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Who Should Read This Book What This Book Isn't How to Use This Book Software Mentioned in the Book Part I: Setup, Startup, and (In)Stalling Chapter List Chapter 1: The Power of Permissions: Understanding Users and Unix Organization Overview (Or: What the heck are user accounts and privileges, and how do I use them to my advantage?) It may seem odd to start a book about becoming a power user of Mac OS X with such boring topics as user accounts, file organization, and privileges. After all, you're in this to learn cool tips and tricks, not to learn about the boring guts of the operating system, right? Yet when it comes down to it, if you don't understand these topics, you'll never become the master of your Mac. In addition, in my experience working with users of OS X (especially those users who have come to OS X from previous versions of the Mac OS), one of the most frustrating—and common—issues they have is dealing with permissions (such as error messages telling them they can't do what they want to do because they "don't have permission"). This means that some of the most useful tips and tricks relate to permissions and user accounts. Chapter 1: The Power of Permissions: Understanding Users and Unix Organization The Basics: Permissions, Accounts, and File OrganizationBecause of its Unix heritage, Mac OS X is a true multi-user operating system from the ground up. Yet some people have used Mac OS X for many months without fully realizing what this means—as the only user of their Mac, they press the power key and it simply boots up and runs, much like a Mac running OS 8 or OS 9. To many other users, a multi-user OS just means that several people can use the Mac without sharing the same Documents folder and preference files. The truth is that the multi-user architecture of Mac OS X offers so much more than separate Documents folders. It is a powerful system of files, folders, and volumes, with varying degrees of access to those items given to individual users. Everything from setting preferences to installing software, from opening files to emptying the trash, is affected by this system; as a result, OS X provides levels of security and flexibility heretofore unseen on the Mac platform. Understand Mastering Permissions and AccountsBy now you should have a pretty good handle on the way Mac OS X organizes files, accounts, and permissions. While much of the book from here on out is oriented towards showing you how to do things, doing most of those things will be easier, and understanding why and how you're doing them will be easier, now that you understand the underlying structure. The rest of this chapter will provide some hands-on opportunities, as I discuss everything from creating and editing user accounts to creating groups and using group permissions, from working with the root account to dealing with permissions problems. Creating, Editing, and Deleting User Accounts When you first installed Mac OS X or first booted your Mac, you were asked for a name and password; whether you realized it or not, you were actually creating your first user account. That account was automatically given administrative access and, if your first Mac OS X installation was 10.2 (Jaguar) or later, w Moving On…Hopefully at this point you thoroughly understand the concepts of users, groups, file permissions, and Mac OS X's file organization. While these may not be the most exciting topics, they provide the basis for nearly everything else you'll do in the rest of the book. Having a good handle on these issues means you're ready to start getting into the fun stuff. We start with setup and preferences. Chapter 2: Sensational Setup (Or: Making your Mac work the way you want.) As someone who's been using Mac OS X for a while now, you've probably used the System Preferences utility to customize your OS X preferences, and you've probably changed a few settings in applications, or maybe even in the Finder. Even if you just started using Mac OS X, you had to set up a few things when you first started your Mac (remember the Setup Assistant?). However, chances are there are still many settings you don't know exist, a few you don't quite understand, and ways of setting them up you've never even thought of. System Preferences: Beyond the Basics Most of the ways you can customize Mac OS X's built-in features can be found in the System Preferences application (/Applications/System Preferences), easily accessible from the Apple menu (Apple Menu ➣ System Preferences). Whereas in Mac OS 9 you had a folder full of individual control panels, System Preferences provides you with a smorgasbord of setti Chapter 2: Sensational Setup Application PreferencesMost system-wide preferences are found in either the System Preferences application or in the Finder's two settings panels, discussed above. However, individual applications generally have their own, application-specific, preference interfaces. Luckily, the way you go about changing and customizing those settings is fairly consistent across the OS. How Do I Access Application Preferences? In previous versions of the Mac OS you might find the preferences for an application located in the Edit menu, the File menu, the Help menu, or even the Apple Menu. In Mac OS X Apple has standardized on a consistent location for preferences—in the Application menu, named so because it is always titled the same as the frontmost application—and strongly encourages developers to place their application's preferences menu item there. This means that if you want to change the setting in an application that has a preferences dialog (not all applications do), you'll almost always be ab Working with Preference FilesWhenever you make a change to a setting, whether it's a Mac OS X setting or an application-specific setting, that change is stored somewhere on your computer. Apart from a few system-level settings that are stored in your computer's low-level memory, preference settings are stored in preference files. Each application or preference pane has its own preference file to store its own settings. Generally, the only way users interact with these preference files is via the System Preferences application and application-specific preference dialogs. However, at times you'll want to access these files directly. In this section, I'll talk about why and how. Where Are My Preferences? Much like everything else in Mac OS X, there are several locations for preference files. User-specific preferences files—those that affect only a particular user—are located in ~/Library/ Preferences and are only modifiable by that user. System-wide preferences—those that affect all users Moving On…Understanding settings and preference files is a valuable skill, especially as you perform some of the tips and tricks explained later in the book. You'll find yourself working with preference files, and even manually editing some, several times before all is said and done. Now that you've got most of your settings the way you want them, let's talk about getting the most out of the startup and login processes. You'd be surprised how much you can do before you even start working. Chapter 3: Subjugating Startup and Leveraging Login (Or: Mastering startup and login to save time and frustration.) You've most likely booted up your Mac many, many times; if you've been using OS X for a while, you may have even set up a few applications to launch at login. However, there's a lot more going on during startup and login than you're probably aware. The startup system is chosen, code is loaded, services are started, and the login process is executed. Like much of Mac OS X, each of these actions and processes can be customized. In this chapter, you'll learn more about the startup and login processes, how to tailor them to your preferences and uses, and how to take advantage of special startup options. The Boot Process When your Mac starts up, you see the gray Apple startup screen, then the white "Mac OS X" window (called the boot panel) on a blue background, and then the login screen. After logging in, you finally see the familiar Mac OS Desktop. (If your Mac is set to auto Chapter 3: Subjugating Startup and Leveraging Login Choosing a Startup Volume or SystemThe most obvious way you can tailor the startup process to your needs is by choosing the boot volume and/or the copy of the Mac OS you want to use to boot your Mac. You can do this via System Preferences or using the keyboard at startup. The Startup Disk System Preferences User level: admin Affects: all users Terminal: no The Startup Disk pane of System Preferences is where you choose both the drive and the operating system on that drive you wish to boot into at startup. When you select this panel from within the System Preferences application, Mac OS X checks all mounted/connected volumes (including NetBoot servers) for viable operating systems—on the newest Macs, it looks for bootable versions of Mac OS X; on older Macs, it looks for both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 System Folders. During this process you'll see the spinning "beach ball" wait cursor. When it has finished, you'll be presented with a list of all versions of the Mac OS that you can choose fo Customizing the Boot PanelThe boot panel is the white and gray striped box with the blue Apple logo that appears at startup; you see it in between the initial grey Apple screen and the login screen. As it is displayed, you also see text that indicates the various system services that are being loaded. This is all well and good, but many users really don't care; they'd rather have a screen that illustrates their individuality (these are the same people that changed their startup screen under OS 9). It turns out that you can change both the image used for the boot panel, and the text displayed during boot (called the boot strings). Changing the Boot Panel Image There are two ways to change the boot panel image. You can either change it manually, or you can use one of several third-party utilities. But first you need to find or make a boot panel image. If you're the creative type, you can make your own in any photo or graphics application. The size of the image should be approximately 350 The Login ProcessOnce the boot process is complete, the Mac OS X login screen appears (assuming you don't have your account set to auto-login, of course). The login window is where users log in by selecting an account and then entering the password for that account. Although the login screen and window look rather simple, there are a number of ways in which you can customize them. I discussed creating accounts in Chapter 1, and I talked about configuring the Users tab of Accounts preferences in both Chapters 1 and 2. However, login-related settings are configured in two other places in System Preferences: the Login Options tab of Accounts preferences and the Login Items pane. Login Options in Accounts Preferences User level: admin Affects: all users Terminal: no If you launch System Preferences and click on the Accounts pane, you'll see the familiar Users tab; however, if you click on the Login Options tab you get a few extra options that we haven't yet discussed; all of these options Managing Startup/Login OptionsIn Mac OS 9 and earlier, you could control what startup files (extensions, control panels, startup items, etc.) loaded at startup—manually, by moving them in and out of particular folders, or automatically using utilities such as Extensions Manager or Conflict Catcher. Generally the reason for doing this was to solve startup conflicts, to reduce the potential for such conflicts, or simply to reduce the amount of RAM used by the OS. In Mac OS X, extensions, control panels, and startup items have been replaced by kernel extensions, preference panes, and login items. Only kernel extensions actively modify the "guts" of the operating system, so to speak, so the chances for major conflicts have been reduced considerably. In addition, the amount of RAM used by most "startup" files is minimal, and because of OS X's superior memory management, the gain from deactivating such files is much less than it was under OS 9. Nevertheless, there are still valid reasons to Stopping and Restarting Startup Processes I've discussed how to set up Login Items for individual users and how to manage system-level startup processes and items. However, one thing I haven't mentioned is how to stop services and processes that are already running, or how to start services that you disabled at startup or stopped manually. These aren't things most users will need to do very often, if ever, but you'll know how to do both after reading this section. The various startup and login services discussed throughout this chapter can be broken down into three basic categories: Mac OS X system-level services, located in /System/Library/ StartupItems and launched by SystemStarter at the end of the boot process; third-party system-level services, located in /Library/StartupItems and launched by SystemStarter immediately after the OS services; and user-level (and user-specific) login items, listed in the Login Items pane of System Preferences and launched when the user logs in. You c Special Startup OptionsIn addition to the ways you can customize the boot and login processes, a few special startup options are available. They all do slightly different things, but because they don't fit neatly into any particular category of functionality, I'm grouping them here. Single User Mode: Command+S User level: any, unless restricted by Open Firmware Affects: all users Terminal: yes If you hold down command+S at startup, you'll be presented with a bunch of code (white or yellow text on a black screen) in what looks like Terminal. What you're seeing here is called single-user mode, and the text you're seeing is basically BootX (discussed earlier in this chapter) in all its glory. After it's done its thing, you're presented with a command-line prompt. At this point you can run fsck, the built-in disk utility (discussed more in Chapter 14) or work directly with Terminal commands (and thus files on your hard drive). Warning Single-user mode gives anyone with command-line experi Moving On…We're almost ready to get down and dirty with the everyday use of your Mac. However, we've got one more topic to cover first, and that's installations. Since a lot of the exercises and tips we'll be doing for the rest of the book entail installing third-party software, and you may need to install (or uninstall) software, understanding installations is an important skill to have. Plus you never know when you'll have to install or reinstall the OS, or parts of it. Chapter 4: Installations, Inc. Overview (Or: Mastering Mac OS and third-party installations.) When you first took your Mac out of the box, it came with most of the things you needed to be a fairly functional member of the computer-using public: e-mail client, web browser, word processor—maybe even the AppleWorks or Microsoft Office suite of applications. However, at some point you had to (or will have to) install other software, whether it's commercial software, games, or even shareware or freeware you've downloaded from the Internet. In addition, you may want to (or, unfortunately, need to) reinstall software that came with your computer. Finally, there are sure to be times when you have to undertake the (sometimes daunting) task of uninstalling software. Since you're already using Mac OS X, I'm going to talk first about installing applications and third-party software, including system add-ons. Then I'll talk about Mac OS X and Apple software installations and updates, and uninstalli Chapter 4: Installations, Inc. Installation BasicsIf you've ever decided to take a curious trip around your hard drive, you've surely discovered that Mac OS X includes tens of thousands of files, organized in hundreds and thousands of folders and sub-folders. If you're a former user of Mac OS 9 or earlier, the sheer number of files that are present is enough to make you wonder if upgrading to OS X was such a great move. However, the truth is that despite the large number of files, OS X and its applications are organized in a fairly logical manner. Understanding the basics of application and system software organization will help you better understand installations (and installation troubleshooting). Where Are Things Installed? I spent a good amount of time talking about OS X's file and folder organization in Chapter 1, but I'm going to briefly revisit this organization as it relates to software installation. Mac OS X The bulk of files and folders in most computers running Mac OS X is made up by the operating system Installing Third-Party SoftwareSo you're tired of using TextEdit for all your word processing, or you want to try a new web browser. Or maybe you read about a cool system add-on that makes it easier to access your files. Whatever the reason or need, you'll eventually want to install software that didn't come with your Mac. In this section I'm going to talk about the various ways in which you can install third-party software, along with a few tips on how to do it better. (If you've already installed quite a bit of third-party software, this section might be a bit elementary. However, I recommend that you at least skim along—you still might find something new. There are generally three ways to install software in Mac OS X: via an installer application, using an installer package, or by simply copying the application to your hard drive. Which method you use is actually up to the software developers, as they decide how they want to distribute their software. But before I talk about each of Installing Third-Party Software Installing Mac OS and Apple SoftwareIn some cases, installing software from Apple, such as applications and OS updates, works just like installing third-party software. However, most of the time you'll install Apple software using OS X's Software Update application, or a Mac OS X installer CD. In this section, I'm going to show you how to get the most out of Software Update, then talk briefly about installing Apple software manually, and finally get into the nitty-gritty of installing (and reinstalling) Mac OS X itself. Note Whenever you install an update to Mac OS X itself, I recommend running the Repair Disk Permissions feature of Disk Utility (described in Chapter 1) immediately afterwards. Many users have found that doing so after installing an update to OS X avoids problems and provides better performance. Bending Software Update to Your Will Apple first introduced Software Update in Mac OS 9; some people used it regularly, others never even realized it existed. However, in Mac O Uninstalling SoftwareAt some point you'll want to remove software that you've installed. You may have tried out some software that you didn't like, or you may want to free up some disk space or clean up some clutter. Whatever the reason, uninstalling software is one of those things that everyone ends up doing at some point. Here's how to do it right. Uninstalling Mac OS Software It's rare that you would want to uninstall part of the Mac OS; more importantly, it's generally not a good idea. However, there are a few things installed by OS X, such as language files, that you may not want or need. In addition, if you've installed the OS X Developer Tools, you may decide down the line that you no longer want them (they take up quite a bit of space). Here's how to get rid of them. Removing Unwanted Language Support User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no Unless you specifically tell the OS X installer not to, it will install support for a wide range of languages; if your Mac came wi Transferring Mac OS X between Computers or Hard DrivesIn my experience with users and participating in online forums and mailing lists, one of the most common questions that users of Mac OS X seem to have is "How do I copy my Mac OS X installation from one hard drive/computer to another?" Users generally fall into one of two categories: (1) people who have bought a new (larger) hard drive and installed it in their Mac, and want to move everything over from their old hard drive to the new one; or (2) people who have bought a new Mac and want to copy Mac OS X and all their files and software over from their old Mac to the new one. The good news is that Mac OS X is, for the most part, hardware independent. That is, the same OS X that runs on a PowerBook also runs on an iBook and a G4 tower. That means that you can copy Mac OS X, and all installed software and files, directly from one computer to another, and it should boot up and function properly. The bad news is that unlike Mac OS 9, wh Supporting "Unsupported" StuffI'm not going to spend too much time on this topic, but I wanted to point out that just because a certain Mac model or a certain third-party peripheral/accessory isn't "officially" supported by Apple, doesn't mean your computer is relegated to the scrap heap. Third-party developers have provided some novel solutions that let you use Mac OS X on unsupported hardware, and peripherals that aren't officially supported by Apple or the peripheral's manufacturer. Here are a few examples: XPostFacto A freeware solution that allows you to install Mac OS X on a number of unsupported Macs. For instructions, downloads, and a list of Macs that are compatible with XPostFacto, go to http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/. Sonnet PCI X Installer A commercial product from Sonnet Technologies that allows you to install Mac OS X on many computers that have been upgraded with Sonnet processor upgrade cards. For a list of supported computers and processor cards, visit Moving On...Installing and uninstalling software are some of the most mundane tasks you can perform on your Mac. Yet they're also some of the tasks that users find the most mystifying. Hopefully this chapter has helped you become both more familiar with these processes and better equipped to take advantage of them. At this point I've discussed some of the major conceptual topics that surround OS X, and covered a bunch of the possible setup and startup options available to you. These topics—permissions, accounts, preferences, startup/login, and installing software—really form the basis of mastering Mac OS X, as many of the topics and tips we cover in the rest of the book will involve some combination of the skills and knowledge you've gained. Now that you've got a handle on these topics, it's time to start talking about the ways you use OS X every day, and how to do those things better, faster, easier, and cooler. Part II will cover such topics as the Finder, the Dock, applications, and Part II: Files, Finders, Docks, and Apps (Including Classic) Chapter List Chapter 5: Finagle Files and Foil Finder Frustration Overview (Or: How to bend the Finder to your will.) No matter what you use your Mac for—word processing, e-mail, surfing the Web, graphics, multimedia, games, business—you spend a lot of time working with files. Creating files, accessing files, editing files, copying files, moving files, saving files, everything you do on your computer is file-related. It follows that working with files is an area where becoming an expert can save you time and frustration. However, most Mac users take advantage of only a small percentage of the Finder's functionality. In this chapter I'm going to cover files and the Finder from top to bottom: understanding attributes to setting up settings, working with windows to finding information, customizing contextual menus to optimizing Open/Save dialogs. In addition to the topics I cover in this chapter, a large part of working with files is accessing them quickly (especially applications). Mac OS X's Dock is Chapter 5: Finagle Files and Foil Finder Frustration File BasicsBefore you can master the Finder, you need to master files. Fortunately, doing so isn't too difficult. However, a few topics deserve your attention, as understanding them will become extremely valuable the deeper you get into using your Mac. File Types, Creator Types, and File Extensions For years, one of the biggest "incompatibilities" between the Mac OS and other operating systems had to do with how the respective operating systems determined what kind of file a particular file was. The Classic Mac OS used two different codes—the creator code and file type—attached to the file. The creator code was a four-letter code that identified the application with which a file should be identified. (MSWD was the creator code for Microsoft Word, for example.) The file type indicated what kind of file a particular file was (APPL was an application, WDBN was a Word document, etc.). Windows and Unix-based systems, on the other hand, use three-letter codes appended to the end of filenames Finder Preferences and View OptionsIn Chapter 2, I covered the System Preferences application, which provides access to most Mac OS X settings. However, the Finder has a few settings of its own that aren't located in System Preferences. Finder Preferences User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no The job of the Finder is to provide you with an interface to manage files, folders, and applications. If you're wondering why the preferences from the Finder aren't located in System Preferences like other Mac OS X settings, remember that the Finder is an application, just like your e-mail client, your word processor, and your web browser. (The main difference is that Mac OS X knows to always keep the Finder running, so if it crashes or if you force quit it on purpose, it will automatically relaunch.) As such, the Finder's preferences are located exactly where you'd expect to find them in any other application: in the Finder's application menu. When the Finder is active, select Fin The Desktop and the Desktop FolderThe Desktop is one of the busiest areas of any Mac. Since it's the easiest place to get to quickly, and you can (almost) always see it, many people use it as a place to put frequently used items, work in progress, and even permanent files and folders. If you've chosen to show mounted volumes on the Desktop, you also use it to access those volumes. Here are a few tips to help you get to it more easily and make it work better for you. Where/What Is the Desktop Really? If you're a veteran of Mac OS 9 or earlier, you probably know that the Desktop was actually an invisible folder called Desktop Folder at the root level of the hard drive. If you had multiple hard drives, each of them had their own Desktop Folder. These Desktop Folders were shared by all users. In Mac OS X, because each user has their own Desktop, the Desktop is handled a bit differently. It's still a folder; however, each user has their own Desktop folder, located at ~/Desktop (I actually m Working with Windows (Finder Windows, not Microsoft Windows)People use the Finder every day without thinking much about it. This is even more the case when it comes to Finder windows—apart from moving things around on the Desktop, any interaction you have with the Finder is via Finder windows. Yet these windows are one of the areas where most users are taking the least advantage of the built-in power and flexibility of Mac OS X. In this section, I'm going to show you how to do some new things and how to do some of the things you already do even better. The Toolbar Mac OS X introduced a new feature to Finder windows, the toolbar. Although it may not always be visible, every Finder window has a toolbar, and these toolbars provide an incredible amount of functionality to Finder windows. Open a new window in the Finder, and you can follow along as I show you some of the ways you can use the toolbar to your advantage. Tip You can show or hide Finder window toolbars in several ways. You can File and Folder FinesseAs someone who's been using Mac OS X—or even Mac OS 9 or Windows—you're familiar with the basics of working with files and folders. Dragging files between folders or volumes, double-clicking to launch applications or open files and folders…these are the first things you learn about using a computer. However, in Mac OS X there are many other ways to do these things, and many other things you can do with files and folders. Here are some of the best tips. We'll start with contextual menus because they will be mentioned several times in the following pages. Contextual Menus One of the most useful ways to interact with files and folders in the Mac OS is using contextual menus. It is also the most infrequently used tool for almost every user I have ever worked with; in fact, many users don't even realize that contextual menus exist. Contextual menus are accessed by holding down the control key as you click on a file or folder (also known as control-clicking) or, if you Super Saving (and Opening) You've surely used OS X's Open and Save dialogs many times; they're one of those things you can't get away from. However, chances are you're not taking advantage of all the features they provide. Here are some tips for getting the most out of them, and how to add the features you've always wanted. Note Most of the tips in this section apply to Mac OS X-native applications. They won't apply to Classic applications or to some Carbon applications that do not take full advantage of the OS X interface. (I'll talk more about application types in Chapter 7.) Navigating Open and Save Dialogs User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no Using Open/Save dialogs is one of those skills that no one ever really teaches you to do; you just figure it out as you go along. You probably realize you can create a new folder from within a Save dialog and then save your document inside it. But here are a few other tricks, some basic, some more advanced, that I hope will h Moving On... The Finder is and always has been the center of action on any Mac; however, in Mac OS X the Dock is its partner in crime. In the next chapter I'll cover the Dock, getting the most out of it, and using enhancements (and alternatives) to it. P.S. If after reading this chapter, you're thinking "Wow, that was a lot of great info about the Finder!" check out the Online Bonus Chapter, "Furthering Finder Functionality." I'll show you how to get even more out of the Finder by adding menus, working with filenames, automating the things you do the most, and changing the overall appearance of Mac OS X. I'll also tell you how to fix a few of the most common Finder foibles. Chapter 6: Developing a Dynamite Dock Overview (Or: Using the Dock, Dock accessories, and Dock alternatives.) The Dock is probably the most recognizable—and controversial, if the discussion of it around the Internet is any indication—element of Mac OS X. If the Finder is, as I proposed in Chapter 5, the center of Mac OS X activity in general, the Dock is the center of application-related activity. It provides a straightforward way to launch applications, access application options, monitor application status, switch between running applications, and switch between windows within each application. However, the Dock's functionality goes beyond just working with applications. It also lets you "store" Finder and application windows that you aren't currently using and, set up properly, lets you quickly access files and folders. It provides all this functionality in an interface that is intended to be easily accessible and easy to understand. That said, because it tries to remain simple to u Chapter 6: Developing a Dynamite Dock Dock Settings and CustomizationDespite the fact that every promotional picture you see of the Dock looks exactly the same, it's actually quite flexible. OS X lets you change a few Dock settings via the Dock preferences pane, and third-party utilities provide a way to access a number of settings that aren't officially available yet. Note Like the Finder, the Dock is simply an application that is set up by OS X to always be running. If you quit it, or it crashes, it will automatically relaunch. The Dock Preferences Pane User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no Like most other OS-related settings, you choose your Dock options from the System Preferences application (Figure 6.1). The first option, Dock Size, lets you choose the default size for the Dock. However, what it really sets is the maximum size of Dock icons. At the smallest setting, Dock icons will be 16×16 pixels, regardless of how few or many items you have in the Dock; at the largest setting, Dock icons will be a Using and Abusing the DockIf you've spent any time at all working with Mac OS X, you already know the Dock basics: any application that is running shows up in the Dock (with a triangle beneath it), as well as any applications or files you add yourself (or, if you haven't modified the Dock in any way, any applications that were already in the Dock when you first booted into Mac OS X). You can click on any application icon in the Dock to switch to that application. Simple, right? Yes, it is, and that's part of the beauty of the Dock, especially for new users. However, if your Dock expertise doesn't go much beyond these basics, you're not taking advantage of all the features and power that the Dock provides. In this section I'll show you these features and how to get more out of them. Accessing and Using Dock Items User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no I'll talk about customizing the Dock's contents shortly, but first I want to make sure you're aware of everything you can Accessorizing Your DockIt's clear from our discussion so far that the Dock provides much more functionality that it appears to at first glance. But another great thing about the Dock is that third-party developers have taken advantage of the Dock's own features—Dock menus and "live" icons, for example—to provide much more functionality. Here are a few choice examples of ways to accessorize your Dock. Not-So-Ugly Docklings In early versions of Mac OS X, Apple provided small Dock-based applications called Docklings. These applications didn't have any menus in the menu bar, and you couldn't even switch to them—they existed only in the Dock, and all their functionality was provided via their Dock icon and menu. A few third-party developers figured out how Apple made Docklings work, and the concept of Docklings caught on. However, despite their popularity, Apple eventually decided to get rid of Docklings. Not only that, but they changed the way the Dock worked, so some older Docklings refus Alternatives to the Stock Dock Despite its functionality and ease of use, there are some common complaints heard about the Dock. I already mentioned one—it can't hold a lot of items without becoming overcrowded—but there are others as well. Many of these complaints revolve around its inflexibility: you can't move it to a second monitor, you're locked into a single view, and so on—everyone has a complaint or two about the Dock. Part of the problem is that it's really a jack-of-all-trades. It launches, it switches, it stores, it controls, it slices, it dices. Putting such diverse functionality in one place, and keeping it easy to use, means that it isn't going to be as comprehensive at anything as some people would like. With that in mind, let's look at some "alternatives" to the Dock. I use the word in quotes because nothing is going to do everything the Dock can do; and chances are you aren't unhappy with everything about it. So instead I'm going to talk about third-party software that Moving On…By now we've covered pretty much everything you need to know to get your computer up and running (the way you want it), and you're well on your way to becoming a master at working with files, folders, and the Dock. Now we can finally move on to what you bought a computer for in the first place—running applications. Chapter 7: Apple-ication Aptitude Overview (Or: Using Apple's applications, and applications in general.) Mac OS X comes with the applications you need to do many things— e-mail, word processing, DVD watching, listening to music—right out of the box. I proposed in the previous chapters that the Finder and Dock are the centers of activity on your Mac, but you probably spend most of your time actually using applications. (After all, you didn't buy a Mac to move files back and forth all day, right?) In this chapter, I'm going to give you some quick tips about using applications in general, but I'm going to spend most of my time covering the myriad applications and utilities that are included with Mac OS X—you may not even be aware that some of them exist! I'll also include some tips for working with text in OS X. Note In most chapters I include the user level/affects box for every tip; however, since most application preferences are user-level preferences, unless otherwise noted, tips in Chapter 7: Apple-ication Aptitude Applications 101Regardless of whether an application is a word processor or disk utility, whether it came with Mac OS X or you installed it yourself, chances are it behaves in certain ways common to all Mac OS X applications. You can launch it by double-clicking on its icon in the Finder or by clicking on its icon in the Dock; it has an application menu on the left side of the menu bar; you quit it by choosing Application Name ➣ Quit (or pressing command+Q). There are lots of other ways in which OS X applications behave similarly. Here are a few tips to help you better use applications in general. Hiding and Minimizing Applications and Windows This is a bit of a rehash of information I mentioned in the previous chapters, but I repeat it here in the interest of thoroughness. You can hide the frontmost application completely by choosing Application name ➣ Hide application (or by pressing command+H). If you've used a third-party utility to add the Hide command to application Dock menus, y Getting the Most from Mac OS X Applications and UtilitiesAs I mentioned earlier, Mac OS X comes with an impressive number of applications and utilities. Some of them you probably know well and may even use on a regular basis; others may be sitting on your hard drive unbeknownst to you. I'm going to talk about many of these programs, especially the gems that most people don't use but should. Note Some of the OS X applications you're probably most familiar with are the "iApps" (iTunes, iPhoto, etc.), Mail, and Address Book. These are probably the most well-known and widely used OS X applications, and as such have entire books, websites, and mailing lists dedicated to them. Meanwhile, your Mac is full of other useful applications and utilities that rarely get mentioned. It's the latter group of applications I'm going to spend time on here. However, even though I don't talk about the iApps, Mail, and Address Book here in these pages, I still have some good tips for them. If you're interes Basic Application TroubleshootingThere are many things that can go wrong with applications; although I generally shy away from troubleshooting information in the book, I'm going to briefly talk about the two most common application problems: freezes and corrupt preference files. Dealing with Application Freezes If an application crashes, it will usually quit automatically; you can generally just relaunch it and get back to work. However, sometimes the offending application won't quit—it will just sit there, unresponsive. In this scenario, the only way to get the application to quit is using a force quit. Whereas a standard quit (one you, as the user, initiate) allows you to save documents and allows the OS to elegantly stop the application, a force quit simply kills the application on the spot. You don't get to save any open documents, and any preferences you may have set during that session may not get written to the preference file. A force quit isn't graceful, but if it's the only w Text Testimonials: Working with Text in OS X OK, so this section isn't really about applications, per se. However, much of what you do on your computer (e-mail, word processing, text editing, etc.) is text-related, and Mac OS X offers some helpful and unique ways to deal with text, so I decided that the topic deserved some mention of its own. I'm going to start by talking about tips that work only in Cocoa and some Carbon applications, and then move on to solutions that work in all applications. Cocoa/Carbon Text Tips Earlier in the chapter, when I talked about the various types of applications in Mac OS X, I mentioned that Cocoa applications could take advantage of all of the special application goodies in Mac OS X. I also mentioned that some Carbon applications, if the developer chose to do so, can also take advantage of these features. Here are some of the features I was talking about; Cocoa applications, such as iChat, Mail, TextEdit, and Stickies, as well as third-party Cocoa appl Moving On…I hope by now you're a more proficient user of OS X applications (especially the ones you didn't know much about before). But if you still have some older OS 9 applications that you need or want to use, you're also going to spend a good amount of time using OS X's Classic Environment. In the next chapter I'll show you how to make the best of that time (and of your Classic apps). Chapter 8: Clobbering Classic Overview (Or: If you have to use the Classic Environment, how to make the best of it.) If OS X is your first experience with a Mac, most, if not all, of your software was made for, or adapted to, Mac OS X. However, if you previously used OS 9 or earlier, you most likely have a good amount of software that isn't OS X - native. Luckily, Apple has provided a way for you to use such software under OS X, called the Classic Environment. In this chapter, I'm going to talk about using the Classic Environment and Classic applications, as well as some tips on how to make using both as painless as possible. In addition to the information included in this chapter, if you're just now making the transition to OS X from OS 9 or earlier, or if you use both frequently, I've included a comparative discussion of OS X versus OS 9, and tips for working with the two, in Appendix A, "A Tale of Two Systems." If you long for some of the features of OS 9 that aren't a part of OS X, Chapter 8: Clobbering Classic A Quick Primer on the Classic EnvironmentMac OS X is a Unix-based operating system that offers advanced features such as protected memory, preemptive multitasking, dynamic RAM allocation, full multithreading, symmetrical multiprocessing, and a microkernel architecture. These are features not found in Mac OS 9 (which is why OS X is the "new and improved" Mac OS). If these terms don't make a lot of sense to you, that's OK; what's important is to understand that because of its Unix base, Mac OS X is a completely different operating system than the "Classic" Mac OS. Although these features are all dramatic steps forward in terms of performance and stability, one consequence is that applications written specifically for Mac OS 9 and earlier (Classic applications) are not compatible with Mac OS X, and those written specifically for OS X (Cocoa applications) do not run in OS 9. Note I talked about the various types of Mac OS applications—Classic, Carbon, and Cocoa—in Chapter 7, "Apple-icatio The Classic System Preferences User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no Using the Classic Environment is generally pretty simple, and doesn't require a lot of tweaking and twiddling. However, the Classic Environment does have a few of its own settings, as well as a few tools for monitoring it. These are found in the Classic pane of System Preferences. The Start/Stop Tab (and How to Start Classic) The general preferences for the Classic Environment are located in the Start/Stop tab; for most uses, this is the only tab you'll need to worry about. As I explained earlier, when you launch Classic, it loads an entire iteration of Mac OS 9. (In fact, when the Classic launch screen appears, if you click the triangle next to "Show Mac OS 9 desktop window," you'll see what looks like a Mac OS 9 startup screen, complete with the icons of OS 9 extensions as they load.) However, first you need to tell it which Mac OS 9 System Folder you want it to use. You do this in the box under "Sel Optimizing Classic Before I get into using Classic, I want to briefly talk about a few ways in which you can make it work better, faster, and with more stability. Customize Your System Folder for Classic As I mentioned when discussing Classic preferences, when Classic loads Mac OS 9, it goes through much of the same startup process that would occur when booting directly into OS 9, including the loading of extensions and control panels. This is great news if some of your Classic applications require specific startup files to function. However, in practice, you probably don't want all of the startup files that load when booting into OS 9 to load when starting Classic, for three reasons. First, many extensions and control panels simply don't work in Classic—they don't cause any problems, but they don't provide any functionality, either (for example, control panels that would provide system-wide functionality that is already provided by Mac OS X, such as the Appearance or File Sharing cont Using ClassicAs I wrote earlier in the chapter, using Classic is for the most part straightforward—when Classic is running you simply launch and use Classic applications as you would any other applications. You can even copy and paste data between Classic and OS X applications, or use drag-and-drop to move data between them. However, there are a few areas, such as printing, where you'll need to set things up, a few areas in which Classic might not behave the way you expect, and a few ways you can make using Classic a bit easier. Other Ways of Starting and Stopping Classic I recommended earlier that you start and stop Classic manually, due to potential problems with having Classic start at login or when launching a Classic application. Unfortunately, launching Classic manually is a bit of a hassle, since you have to open System Preferences to do so. Here are a few other ways you can start and stop Classic that are quite a bit more convenient. Start/Stop Classic from the Dock The easiest Classic TroubleI mentioned earlier in the chapter that because using Classic involves so many layers, there are more places where things can go wrong. In addition, because Classic boots up a full version of Mac OS 9, most things that could go wrong in OS 9 can also go wrong in Classic. Although I can't spend too much time talking about troubleshooting the Classic Environment, here are some of the most common problems people have with using Classic. In addition to the issues discussed here, Appendix A includes a discussion of some of the problems you may encounter when switching between booting into OS X and OS 9. Startup File Conflicts As I previously explained, just as OS 9 was sometimes plagued by startup file conflicts, the Classic Environment can suffer the same fate. If you find that Classic is freezing during startup, or that Classic applications are behaving oddly (but OS X applications are working fine), the problem could be caused by startup files that don't play well together Moving On…Now that we've covered the specifics of files and applications, as well as the Finder and the Dock, it's time to move on to the realm of connectivity. Networks and the Internet; sharing files and connecting to remote computers; and printing…these are the topics of the next part of the book. By the time we're done, you should be your own network administrator. Part III: The Internet, Networking, Sharing, and Printing Chapter List Chapter 9: Networking Notables and Internet Illuminations Overview (Or: Connect and surf faster, easier, friendlier.) If you're a typical Mac user, you spend a good amount of time each day using the Internet: sending and receiving e-mail, surfing the Web, downloading files, and/or chatting with friends. In addition, you may be connected to a local network, through which you access printers and other computers. Although networking and the Internet are incredibly broad topics that could each fill volumes, in this chapter I'm going to touch on some of the things you're most likely to do on your Mac. For example, I'll cover some tips for Internet and Network preferences, as well as some ways to get more out of the Web. I'll also mention some great sources of information on setting up your own Internet services on your Mac. (If you're interested, I talk about Mail, Apple's e-mail app; some other e-mail solutions; the Address Book applications; and Internet chat applications in the online su Chapter 9: Networking Notables and Internet Illuminations Network Basics Before I get into some tips for network and Internet setup (using the Network and Internet panes of System Preferences), I want to briefly discuss networks and network ports in Mac OS X, because many users confuse the two. A network is a group of devices connected in a way that allows them to exchange data with each other. A network can be as simple as a laptop, desktop, and printer in your home, or as complex as millions of computers located all over the world (which is what the Internet really is). Some networks are public (the Internet), whereas others are private (a LAN at your office). Generally speaking, if two or more computing devices are communicating, they are doing so over some kind of a network. A network port in Mac OS X refers to the type of connection your computer uses to connect to a network: Ethernet, modem, AirPort/802.11 (wireless), Bluetooth, etc. Even FireWire can be used for networking, although at the time of this writing such networks are rare. I Internet and Networking Setup SubtletiesEven though I said at the beginning of the chapter that I was going to assume you've already got your Mac on the Internet, and maybe even set up your own home network, I'm going to quickly talk about the settings used for these connections, as there are some neat features with which many users aren't entirely familiar. These features and settings are contained in a few different System Preferences panes, and in the Internet Connect Application. The Network System Preferences User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no As I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, I'm assuming that you've already entered your network/ISP settings and are connected to the Internet (and possibly even to other computers or networked printers on a local network). So let's skip to two of OS X's very cool network-related features: port priority and Locations. OS X has the ability to mix and match network types and network ports, making it extremely flexible. Howe Better Browsing BasicsI've spent most of this chapter helping you get the most out of your network/Internet settings and connections. I'd like to spend the rest of it talking about web browsing, since it's probably the most popular use of the Internet (followed closely by e-mail), yet one of the areas where users generally work the same way they did when they first starting surfing. These tips are fairly general and should work with any web browser. Surfing with ICeCoffEE User Level: normal or admin Affects: individual user or computer Terminal: no You surely get a lot of your URLs right from web pages—you see a link and click on it. But how often do you find URLs in e-mail messages, text documents, application "About" boxes, or other sources besides web pages? Probably fairly often. If you're lucky, your e-mail client lets you click on a link to open it in your browser, but some don't. On top of that, what about all those URLs that are in text documents, dialog boxes, and the like? Ma Moving On…Now that you've gotten some good tips on making network connections, it's time to take advantage of them. The most common uses for network connections are Internet use, file sharing/access, remote access and control, and printing. I covered Internet use a bit in this chapter, and in the online supplement to the book on the iApps and Mail. In the next few chapters I'll show you how to share files with others and access files on other computers; how to control your Mac remotely and how to take advantage of Mac OS X's impressive printing features. Chapter 10: Stellar Sharing Strategies Overview (Or: All the ways you can share your files with others.) It used to be that sharing files with other people meant copying those files to a floppy (or, if you were lucky, to a CD-ROM) and then handing (or mailing) the floppy or CD to the recipient. The advent of high-speed Internet connections has changed all that, as most people can now use e-mail to send files back and forth. However, sometimes e-mail isn't the best solution—very large files and shared files that multiple users need to work on are a couple of good examples— and not everyone likes filling up their e-mail inbox with files. Luckily, Mac OS X is the most flexible OS on the planet in terms of its varied offerings for sharing files and data (generally called sharing; shared volumes or directories are often called shares). You can share files with other users of your computer, over a local network, and even over the Internet. What's more, you often have multiple ways to share f Chapter 10: Stellar Sharing Strategies Sharing Locally: The Public and Shared Folders User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no The simplest form of sharing in OS X is to make files available for other people who actually sit at your computer. Mac OS X has two ways of doing this. What Does It Share? Mac OS X has two special types of folders specifically designed to share files with other users of your computer. The first is a special folder called Shared, located in the main /Users directory. The Shared folder is different from other user folders in two significant ways. First, it does not correspond to any particular user; rather, it exists regardless of how many (or few) user accounts exist on your Mac. Second, all users can view the contents of the Shared directory, can move files to it, and can create files inside of it. In other words, as the name implies, it is a folder that is shared by all users. The second way to share files with other local users is to use your personal Public folder, located at /Users Sharing Files Locally: Bluetooth User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no In Chapter 9, I mentioned that OS X supports the Bluetooth wireless protocol, and supports Bluetooth as a way to exchange data between two computers within range of each other. You can use Bluetooth to your advantage as a way of quickly sharing small files between two Blue-tooth-equipped computers. Note Because of its relatively slow speed, Bluetooth isn't the best way to share large files; however, for anything under a few hundred kilobytes, it should be fine. What Does It Share? Via "browsing" (explained below), you can share files in the Shared user folder (or any other single folder you designate) over a Bluetooth connection. In addition, you can send individual files directly to another Bluetooth-equipped Mac on a case-by-case basis. Who Can Access Files? Any Mac or Windows computer that has been paired with yours (as described in Chapter 9) can send files to and receive files from your Mac (or Sharing Remotely: iDisk User Level: any Affects: individual user/.Mac account Terminal: no If you're a subscriber to Apple's .Mac Internet services, one of the benefits is your own personal iDisk. I've talked about iDisks a couple times already in the book, but I want to discuss it here as a way to share files. Although an iDisk technically isn't part of OS X, I include it here for two reasons. First, many Mac users are .Mac subscribers. Second, and more importantly, since iDisks are hosted on Apple's servers rather than on your own computer, placing files that you want to share on your iDisk means that you don't have to enable any sharing services—which in turn means that you don't have to worry as much about the potential for security issues that enabling such services brings. What Does It Share? Your iDisk shares any files that you place in its Public folder. (The Public folder on your iDisk is independent of your ~/Public directory; however, the two are similar in that they are the Sharing Remotely: Personal File Sharing User Level: admin to enable and configure; any user can share files Affects: computer Terminal: no If you'd rather not have to upload files to an iDisk to share them, you can use one of OS X's built-in file sharing services. These services allow others to access files that actually reside on your computer, over a network or the Internet. Like Mac OS 9 before it, Mac OS X provides—via Personal File Sharing—Apple's own File Sharing protocol (also called Apple File Protocol or AFP), which is the best way to share files with other Macs over a local network. However, unlike OS 9, it is also a fast and reliable way to share files over the Internet. What Does It Share? By default, Personal File Sharing provides non-admin users with remote access to the files in their own user folder, and to files in other users' Public folders. This means that if you want other users to be able to access files using Personal File Sharing, be sure to put those files in y Sharing Remotely: FTP User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no Personal File Sharing is probably the most feature-rich and flexible OS X method of sharing files over the Internet or a network. However, it has the distinct disadvantage of only allowing sharing between Macs (unless you install special software on a Windows computer, but that's beyond the scope of this book). Because of this, Mac OS X also provides a number of ways to share files between Macs and non-Macs. FTP, which stands for File Transfer Protocol, is one of these: OS X has an FTP server built in. FTP has been a staple of Unix servers since well before the Mac OS and Windows even existed, and is largely platform agnostic (it allows connections between Macs, Windows, Unix, Linux, and many other operating systems). Warning FTP has one major drawback: it is one of the least secure methods of communicating between two computers. All usernames, passwords, commands, and file data are sent in plain text, meaning that Sharing Remotely: Secure FTP (SFTP) User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no As I mentioned in the previous section, FTP is convenient but extremely unsecure. I just don't recommend it unless you have no other choice for sharing files, and even then I recommend creating a single, non-admin user account for sharing files via FTP. If you'd like to gain the cross-platform advantages of FTP without the security issues, you should instead consider Secure FTP (SFTP). Like FTP, SFTP is actually a command-line method for connecting to servers and working with files. However, whereas FTP uses a clear-text connection, SFTP uses the secure shell (SSH) protocol to connect, meaning all communication between the client and server, including passwords and data, are encrypted to prevent anyone who might intercept the data from being able to use it. The downside to using SFTP is that it requires you to enable Remote Login (SSH) on your Mac. I'll talk more about Remote Login in the next chapter, Sharing Remotely: Windows File Sharing (SMB) User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no Sharing files on your Mac with Windows computers has always been a bit of a hassle, especially for your Windows friends. Without installing third-party software, their computers don't understand the Apple File Protocol (AFP) used by Personal File Sharing, and FTP requires them to use a special FTP application or the command line—it's just not as convenient for them as accessing files on other Windows computers. Wouldn't it be great if they could mount your shared folders like any other Windows share? Starting with OS X 10.2, Apple included a version of the open-source Samba server (http://www.samba.org/), which shares files using the SMB/CIFS (Server Message Block/Common Internet File System) protocol—the same protocol used by Windows for sharing files. Using Samba (known in OS X as Windows File Sharing) you can make your files available to Windows users (and Unix computers that understand SMB Sharing Remotely: Personal Web Sharing User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no The final way that OS X shares files is via the Web. OS X provides a complete install of the industrial-strength Apache web server (http://www.apache.org/)—the same one used by many of the biggest websites on the Internet. While it may sound a bit strange to include a web server as a way to "share" files, that's exactly what you're doing: allowing other users to access files on your computer. And since Apple includes Personal Web Sharing in the Sharing pane of System Preferences, I'm going to treat it like a sharing service. What Does It Share? Personal Web Sharing actually shares at both the user level and at the computer level. More specifically, it can share the contents of each user's /User/username/Sites folder, as well as the contents of /Library/WebServer/Documents. I say can share because OS X is configured, like most web servers, to not show the contents of directories; rather, you can only Quick Access to Sharing Services User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no If you're really getting into this whole sharing thing, and you find yourself frequently opening System Preferences just to enable or disable one or another Sharing service, you'll appreciate the freeware SharingMenu (http://www.mani.de/sharingmenu/). When launched, it provides a small menu in the menu bar that allows you to toggle each Sharing service on or off (Figure 10.9). It also lets you quickly enable and disable Guest Access to Personal File Sharing, which can be a real convenience if, like me, you normally keep Guest Access turned off, but occasionally turn it on for a few minutes to share a file with someone. (Remember: if you drag SharingMenu to your Login Items preferences, it will launch automatically at login.) Figure 10.9: SharingMenu gives you quick access to Sharing services. Moving On…Now that you're an expert at sharing files with other users, you may be wondering exactly how to connect to other computer or servers (or even to your own from another location). In the next chapter I'll cover Mac OS X's various methods for connecting to shares and servers. I'll also talk about ways in which you can connect to and control your Mac from afar. Chapter 11: Connection Convenience and Remote Control Overview (Or: Access files on other computers and control your home computer from the beach house.) In addition to being the most flexible OS around for sharing files and data, Mac OS X is also the most compatible when it comes to connecting to servers and shared files. Plus, as both a Unix OS and a Mac OS, it provides several options for remote access and control. In this chapter I'm going to show you how to connect to virtually any type of remote server and share you'll encounter. If you find yourself connecting to the same computers or shares often, I'll also show you how to streamline the connection process. Finally, I'll show you some of the options available for connecting to your own computer, and controlling it, from afar. Note As with the previous chapter, I'm going to assume that you have Internet access and that you know how to configure and connect. Chapter 11: Connection Convenience and Remote Control IP Addresses, URLs, and PortsBefore I get started with connection strategies, I want to cover a topic that will make the rest of the chapter much easier to read and use, and that's the issue of the address you use to connect to another computer. Most of the sections in this chapter have one thing in common: you're connecting to another computer over a network (LAN, WAN, or the Internet). To make such connections, you need to know the IP (Internet Protocol) address or domain name of the target computer. You also need understand how to provide that address. Here are some issues to be aware of when dealing with IP addresses, URLs, and ports. What's the Address? Every computer on the Internet has its own IP address that uniquely identifies it (much like a street address for a residence). These IP addresses are formatted as x.x.x.x, where each x is a number between 0 and 255, and connecting to another computer involves providing its address to your own computer, so that it knows the exact d Connecting to Shares on Other Computers/Servers User Level: any Affects: individual user Terminal: no In the previous chapter, I showed you how to configure your Mac to share files with other users, and how those other users can connect to your computer. In this section, I'm going to explain how you can connect to other shares and servers using Mac OS X. In some situations the procedures are identical; however, in other instances the procedures are much different. Note In all of the examples I include here, I assume that you have an account that provides you with access to the share or server to which you're connecting (or that the server allows guest access), and that you have the IP address or domain name of the share or server. When I refer to your username and password, I'm talking about your username and password for the share or server, not your Mac OS X username and password (unless, of course, you're connecting to your own Mac from another location). The Connect to Server Dial Connecting to Frequently Accessed Servers and SharesAlthough there may be times when connecting to a particular server is a one-time deal, there's a good chance that if you're accessing files from a remote computer, you'll be doing so more than once. In this section I'm going to show you how to take advantage of functionality discussed previously to make repeated connections more convenient. Using Aliases (iDisk/AFP/SMB/NFS) I talked about aliases in Chapter 5 as a way to quickly access files and folders, but they're also extremely useful as a way to quickly access iDisks as well as Personal File Sharing, Windows SMB, and Unix NFS shares. Once a share is mounted on your computer (under "Computer" in a Finder window, and on the Desktop if you've chosen to show mounted volumes on the Desktop via Finder preferences), make an alias of the share itself. You can store this alias anywhere on your hard drive, and the next time you want to connect to the share, simply open the alias. You'll be Connecting to Virtual Private Networks (VPN)To ensure the privacy of data sent over the Internet, many businesses and universities use a technology called Virtual Private Networking (VPN). A Virtual Private Network lets a remote user communicate with another computer or a company LAN over a normal Internet connection, but creates a secure "tunnel" between the two. Data is encrypted at one end and then decrypted at the other end; data that isn't encrypted using the same key (password) used at the creation of the VPN can't enter the tunnel, and no one can access data in the tunnel without the correct key. Until recently, most VPN client software was Windows-only, effectively keeping Macs out of many corporate networks. However, beginning with OS X 10.2, your Mac has a VPN client built in. This VPN client supports Microsoft's Point to Point Tunneling protocol (PPTP), meaning you can connect to many Windows networks that require VPN connections without any additional software. Unfortunatel Remote Access and Control In addition to sharing files with other computers and accessing files on other computers, it's also possible to access and control a Mac running OS X remotely (from another computer). Maybe you want to move a file from your private Documents folder to your Public folder so that another user has access to it, but aren't sitting at the computer at the time. Perhaps you want to make sure Software Update runs on another computer in your home or office without having to sit down and log into that computer. Or maybe you're trying to troubleshoot a problem on another computer and seeing what the other user is seeing will help you better understand what's going wrong. Each of these tasks can be accomplished remotely using either OS X's built-in abilities or with the help of third-party software. Remote Login The simplest type of remote "control" of a Mac—in terms of both the interface and the tools needed—is called Remote Login, and is built into every Mac running OS Moving On…While we're on the topics of networks, sharing, and connecting, another related topic is printing—connecting to printers, sharing printers, and configuring printers. In the next chapter I'll cover printing in OS X, from the basics to more advanced features and functionality. Chapter 12: Printing Practicalities Overview (Or: Supporting unsupported printers, enhancing printing, and other (print) pressing questions.) If you've been using Mac OS X for a while, you may already have a printer hooked up and working. If so, in this chapter I'll show you how to take advantage of OS X's advanced printing technologies to manage printers and print jobs, share your printer with other computers, print remotely, and print in Classic. I'll also show you how to add a few needed or helpful features using third-party software. However, if you're coming to OS X from OS 9 or Windows—or even if you've recently upgraded from an older version of OS X—you may have found that your old printer no longer works in OS X 10.2. In that case, I'll also show you how to take advantage of OS X's open-source roots to add support for "unsupported" printers and, I hope, get your old printer up and running. Chapter 12: Printing Practicalities Printing BasicsBefore I talk about setting up and managing printers in OS X, you should know a bit about types of printers and printing connections, how to install additional supported printer drivers and PPDs, and a bit of background on OS X's actual printing system. Printer Types There are generally two kinds of printers on the market today: PostScript and non-PostScript. PostScript, a standard printing/programming language, was once only available on expensive laser printers but has recently become common even on lower-priced printers. OS X includes a universal PostScript driver that provides basic support for any PostScript Level 2 or Level 3 printer, and supports additional printer-specific features (multiple paper trays, varying print quality, etc.) via printerspecific PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files. Because of its built-in PostScript driver, OS X can print to any PostScript Level 2 or Level 3 printer right out of the box; however, you many not be able to access featu Printer Prep: Setting Up and Managing Printers in OS XSetting up a printer in OS X is remarkably easy, as most printers are genuinely "plug and play." Provided you have the appropriate driver or PPD file installed, when you connect a printer to your Mac, OS X will automatically detect it, recognize the manufacturer and model, select the appropriate driver or PPD file, and create a print queue for it. However, there are several ways you can access printer options, manage printers, and customize print queues in OS X, and there may be times when you need to set up a print queue/printer manually. The two most common and convenient ways to manage printing in OS X are the Print Center utility and the new CUPS web interface. Note that when you add or set up a printer in OS X, what you are really doing is creating a print queue. OS X uses this queue to manage jobs for the printer. When you print "to" a printer, you're actually sending a document to its queue; when the printer is available, the Supporting Unsupported PrintersI mentioned at the beginning of this chapter that OS X provides built-in support for a large number of printers. However, the truth is that there are a lot of other printers out there—some old, some new, some that were extremely popular, and even some that were touted as being "Mac-compatible"—that aren't officially supported under OS X 10.2 and later. If your printer is one of them, don't give up and buy a new printer just yet: you may be able to add support for it on your own. One of the advantages of Apple's decision to use CUPS as its core printing technology is that as an open-source system, CUPS is easily extensible. In addition, because of the popularity of Unix among techies, there is a talented pool of programmers who spend their time (often without compensation) working on open-source projects. The end result is that there are developers all over the world who are writing printer drivers for Unix computers that use CUPS. By installing these driv Sharing Your PrinterI covered most of the items in the Sharing pane of System Preferences in Chapter 10. However, one that I didn't cover was Printer Sharing. If you have several Macs on a local network, Printer Sharing—which works seamlessly with OS X's Rendezvous technology—is actually quite amazing. When Printer Sharing is enabled on your Mac, any print queue that has been set up for a printer connected to your Mac (either via Print Center or using the CUPS web interface) will be shared with other Macs running OS X. Other Macs will be able to see and print to those printers as if they were actually connected to those Macs. Even better, Printer Sharing doesn't just work with those printers that are officially supported by OS X; if you've installed the Gimp-Print package, for example, to add support for a printer, that printer will also be available to other Macs on your network. And unlike Mac OS 9's similar functionality, USB Printer Sharing, Printer Sharing in OS X works for any pr Printing PointersIf you've ever printed a document on a Mac, you know that the process is pretty straightforward. Once you've got a printer set up, you choose File ➣ Print (or press command+P) from within any application, and you're presented with the standard print dialog. If you have more than one printer, you can choose the printer to which you want the document to print from the Printer pop-up menu. If you have any saved printing presets (I'll talk about how in a bit), you can choose one from the Presets pop-up. Finally, you can customize the settings for each particular print job by clicking on the printing options pop-up menu and browsing the options panels. (The options pop-up menu is the one that isn't labeled, but its default is "Copies & Pages.") When you're ready to print you click Print. Tip When you click the Printer pop-up menu in any print dialog, if you hold the mouse over a printer name for a few seconds, a tooltip box will appear that shows you the Location and Host Moving On…In the previous two chapters, I showed you all the ways in which you could share files with others and access shares on other computers. In this chapter I also showed you how others can access your printers and printing queues. One of the consequences of having so many ways to communicate with other computers is that there are many ways for malevolent hackers to get into your computer—many more so than with the classic Mac OS. In the next chapter, I'll talk about how to keep your data and personal information private from other users of your computer, other users on your local network, and from nasty people "out there" on the Internet. Part IV: Mastering Your Mac—Security, Maintenance, and Unix Chapter List Chapter 13: Strengthening System Security and Fine-Tuning Firewalls Overview (Or: You don't have to unplug your computer to keep it—and yourself—safe.) One of the biggest computer-related topics nowadays is security: keeping your computer safe from hackers on the Internet, keeping your data safe from prying eyes, and keeping your e-mail and files safe from viruses. Thankfully, OS X is pretty secure out of the box, but you can reduce or increase that level of security depending on how you use your computer. In this chapter, I'm going cover a range of topics relating to system security. I'll show you how to use OS X's built-in firewall to keep your computer private, and how to use OS X's multi-user capabilities to keep your data private. I'll show you how to prevent others from booting up your computer without your permission, and how to encrypt and delete your data to keep it super-safe. I'll also cover OS X's Keychain and how to take advantage of it. Finally, I'll talk a bit about viru Chapter 13: Strengthening System Security and Fine-Tuning Firewalls Security BasicsWhen people talk about "computer security" they're really talking about three different topics: (1) keeping your computer safe, meaning preventing other people from gaining access to it (either over a network or in person); (2) keeping your data safe, meaning preventing others from accessing or using your data and personal information; and (3) keeping your computer virus-free. These three topics can actually be mutually exclusive. For example, you can allow someone to access your computer, but still keep them from accessing your private data. You can also do a great job of preventing others from accessing your computer and your data, but still be vulnerable to viruses. Because of this I'm going to divide this chapter into sections based on these three aspects of system security. However, before I do that I want to talk about some more general pointers for keeping your computer safe and sound. Below are some guidelines that will increase the security of your system signif Keeping Your Mac Safe: Networks and the InternetThe vast majority of today's Mac users are on the Internet, many of them using broadband connections. Although this is great for web browsing, sharing files, playing games, and many other Internet-related activities, it also means that network security is much more important today than it was when most users were connected to the Internet via slow dial-up connections (if they were connected at all). Remember that when you connect to the Internet, you're actually connecting to one huge network of computers, all of which can theoretically connect to, or at least contact, your computer. Some are used by people you want to be able to connect (Personal File Sharing users, for example), but most aren't. If one of the more unsavory characters can find a way into your Mac, they may be able to erase files, steal personal information, or use your Mac as a relay for unsolicited e-mail or Internet attacks on other computers. Needless to say, these ar Keeping Your Mac Safe: Local AccessAs I mentioned earlier in the chapter, an effective firewall can't stop someone from walking up to your Mac and trying to access it. In order to truly have a secure computer, you also need to secure it from local access. You can take several approaches to local security, including preventing startup, enabling auto-logout, and locking the screen when you step away from the computer. I'll talk about each of these approaches here. Note Although home computers aren't as susceptible to local "hacking" as those used in office environments, you may still find some of these techniques useful, especially if you keep sensitive data on your home computer, or if you have children that you don't want using the computer unsupervised. Securing Startup: Open Firmware Password Protection You may recall that I talked about Open Firmware in Chapter 3. As part of your Mac's BootROM, it loads at the beginning of the startup process, which means that Open Firmware control Keeping Sensitive Data SafeFor the most part, securing your Mac (physically and over a network) means that your data is safe, as well—if no one else can get to your data, no one else can use it. However, if you're really concerned about security, it's good to have an additional layer of protection. After all, there's always the chance that someone can gain access to private files and folders. For example, if your computer is ever stolen, all bets are off. Likewise, if someone, somehow, gains admin access to your Mac, they can use the root account and/or sudo in Terminal to access any user's files, even those in your private user folder. Finally, remember that OS X's permissions are not enforced when booted into OS 9. Thus if you have data that is particularly sensitive—confidential documents, passwords for online accounts, etc.—you may want to consider additional security. Mac OS X provides a few solutions for securing sensitive data and personal information, including the Keychain and Protecting Yourself (and Your Friends) from VirusesViruses are the bane of a Windows user's existence. Between Outlook viruses, Outlook Express viruses, data-deleting viruses, Trojan horses, and any number of other nasty things transmitted from one computer to another, it's almost impossible (and certainly unwise) to use a Windows computer without an antivirus utility. Fortunately, the Mac OS (both OS 9 and OS X) is fairly virus-free. Windows viruses generally take advantages of technologies or security flaws in Windows to do their damage, so the Mac OS isn't susceptible. And although there are Mac viruses, they're very rare. This means that whereas antivirus software is a requirement on a Windows PC, on the Mac side the issue is more one of "Am I at risk?" If you don't download a lot of new, strange software, don't really exchange data (CDs, Zip disks, floppy disks, etc.) with other Mac users, and don't receive lots of e-mail from Windows users, you're actually at a pretty low risk fo Moving On…Files, the Finder, applications, the Dock, networking, security…. We've covered most of the topics that deal with using your Mac and OS X, so we're coming down to the home stretch. In the next chapter I'll show you how to keep your Mac in tip-top shape through some old-fashioned Mac maintenance. Chapter 14: Mac Maintenance and Administrative Actions Overview (Or: How to keep your Mac in tip-top shape.) Thus far in the book I've showed you how to better use OS X and, I hope, how to better understand it. However, in this chapter I'm going to take a detour and spend some time showing you how to keep your Mac running smoothly, and how to perform some basic administrative tasks. I'll cover routine disk maintenance and repair; disk fragmentation and optimization; clearing cache files; and using Unix cleanup routines. I'll also talk about reading log files, adjusting application priorities, and automating and scheduling tasks. Finally—and possibly most importantly—I'll cover some basics about backups. The contents of this chapter will help to ensure that you can actually use your Mac—in other words, you can spend your time enjoying OS X instead of worrying about disk problems, slowdowns, and lost files. In addition, you'll learn a few tricks that will let you run your Mac like a pro. Chapter 14: Mac Maintenance and Administrative Actions Disk Drive DiligenceToday's hard drives are marvels of technology. They store upwards of billions of bits of data on tiny magnetic sectors, and spin as much as 24 hours a day, and yet the vast majority of time they work problem-free and last for years. Unfortunately, things can and do go wrong, but even then there are things you can do to keep your drives running well, and to fix them when they don't. Note There are a number of third-party hard drive repair and maintenance utilities available for OS X; the truth is that it can get pretty confusing which ones do what. In the discussion that follows, you'll get a good idea of the features and abilities of each. I don't have the space to give you a how-to or walk-through of each, but by giving you a taste of which utilities to consider for particular uses, you'll be better able to decide which you might want to purchase for yourself. Note that almost all disk utilities currently available for OS X are incompatible with the UFS volume for Maintenance MagicKeeping your drive(s) healthy is an obvious form of Mac maintenance. However, OS X presents several other "opportunities" for maintenance that many Mac users have never encountered before. (How'd you like that use of euphemism?) Here are three you should know about. Periodic Permissions Patching User Level: admin Affects: computer Terminal: no I talked about repairing permissions and privileges in Chapter 1 as a way to fix permissions-related problems. In Chapter 4, I also recommended repairing permissions before and after installing major system updates. However, in my experience, permissions get screwed up on their own fairly regularly. Most of the time the consequences are extremely minor; however, I find it useful to run Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions function on my startup drive on a regular basis. (I tend to run it once a week.) I can't guarantee any results, but I can tell you that I've seen fewer permissions-related problems, and fewer problems in gener Admin ArtistryIn addition to the maintenance-related tasks I've been talking about, there are a few other tips I'd like to point out that are administrator-related; specifically, how to schedule events and actions, how to adjust application priorities, and how to better work with OS X's log files. Automating Admin Actions User Level: normal or admin Affects: user or computer Terminal: possibly I mentioned earlier in the chapter that OS X's cleanup scripts are run by the Unix utility cron. This utility runs in the background whenever your computer is running. Every minute, it checks schedules called crontabs (short for cron tables) to see if any command or script is supposed to be run at that time; if it finds one (or more), it runs them. Although most users don't even realize that cron exists, now that you do, you can use it to your advantage. In theory, cron can only execute commands that you would type into Terminal; however, since you can run complex shell scripts from the command l Backup BasicsThere are a lot of bad things that can happen to your computer: hard drive problems, system crashes, theft, power surges, and physical damage are just a few of the kinds of things that can change your computer from a useful tool to a pile of plastic and silicon (or, in the case of theft, an empty space on your desk) in a matter of seconds. However, as bad as such events are, for many (if not most) people, the bigger loss is the actual data that was on the computer. After all, computers may be expensive to replace, but no amount of money can replace your data or the time and effort you spent creating it. There's an old (but appropriate) saying in computers that goes something like this: "There are two kinds of people—those who have lost data, and those who will lose data." If you use computers long enough, you'll fall victim to an event like those described above. Or you'll find yourself a victim of your own missteps. (I'll admit to accidentally deleting a folder of documen Moving On…Now that you've learned more about what it takes to keep your Mac running smoothly, it's time to move on to the ultimate "power user" topic: Unix. I've talked about OS X's Unix background many times over the past 14 chapters, and I've even had you work with it a number of times. But in the next chapter I'm going to talk about the Unix underneath OS X in depth, cover some more complex Unix exercises, and even show you how to take advantage of those Unix roots to install and use additional software titles. Chapter 15: Utilizing Unix Overview (Or: Unix is not just a four-letter word.) Although OS X is built on Unix, Apple has done an amazing job of shielding users from the command line; in fact, it's possible to completely ignore the Unix layers running "under the hood," if desired. Nevertheless, every time OS X boots up, it starts out as a command-line system, loading the familiar Aqua interface only after the Unix-based Darwin environment—which is always in the background, managing hardware and software—is ready. This means the command line is the ultimate power tool in OS X. It provides a "back door" to many advanced and hidden capabilities built into OS X. In addition, OS X's Unix compatibility allows you to use a host of powerful (and often free) Unix programs. The best known is probably the Apache web server, but OS X also runs hundreds of other Unix-based programs such as the vi and emacs editors, the ipfw firewall, and the perl programming language (all built into the standard OS Chapter 15: Utilizing Unix What Is Unix Doing in Mac OS X?To leapfrog past limitations built into the Classic Mac OS (particularly in the areas of stability, memory management and multitasking), Apple went back to the drawing board for Mac OS X. The result was a hybrid operating system based on NeXTStep—a Unix-based OS developed by NeXT Computer, Steve Jobs' post-Apple company—but with an interface closer to Mac OS 9. The bulk (and benefits) of each system have been carried forward into OS X: the BSD Unix/Mach layer of NeXTStep is now called Darwin and manages booting, memory management, multitasking, and drivers; a few of the best aspects of the NeXTStep interface have been combined with Apple's Classic Mac OS appearance to create the Aqua interface; finally, the advanced programming environment developed at NeXT has become what we now know as Cocoa. (You'll remember Cocoa from Chapter 7 when I talked about Cocoa applications.) As a result of its hybrid nature, OS X is extremely mature and stable in some areas, Understanding Unix: Philosophy and Design DecisionsFor many years, the Mac OS and Unix were at opposite ends of the computing spectrum. Apple has consistently worked to make the Mac easier to use and more consistent in its methods of operation than other computers, while Unix developers…haven't. This isn't because Apple was smart and Unix developers were dumb, but rather because they had very different priorities. A little understanding of the attitudes behind Unix can help you understand the different choices that Unix developers have made, and what they achieved. The goal of Mac OS X, after all, is to unite both efforts into a consistent whole, with advantages from both sides of its heritage. The canonical book about Unix is The UNIX Programming Environment (http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/upe/), and its title illustrates the most significant difference between Unix and the Classic Mac OS: Unix was originally intended to be a tool for programmers. This is in sharp contrast to Apple's p Getting Started with Terminal and a Shell You can think of Terminal's command-line interface as a way to look "under the hood" of Mac OS X. You can see what's going on, and even poke around a bit, if you like. However, it's important to realize that working at the command line isn't really working in Terminal so much as through it. Terminal is simply a tool that acts as an intermediary between you and the command-line environment; it doesn't do much of anything itself (somewhat like the steering wheel and pedals of a car, which don't actually move the car down the road, but enable you to direct the engine and wheels). The most important program in a command-line interface is the command shell. The shell is your agent, relaying your commands to the kernel and other programs, showing you their responses, and providing a programming environment in which you can execute commands and scripts. Modern shells also provide a great deal of assistance in managing the command line—to help make usi Installing Unix-Based SoftwareBecause Unix is used on wildly different equipment, and because Unix users have traditionally customized their software much more than Mac users, Unix software is normally distributed in source kits. Source kits are basically raw programming code that users can then compileto run on their own system. (Compiling is a process by which source code is processed to run on a particular platform or operating system.) Increasingly, developers have been adding support for Darwin to their source kits, bringing a wealth of "new" software to OS X. Under OS 9, software was normally compiled by the developer and packaged with an installer before distribution to the user for installation. Unix software installation is a bit more complicated; because of this, there are actually three methods of installing software on OS X: OS 9 style Traditional pre-compiled software with an installer or script (like Apple's software), or as an application package that takes advantage of Hands-On with Some Unix ProgramsApple includes hundreds of Unix programs with OS X, from the basic to the baroque. I'll mention a few here, to give you a taste. Types of Unix Programs There are several major types of Unix programs. The first type, which I've discussed at length in this chapter, are command-line or "interfaceless" programs. Simple ones accept instructions typed on the command line, and generally either show their results directly in Terminal, or manipulate files based on command arguments. Interactive programs, such as the vi and emacs text editors and the more and less pagers, often run in "full-screen" text mode, responding to keyboard commands until the user finishes with the program and exits. Daemons start up, read configuration settings from a file, and then wait in the background for service requests (frequently across a network). (See the sidebar "Daemons and Logs.") Daemons and Logs There are many background programs, called daemons, in Unix (try ps -aux | grep Moving On…?We've come a long way since the Introduction. If you've mastered the previous 14 chapters and this one (who am I kidding… even if you haven't mastered this one), you can surely be considered a "power user" and the master of your Mac. If you're still craving knowledge, be sure to check out Appendix A, which provides some good tips on moving from OS 9 to OS X, and switching between them, and Appendix B, which discusses using multiple volumes and disk partitions in OS X. Using Drive Partitions 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. Chapter 5: Finagle Files and Foil Finder Frustration Chapter 6: Developing a Dynamite Dock Chapter 7: Apple-ication Aptitude Chapter 8: Clobbering Classic Chapter 9: Networking Notables and Internet Illuminations Chapter 10: Stellar Sharing Strategies Chapter 11: Connection Convenience and Remote Control Chapter 12: Printing Practicalities Chapter 13: Strengthening System Security and Fine-Tuning Firewalls Chapter 14: Mac Maintenance and Administrative Actions Chapter 7: Apple-ication Aptitude Chapter 11: Connection Convenience and Remote Control Chapter 15: Utilizing Unix Chapter 15: Utilizing Unix Chapter 1: The Power of Permissions: Understanding Users and Unix Organization Chapter 2: Sensational Setup Chapter 4: Installations, Inc. Chapter 5: Finagle Files and Foil Finder Frustration Chapter 7: Apple-ication Aptitude Chapter 8: Clobbering Classic Chapter 9: Networking Notables and Internet Illuminations Chapter 10: Stellar Sharing Strategies Chapter 11: Connection Convenience and Remote Control Chapter 12: Printing Practicalities Chapter 13: Strengthening System Security and Fine-Tuning Firewalls Chapter 14: Mac Maintenance and Administrative Actions Chapter 15: Utilizing Unix

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