tips & shortcuts

Always Proper Passwords...

You may think it hard to come up with a password that is easy to remember and not easy to guess (hack). Actually your brain is more powerful than you might think. Apple's got a swift way to come up with a new password that is safe to use and can be easy to remember.
When using Mac OS Tiger OS 10.4 and later...
1) Go to System Preferences>Accounts>Change Password
2) Click the Lock icon. voilia you'll see Password Assistant
3) Move the slider to see randomly generated passwords.
4) You'll be surprised to find that when you've used one of these passwords in the next three to five times, your brain will remember it. And if you're frustrated? your body will release adrenalin which is what we call the 'glue for your memory'.

Keyboard Shortcuts - Well, you need to know Apple has loads of shortcuts... hey, their whole job seems to be, to simplify the way people use their computers.
We've consolidated some of MacPCtech favorite keyboard commands... of course Apple's got a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts and we think our short list is handy, and prettier once you print it out.

A Helpful Startup Key - On rare occasions your Mac may not behave properly. Did you know holding down the 'Shift' key (even on OS X) can have medicinal effect on your Mac? After restarting, your screen should show "Safe Boot" atop the login dialog box. Restart... again, and although it may take minutes for your Mac to get back to its normal start up appearance, your Macs cache 'closets' have just had a spring cleaning. This can be helpful for some garbled fonts issues your Mac may be experiencing.

Printing PDF's - We hope you know this one.. After all, Apple put PDF directly on the bottom left corner of the Print dialog box in 10.4 (Tiger). Did you know you can make PDF of any printable document and immediately send it to your mail application -or- prepare your open document for Faxing. If you haven't tried this out you should. It will help you grow with new possibilities!

Stuff Files on the Fly - Woo Wooo! This is a slick little option. Next time you're having trouble sending a file via email, while at the Finder, try holding down the control key and clicking on the attachment you want to send. Apple's OS makes a zip file on the fly right next to your original. If you select more than one file at a time, 'control-click' at the finder and the zip file created will take the name of "Archive.zip". Handy Huh!.

Naming Files - If you name a file "new logo" you're likely to confuse someone, especially when "new logo" is in development and gets changed. We've found a file naming technique which is amazing once you get the hang of it. Instead of ver1, ver2, ver3, start the file name with an international date ("Year, Month, Day logo.eps"). That's, "070531 logo.eps".
There are surprising benefits with an International Date naming" technique...
1) Files that begin with 070531 (an International Date) are always in order
2) Although 'Date Modified' will always change, using this fixed international date will always show the files' actual version without needing to compare it to the other "new logo ver 3" files around your drives which your colleagues may have created.
3) You can find files that 'Begin With' "0705" and see all the files you created in May.
4) You'll be startled that you're never at a loss for coming-up with a file name as it always starts with an International dates first six characters (YYMMDD).
5) If you're working on important files you may want to "Save As" every hour; add YYDDMM-1000 logo.eps. That way you can fall-back to work you did the hour before, if something catastrophic happen to the current file.
This seemly old-fashioned approach pays back hugh when you've been doing it consistently. You'll be wondering why you ever used ver1, ver2, ver3. Tell me when you're a convert.
p.s. - Of course you could ready your files for your great, great grand kids with 20080531... :-)

Control-Clickin' - (Right-Click) Yep, even without a two-button mouse, Macs running OS X can 'right-click' and get properties (Get Info), Cut, Copy and Paste with a tip-down contextual menu just like our PC pals.
Just hold down the 'Control' key and click (hold for a second) on a file or folder in the Finder... You'll see stuff that will provide relieve the heart of a PC user who otherwise thought the Mac 'single-click' mouse was exclusively one-dimensional.

Finding Originals - Might be easy for some, others just haven't learned yet. There are times when you've tried to copy a file, and later you realize it was an alias (or shortcut).
Apple's got several ways to find an alias...
1) While in the Finder, select the alias (click only once, not twice) the go to the File menu>Show Original -or-
2) Select the alias, hold the command (apple icon) key and press 'r', (think 'oRRRiginal').
3) Hold the 'Control' key while clicking and holding on the alias. A tip-up contextual menu will offer 'Show Original', like Find Target on a PC.
4) Of course, Right-Click (on a properly configured two-button mouse) and you'll also call-up the contextual menu like #3 above, select 'Show Original'.
Follow-up, sometimes the original file cannot be found, either because it was moved off the system, or it may be in the trash.

Organizational Advice - For most users, figuring out where to keep files is an on-going issue. Remember, in OS X you want to put all your files in Documents or on the Desktop, 'If they're not Music, Movies, or Pictures. Never save files outside of your Home folder/directory unless you place them in the 'Shared Folder' located just outside of your 'Home' folder. MacPCtech.com experience indicates, the older files get, five, seven years old, they become less important. So generally, we advise users to add the year (i.e., topic-2008, subject-2006), to the end of the folder name.
'Desktop' is for keeping files with which you're working, the 'Documents' folder is for files after you're done working with them. We suggest...
1) In 'Documents' folder you make an 'Areas of Improvement' folder
2) Put a 'Personal' and a 'Professional' folder in that.
3) In 'Personal' folder, add a folder for each 'role' you have, (i.e., student, fitness advocate, spouse, mom, home-manager, friend, spiritual follower, support to others, financial coordinator, etc. Once, you've got your 'roles' made-up (you can jockey-them-around later), you see every thing has a place to go. We've found most people only have about seven to ten roles. More than that and you may be over-lapping. Do the same with Professional.
4) Later, Inside each 'role' you can add topics and subjects, THAT is where we suggest adding the year. (i.e., 'Areas of Improvement'>Personal>Fitness Advocate'>Nutrition-2008'.)

Understanding Fonts More to tackle here. When I get a breather, I'll outline some crucial details which will make fonts and their roles across-platforms, more clearly understood.

 

More tips on the way...

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