Posts tagged as:

Mac

Everything You Need To Know about OS X Lion

by Ian Scott on July 22, 2011

The wait is over, you can finally get your digital fingers all up in Lion’s mane. Apple released the latest iteration of OS X in the Mac App Store and the hefty download is ready for anyone with $29.99 burning a hole in their pocket.

While waiting for Lion, you’ve no doubt checked out Apple’s Lion Features page. It boasts more than 250 new features, some of them more featurey than others. Full Screen Apps is one feature, counting it as a separate feature for each app, that sort of seems like cheating.

To help you get the most out Lion, we compiled a list of features and tips to help you conquer your new feline friend.

 

How To Tame Six of OS X Lion’s Early Problems

Apple finally uncaged OS X Lion in the Mac App Store on Wednesday, and as is typical with most new operating system releases, early adopters are already scratching their heads trying to work around some oddities introduced by the big cat. Here are a few suggestions for taming the new king of your Mac jungle.

 

How To Use the Screen Sharing Features in Lion

The Screen Sharing application has been around in OS X since the days of Leopard (oh so long ago!), but Apple has added some nifty features to the application and underlying support in Lion. From a new tool bar, to a new per-user screen sharing feature, Lion has you covered when doing screen sharing on your local network between two or more Macs.

 

How To Use Versioning Control in Mac OS X Lion

With Lion, Apple has included a way for developers to implement versioning control in their apps. So when you’re saving files like documents you’ll have access to both the past versions and current version. With a Time Machine-like interface, you’re able to view all of the changes in your documents and restore past versions if you accidentally delete something in the current version.

 

 

How To Use Search Tokens in Lion Mail

Apple has completely revamped the Mail application in Lion. Not only are they going for an iPad-influenced user interface, but they’ve also enabled a searching system that makes finding messages easier through the use of tokens. With tokens, you can search by date, name, message contents, or any combination of these.


 

How To Navigate, Organize and Delete Apps with Launchpad

Launchpad allows you to organize, manage, and launch Mac applications just like you would on an iPad. The feature show and store applications as immediately as they’re downloaded from the Mac App Store, and they can even delete applications downloaded from the App Store.

 

 

Does Your Favorite App Work on Lion?

Want to know if Adobe Photoshop CS5 will work on Lion? What about AOL Radio?

The good people at RoaringApps have put together a wiki detailing which apps have been tested so far on Lion, and if they work properly or not. There are currently seventeen pages of apps on their App Compatibility Table, all listed in alphabetical order, with details about each app.

How to Burn a Lion Install DVD and Create Bootable Thumb Drive

Lion is Apple’s first disc-less distribution of Mac OS X, and as such, is leaving many users with slow or no internet connections without any fun today. We’re going to show you how to easily burn your Lion installer to a disc in order to install the OS on a computer without a network connection, or even as a way to make an emergency backup copy of your $30 investment.

7 Annoying Settings You Can Change in Lion

 Lion has a ton of wonderful features, but there are a few new ones that might make long-time Mac users a little crazy. Fortunately, if you’re a creature of habit, Apple has enabled the ability to simply toggle them off in the System Preferences — so yes, you don’t have to live with Lion’s new way of scrolling. Read on to find out which settings you can change in Lion and get back to your normal life.

 

How To Use Gestures in Safari 5.1 for Lion

Mac OS X Lion ships with a brand new version of the Safari web browser. Version 5.1 of Safari gives many new features, including the much anticipated Reading List. But, Apple has also included some new gestures for Safari that gives the web browser more of an iPad feel.

 

 

How To Use Spaces in Mac OS X Lion

Spaces first appeared in OS X Leopard, but in Lion, the feature has been rebranded, along with Expose, into the new Mission Control feature. Mission Control is your one-stop place for viewing all of the opened application windows on your Mac, full screen apps and. Dashboard widgets. It also lets you create multiple desktops, which enables you to organize your windows by the types of applications or by the work you’ll do in each Space. Read on to find out how to best utilize Spaces.

(Via Mac|Life all.)

Tagged as: Apple, Mac, OS X Lion, Tips

{ 0 comments }

Clean Install of OS X Lion

by Ian Scott on July 20, 2011

OS X Lion is now available from the Mac App Store and we know that many of you are preparing or have already started downloading and installing the new cat.

Because installation takes place entirely from within the Mac App Store, the usual ‘clean install’ option isn’t present. If you’ve followed our guide for preparing your Mac for Lion, you’re probably in good shape to proceed with an upgrade. If, however, you long for the ability to do a clean install without having to first install Snow Leopard and THEN install Lion, Mashable has you covered.

If you want to create a bootable USB stick or burn a DVD of OS X Lion, read along.

Step 1: Download Lion From the Mac App Store

 

Go ahead and download OS X Lion from the Mac App store. This is a nearly 4GB download, so if your Internet connection isn’t super fast, you may want to plan to get some other stuff done while you wait.

As soon as the download is complete, exit out of the installation prompt. We don’t want to do an install right now.

Step 2: Find The Install Lion App in Finder (in Your Applications Folder)

Locate the Lion installation program.

 

Step 3: Right-Click on the Installer, Select ‘Show Package Contents’

 

 

Right click or control-click on the program icon and select ‘Show Package Contents.’ Now, you want to browse to the ‘Shared Support’ folder inside of ‘Contents’ and locate a file called ‘InstallESD.dmg.’ This is the file we will use to create our bootable Lion image.

Copy this file to your desktop or another folder you have easy access to.

 

Step 4: Start Disk Utility

 

Open up Disk Utility (it’s in the Utilities folder in Applications). At this point, you should see the various hard drives connected to your Mac. If you haven’t already plugged in an empty USB thumb drive or a hard drive with an empty partition, do that now.

Step 5a: Insert a Blank DVD

 

For users that want to create a DVD for installation purposes, go ahead and put it in your Mac.

In Disk Utility, click the ‘Burn’ icon and then select the ‘installESD.dmg’ file that we just copied to our desktop.

Let it burn.

 

Step 5b: Select the USB Drive You Want to Use

Click on the tab that says ‘Erase.’

If, however, you’d prefer to create a bootable USB drive. Select it now.

In the source menu, select the ‘installESD.dmg’ file we already copied to our desktop.

For destination, choose the partition of the drive you want to use. Be aware that you will erase everything on this partition and replace it with OS X Lion, so be sure you don’t have anything important on that drive or partition.

Click Restore.

After the image is burned to USB or DVD, restart your computer by holding down the option key. You will now be given an option to boot from the DVD or USB drive. Go through the installation, ready to enjoy a new, clean install of Lion.

(Via Mashable!.)

Tagged as: Apple, Mac, OS X Lion

{ 0 comments }

Installing The Developer’s Build Of OS X Lion

by Ian Scott on July 8, 2011

mac os x lionApple will be releasing, perhaps as early as July 9th, its latest version of Mac OS X, Lion. Unlike with previous OS X updates, Lion will be significantly cheaper ($29,00), but getting your hands on a physical disc copy of the Lion upgrade will not be possible.  This will be because, for the first time, this OS X update will only be available for download through Apple‘s Mac App Store.

As of this writing, Apple has not indicated that it will provide hard disk copies of Lion. This new method system of updating has its pros and cons, but having downloaded the developer’s build of Lion, I think for many previous users of the Mac App Store, the process should further simplify new system upgrades.

This article does not address all the questions users may have about the Lion upgrade. After the system is fully released, we will address any other major issues (if any) that may arise with the upgrade.

System Requirements

In order to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion, the Mac you want to install it on will need to be at least an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5 or Core i7 processor. I believe most Macs produced in the last five years meet one of these qualifications. To find out which processor your Mac is using, click on the Apple icon > About.

mac os x lion

You will need to be running the latest update of Snow Leopard 10.6.6. (See here for more information about the App Store upgrade).

mac os lion

This SL update should include the Mac App Store application in which you use to purchase and download Lion, as you would any other applications in the store.

mac os lion

Download Process

The developer’s build of Lion that I downloaded is over 4GB, and more than likely it will not be any smaller than that in its final release version. So once you pay for Lion, be prepared for a 30 minute to 2 hour download time, depending on the speed of your network.

You will want to make sure you have backed up your existing hard drive onto Time Machine and/or cloned it to another external drive.

mac os lion

If you need to install Lion on other Macs in your home, you can open App Store on those computers and click on your Purchases (located in the App Store menu bar) to download the installer app again to those other Macs.

However, instead of another download through a Wi-Fi connection for your other Macs, you probably should be able to copy the Lion installer app via your networked computers or through a FireWire or Ethernet connection so that process is a little faster.

Installation Process

What’s great about downloading Lion from the App Store is that the process will begin once downloading is complete.

mac lion release

Most users will simply download Lion on top of Snow Leopard, which means that the new system will replace Snow Leopard but all your existing files, applications, songs, movies, and other data will be remain intact, and will appear after you restart your computer with the newly installed Lion upgrade.

There will be a Customize button that you can click to selectively exclude any default Lion apps, system foreign languages and the like that you don’t want installed in the upgrade (in the developer’s build of Lion the ability to customize the installation was not yet available).

After you’re done with the installation app, you can delete it from your Application’s folder, as once you purchase it in the App Store it will always be there for to download again if need be. The big issue with this App Store process is you won’t have an external copy of Lion on disk to plop into your Mac just in case you need to run a fix on a corrupted disk or partition.

Alternative Installations

If you need to, you can install Lion on a separate partition or external drive, so that you can have access to both Snow Leopard and Lion. Why might you want to do this? Well, some applications like older versions of Microsoft Word will not run on Lion, and you’re not prepared to upgrade the software for Lion just yet.

So to create a partition, you will need to make sure you have plenty of internal hard drive space. I would recommend at least 12-20 gigs of space on the partition.

mac lion release

You can create a partition by launching Disk Utility and selecting your hard drive. Click on the ‘Partition’ tab and then click the + button at the bottom of the Volume Scheme. Name the partition ‘Lion’ or any name you like. Set the partition size for Lion to be about 12-20GB. Click the ‘Apply’ button and the partition will be created, similar to how it’s shown above.

Now when you run the Lion installer app, you will be able to select the partition (see the screen in the previous section.)

mac os x lion

You can switch back and forth between systems by opening System Preferences and selecting ‘Startup Dist’ under the System category. From there, you can select the system you want your computer to start back up in. Your Mac will boot in the last system you used.

(Via MakeUseOf.com.)

Tagged as: Apple, Mac, OS X Lion

{ 0 comments }

Mac Defender Malware Scam Plagues OS X Users

by Ian Scott on May 27, 2011

A malware scam is making its way to a wide range of Mac users recently. It works by putting malicious links at the top of search results and tricks users into accidentally clicking them. After doing so, a fake virus scanner pops up on the screen. It then falsely informs the user of potentially harmful software on their computer and recommends downloading an even more dangerous application: MacDefender. The scam soon gets even worse when it prompts the user to provide credit card information before downloading the fake anti-virus removal tool.

On May 24th, Apple acknowledged the malware scam’s existence and posted a tip on how to remove the virus or just avoid it altogether. It states the following:

If any notifications about viruses or security software appear, quit Safari or any other browser that you are using. If a normal attempt at quitting the browser doesn’t work, then Force Quit the browser. In some cases, your browser may automatically download and launch the installer for this malicious software.  If this happens, cancel the installation process; do not enter your administrator password.

Apple has promised to deliver a software update for all Mac OS X users that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender, also known as Mac Protector or Mac Security, within a few days. It will also prevent users from accidentally stumbling onto it.

While these types of threats are relatively new for Mac users, Windows users have been experiencing scams and viruses of all sorts for years now. In fact, this exact type of scam — i.e. one that tricks users into downloading fake anti-virus software — is now almost infamous. Critics have said in the past that as the Mac becomes more and more mainstream, it will begin to face the same issues which have haunted Windows advocates for so long.

As of April 2011, Mac OS X had a worldwide market share of approximately 5.4% according to Net Applications. Windows remains strong at 88.91%, but has declined by about 2.5% in the last ten months while Mac usage continues to grow. At this rate, could Mac users see a rising amount of threats in the future? It is plausible, but still a concept that should be taken lightly.

Links: Apple Support
Mac Defender screenshot courtesy of Ubergizmo.

(Via Skatter Tech.)

Tagged as: Mac, Mac Defender, Malware

{ 0 comments }

The Best 5 Free Universal Video Players For Mac

March 30, 2011

I recently purchased a shiny new MacBook Pro and while it’s pretty awesome, I didn’t realize how much time it would take for me to re-adjust to a new operating system. Being fairly new to the whole Mac experience, I’ve been browsing the MUO archives for as many tips, tricks, and interesting tidbits I can [...]

Read the full article →

How to Calibrate Any Display in Mac OS X

February 22, 2011

Regardless of what you use your computer for, there’s one thing that’s in common with all set ups: a display. There are tons of different display manufacturers to choose from with varying standards of quality, and because of this, each of your displays may not have the exact same color accuracy. There is a remedy [...]

Read the full article →

Switching to Mac

February 16, 2011

There are many reasons you might want to switch to a Mac: design, software, sheer awesomeness. Whatever your reason, you might not yet have your heart set on a specific machine, but don’t worry, I am here to fix that very issue. Apple have six main product lines for Mac OS X: MacBook, MacBook Pro, [...]

Read the full article →

Surf the web anonymously.

November 15, 2010

Anonym is a tool for surfing the web with Safari using publicly available anonymous proxy lists. No more need to search the Internet for public proxies. No more need to set up manually the network preferences. No more need to open the browser to check the proxy server. No more need to use the terminal [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries