OS X now includes a built-in Firewall. The Firewall will help keep your system safe from hackers, especially on unknown networks. This video tutorial shows you how to enable the OS X application firewall and configure it for proper use.

Today’s installment of Learning OS X features the application Spaces. Spaces allows you to organize your OS X desktop by grouping your applications into virtual desktops or “Spaces”. If you like to multitask then the Spaces application will help you organize your desktop into various contexts. In this example I create two Spaces, one for personal information management and one for web browsing.

Let’s begin by enabling Spaces. Click the System Preferences and select Expose and Spaces. This will open the Spaces configuration window. There are two buttons labeled Expose and Spaces. Make sure that Spaces is selected. Select the check box Enable Spaces to turn on Spaces.

The application allows you to configure a number of Spaces by adding and removing rows and columns. For this example, I will setup two Spaces.

In addition, you can assign specific applications to open on a specific Space. I am specifying Safari to open in Space two and the Address book to open in Space one.

There are keyboard shortcuts to easily switch between spaces. The default behavior that I use most frequently is the Control key plus the left and right arrows to switch between these spaces.

Close the System Preferences and try out your new Space. Open Safari and your Address book. You will see that they open on two different Spaces. Use the Control + Left Arrow and Control + Right Arrow to switch between the two Spaces.

Spaces is a great way to organize your desktop. If you have any interesting uses for Spaces tell us about it.

Here is a quick video showing you how icons in the menu bar can be moved and removed.

If you want to move the icons, hold down the command key while dragging the icons with your mouse. To remove an icon simply drag it to the desktop. Restoring an icon to the menu bar is handled by the application that provides the icon (i.e., the Time Machine preferences has an option to show an icon in the status area.)

When you take your Mac out of the box one of the first things you do is create a new user. The next time you boot your system, OSX will automatically log you into the desktop as the newly created user. This is a great feature for a single user system. Automatic logins are not a great feature if you are using a MacBook or have multiple users on your system.

It’s easy to disable the automatic login feature by using the System Preferences.

Click on your user name and select the Login Options button at the bottom of the list. Then, on the right hand side of the preferences window select Disabled in the list of Automatic Login options. Close the window when you are finished.