Basics4Mac

Welcome to the new Basics4Mac

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:22:56 -0400

Welcome to the new Basics4Mac website with a fresh new look and new features.

Even better, new tips are returning soon so check back so ...

"Protecting Your Digital Life" Video Conference by Tidbits

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

Info you need to know

As we are storing more and more information about ourselves online, the security of our information is an important part of our "digital lives." The fact is that there are lots of bad guys out there looking to flat out steal your personal information or trick you into giving it to them willingly.

TidBITS, one of the most respected sources of information about the Mac world, recently held a live panel discussion featuring two security experts, both for the Mac and the world at large. The video cast was held on August 22, 2012, but it is available on YouTube ...

Quick Access to Common System Preferences Panes

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

Directly from the keyboard

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Displays System Prefs Panel
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The Option key is a never ending source of shortcuts and tricks in OS X. This trick uses the Option key to quickly open commonly used panels in System Preferences.

(Works in Mountain Lion and Lion. I don't have any way to test Snow Leopard and earlie ...

Changing Notification Types in Notification Center

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

Setting notification types

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Notifications System Preferences panel
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Notification Center shows on-screen banners and alerts when they come in and a way to see all of your previous alerts. You can set on an app by app basis how notifications work for that app ...

Working with Notification Center

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

A see all of your notifications in one place

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On-screen notifications
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Prior to Mountain Lion, every app used its own method for sending you notifications such as reminders, new mail messages or software updates. Mountain Lion has a new feature called Notification Center that allows apps to use a central system so that notifications are uniform and you have a way to go back and see any notifications you might have missed.

If you have an iOS device, you will quickly see that Notification Center was borrowed almost exactly from iOS.

Here is how Notification Center wor ...

Understanding Gatekeeper in Mountain Lion

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

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Gatekeeper warning
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Back in the good old days, you never had to worry about malware on a Mac. The past couple of years, however, have brought what seems like a steady stream of security issues. One of the most common ways that a person gets malware onto their Mac is by something called a Trojan Horse.

A Trojan Horse is an app that pretends to do one thing but instead installs malware on your Mac. A Trojan Horse can't do its damage alone. You have to download an app and run it for the malware to be installed.

Apple has taken security of the Mac very seriously the past couple of year. Gatekeeper is a new feature of Mountain Lion that helps you avoid installing a Trojan Horse on your Mac ...

Showing Your Recent Searches in Safari 6

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

It's in a different place

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Recent Searches
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What I find to be cumbersome about the new combined Address and Search field in Safari 6 is that all of the functionality of both the old web address field and old search field have to exist in the one field.

One things that is a bit tricky to locate in the new combined address and search field is the list of your recent searches. Here's where to find them ...

Bringing the Reload Button to the Left in Safari 6

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

Safari 6 move the Reload button to far right

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Adding the Reload button
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When a web page gets "stuck" loading in Safari or if you need to refresh a page's content, you click the Reload button at the far right of the Address field. The way Safari's tool bar was laid out prior to Safari 6, the right end of the Address field and therefore the Reload button was just a bit to the right of center.

Now in Safari 6, with the unified Address and Search field, the single field goes all the way across the tool bar and puts the Reload button far off on the right side. Having Reload so far to the right seems inconvenient to me, especially if your Safari window is very wide. Back a few versions of Safari ago, the Reload button was its own button to the left of the Address field.

There is an easy way to bring back the Reload button on the Safari tool bar ...

Safari 6: Working with Tabs

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:05:05 -0400

What were they thinking?

The latest version of Safari, Safari 6, was released as part of Mountain Lion. While many of the new features are for Mountain Lion only, Safari 6 is also available for Macs running Lion.

Safari 6 changes the way tabs display and it is a train wre ...

Safari 6: Combined Web Address and Search field

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:05:00 -0400

All in a single field

secure links

The latest version of Safari, Safari 6, was released as part of Mountain Lion. While many of the new features are for Mountain Lion only, Safari 6 is also available for Macs running Lion.

One feature available to everyone is the new combined address bar and search b ...