Mac Lists

4 Reasons to Not Update to Mac OS X 10.5.8

Apple just released Mac OS X 10.5.8 and many users have updated without any problems. After cloning my Mac OS X 10.5.7 drive, I updated my old PPC Mini and tested the new version of the system. Although Mac OS X 10.5.8 installed and started up without any problems, I found some serious issues that convinced me to revert back to Mac OS X 10.5.7. You might not have the same issues since system configurations differ, but you might find it useful to know what problems can exist with Mac OS X 10.5.8.

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4 Ways to Organize Text and Image Snippets in Mac OS X

The Mac OS X clipboard limits you to storing only one item at a time, but there probably are instances when you would like to keep more than one snippet for later use. Fortunately, there are other alternatives available for storing text and image snippets in Mac OS X.

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5 Ways to Have Fun with a Graphics Tablet and Mac OS X

If you have never used a graphics tablet with Mac OS X, you have missed out on some enjoyable ways to work with Mac OS X. A graphics tablet and Mac OS X can let you write on your screen just as you might on paper, control and access menu items, draw with better precision, and replace your mouse.

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4 Alternatives to a Mouse for Mac OS X Users

If you work for long hours on a computer, you might be concerned about wrist injuries that can occur as a result of continually using a mouse. There are some alternatives available that can give your wrist a rest while still letting you use your Mac computer efficiently.

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6 Free Ways to Burn Disks on Your Mac

Although many Mac users think they must own Toast if they want to burn CDs and DVDs, this is not true. In this list, I describe free applications available, including ones built into Mac OS X, that can provide the tools you need to burn data and video disks.

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5 Ways to Enjoy Screen Savers on a Mac

Usually people only use screen savers when a computer is idle, but some screen savers are so enjoyable that they can provide visual relief from work sessions. In this list, I briefly describe some ways to enjoy screen savers.

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7 Ways to Create a Website on a Mac

I've been developing websites on my Mac for seven years and I've tried many of the applications available for creating different types of websites, including photo albums, blogs and HTML sites. In this list, I briefly describe some of the options available for creating a website with Mac OS X.

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5 Ways to Speed Up Safari Browser

I love Apple's Safari browser but sometimes it slows to a crawl and becomes difficult to use. When this happens, there are a few things that can be done to improve Safari's speed and in this list I briefly describe those solutions.

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10 Reasons to Purchase MobileMe

MobileMe is Apple's package of online services that includes syncing features, hosting services, online storage space, email server, and more. Although MobileMe had a rocky start when it was first launched, I'm a big fan of the service. I've been using the service, formerly known as .Mac, since its inception and it has improved over the years, with Apple often adding new features. In this list, I give 10 reasons why I think MobileMe is a good investment, even in today's difficult economic times.

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5 Ways to Start the Year with a Faster Mac

Since updating to Mac OS X 10.5.6, I've noticed a slowdown with my old PPC Mac Mini. I'm not sure if the update is to blame, but I did a few maintenance tasks that seem to have improved the situation. Here is my short list of ways to speed up that tired old Mac and start off the new year with a revived, faster Mac.

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5 Great Software Gifts for Mac Users

For those readers who haven't yet bought all of their Christmas gifts or who just want to treat themselves to a Mac gift, I've prepared a list of some of the best commercial software available for Mac computers. For each application, I'm including minimum system requirements, a short description of the software and a link to the developer's website.

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7 Great Apple Software Gifts

This holiday season is the perfect time to buy software packages that can complement your loved one's Mac computer and Apple has some wonderful applications at reasonable prices. In this posting, I'll describe 7 of those applications and give you reasons to purchase each of them.

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5 Essential Steps to Take Before Updating Mac OS X

Apple just released the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update and I thought this would be a good time to give my advice to users who want to install the update. I've been using Mac OS X since its early starts and I always use caution when installing updates. The extra time I've invested in being careful has paid off - I've never had an update go wrong and I've installed more than 25 updates in that time span. If you follow my advice, you, too, should have nothing but successful updating experiences.

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12 More Good Reasons to Buy a Mac Computer

As promised in my earlier posting, I have 12 more reasons that you can use to persuade someone to buy you a Mac computer this holiday season.

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12 Good Reasons to Buy a Mac Computer

I live in a country where Mac computers are not commonly used and most of my friends aren't familiar with Macs. Yet, they respect my opinion about computers so they often ask me why they should buy a Mac instead of a cheaper PC. Over the years, I've increased my list of reasons for buying a Mac, and in this posting and the next one, I'll expound on those reasons.

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10 Mac Experts to Follow on Twitter

Twitter is a social networking site that lets you post very short tweets that let your followers know what you are doing or what news you might want to share with others. When you find someone interesting who has a Twitter link on their website, you can add them to the people you follow. My list for today includes 10 Mac experts worth following on Twitter.

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6 Reasons to Partition a Hard Drive

A question that often shows up on Mac forums is "Should I partition my hard drive?" Many users have strong opinions on this question and they're quick to answer with a definite no or definite yes, but I've noticed that it is rare for someone to explain why they respond as they do. Those against partitioning a hard drive usually say it's not necessary and those for it usually respond with "I do it." Clearly, those responses aren't very helpful to the person who posed the question. In today's list, I give my reasons why I think partitioning a hard drive, especially an external hard drive, is a good idea.

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5 Ways to Create Signatures in Mail

I like having special signatures for different email messages that I send so I've set up signatures in Mail's preferences. However, when Apple introduced Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), the ability to add hyperlinks to the Signatures preferences pane stopped working (it works in 10.4). I keep hoping that Apple will fix this bug, but, unfortunately, it still doesn't work in 10.5.5. I have, however, found some solutions to the problem and in this post, I describe 5 ways to add formatted signatures to Mail, including signatures with hyperlinks and images.

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8 Ways to Use Quick Look

One of the great new features of Leopard is Quick Look. With Quick Look, you can view images, documents and media files just by pressing the spacebar. If you're using Leopard, you've probably tried Quick Look in the Finder, but that's not the only place you can use it. Quick Look saves me time everyday as I use it in the Finder, in Mail, in Time Machine, and in third-party applications. In this post, I briefly describe 8 ways you can use Quick Look.

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6 To Do Applications for Mac OS X

I'm a highly organized person and I'm constantly making lists of things I need to do. Although I like to have my To Do lists in iCal, I find that adding them directly to iCal is too time consuming. Also, I prefer to not open iCal every time I want to add a new item to my list. In the past, I've used a Widget called DoBeDo (see my review in the Reviews section of this site), but opening Widgets on my old PPC Mini is too slow. So I tested a few other options for this blog and here's the short list of applications I like for creating and managing quick To Do lists.

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