Mac 101
Mac 101: Using iChat with AIM Blasts
More Mac 101, our ongoing series of tips and tricks for new and returning Mac users. If you’re an iChat user with a need for immediate attention, AIM Blasts makes it easy to add social networking groups to iChat.
When you want to have a conversation with a group of people, blasts let you IM everyone in your selected group at once, without having to invite them to a special chat room. For example, you might have friend groups, work groups, or, thinking of Scott McNulty, your special D&D buddies. MobileMe users can take advantage of AIM blasts, since all .Mac and MM users are automatically AIM users as well. Just log in to AIM.com as yourname@me.com (or mac.com) — you’ll be able to take advantage of all of AOL’s instant-messaging hospitality.
You don’t set up your blast in iChat. Instead, point your browser at blast.aim.com. There, you’ll be able to invite your friends and establish your new group. All joining and messaging is done from inside iChat itself. Blast groups appear in iChat as a separate group in your Buddies list — scroll down in the buddy list if you have trouble finding your blast groups. It may help to give them names that are distinct from any buddy groups you already have, or perhaps prefix your blast groups with a “B-” to help them stand out.
When setting up your blast group, you decide whether all members or only admins (i.e., you) can send messages and/or invitations. Blast recipients have to accept your invite to be part of a blast group, so you may want to give them a heads-up in advance (especially if your blast group’s name is obscure or edgy).
Popularity: 6% [?]
Mac 101: Protect your data with FileVault
If you use a notebook Mac, then the risks are higher for getting your computer stolen. However, Apple has included a tool to protect your entire home folder (documents, pictures, movies, etc.) right within OS X. FileVault protects your computer against stolen data by encrypting/decrypting your home folder each time you login and logout.
To use FileVault, you must first set a Master Password. This password is a fail-safe if you forget your user login info. However, if you lose both your user login info and the master password, you will not be able to decrypt your home folder and your data (if not backed up in unencrypted form) will be lost forever. To set the master password, navigate to System Preferences > Security > FileVault > Set Master Password.
Once you have the master password set, you will be able to turn on FileVault and begin protecting your data. Click the “Turn on FileVault” button in the FileVault section of the Security preference pane. You will be asked for your master password, and a disclaimer will be displayed explaining the process. Please note that you will not be able to login to your Mac via SMB (Windows file sharing) after turning on FileVault.
FileVault provides a high level of data security, but some applications have a history of incompatibility with the feature; it’s also very important that you have a secure and solid backup strategy if you choose to use FileVault. For best results with Time Machine, make sure that your FV home folder is upgraded to the Leopard image format (if you were using FV under Tiger, you may have to turn it off and back on to convert your home folder) and log out of your account periodically to allow backups to run.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Mac 101: Running the Apple Hardware Test software
Is your Mac acting funny? If so, you can use the install disks that came with your machine to test your hardware. To use Apple’s Hardware Test (AHT), insert install disk #1 and reboot your Mac while holding down the “d” key on the keyboard.
The AHT software will load and ask for your language — choose your correct language and click the arrow. From the main menu you can click the “Hardware-Tests” tab. Two tests are available: standard and extended. The standard hardware test will allow you to do a quick, 1-3 minute test of the memory and logic board, while the extended test will run an hour-long test of your system. You can get to the extended test by clicking either a button or check box (this depends on your AHT software version).
Want to see more tips and tricks like this? Check out Apple’s Mac 101 section.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Mac 101: Folder shortcuts in the Finder
Another quick tip in our Mac 101 series for beginners: Some special folders on your computer have keyboard shortcuts that you can press to instantly navigate to that folder when using the Finder.
For example, to open your Applications folder, click on your desktop and use the shift (⇧) and command (⌘) keys to type ⇧ ⌘ A. Voilà! Your Appplications folder appeareth.
Other folders have shortcuts too:
- Your computer: ⇧ ⌘ C
- Your home folder: ⇧ ⌘ H
- Your desktop: ⇧ ⌘ D
- Computers on your local network: ⇧ ⌘ K
- Your Utilities folder: ⇧ ⌘ U
- Your iDisk: ⇧ ⌘ I
You can also bring up a dialog box to specify a path to a specific folder on your hard disk by typing ⇧ ⌘ G.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Mac 101: organize Spotlight results
Welcome to another entry in our series for new Mac users: Mac 101. This installment brings us to the preference panel of Spotlight, OS X’s integrated search that makes finding that needle in your hard drive’s haystack as easy as pie (clearly, it doesn’t protect against mixed metaphors).
You’re familiar with the way Spotlight returns results, but did you know that you can change the order in which those results are shown? Read on to find out how (and why you might want to do this).
Firing up System Preferences and clicking on the Spotlight icon (or clicking on ‘Spotlight preferences’ in the Spotlight menubar results) and you get the following:
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Popularity: 4% [?]
