The personal settings which control the configurable options on your Mac or iOS device. Examples include what wallpapers are displayed, when a screen saver will be displayed, or whether or not Time Machine is enabled and how it is configured.
1
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1answer
1k views
The system preference panes will not load
When I open System Preferences and click on an item it says 'Loading Users & Groups' at the top of the window, but will not load the pane.
I've tried deleting the property list file:
...
1
vote
4answers
5k views
How Do I Restore the Default Settings in Lion?
I love playing with new operating systems, and also love to experience the default behaviour that Those That Be have decreed are the New Best Thing. Up until now, I've always - be it Windows or Mac OS ...
1
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2answers
192 views
Removing entries from the MobileMe synchronization list
Some applications can synchronize data using MobileMe synchronization; the problem I have with those applications is that they are still listen in the MobileMe preference panel, under the ...
1
vote
1answer
634 views
How does Office 2008 for Mac store its Recent items?
I don't have access to Office 2008, but require the information for a project I'm working on. I'm mainly interested in Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
This is the information I have gathered so far...
...
1
vote
1answer
30 views
Cannot enter nvALT options anymore
I changed nvALT to be displayed in the menu bar and set the option that it is not to be displayed in the Dock anymore.
I wanted to change the settings back and unchecked the options that nvALT is ...
1
vote
1answer
212 views
Screensaver changes images too quickly – is there a way to adjust it?
I like to display my own images using the Mac OS X screensaver, but it seems that Mountain Lion has shortened the duration for which each image is displayed. The duration is too short for my tastes – ...
1
vote
1answer
90 views
How do I prevent TGZ archives from being automatically un-gzipped upon download?
I use Safari on Mac OS Lion, and one behavior I find rather annoying is that it insists on automatically un-gzipping TGZ archives when I download them. It doesn't untar them; it just uncompresses ...
1
vote
1answer
254 views
Any way to change recommended resolution for all users on a Mac (preferably via Terminal)?
I work on a college campus with a number of iMacs hooked up to projectors. For some reason, after imaging, they all default to 800x600 resolution on both the iMacs and the projectors, despite their ...
1
vote
2answers
69 views
Is it safe to edit App Bundles in Core Services?
There is a default preference I want to edit (or delete and recreate in the English.lproj) in the Dock bundle in System/Library/CoreServices.
What are the possible negative repercussions to editing ...
1
vote
1answer
169 views
Third-party service that syncs preferences? Like MobileMe
Are there any third-party software or services that offer synchronization of user-preferences the same way that MobileMe does?
I’m thinking of the user defaults that live inside ...
1
vote
1answer
98 views
How can I change the preferred application for opening “fmp7://” URLs from FileMaker Pro Advanced to FileMaker Pro?
I have both FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Pro Advanced installed. Because the available licenses for the Advanced product are limited, I shouldn't use it unless necessary. But when neither application ...
1
vote
2answers
466 views
How do I prevent my MacBook Air from forgetting my Remapped Caps Lock Key?
As someone who doesn't like to shout, I have Caps Lock remapped to Control on all of my computers. A second control key is far more useful to a guy who spends most of his time in Terminal.app. This ...
1
vote
2answers
75 views
How can I restrict access to certain Preference Panes?
Several of the preference panes on my Mac at work have are translucent and when I hover over them I get the following message:
Your system administrator has not given you access to this preference ...
1
vote
2answers
38 views
How to stop an app from launching on Login?
I have created an app, that sets itself to launch at Login using SMLoginItemSetEnabled. Here is the code it uses. My question is, how can I manually remove this app from launching at login?
The app ...
1
vote
0answers
166 views
Why do editors such as BBEdit and Textmate have the option of ending your file in a newline (line break)? Why is that important? [closed]
Sorry about the n00b question but why is this an option? Is there any caveats to not ending a file with a line break?
1
vote
1answer
57 views
Is there any way to turn off the automatically opening window for a preview in Marsedit?
Whenever I open a post to edit it a whole preview window opens up along with it. I find this effect disorienting. I looked in the preferences and couldn't find anything. How do I shut off the ...
0
votes
5answers
2k views
How to increase “tracking speed” beyond the maximum?
For a Macbook Pro, I've set trackpad settings for Three Fingers to "Dragging":
However the tracking speed is too slow, and often it's impossible to drag for a larger distance due to the size of the ...
0
votes
1answer
88 views
Is there a setting to force Adium to open a new chat in a new window?
For Adium, a single window holds many chats.
from official link (http://trac.adium.im/wiki/TabbedMessaging)
"A single window might contain 10 different tabbed chats"
Is there any setting where I ...
0
votes
1answer
184 views
How can I delete “Passenger” from my “System Preference”?
About 2 years ago I tried and installed Phusion Passenger Preference Pane for OS X and now I need to delete its "Passenger" icon from my System Preference. There's no uninstall option, how can I ...
0
votes
2answers
303 views
How to set up Safari to always show status bar
I am using Safari 6.0.2 (8536.26.17) within Mac OS X 10.8.2.
I would like to know how to set Safari so that, whenever a new window is opened, the status bar is always turned on.
I think this used ...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
What is the purpose of the extra room on Finder's “View Options” window?
I am running 10.6.8 on a late 2008 MBP.
I know this has been the look of the "View Options" window for a while, but I just really noticed all of the extra space at the bottom. It's now being used in ...
0
votes
1answer
240 views
Backup and restore application preferences
I already have a backup of my system on Time Machine, but will it restore my application preferences too when I migrate to a new system? Even if it is Lion? (I come from Snow Leopard)
And what about ...
0
votes
1answer
110 views
How do I set the home page for Safari on the iPad2?
This is driving me crazy .
I'm trying to set the Home page on the iPad.
The instructions I've seen indicate there should be a bar at the bottom of the browser with an arrow. There isn't. There also ...
0
votes
1answer
151 views
Show desktop keyboard shortcut doesn't work
I have F5 key bound to the show desktop shortcut in keyboard shortcuts. However when I press F5 on the keyboard (with fn on the built in keyboard, or with/without fn on the Apple wireless keyboard), ...
0
votes
1answer
80 views
Deploying default Wifi settings and Passwords
I am building a default 10.8 image for our corporate Mac users. We have a local Wifi network which should be set up by default on this image. I have used PackageMaker to set up all the other ...
0
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I set iOS 6 iCal start of week preference to Monday?
Since I installed iOS 6 on my iPhone and iPad, iCal shows Sunday as the start of the week, rather than Monday. These iOS iCals are synced over iCloud with iCal on my Mac OS X desktop, which has a ...
0
votes
1answer
186 views
Where is the config (application properties) file for TimeMachine settings and the path excludes?
Where is the config (application properties) file for TimeMachine settings and the path excludes?
You know, that what you might click and add in TimeMachine Settings > Options ...
Can't find ...
0
votes
1answer
245 views
How to set “Input Sources” for all users at the same time
In Lion OSX, changing the keyboard layout "Input Sources" setting in the "Language & Text" only changes the setting for the current user. Is there a way to populate the setting to all existing, ...
0
votes
3answers
273 views
Saved preferences resetting on restart
I just bought a MacBook Pro with OS X Lion.
I am having a problem with all my saved preferences: for example, in my Finder "General Preferences", the new finder window shows setting keeps resetting ...
0
votes
1answer
210 views
Energy Saver preferences keep breaking
This is a new question related to a question I asked previously.
MacBook is sleeping despite being set to "never" sleep
Basically, the MacBook would sleep after 3 hours despite the ...
0
votes
2answers
202 views
I can't save my system preferences
I can't save my dock and spaces setting. Every time I set them (eg. disable spaces), after I reboot/re-login to the system, the dock and spaces settings will revert back to the previous status. How ...
0
votes
1answer
117 views
Is there a preference file where MobileMe username and password are saved?
I am looking for a preference file that contains the MobileMe username/password couple that I would need to pass to a script that starts the MobileMe synchronization. What I am trying to achieve is to ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
Sync apps preferences between multiple Macs
I tend to keep all my stuff in Dropbox. Now that I bought a second Mac, I thought that keeping also my applications preferences in Dropbox would have been a good idea.
I managed to sync some of the ...
0
votes
2answers
46 views
How to Reset Full-Screen Terminal.app Preferences to Factory Defaults
On an iMac running Mac OS X version 10.7.5 I have accidentally resized Terminal.app to full-screen (272 x 76) and am unable to resize Terminal.app to a smaller size. How do I resize Terminal.app to ...
0
votes
0answers
68 views
Desktop Background with multiple displays
I user a single external display at work with my MacBook Pro, running 10.8.2. I have the displays set up in extended desktop mode (as opposed to mirroring). I have the external monitor set as the main ...
0
votes
0answers
25 views
Apple Mail Preferences are not highlighted. Can't set up Mail.
I am trying to set up Mail on a brand new latest model IMAC. It will not let me past incoming POP settings. When I look at preferences option, it is not lit up and I can not click on it. When I try to ...
0
votes
0answers
21 views
Get rid of little circles on Teleport
I've installed Teleport in order to use two macs with one keyboard and mouse, but when I change of screen there apper some little red circles like a trail of the mouse. Is it possible to get rid of ...
0
votes
1answer
69 views
Removing the font toolbar in a new message
In the mac (mountain lion) mail.app (v 6.2), when composing a new message, im looking to hide the default font/styling bar that appears beneath the standard toolbar at the top of the window.
I've ...
0
votes
0answers
105 views
Hidden file in root directory, what is it? (.com.apple.backupd.mvlist.plist)
There's a hidden file in my root directory and I'm curious to know what it is. It's an empty plist (the size is about 181 bytes, and there's absolutely no keys in the root when opening this plist in ...
0
votes
0answers
74 views
Textual.app (IRC client): is it possible to suppress channel topic being displayed in the message window?
When joining a new channel in Textual, the topic is shown twice:
In the 'top section' of the message window and
in the message text when joining
I want to only display it in the 'top section', as ...
0
votes
0answers
73 views
Spaces preferences carried into Lion - can't get hash symbol
In Snow Leopard I used to use Option + cursors to move around spaces (not Command - this was because I liked Command + cursors for 'Home' and 'End').
Therefore I also used Option + 1, Option + 2 etc ...
0
votes
0answers
114 views
How to toggle closeViewZoomFollowsFocus in com.apple.universalaccess via shell script with instant activation?
I created a Service with Automator on a Mac running "Lion 10.7.3". The Service toggles via a shell script the visibility of hidden files in the Finder and works like a charm. Here's the script:
...
0
votes
0answers
181 views
Apache starts even if web sharing is disabled
I do web development so I normally have web sharing turned on in the sharing preferences.
After upgrading to Lion I have been continuing with the web development projects I have pretty much as ...
-1
votes
3answers
128 views
How can I hide the privacy tab from Spotlight.prefpane?
I am using spotlight search on my MacBook, and am excluding a few folders from spotlight search. My problem with Apple's method of excluding the folders is that excluding them actually calls attention ...
-2
votes
1answer
35 views
Why don't property lists use more XML-element types? [closed]
Most software would store information in XML rather like this:
<book>
<title>Generic Examples, the Internet, and You</title>
<length pages="43" />
<authors>
...
