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1

It’s hard to believe that just a decade ago, Mac OS X didn’t exist.In the last half of the ’90s, Apple was desperate. The classic Mac OS

was showing its age, and the company was foundering financially and producing uninspired hardware. It saw the need to move to a modern operating system, but the Copland project, designed to revive the Mac OS, crashed and burned. Salvation came when the company purchased Next, whose NextStep operating system became the foundation of Mac OS X. (If you don’t consider Mac OS X the vehicle for Apple’s salvation, I’ll point out that Steve Jobs returned to Apple as a part of the purchase of Next. The rest is history.)

But after a decade of constant advancement and regular operating-system upgrades boast-ing hundreds of new features, Apple has taken a pause with the release of Snow Leopard, also known as Mac OS X 10.6. Instead of adding hundreds of new features, Apple has chosen to use Snow Leopard to cut ties with the past, plan for the future, and take direct aim at its current competition.

The result is a Mac OS X update unlike any in recent memory, one that boosts speeds, re-claims disk space, tweaks dozens of features, and lays the groundwork for a new generation of computers that feature 64-bit multicore microprocessors, ultra-powerful graphics processors, and massive amounts of memory. These features, combined with the low upgrade price, make Snow Leopard the biggest no-brainer of an upgrade since Mac OS X 10.1. (And that upgrade, as you may or may not recall, was completely free.)

Here at Macworld, covering the Mac and Mac OS X is what we do. And we’ve published hundreds of thousands of words about Mac OS X since it first appeared. In this book, you’ll find a collection of the best information about Mac OS X—not just the new features and tweaks that arrived with Snow Leopard, but also the hundreds of features Apple has added to the operating system in the past few years. We hope you’ll find this book an indispensable resource for explor-ing and learning about Mac OS X in general and Snow Leopard in particular.

—Jason Snell, Editorial Director, MacworldSan Francisco, October 2009

ForewordP

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Table of ContentsInstalling Snow Leopard6 Perform a Basic UpgradeWhat you need to know to install Snow Leopard, including backup advice and customization tips.

9 Installation Alternatives and FixesIf you run into any problems while installing Snow Leopard, this chapter will talk you through the fixes.

Inside Snow Leopard12 The Finder, the Dock, and Exposé Apple made a host of changes to the Finder and some small tweaks to the Dock and Exposé. Find out what’s new with OS X’s navigation apps.

15 QuickTime XQuickTime received one of the big-gest makeovers. Version X has some new features but is missing some old ones, and it offers smarter workflows.

18 Automation FeaturesSnow Leopard features newly revamped services and adds helpful text-substitution tools.

20 Exchange SupportIn OS X 10.6 you can finally sync iCal, Address Book, and Mail with Microsoft Exchange 2007 servers.

21 PreviewOS X’s humble Preview application gets a feature boost. Meet the new tools and additions in version 5.

22 Wake on DemandYour Mac can do more while sleeping, thanks to Snow Leopard’s new Wake on Demand features.

24 AccessibilityApple has upgraded the Trackpad, VoiceOver, and Hearing features to make Macs easier to use for people with physical disabilities.

25 Under the HoodLearn more about Grand Central Dispatch, OpenCL, and the jump from 32 to 64 bits.

26 13 Hidden FeaturesGet to know these hidden goodies and minor tweaks in Snow Leopard.

Work Smarter30 Quickly Track Down Files and FoldersUse the Finder, the Dock, and Quick Look to work more efficiently with these timesaving shortcuts.

37 Tame Cluttered WindowsFight window clutter with Spaces, OS X’s updated window-management tool.

38 Fill In Text with SubstitutionsOne of the most useful new features in Snow Leopard is text substitution.

39 Automate Repetitive TasksAutomator can handle tedious tasks. This section teaches the basics and provides some sample workflows.

OS X’s Hidden Tools46 Image Capture In Snow Leopard, you can use Image Capture to set default applications for your camera and share images with

other users on your network.

49 Preview The beloved and dependable Preview also has a few new tricks up its sleeve, including broader PDF pow-ers and more image-editing tools.

53 TextEdit TextEdit’s genius is that it seems simple but can actually do some heavy-duty word processing.

The Secrets of Safari 456 Better BrowsingSafari 4 makes searching and browsing easier than ever. These tips will help you organize the time you spend on the Web and use it more productively.

61 Take Control of TabsOverwhelmed by a sea of Web pages? Keep your multitasking browser activities in order with tabs.

63 Manage Bookmarks and RSS FeedsYou have a library of links to sort and tons of RSS feeds to read. Safari 4 has tools to make both tasks more manageable. C

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65 Search SmarterMake your quest for information easy and fun with the best of our Safari search tips.

Search Your Mac68 Spotlight BasicsMaster OS X’s powerful catchall search tool, Spot-light. Change its preferences and troubleshoot any issues that may pop up.

70 Create Smarter QueriesThese tricks will ensure that you find exactly what you’re looking

for with Spotlight searches.

74 Perform Advanced SearchesSpotlight shares its powers with other Mac applications. For heavy-duty searches, turn to the Finder.

Snow Leopard Security78 Put User Accounts to WorkThe key to keeping your data safe is knowing who has access to what. Control your Mac with user accounts.

80 Create Strong PasswordsFollow these essential tips to make sure the pass-words you select are secure.

81 Encrypt Your DataProtect your information by encrypting it—follow our step-by-step instructions.

82 Make Secure ConnectionsGuard your system against intruders when you connect to outside networks.

83 Stay Safe OnlineAvoid spammers, phishers, and hackers by staying sharp and abiding by these rules for safe browsing.

Troubleshooting OS X86 Your Troubleshooting ToolboxDo you know what to do when your Mac misbe-haves? We’ll tell you all the steps you can take to remedy common OS X issues.

90 Advanced FixesWhen the problems are more advanced, combine some sleuthing with other possible solutions.

92 Seek Outside HelpIt’s OK to ask for help, but whom exactly do you ask? Here’s where to turn if your Mac is having bigger problems than you can handle.

94 Back Up with Time MachineKeep your data 100 percent safe with a backup. Figure out the best data-storage plan for your setup.

Terminal Tricks98 Terminal BasicsLearn how Terminal works, and discover some easy ways to make it work harder for you.

100 Easy System TweaksChange small features of OS X’s

built-in programs from Terminal.

Total Snow Leopard Editor Kelly Turner president and Ceo mike Kisseberth vp and editorial Director Jason snell

managing editor Jennifer Werner associate editor heather Kelly Copy editors gail Nelson-bonebrake, Charles purdy

art Director rob schultz Designers lori Flynn, Carli morgenstein

Macworld is a publication of Mac Publishing, L.L.C., and International Data Group, Inc. Macworld is an independent journal not affiliated with Apple, Inc. Copyright © 2008, Mac Publishing, L.L.C. All rights reserved. Macworld, the Macworld logo, Macworld Lab, the mouse-ratings logo, MacCentral.com, PriceGrabber, and Mac Developer Journal are registered trademarks of International Data Group, Inc., and used under license by Mac Publishing, L.L.C. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc. Printed in the United States of America.

Have comments or suggestions? E-mail us at [email protected].



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4

ContributorsChristopher Breen is a senior editor for Macworld. He offers troubleshooting advice in Macworld’s Mac 911 blog (macworld.com/mac911).

Glenn Fleishman is the author of Take Control of Screen Sharing in Leopard (TidBits Publishing, 2008; www.takecontrolbooks.com).

Senior Editor Dan Frakes reviews iPod, iPhone, and audio gear for Macworld and runs Macworld.com’s Mac Gems and Mobile Mac blogs.

Senior Editor Rob Griffiths runs MacOSXHints.com, a repository of hidden OS tricks and workarounds, and offers Mac hints on Macworld’s Mac OS X Hints blog.

Joe Kissell is the senior editor of TidBits (www .tidbits.com) and the author of Take Control of Main-taining Your Mac (TidBits Publishing, 2009).

Contributing Editor Ted Landau is the author of Take Control of Your iPhone (TidBits Publishing, 2007; www.takecontrolbooks.com).

Kirk McElhearn writes about Macs and much more. Visit his blog, Kirkville (www.mcelhearn.com), for information about Macs, iPods, books, and music.

Rich Mogull is an independent security consultant who blogs regularly on security issues at Securosis (www.securosis.com). He is also a contributing editor at TidBits (www.tidbits.com).

Associate Editor Dan Moren waxes eloquent about all things Mac- and iPhone-related on Macworld’s MacUser and iPhone Central blogs.

Jonathan Seff is Macworld’s senior news editor.

Michael Scalisi writes about networking and commu-nications products on PCWorld.com’s Net Work blog.

Macworld Senior Contributor and professional pho-tographer Derrick Story teaches Mac and photogra-phy titles on lynda.com and produces a weekly pod-cast at The Digital Story (www.thedigitalstory.com).

Ben Waldie is the author of Automator for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Visual QuickStart Guide (Peachpit Press, 2007) and the president of Automated Work-flows (www.automatedworkflows.com).

Sharon Zardetto has been writing Mac tips since the Mac was born. One of her current e-books is Minifesto: Time Machine (www.33thingsbooks.com).

ALSO FROM ThE EDiTORS OF Macworld . . .

Get more insider tips and troubleshooting advice from the Mac experts. Our Super-guide series offers useful insights and step-by-step instructions for the latest Mac hard-ware and software. Go to macworld.com/superguide-offer to download a free preview or to order any of the Superguide books as a PDF, on CD, or as a printed book.


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Installing Snow LeopardPick the best upgrade strategy and avoid installation problems

ost of us face the prospect of upgrading an operating system with a mixture of excitement and dread. True, an upgrade brings cool new ways to work. But when

you’re installing OS X on your Mac, you’re tinkering with its pre-cious virtual insides.

Luckily, Apple has improved the upgrade experience greatly with each new cat, and Snow Leopard is no exception. But despite the installer’s useful guidance, it doesn’t make all of your options obvious. Here are our tips for making the upgrade pro-cess as trouble-free as possible.

TabLe of conTenTS

6 Perform a Basic Upgrade 9 Installation Alternatives and

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Inside Snow LeopardGet up to speed with Mac OS X’s new features

pple has spent the last decade transforming Mac OS X into an impressive mainstream operating system that’s widely considered the best in its class. But with OS X 10.6, Apple has changed

course a bit. Instead of adding hundreds of new features, the company has chosen to focus on refining the tools already built into the OS.

But don’t be fooled. Although Apple may be positioning Snow Leopard as a relatively minor update, it has packed plenty of tweaks, changes, and improvements into the new system. Some of them—like the changes to the Dock and Preview—are fairly subtle on their own but will offer significant time savings for users when put together. Others, like the retooled Quick-Time X and the built-in support for Exchange servers, mark a significant departure from previous versions.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest changes you’ll find in Snow Leopard.

TabLe of conTenTS

12 The Finder, the Dock, and Exposé

15 QuickTime X18 Automation Features20 Exchange Support21 Preview22 Wake on Demand24 Accessibility25 Under the Hood26 13 Hidden Features

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InsIde snow Leopard

The finder, the Dock, and exposé

he Finder, the central point for managing files and folders in Mac OS X, has been completely rewritten in Snow Leopard.

But you’d hardly know it from looking; the current version appears almost identical to the past one. That’s because most of the work took place behind the scenes. You should find the new Finder more responsive than the older model thanks to the rewrite, support for 64-bit processing, and increased thread-ing using the new Grand Central Dispatch technolo-gies (see “Under the Hood” later in this chapter for more on these). That said, Apple did also make sev-eral smaller but more visible changes to the Finder, the OS X Dock, and Exposé, the window-switching feature that many of us rely on every day.

Refined DockFor quickly launching apps and switching between programs, the OS X’s Dock is a powerful ally. This handy strip at the bottom of your screen gives you immediate access to any running application, as well as favorite apps and folders. Snow Leopard brings a few new improvements to the Dock.

LeSS cLuTTeR One of the biggest changes concerns minimized windows. Some people use the yellow button in the left corner of most window tool-

Tbars to banish windows temporarily to the Dock (you can double-click the window’s title bar for the same

effect). Other users never take advantage of that feature, because it fills the Dock with tiny window icons. With Snow Leopard, Apple offers a new way of hiding windows that may turn out to be more popular than the old one.

To change the fate of minimized windows, visit the Dock preference pane and select

the Minimize Windows Into Application Icon option. Now, when you minimize an open window, it’ll fly down to the Dock and disappear into the icon of its associated application. To get it back, you simply click and hold on the application’s icon in the Dock. The screen will dim, and you’ll see all open windows for that program in Exposé mode (minimized win-dows appear as smaller icons toward the bottom of the screen). Just click a minimized window to bring it out of the Dock. In fact, Exposé always shows minimized windows when triggered. So if you prefer to retrieve a minimized window by pressing F9 or F10 and picking it out, you can do that, too (see “Two Ways to Access Windows”).

If you don’t want to switch to Exposé, Control-click (right-click) the application in the Dock and choose the window from the list (minimized windows appear with a diamond next to their name).

Two Ways to access Windows In Snow Leopard there are a couple of ways to access minimized windows quickly. When you click and hold on an icon in the Dock, Exposé displays all open windows for that application (left). Mini-mized windows appear as smaller icons at the bottom of the screen A. Alternatively, you can Control-click (right-click) the app’s icon in the Dock (right); a diamond appears next to the names of minimized windows b.

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Work SmarterSavvy shortcuts and timesaving tricks to make Snow Leopard roar

ou may love your Mac, but that doesn’t mean you want to spend any more time than necessary managing your files, switching applications, or copying and pasting text

between documents. Luckily for you, OS X 10.6 is teeming with productivity-boosting

features like keyboard shortcuts, customization options, and powerful automation tools that can trigger complex multiprogram tasks with a single click of the mouse. But most of these features aren’t obvious. That’s where these tips come in. They’re all about learning to make better and more productive use of what’s already there. We’ll show you how to speed through the Finder, unlock Quick Look’s more mysterious powers, manage unwieldy windows with Spaces, and automate your Mac by building your own systemwide services.

Table of conTenTS

30 Quickly Track Down Files and Folders37 Tame Cluttered Windows38 Fill In Text with Substitutions39 Automate Repetitive Tasks

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Work Smarter

Quickly Track Down files and folders

ome OS X programs, such as the Finder, the Dock, and Quick Look, are such an essential part of the Mac experience that

it’s easy to take them for granted. By learning how to use these tools more efficiently and by taking advan-tage of lesser-known shortcuts, you can cut down on numerous clicks—which can add up to some serious time savings over the long haul. Here are some of our favorite tips.

See More Info in open and Save as Dialog boxesYou’re trying to open the budget your coworker sent, but several files on your system have similar names. While browsing an Open or Save As dialog box, you can get additional information about any file by se-lecting it and pressing 1-I.

create Smart burn foldersYou probably know that you can create burn fold-ers (File ▶ New Burn Folder) to make it easier to burn DVDs and CDs, and that you can create smart folders (File ▶ New Smart Folder) to store often-used searches, but did you know that you can mix the two to create smart burn folders?

Say you have a set of files that you’d like to regularly burn to disc, and that they share a common characteristic—they all reside in one folder, or they have a certain extension, or you’ve coded them all with an identical Spotlight Comment.

Personalize the Toolbar The sidebar isn’t the only place you can stash important programs and folders. You can drag their icons onto the Finder’s tool-bar A for easy access.

To make it easier to burn these files on a schedule, first create a burn folder as usual. Instead of dragging items into it, though, next create a new smart folder. Set the criteria so that the desired files appear in the search results, then click Save. In the new dialog box that appears, name your smart folder, and then save it into your newly created burn folder.

That’s all there is to it—now you have a smart burn folder that will constantly update with all the relevant files. When it’s time to burn your backup, you’ll auto-matically get all matching files, without having to do any work on your own.

add Items to the ToolbarAre there certain files, folders, or even programs you want to access quickly from any Finder window? Add their icons to the Finder’s toolbar at the top of the window (see “Personalize the Toolbar”).

Drag an icon to a free area in the toolbar—say, to the right of the buttons—and wait a second; the cur-sor will show a plus-sign (+) icon, and then the item will show up in that space. 1-drag an icon to remove it from the toolbar. For even more options, Control-click the toolbar and select Customize Toolbar from the contextual menu.

Use the Path barWant to relocate a file one or more levels up in its folder hierarchy? Use the often-overlooked Path Bar. Choose View ▶ Show Path Bar to reveal this bar at

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OS X’s Hidden ToolsRediscover three of Snow Leopard’s most underappreciated apps

ome programs need no introduction. Mail, iCal, iChat—these OS X stalwarts are an integral part of the Mac experience. Other programs, meanwhile, languish in

the Applications folder waiting to be noticed—which is a shame, because these apps are often brimming with unrealized potential.

Consider Image Capture, for example. This trusty program doesn’t just download photos; it can also share your photos with any Mac on your network. Likewise, Preview is best known as a PDF viewer, but dig deeper and you’ll find it has plenty of tricks up its sleeve—including erasing a photo’s background. And if you think TextEdit, OS X’s free word processor, is a bare-bones writ-ing app, you’ll be amazed to discover just how flexible it is.

Here’s a look at some of the more surprising features in these often overlooked programs.

Table Of cOnTenTS

46 Image Capture 49 Preview 53 TextEdit

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OS X’S Hidden TOOlS

Image capturemage Capture may be one of OS X’s best-kept secrets. This photo-savvy program, which lives in your Applications

folder, may not have iPhoto’s beautiful inter-face or vast feature set. But it does a great job of allowing you to grab a quick shot and perform complex actions without having to first add those images to iPhoto’s library. And in Snow Leopard, Apple has overhauled Image Capture to make it even more useful.

Once you fire up the app, you can connect anything from an iPhone to a Canon 5D Mark II to your Mac, browse images on the memory card, then download only the ones you want. You can hook up multiple devices at once and choose among them, and even share their images with other people on your network.

If you haven’t taken a look at Image Capture lately, here are some of the timesaving tricks you’ve been missing out on.

Keep iPhoto in Its PlaceIf you’ve been terrorized by iPhoto’s habit of launching every time you plug in your camera or iPhone, you can fix the problem with a few clicks in Image Capture.

Launch Image Capture, connect your device, and make sure it is highlighted in the left column. Now choose what you want to have happen from the pop-up menu at the bottom of the column. Image capture will list all of the available photo programs; selecting one will set it as the default application

Many Devices, One Program In the latest version of Image Capture, you can set different default applications A for each camera, iPhone, or other compatible device. Turn on the Share option B to share the device’s photos with other Snow Leopard Macs on your network.

for the camera. This means the program will launch when you plug in the device. You can also choose

to have nothing happen when the camera is plugged in.

But here’s the best part: thanks to Snow Leopard, you’re no longer stuck with an all-or-nothing approach. In OS X 10.6, you can set different actions for different devices. If you want iPhoto to launch when you con-nect your compact camera, for example, but

you don’t want anything to pop up when you plug in your iPhone, Image Capture will take care of it.

Grab a Quick ShotHave you ever come home from an event and wanted to quickly e-mail one or two photos from the day? Even if you use iPhoto to manage your photos, you may not want to go through the whole process of launching the app, importing the hundreds of photos you took, and then exporting just the one shot. Image Capture can help here, too. (In fact, Image Capture is one of the easiest ways to grab full-resolution photos off your iPhone.)

Connect your camera or card reader and launch Image Capture if it’s not already open. You’ll see thumbnails of all the images on your camera. Click the shot you want, use the Import To pop-up menu to specify where you want to save it, and then click the Import button. (Don’t let the glowing blue Import All button tempt you; that downloads the entire

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Search Your MacUse Spotlight to find files fast and track down anything

o you want to open documents without digging through nests of folders? Trying to find a long-lost e-mail from an old friend? Need a way to bring up all the files you

worked on last Friday? Spotlight can help. First introduced in Tiger, Spotlight provides a quick and easy way to locate and open scattered files and missing documents, as well as applica-tions, contacts, and events.

With useful features such as Boolean searches, keywords that help you home in on a greater variety of content, and the abil-ity to search by specific dates, Spotlight is an indispensable tool for finding anything you seek on your Mac. All you need to do is learn its tricks.

Table of conTenTS

68 Spotlight Basics70 Create Smarter Queries74 Perform Advanced Searches

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search your mac

Spotlight basicslthough you can access Spotlight’s search-ing power from many parts of OS X—includ-ing the Finder, System Preferences, Mail,

Preview, and iCal—most Spotlight queries start in the Spotlight menu. To bring up the Spotlight menu, click the Spotlight icon on the right side of the menu bar or press 1-spacebar.

To start a search, type in one or more words—you don’t have to worry about capitalization. Spotlight immediately starts presenting matches, looking for search terms in your files’ names, content, and hid-den information called metadata. As you type in more of the word or phrase, Spotlight will refine its results.

navigate the Spotlight MenuSpotlight sorts results into categories such as Docu-ments, Folders, Images, and Messages. Depend-ing on the words you’re searching for, you may also come across more application-specific groupings such as Contacts (for entries found in Apple’s Ad-dress Book or Microsoft Entourage), Events & To-Dos (for iCal data), and Webpages (for Safari bookmarks and history).

Within each group, results are prioritized accord-ing to when they were last viewed or saved, so the things you’ve worked on recently will pop to the top of the list. The menu also highlights a result called a Top Hit—the one Spotlight considers most relevant, based on Apple’s secret formula that takes into ac-count file type, recent usage, and other criteria. If the item you’re searching for turns out to be the Top Hit, you can open it simply by pressing the Return key.

To launch a different file, use the up- or down- arrow keys to navigate to it, or click it with your mouse. (For a list of handy keyboard commands, see “Spotlight Shortcuts.”)

Some results open an application rather than an individual file. For example, clicking an event dis-plays the particulars in iCal, while selecting a contact shows the details in Address Book (or Entourage if that’s your contact manager of choice). What’s more, some programs are extra smart when it comes to Spotlight queries. If Preview is your default PDF reader, for example, selecting a PDF file in a Spotlight search both opens the document and highlights the first occurrence of the word.

change Spotlight’s PreferencesIf you’d like to prioritize certain types of files over oth-ers, or if you want to exclude certain sections of your computer entirely, you can do so by choosing Spot-light Preferences from the bottom of the Spotlight menu (or navigating to the Spotlight pane in System Preferences).

SeT caTegorieS The Spotlight menu displays categories according to the order in which they’re set in the Search results section of Spotlight’s prefer-ence pane. You can drag categories around to alter the order in which they appear, or choose to not display certain groups at all by deselecting them in the list.

exclude locaTionS You’ve got lots of files on your Mac, but that doesn’t mean you want Spotlight to search them all. You may want to keep some of

A

Spotlight gets results Spotlight searches file names, content, and metadata on your Mac, to bring up a list of matching results—such as definitions, images, PDFs, text documents, Web pages, e-mails, and music files.



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Snow Leopard SecurityKeep your system safe from snoops, thieves, and malware

now Leopard has added a few security improvements, including a beefed-up malware detector and new firewall settings, to help you protect your Mac and your

data from thieves, viruses, hackers, and other dangers. This chapter will give you the essentials to safeguard your files,

personal information, and communications. With a little work and knowledge, you can greatly decrease the likelihood that your information will fall into the wrong hands.

TabLe of conTenTS

78 Put User Accounts to Work80 Create Strong Passwords81 Encrypt Your Data82 Make Secure Connections83 Stay Safe Online

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snow leopard security

Put User accounts to Workne of the easiest things you can do to keep out casual snoops and to protect the files on your computer is to require users to log

in. OS X lets you set up separate user accounts for everyone who uses your Mac, giving you precise control over how much access each account has and who can access your Mac at all. But for user accounts to be effective, you have to make sure you’ve set them up in the most secure way.

Set Up Multiple accounts If more than one person uses your computer, make sure each user has a separate account. Doing so keeps mail, documents, keychains, browser history, and other personal data safe from casual snooping.

Every Mac has at least one administrator account, which gives you the freedom to install software in the root-level Applications folder, change preferences that affect the entire system, and create and delete other user accounts. However, it’s not a good idea to give other users this much power over your system. That’s why OS X offers additional types of accounts that place limits on these activities: Standard, Man-aged (with the option of parental controls), and Guest (see “Privi-leged User”).

When adding accounts on your Mac, make sure the Allow User To Administer This Comput-er option is deselected. If you’d like to further limit the account, select the Enable Parental Con-trols option, and then click the Open Parental Controls button to define what programs and activi-ties that user can access.

Use admin accounts SparinglyUsing an administrator account as your normal, day-to-day login account can be risky. First, you

Privileged UserIt’s not a good idea to give other users too much power over your system. That’s why OS X offers several types of accounts that offer a variety of limits on activities: Administrator for full access, Standard for other adults, Managed to use parental controls, and Guest for a onetime visitor. Here’s how the options stack up.

make it easier to mistakenly change or delete some-thing crucial to your computer’s operation. Second, you open a potential security hole: if you step away from your computer for a moment without logging out, anyone who walks up to your Mac has complete access to your data and any unlocked settings. The safest course is to set up a second user account without administrative privileges, and use that as your main day-to-day account. To set up a new non-administrator account, create a Standard account and make sure that the Allow User To Administer This Computer option is not selected.

Disable automatic Login By default, OS X logs you in when you turn on your computer. This is convenient, but it also leaves your Mac and its files vulnerable to anyone who pushes

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can change all system preferences

● ❍ ❍ ❍

can change System Pref-erences that affect his or her account

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can manage user accounts

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can install software for all users

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can install software for personal use

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can run all applications installed on the Mac

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Troubleshooting OS Xhow to deal with common snow leopard issues and protect your data

ost of the time, your Mac is the picture of health—it crunches numbers, plays music, and tackles the most difficult tasks without so much as a hiccup. But many

things can go wrong with such a complicated system. When something does go wrong, a good backup of your system can help give you peace of mind and get you back on your feet quickly—which is why apple includes the user-friendly backup program time Machine in snow leopard. this chapter will go through all the Mac fixes you can try on your own, tell you where to turn for outside help, and show you how to keep your data safe with time Machine backups.

Table Of cOnTenTS

86 your troubleshooting toolbox90 advanced fixes92 seek outside help94 Back up with time Machine

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TroubleshooTing os X

Your Troubleshooting Toolbox

ccasionally something that looks like a complete computer meltdown actually has a simple fix. Before heading to the Genius

Bar or rushing into more-complicated troubleshoot-ing techniques, try these tried-and-true remedies for commonplace Mac problems.

force-QuitIt happens to all Mac users sooner or later. You’re about to select a menu command when suddenly your cursor turns into a beach ball that just spins and spins. OS X offers several ways to force-quit a program. You can go to the Apple menu and select Force Quit (or press its keyboard equivalent: 1-Option-Escape). This brings up a list of all your currently open applications. Typically, the name of the frozen one will be followed by the phrase “not responding.” Select the program’s name and click Force Quit (see “Use the Force”).

You can also force an application to quit from the Dock. Click and hold over the frozen application’s Dock icon. When the menu pops up, the item that normally reads Quit should say Force Quit. If it still just says Quit, hold down the Option key to make the Force Quit command appear.

On rare occasions, you may need to quit a pro-

gram—such as the Dock—that doesn’t have a Dock icon or appear in the Force Quit window. In that case, launch Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities). From its list, select the frozen application. Click the Quit Process button in the toolbar. In the dialog box that appears, click Force Quit.

RelaunchJust as unwelcome as the application freeze is the application crash. In this case, you’re not trying to force a program to quit; you’re trying to prevent it from quitting on its own. When an application crashes, you typically see a dialog box informing you that the application has “unexpectedly quit.” As with application freezes, the good news is that these crashes rarely bring down an entire Mac—they usu-ally affect just the one application. The “unexpectedly quit” dialog box includes a Reopen button. Click it to launch the application again. With luck, the crash will not reoccur.

Update ProgramsDoes a particular program consistently crash when you try to perform a particular action, such as sav-ing a file? If the symptom doesn’t occur with any other applications, check to make sure the applica-tion doesn’t have a conflict with the version of OS X you’re using. It’s possible that after you update to Snow Leopard, you will need to update the problem program. Check the company’s Website for details. Oftentimes, it will have a new version that fixes some bug (or some conflict with other software) that is causing the symptom. Snow Leopard will also auto-matically check for conflicting programs at installation and move them to an Incompatibility folder.

Many programs automatically check for updates upon launch. Take advantage of this option—if you see a dialog box asking whether you want to check for updates, accept the offer. Other software comes with a separate update utility that can launch on a schedule—say, once a week. For example, look for the Microsoft AutoUpdate program in your Applica-tions folder if you want to check any of your Office programs right away or set up a schedule. To check

O

Use the force When an application brings your Mac to a screeching halt, try a Force Quit and start fresh.



9797

Terminal Tricksith a little bit of know-how and the right commands, even first-time Mac owners can use Terminal. By tap-ping into the power of Unix, you can streamline your

workflow and manipulate files in ways otherwise impossible in the OS X interface. Though it might seem a little intimidating at first, Terminal is a snap to use once you learn its secrets.

Table of conTenTs

98 Terminal Basics 100 Easy System Tweaks

WGet to know Snow Leopard’s hidden side



98

snow leopard terminal

Terminal basicshis is a collection of the top tricks, new and old, that make using Terminal easy and fun. Test them out and make them part of your

Terminal routine.

open Terminal URls in Your Default browserTo load a URL into your default browser, 1-Shift– double-click on the URL.

Get file Paths fastOS X lets you drag a file or folder to the Terminal window to add its path to a command. You can also copy the file or folder, and then paste it into the Ter-minal window to add its path.

set Terminal’s Welcome MessageWhen you open a new Terminal window in Snow Leopard, you see the date and time you last opened a new Terminal window. To customize this greeting line, open Terminal, enter cd /etc, press Return, and type sudo pico motd. That second command launches a text editor and loads a new file called motd (message of the day). Type what you’d like as your message; then press Control-X (for exit), Y (for yes, to save changes), and Return (to accept the file name, which will appear as motd). From now on, new Terminal windows will display your custom greeting, right below the date and time of the last login.

navigate Terminal TabsInstead of having five separate Terminal windows open, you can have just one main window contain-ing five tabs. To create a new tab, press 1-T; you can then switch between tabs by pressing 1-Shift–close bracket ( ] ) and 1-Shift–open bracket ( [ ) (see “Open Tab”). If you find that last combination awkward to re-member and to execute, you could use the Keyboard Shortcuts panel in the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane to reassign it. But that’s time-consuming, and you would have to repeat it on each machine you use. Instead, try pressing 1-Shift and the left- or right-arrow key. Some people prefer this undocu-mented shortcut to the one using the brackets. If you leave out the Shift key, that same shortcut will cycle between open windows.

Manage Tabs in TerminalTabs in Terminal can perform many of the same tricks that tabs in Safari do. In practice, that means you can turn any tab into a new window by simply dragging it off the tab bar. You can also rearrange tabs by click-ing and holding a tab, sliding it along the tab bar, and then releasing the mouse button; as you move one tab, the others will jump out of the way.

You can also merge multiple windows into one tabbed window. If you have many open windows and want to combine them all, just use the Window ▶ Merge All Windows menu command. If you’d rather be more selective about which windows to merge, you can drag and drop a stand-alone window into the tab area of another window. (For this trick to work, the tab bar must be visible in both windows.) You can set the tab bar to always be visible using the View: Show Tab Bar menu item.

View split Terminal PanesA new feature in Snow Leopard is the ability to split one Terminal window into multiple panes. To create a split Terminal window, click the split icon (the square at the top of the scroll bar on the right). You can also press 1-D (see “Doing the Splits”).

Protect Information with access control listsUnix geeks will appreciate OS X’s support for Access Control Lists (ACLs). ACLs give you more control

T

open Tab You can use tabs instead of keeping multiple Terminal windows open. Just press 1-T to create a new tab.



Nobody spends more time with Apple’s computers and software than the writers and editors at Macworld, the world’s foremost Mac authority.

Now Macworld’s team of experts take you inside Apple’s latest update to the popular Mac OS X operat-ing system: Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6. Snow Leopard is an OS X update unlike any in recent mem-ory—one that boosts speeds, reclaims disk space, tweaks dozens of features, and lays the groundwork for a new generation of computers featuring 64-bit multicore microprocessors, ultrapowerful graphics pro-cessors, and massive amounts of memory.

In this book we’ll walk you through Snow Leopard’s new features and help you master OS X basics, find hidden tricks, and work around glitches—all to make sure you have the best Snow Leopard experience possible.

Inside these pages you’ll find all the information you need to install Snow Leopard smoothly and get started with its most important new features. Use this book to master the Web with Safari 4, get e-mail with Exchange, and increase productivity with text substitu-tions and the Services menu.

Our experts don’t just focus on what’s new in Snow Leopard. This book is filled with practical informa-tion on using OS X, including step-by-step advice on recovering from crashes, freezes, and other Mac ail-ments, and tips on how to best back up your system with Time Machine to ensure that you can recover quickly from more serious problems.

Let Macworld’s experts show you how to get the most out of Snow Leopard and your Mac.

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