there a file copy utility for OS X that's similar to TeraCopy for Windows?
On Windows, I use TeraCopy for improved file copying. Are there any similar equivalents for OS X?
In particular, I'd like to see things like copy speed.
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4answers
407 views
Web apps on OSX?
I can easily create a "Web App" on my iPhone by going to the "arrow" menu and attaching a website to the home screen.
Is it possible to do this on OS X with, say, Gmail or YouTube or anything else?
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4answers
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Is there a keyboard shortcut to move a window from one monitor to another?
Is there a free app that I can use to move a window from one monitor to the other monitor (assuming only two monitors) via the keyboard? I shouldn't have to use the mouse at all (e.g., for selecting ...
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4answers
4k views
Is it possible to run Nautilus on OS X?
Is it possible to run Nautilus instead of Finder on Mac OS X Snow Leopard? How?
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5answers
16k views
How to remove an accidentally dropped file shortcut icon from Finder toolbar?
I accidentally dropped a file in the Finder toolbar instead of the destination folder (the ZIP icon on the right of the screenshot):
How can I remove it from the toolbar?
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1answer
265 views
Why are some icons sideways on my desktop?
On the current version of OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8), I have an icon sideways on my desktop:
Any idea why or what it signifies?
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8answers
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What are your “must-have” MacPorts? [closed]
I hate to be all cliché with yet another "best [something]" question, but I am genuinely interested in what you most often install with MacPorts. When you get a new Mac, which ports do you first ...
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1answer
1k views
What are the differences between minimizing and hiding an application?
Coming from a Windows background, I'm confused about the concepts of minimizing windows and hiding applications. What are the differences between the two, and when would you want to use one method ...
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3answers
3k views
How to set PATH for Finder-launched applications
Apps launched via Finder seem to not respect the PATH as set in .bash_profile. So when I try to run code from an IDE (Intellij) I no longer have access to programs in /usr/local/bin, which is ...
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4answers
4k views
How do I remove GarageBand?
I'm nearly out of space and ~/Library/Application Support/GarageBand is taking up 1.5 GB and GarageBand.app is taking up 381 MB of my hard disk space.
Can I simply remove the app itself and this ...
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3answers
6k views
How do I use chmod on a Mac to make new files inherit parent directory permissions?
I'm on Mac. I want to make it so that any new files/folders that get created within a specific folder have the same permissions (not group, that's already taken care of) as those of the parent ...
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2answers
5k views
Can I change the behavior of the Home and End keys on an Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad?
I just bought an "Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad", then I connected it to my Macbook Pro running Lion.
But the home and end key under the F14 key doesn't work as I expected. Say in "Pages", the ...
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1answer
2k views
How can I find the serial number on a mac programmatically from the terminal?
What command can I use to retrieve the system's serial number from the unix command line? As uname will output some information about the software and hardware, I would like to retrieve the serial ...
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1answer
2k views
What's the correctly way to make Postfix run permanently on Lion (not server)
I can start Postfix temporarily with:
$ sudo launchctl
launchd% start org.postfix.master
However, Console.app shows that it only runs for a short time:
26/11/11 2:00:55.710 PM postfix/master: ...
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6answers
3k views
Is there any Mac software to handle archives (zip, rar, 7z, tar, etc.) that allows browsing?
I am looking for a software to handle archives on OS X.
I know there are many of them quite easy to find, but none seems to have the most basic feature that most Windows archive applications have: ...
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5answers
721 views
Download Manager for Mac OS X
What is a good Download Manager for Mac?
Are there free ones available?
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1answer
8k views
Can I get the CPU temperature and fan speed from the command line in OS X?
Is there a command I can run from the command line in OS X to get the current CPU temperature and/or the fan speed(s)?
To be more specific, I'd like to be able to get the same info available in the ...
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3answers
1k views
How do I change a username? (shortname and home folder)
Under Linux, this would be a no brainer. Just go into /etc/password and edit that, and rename the directory in /home.
I want the new shortname and the new home folder to match after the change.
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2answers
2k views
Is there anything like System Restore for Mac OS X?
I've been a Mac user for a few years now. Thinking about if it would be a good idea to set up a Mac for my parents, I came to think of the awesome feature of System Restore in Windows where making a ...
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4answers
5k 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 ...
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2answers
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Linus Torvalds and the OS X Filesystem
Back in 2008, Linus Torvalds famously said in an interview that "OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary." I've ...
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1answer
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How can I make all folders in Finder “snap to grid”?
I don't like how in Finder, you can drag a folder and drop it anywhere, even overlapping on another folder. For example:
That is just annoying. And when I resize the window, the files stay how they ...
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3answers
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How can I open port 8080 of Mac OS X Lion?
How can I open access to port 8080 from the outside world (private lan) on my Mac OS X Lion? I'd like to access a webpage that's running on my lamp stack on my mac (zend server ce) from within the ...
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4answers
843 views
Choose a default app for opening files with no extension?
Is it possible to set a default application to open files with no extension? I'm not referring to files with hidden extensions, but those completely lacking an extension -- e.g. README, CHANGELOG, ...
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votes
1answer
243 views
Is it possible to hack the “Correct spelling automatically” setting in OS X to emit a sound when correcting?
There are many times when I curse the autocorrection mechanism for changing what I typed, but overall, much of the corrections are welcome so I don't really want to disable it. I do want to have it do ...
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2answers
308 views
In OS X is it possible to specify which network connection an app uses?
My ethernet connects to the LAN, my airport connects to a different network (it's another mac sharing a VPN connection). I want all apps except the iPhone Simulator to connect via the LAN.
Is this ...
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1answer
244 views
Why is lsof on OS X so ridiculously slow?
I can't figure out why lsof on my Mac (10.8.2, MacBook Pro) is so slow.
On my Mac, lsof takes more than a minute:
$ touch /tmp/testfile
$ time lsof /tmp/testfile
real 1m16.483s
user 0m0.029s
...
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3answers
274 views
Prevent OS X from changing Spaces after quitting an App?
After quitting an application, the previous app that I was interacting with is automatically selected. If I was working in Terminal, switched to Chrome, and then decided to quit Chrome, Terminal ...
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2answers
1k views
How to refresh Messages on Mac after hibernation?
I've set up iMessage on my iPhone correctly (apple id) with Messages on my Mac (OSX Mountain Lion), and it syncs.
But the syncing isn't flawless.. Everytime I wake up my Mac after hibernation, it ...
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votes
4answers
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Why is my Macbook Pro getting so slow?
On my MacBook Pro (Year 2009) it takes a long time until I'm logged in or until when a program is started. From day to dayit's getting slower.
Programs like Safari or Word or MonoDevelop take up to 2 ...
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12answers
4k views
Copying the current directory's path to the clipboard
What's a quick way of copying the path to the directory that's currently open in Finder?
Copying that path is very easy in Linux and Windows file managers - you just need to copy it from the address ...
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5answers
2k views
Lowest volume is still too loud—how can I make it even lower?
The lowest volume I can get by pressing the volume keys is still too loud when I'm wearing headphones. How can I make it even lower?
I have a Mac Mini 2011 (5,1) running Mountain Lion.
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10answers
578 views
How should I set up my coding environment for PHP, mySQL, and JavaScript development?
I'm having trouble finding a coding environment that is comfortable and I'm hoping anyone has had the same problem. On my windows box at the office I've found my ideal coding environment that I really ...
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6answers
6k views
How can I forcibly shut down my Mac at an appointed time?
I'm looking for an auto shutdown app that will forcefully shut down the computer at an appointed time.
The most important part of this is that the shutdown should not be cancelable (unless the ...
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3answers
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Disable / Uninstall Mail app in Lion
I'm running Sparrow mail client and would love to disable Mail.app, which keeps opening from time to time.
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2answers
709 views
Problem with “Always Open With” in OS X
I want know how can I apply a software to open all my same document, for example I want to open all my PDF document with Skim but when I right click on it> open with > other and choose my desired ...
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6answers
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How can I use NTFS partitions in OS X?
My coworkers use NTFS partitions, and I can't share my data with them, as NTFS on Mac OS X is read-only.
How can I read and write onto NTFS partitions?
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2answers
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How to enable OS X screen sharing (VNC) through SSH?
I forgot to turn on "VNC viewers may control screen with password",
to enter on my working Mac,
is there way to turn-on this feature remotely via SSH (I'm on WindowsXP now)?
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3answers
694 views
How safe is it for me to install Java on OS X 10.8
I know very little about how Java works and its interactions with OS X, so I'm partly looking for an expert and simple description on how Java works on the Mac, and why so much press includes "fear, ...
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1answer
2k views
How can I remove the “Eject” icon from the menubar?
How can i remove the "Eject" icon from the menubar?
It's an icon that starts on login.
It ejects all mounted disks (dmg/usb/etc...).
