When you use the keyboard shortcuts to take screen grabs in OS X the default is to save them to the Desktop. If you are like me and you use these keys a lot, your desktop will quickly become crowded. What you need to do is change the default folder for screen shots.

I don’t know why this isn’t a System Preference but it’s pretty simple to change the defaults with a little Terminal-fu.

1. Open an OS X Terminal (Go to Utilities->Terminal)
2. Inside the terminal, issue the following command

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /DESTINATION

where DESTINATION is the directory you wish to save to.

3. Logout and Log back in.

So, for example, if you create a Screenshots folder inside the Pictures directory your command would look like this:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Pictures/Screenshots

That’s all there is to it. If you have any interesting system tweaks, let us know in the comments.

I like the Dashboard. It enables me to keep at a keypress alot of useful utilties. My favorite Dashboard widget right now is the Tempo time logging widget. There are times that pressing F12 is a bit too inconvenient. I sometimes want to leave a Dashboard widget on the desktop so I can always see it. Oddly, OS X doesn’t give you an easy way to make Dashboard widgets stick to the desktop.

Not to be deterred, I did some poking around and found a neat trick to allow you to do this. Before we begin, you must be comfortable using the Mac Terminal application.

1. Open Terminal (Application->Utilities->Terminal)
2. Type defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES
3. Type killall Dock

Your Dock will disappear for a few seconds and then reappear. Once it does, you can move Dashboard widgets onto the Desktop.

1. Press F12 to display the Dashboard
2. Pick a widget and hold down the mouse button
3. Press F12 again

You’ll see the widget now is on the desktop. You can stick it wherever you want. You can put the widget back into the Dashboard by clicking it first, pressing F12, then releasing the mouse.

If you want to go back to the defaults, do this:

1. Open Terminal (Application->Utilities->Terminal)
2. Type defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode NO
3. Type killall Dock

Pretty handy trick eh? If you have any other interesting OS X hacks, please let us know in the comments.

I recently had some severe Windows XP flashbacks. If you’ve switched from a PC to a Mac, you probably were accustomed to random crashes that you could not track down to any one particular component or application. Your only solution was to reformat and reinstall Windows. This, was the experience I faced recently with OS X.

I gradually began noticing random lockups while using the system. Sometimes, while surfing the internet, I would get the spinning  ball and the entire OS would become unresponsive. Sometimes, when switching screen resolutions the screen would go blank. Sometimes, my system wouldn’t come back from sleep.

To troubleshoot this problem, I removed all running services, uninstalled as many applications as I could. Still, the problem persisted.

I then decided to use the hammer. I reformatted and reinstalled OS X. I regularly backup my system so this step wasn’t too painful. I reformatted the disk and reinstalled the OS X 10.6. My machine started up clean, I was able to surf the web, my problems looked like they were solved – until I ran Software Update. I applied the combined 10.6.3 patch, restarted the computer. Within 5 minutes of using the newly patched system, the problem returned.

I Googled, 10.6.3 lockup and came across a number of people on the Apple forums that were experiencing similar problems. I reformatted the system and turned off the Software Updates. I also applied the 10.6.2 patch which is available on the Apple Website directly. I’ve been running for a few weeks now without issue.

If you have an iMac, and are experiencing problems. You’re not alone. If for some reason you haven’t applied 10.6.3 yet, you may want to wait.

I’ve mentioned my favorite password manager 1Password on Learning OS X a few times before. It’s a great tool to help you keep your online identity secure. The downside to using a password manager is all of your passwords are kept in one place. Well, with the help of another great application Dropbox, that is no longer an issue.

Dropbox is a tool that allows you to easily create shared folders across computers and across the internet. The service comes in free and paid varieties. I use it to keep my office and home Macs in sync. With it, I never have to worry about leaving files in the office, it’s always available for me wherever I go.

You might be able to see where I’m going with this. Dropbox will synchronize files between multiple computers. If I store my 1Password keychain there, it will sync between each of my computers. Follow the directions below and you too will be syncing your keychain between multiple computers in no time.

Install Dropbox

It’s quick and easy, go to the Dropbox website, create an account, install the client and you’re off and running

Move your 1 Password Keychain to your Dropbox

Make sure your 1Password keychain is setup as an agile keychain. Start 1Password, click the 1Password > Preferences menu to open the Preferences window. Click the Keychain tab and click the Switch to Agile Keychain Format button, shown here:

Then, move your keychain by clicking 1Password->Preferences->General and selecting the Move button. Browse to a folder inside your Dropbox directory and select “Move to Selected Folder.”

That’s pretty much it. When you click the Move button, Dropbox in the background will move the file out to the Internet. After a few seconds, the file should appear on your second Mac in its Dropbox. Click it and it will open inside 1Password. This will then tell 1Password to start using this file for the keychain.

Pretty simple way to connect two great tools. If you have any other creative uses for Dropbox, please tell us.

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.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqRfW2TjXcI

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.

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.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y89kCuySMjU

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

I frequently need to call overseas. I haven’t paid for these calls in years thanks to Skype. Skype has worked really well for me but hasn’t been updated in a while. At least not until recently.

Skype just launched version 2.8 of their OSX client software. In addition to bug fixes, this version adds improved audio and video quality, screen sharing and pay as you go Wi-Fi access.

You might wonder why you would use Skype when iChat has video conferencing built in. One word – interoperability. Skype runs on Windows and Macs plus a number of devices making it a great way to communicate cheaply with people around the world.

You can download it directly from the Skype website.

My main system is a Macbook Pro, I love having such a powerful system in such a sexy package. I travel a lot and am often concerned about what might happen in the event that my laptop is stolen.

Luckily there are a number of things you can do to help keep your Macbook locked down in the event it is taken.

Require a password
By default, OSX will resume from sleep or a screensaver back to the desktop. While this is convenient, on a laptop, while traveling, this is rather dangerous. You can configure OSX to use passwords when resuming from a sleep or screensaver through System Preferences.

Open your System Preferences

Click Security

Check the box “Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver.”

Encrypt your home directory
OSX comes with software that will encrypt and decrypt the contents of your home directory. This is an important feature to use on a Macbook because once it is enabled, the content in your home directory is scrambled. In the event your machine is stolen, the contents in your home directory will at least be safe from prying eyes.

Configuring the File Vault is easy. Click System Preferences and click Security again.

Once in the Security Preference, click File Vault.

Click on the button Turn on Vault… When you do this, you will have to enter an administrator username and password.

You are then presented with a dialog to enter a master password. This password is a safety net that will allow you to decrypt your system in the event you forget your account password. Click the key icon and create a very strong password and WRITE IT DOWN, and stick it in your file cabinet.
After a few moments, you will have an encrypted home directory.

Create a secure account password
I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a secure password in your system. Even if you encrypt your home directory, if someone can easily guess your password, it doesn’t matter how encrypted your data is.

There is a really great program 1Password that will manage your account passwords. It can generate secure passwords for you. I however, take a low tech approach to secure passwords. The website Diceware shows you how to create very strong but easy to remember passphrases. Use this site and create a long password. Your data will thank you if it is ever lost.  

Turn on your Firewall
If you are using WiFi on a public network, you want to make sure your Macbook is inaccessible. OSX includes a firewall that will protect your computer on public networks.

There you go, some simple tips that will help you keep your system locked down, if you have any other tips please post them here.