About the Book/Samples

What Is It?

Mac OS X Power Tools, Second Edition is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed book by Dan Frakes -- a 600+ page tour de force on becoming an OS X power user. It provides you with an essential understanding of what makes Mac OS X tick, and takes you step-by-step through insightful and essential tips, shortcuts, and solutions.

But don't let the book's title fool you -- it's not just for "power users." Just as power drills and band saws allow you to do things you couldn't ordinarily do, or help you to perform everyday tasks much more easily, the Second Edition of Mac OS X Power Tools, like the First Edition, helps beginning users do things they never knew how to do, and shows all users, beginning or advanced, how to do everything better, faster, and more easily. Filled with choice coverage on setup, installations, the Finder, the Dock, applications, networking, security, sharing, Unix, and much more, Mac OS X Power Tools is certain to save you countless hours of time (and frustration) and turn you into the OS X expert you've always wanted to become.

From the cover:

• Completely Revised & Updated for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)
• Become a Power User by Learning the Hows and the Whys of OS X
• Overflowing With Tips, Tricks, and Software Solutions
• Customize Mac OS X to Suite Your Needs -- No Matter How You Use Your Mac
• Exploit the Power of OS X and Turn on Hidden Features
• Enhance and Extend Os X With the Best Third-Party Software

What makes Mac OS X Power Tools different from all the other books?

Although Mac OS X Power Tools includes an impressive amount of background information on OS X, it's not just an "about" book. Likewise, even though it includes lots of tips and tricks, it's not just the usual "tips and tricks" book. Rather, it takes a different, and novel, approach: showing you both how to do things, and why they work. Each chapter includes extensive background information on the hows and whys of the OS, and then shows you how to get the most out of it through specific examples. When appropriate, third-party software that provides additional or enhanced functionality is presented.

Another unique advantage of Mac OS X Power Tools is that it acknowledges different OS X user accounts and user account levels. Before each exercise or example, you're clearly told whether a change or procedure can be performed by any user of your computer, or if it is restricted to administrative users. You're also told whether or not you'll need to use Terminal in order to perform the actions to be discussed. Finally, you're told whether what you're about to do will affect just your own user account, or if it will affect all users of your computer. Mac OS X Power Tools is the first -- and at this time, the only -- OS X book on the market that provides the reader with this level of information.

In short, no other book provides you with this level of understanding of OS X combined with such an extensive collection of tips, tricks, and solutions. Mac OS X Power Tools will turn you into a power user, and will turn your Mac into an even more powerful tool.

More info:

Large image of the book's cover.
The publisher's web page for the book.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Setup, Startup, and Installing
Chapter 1: The Power of Permissions: Understanding Users and Unix Organization
Chapter 2: Sensational Setup
Chapter 3: Subjugating Startup and Leveraging Login
Chapter 4: Installations, Inc.

Part II: Files, Finders, Docks, and Apps (including Classic)
Chapter 5: Finagle Files and Foil Finder Frustration
Online Supplement to Chapter 5 (to be posted soon!)
Chapter 6: Developing a Dynamite Dock
Chapter 7: Application Aptitude
Chapter 8: Clobbering Classic

Part III: The Internet, Networking, Sharing, and Printing
Chapter 9: Networking Notables and Internet Illuminations
Chapter 10: Stellar Sharing Strategies
Chapter 11: Connection Convenience and Remote Control
Chapter 12: Printing Practicalities (and Fax Features)

Part IV: Mastering Your Mac -- Security, Maintenance, and Unix
Chapter 13: Strengthening System Security and Fine-Tuning Firewalls
Chapter 14: Mac Maintenance and Administrative Actions
Chapter 15: Utilizing Unix

Appendices
Appendix A: Multiple Mounts, Various Volumes, and Divided Disks
Online Appendix: A Tale of Two Systems (OS X vs. OS 9)

Index

Download a Sample Chapter!

The publisher of Mac OS X Power Tools (Sybex) has made a sample chapter and the book's index available as free PDF downloads. An online supplement to Chapter 5 is also available via the "Online Content" link to the left; however, it's truly a supplement, so it won't make much sense unless you've first read Chapter 5. Click on a link below to download the respective file. (Chapter 5 focuses on the Finder and working with files. The technical level of other chapters in the book, relative to Chapter 5, varies depending on the topic matter.)
Chapter 5: Finagle Files and Foil Finder Frustration
Book Index
Online Bonus Chapter: Supplement to Chapter 5
Online Appendix: Mac OS X vs. OS 9 (alternate link

These PDF files can be opened in OS X's Preview application, or using Adobe's Acrobat Reader; if you have the excellent PDF Browser Plugin installed, the files will be viewable right in your browser window. (Note: the current version of Apple's Safari browser sometimes has trouble with FTP links; if Safari doesn't work for you, you may need to use a different browser--such as Camino, iCab, OmniWeb, Opera, or Internet Explorer--or an FTP client to download these files.)

Purchasing the Book

Information on purchasing Mac OS X Power Tools can be found using the "Buy the Book" link on the left.