Learning OS X

Earlier, I explained how to install applications under OS X. It’s a pretty straight forward process. Uninstalling applications is nearly just as easy.

In most cases, uninstalling an applications is as simple as dragging the application from the Applications folder to the Trash. It is this simple because OS X applications bundle the program and all of the supporting files inside the application image. If you want to go a little deeper than read on…

There may be occasions where application programs leave things behind. They could be support files, plug-is, preferences, etc. They are generally harmless but, if you ever reinstall an application it is useful to know that there are there.

Tracking them down and eliminating them is easy, if you know where to look. In general, support files are located in these areas on your system.

• Home Directory -> Library ->  Preferences
• Home Directory -> Library -> Application Support
• Library -> Preferences
• Library -> Application Support

The first two directories are for application files specific to you, the second two directories are for all the users of your system.

This sample video shows you how to uninstall MailPlane, a GMail front end application.

If you’re nervous about messing around with your Library directories, you can always try an application designed for removing OS X applications. AppZapper, looks nice but I haven’t tried it myself.

This is a bit of a quickie tip but I scratched my head on it for a few hours one day.

If you use Office:Mac Excel, you may from time to time need to capture multiple lines of information into a cell. If you come from the Windows world, you will quickly come to realize that Alt+Enter doesn’t work.

If you want to insert a new line in Excel for the Mac, select the cell, type your first line and press Alt+Cmd+Enter.

There you have it, insanely easy.

If you would like to rip DVDs onto your OSX system there are less options than on a Windows PC. However, the software that is available is very good. Today we are going to take a look at Handbrake. A very easy to use DVD ripping program that will take DVDs and convert them into a plethora of formats.

If you want to rip DVDs for the iPod, AppleTV, TiVo or just to watch on your Mac Book then Handbrake is the application for you.

To get started, you need to first install Handbrake onto your system.

1. Download the file from the Handbrake website
2. Install Handbrake into your Applications Folder
3. Launch Handbrake, then follow along with the video below

As you can see Handbrake does an excellent job of easily allowing you to load your DVD collection into your Mac. The next time you are on a trip, you don’t have to bore yourself with things like reading. Open up iTunes or VLC and you’re ready to go.

iTunes is a decent media player for OSX however, it’s not able to playback all types of video. One popular video format for files downloaded from the Internet is Divx. iTunes, just can’t handle it. Luckily there is a great freeware program, VideoLAN or VLC that can pretty much play any type of audio or video file you have lying about on your computer.

To learn more about it watch this video. After the video, follow the directions below to get started.

Here is how to quickly get up and running:

1. Download VLC from the home page.
2. If you use Safari, the DMG file will automatically mount when it is finished downloading, if not, go to your downloads folder and look for VLC-version.dmg and double click it.
3. Open the mounted VLC volume and drag the VLC file into the Applications shortcut. This is the typical installation process for Mac applications. It will copy the file into your applications folder
4. Open you Applications folder
5. Double click on the VLC file to launch it.

When VLC launches, you are presented with a playlist window, you can either use the menu to open files or drag files into the playlist window. To start playback, click Play.

You now have an excellent iTunes alternative. If you’ve ripped your movie collection to your Mac, you can use VLC to playback the files. If you have any other cool users for VLC, post them here or into the forums.

Firefox is my go to browser of choice in OSX. Some people argue that Safari is faster but for me, the flexible plug ins allow me to do things that I just can’t do in Safari.

When you install Firefox and run it for the first time, it will ask you to make Firefox the default browser. If you do this, you may at some point wish to go back to your default browser. It’s easy to do, just follow these steps.

1. Launch Safari
2. Select Preferences from the Safari menu
3. On the General tab, select your preferred browser from the Default web browser dropdown list
4. Close the Safari Preferences