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Photograph by Peter Belanger
Foreword
It’s hard to believe that just a decade ago, Mac OS X didn’t exist.
In the last half of the ’90s, Apple was desperate. The classic Mac OS
was showing its age, and the company was foundering financially and
producing uninspired hardware. It saw the need to move to a modern
operating system, but the Copland project, designed to revive the Mac
OS, crashed and burned. Salvation came when the company purchased
Next, whose NextStep operating system became the foundation of Mac
OS X. (If you don’t consider Mac OS X the vehicle for Apple’s salvation,
I’ll point out that Steve Jobs returned to Apple as a part of the purchase
of Next. The rest is history.)
But after a decade of constant advancement and regular operating-system upgrades boasting hundreds of new features, Apple has taken a pause with the release of Snow Leopard, also
known as Mac OS X 10.6. Instead of adding hundreds of new features, Apple has chosen to
use Snow Leopard to cut ties with the past, plan for the future, and take direct aim at its current
competition.
The result is a Mac OS X update unlike any in recent memory, one that boosts speeds, reclaims disk space, tweaks dozens of features, and lays the groundwork for a new generation of
computers that feature 64-bit multicore microprocessors, ultra-powerful graphics processors,
and massive amounts of memory. These features, combined with the low upgrade price, make
Snow Leopard the biggest no-brainer of an upgrade since Mac OS X 10.1. (And that upgrade, as
you may or may not recall, was completely free.)
Here at Macworld, covering the Mac and Mac OS X is what we do. And we’ve published
hundreds of thousands of words about Mac OS X since it first appeared. In this book, you’ll find
a collection of the best information about Mac OS X—not just the new features and tweaks that
arrived with Snow Leopard, but also the hundreds of features Apple has added to the operating
system in the past few years. We hope you’ll find this book an indispensable resource for exploring and learning about Mac OS X in general and Snow Leopard in particular.
—Jason Snell, Editorial Director, Macworld
San Francisco, October 2009
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Table of Contents
Installing Snow Leopard
Work Smarter
6 Perform a Basic Upgrade
30 Quickly Track Down Files and Folders
What you need to know to install Snow Leopard,
including backup advice and customization tips.
Use the Finder, the Dock, and Quick Look to work
more efficiently with these timesaving shortcuts.
9 Installation Alternatives and Fixes
37 Tame Cluttered Windows
If you run into any problems while installing Snow
Leopard, this chapter will talk you through the fixes.
Fight window clutter with Spaces, OS X’s updated
window-management tool.
38 Fill In Text with Substitutions
Inside Snow Leopard
One of the most useful new features in Snow Leopard
is text substitution.
12 The Finder, the Dock, and Exposé
39 Automate Repetitive Tasks
Apple made a host of changes to the
Finder and some small tweaks to the
Dock and Exposé. Find out what’s
new with OS X’s navigation apps.
Automator can handle tedious tasks.
This section teaches the basics and
provides some sample workflows.
15 QuickTime X
OS X’s Hidden Tools
QuickTime received one of the biggest makeovers. Version X has some
new features but is missing some old
ones, and it offers smarter workflows.
46 Image Capture
In Snow Leopard, you can use Image
Capture to set default applications for
your camera and share images with
other users on your network.
18 Automation Features
Snow Leopard features newly revamped services and
adds helpful text-substitution tools.
49 Preview
20 Exchange Support
In OS X 10.6 you can finally sync iCal, Address Book,
and Mail with Microsoft Exchange 2007 servers.
The beloved and dependable Preview also has a few
new tricks up its sleeve, including broader PDF powers and more image-editing tools.
21 Preview
53 TextEdit
OS X’s humble Preview application gets a feature
boost. Meet the new tools and additions in version 5.
TextEdit’s genius is that it seems simple but can
actually do some heavy-duty word processing.
22 Wake on Demand
The Secrets of Safari 4
Your Mac can do more while sleeping, thanks to
Snow Leopard’s new Wake on Demand features.
56 Better Browsing
24 Accessibility
Apple has upgraded the Trackpad, VoiceOver, and
Hearing features to make Macs easier to use for
people with physical disabilities.
61 Take Control of Tabs
25 Under the Hood
Overwhelmed by a sea of Web pages? Keep your
multitasking browser activities in order with tabs.
Learn more about Grand Central Dispatch, OpenCL,
and the jump from 32 to 64 bits.
63 Manage Bookmarks and RSS Feeds
26 13 Hidden Features
You have a library of links to sort and tons of RSS
feeds to read. Safari 4 has tools to make both tasks
more manageable.
Get to know these hidden goodies and minor tweaks
in Snow Leopard.
Cover image by splashlight
Safari 4 makes searching and browsing easier than
ever. These tips will help you organize the time you
spend on the Web and use it more productively.
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65 Search Smarter
90 Advanced Fixes
Make your quest for information easy and fun with
the best of our Safari search tips.
When the problems are more advanced, combine
some sleuthing with other possible solutions.
92 Seek Outside Help
Search Your Mac
It’s OK to ask for help, but whom exactly do you ask?
Here’s where to turn if your Mac is having bigger
problems than you can handle.
68 Spotlight Basics
Master OS X’s powerful catchall search tool, Spotlight. Change its preferences and troubleshoot any
issues that may pop up.
94 Back Up with Time Machine
Keep your data 100 percent safe with a backup.
Figure out the best data-storage plan for your setup.
70 Create Smarter Queries
These tricks will ensure that you
find exactly what you’re looking
Terminal Tricks
for with Spotlight searches.
98 Terminal Basics
74 Perform Advanced
Searches
Learn how Terminal works, and
discover some easy ways to make
it work harder for you.
Spotlight shares its powers with
other Mac applications. For heavyduty searches, turn to the Finder.
100 Easy System Tweaks
Change small features of OS X’s
built-in programs from Terminal.
Snow Leopard Security
78 Put User Accounts to Work
The key to keeping your data safe is knowing who has
access to what. Control your Mac with user accounts.
80 Create Strong Passwords
Follow these essential tips to make sure the passwords you select are secure.
81 Encrypt Your Data
Protect your information by encrypting it—follow our
step-by-step instructions.
Total Snow Leopard
Editor
Kelly Turner
82 Make Secure Connections
President and CEOMike Kisseberth
VP and Editorial Director Jason Snell
Guard your system against intruders when you
connect to outside networks.
Managing Editor Jennifer Werner
Associate EditorHeather Kelly
Copy EditorsGail Nelson-Bonebrake,
Charles Purdy
83 Stay Safe Online
Art DirectorRob Schultz
DesignersLori Flynn,
Carli Morgenstein
Avoid spammers, phishers, and hackers by staying
sharp and abiding by these rules for safe browsing.
Macworld is a publication of Mac Publishing, L.L.C., and International Data Group,
Inc. Macworld is an independent journal not affiliated with Apple, Inc. Copyright
© 2008, Mac Publishing, L.L.C. All rights reserved. Macworld, the Macworld logo,
Macworld Lab, the mouse-ratings logo, MacCentral.com, PriceGrabber, and
Mac Developer Journal are registered trademarks of International Data Group,
Inc., and used under license by Mac Publishing, L.L.C. Apple, the Apple logo,
Mac, and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc. Printed in the United
States of America.
Troubleshooting OS X
86 Your Troubleshooting Toolbox
Do you know what to do when your Mac misbehaves? We’ll tell you all the steps you can take to
remedy common OS X issues.
Have comments or suggestions? E-mail us at ebooks@macworld.com.
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Contributors
Rich Mogull is an independent security consultant
who blogs regularly on security issues at Securosis
(www.securosis.com). He is also a contributing editor
at TidBits (www.tidbits.com).
Christopher Breen is a senior editor for Macworld.
He offers troubleshooting advice in Macworld’s Mac
911 blog (macworld.com/mac911).
Glenn Fleishman is the author of Take Control of
Screen Sharing in Leopard (TidBits Publishing, 2008;
www.takecontrolbooks.com).
Associate Editor Dan Moren waxes eloquent about
all things Mac- and iPhone-related on Macworld’s
MacUser and iPhone Central blogs.
Senior Editor Dan Frakes reviews iPod, iPhone, and
audio gear for Macworld and runs Macworld.com’s
Mac Gems and Mobile Mac blogs.
Jonathan Seff is Macworld’s senior news editor.
Michael Scalisi writes about networking and communications products on PCWorld.com’s Net Work blog.
Senior Editor Rob Griffiths runs MacOSXHints.com, a
repository of hidden OS tricks and workarounds, and
offers Mac hints on Macworld’s Mac OS X Hints blog.
Macworld Senior Contributor and professional photographer Derrick Story teaches Mac and photography titles on lynda.com and produces a weekly podcast at The Digital Story (www.thedigitalstory.com).
Joe Kissell is the senior editor of TidBits (www
.tidbits.com) and the author of Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac (TidBits Publishing, 2009).
Contributing Editor Ted Landau is the author of Take
Control of Your iPhone (TidBits Publishing, 2007;
www.takecontrolbooks.com).
Ben Waldie is the author of Automator for Mac OS
X 10.5 Leopard: Visual QuickStart Guide (Peachpit
Press, 2007) and the president of Automated Workflows (www.automatedworkflows.com).
Kirk McElhearn writes about Macs and much more.
Visit his blog, Kirkville (www.mcelhearn.com), for
information about Macs, iPods, books, and music.
Sharon Zardetto has been writing Mac tips since
the Mac was born. One of her current e-books is
Minifesto: Time Machine (www.33thingsbooks.com).
Also from the Editors of Macworld . . .
FF!
$3 EO
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DER6
MWREAckout.
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Get more insider tips and troubleshooting advice from the Mac experts. Our Superguide series offers useful insights and step-by-step instructions for the latest Mac hardware and software. Go to macworld.com/superguide-offer to download a free preview
or to order any of the Superguide books as a PDF, on CD, or as a printed book.
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Installing Snow Leopard
Pick the best upgrade strategy and avoid installation problems
Table of contents
6
9
Perform a Basic Upgrade
Installation Alternatives and
Fixes
Photograph Courtesy of Apple
M
ost of us face the prospect of upgrading an operating
system with a mixture of excitement and dread. True,
an upgrade brings cool new ways to work. But when
you’re installing OS X on your Mac, you’re tinkering with its precious virtual insides.
Luckily, Apple has improved the upgrade experience greatly
with each new cat, and Snow Leopard is no exception. But
despite the installer’s useful guidance, it doesn’t make all of your
options obvious. Here are our tips for making the upgrade process as trouble-free as possible.
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Inside Snow Leopard
Get up to speed with Mac OS X’s new features
Photograph Courtesy of Apple
A
pple has spent the last decade transforming Mac OS X into an
impressive mainstream operating system that’s widely considered
the best in its class. But with OS X 10.6, Apple has changed
course a bit. Instead of adding hundreds of new features, the company has
chosen to focus on refining the tools already built into the OS.
But don’t be fooled. Although Apple may be positioning Snow Leopard
as a relatively minor update, it has packed plenty of tweaks, changes, and
improvements into the new system. Some of them—like the changes to the
Dock and Preview—are fairly subtle on their own but will offer significant
time savings for users when put together. Others, like the retooled QuickTime X and the built-in support for Exchange servers, mark a significant
departure from previous versions.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest changes you’ll find in Snow Leopard.
Table of contents
12 T
he Finder, the Dock,
and Exposé
15 QuickTime X
18 Automation Features
20 Exchange Support
21 Preview
22 Wake on Demand
24 Accessibility
25 Under the Hood
26 13 Hidden Features
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Inside Snow Leopard
The Finder, the Dock,
and Exposé
T
he Finder, the central point for managing
files and folders in Mac OS X, has been
completely rewritten in Snow Leopard.
But you’d hardly know it from looking; the
current version appears almost identical to
the past one. That’s because most of the
work took place behind the scenes. You
should find the new Finder more responsive
than the older model thanks to the rewrite,
support for 64-bit processing, and increased threading using the new Grand Central Dispatch technologies (see “Under the Hood” later in this chapter for
more on these). That said, Apple did also make several smaller but more visible changes to the Finder,
the OS X Dock, and Exposé, the window-switching
feature that many of us rely on every day.
bars to banish windows temporarily to the Dock (you
can double-click the window’s title bar for the same
effect). Other users never take advantage of that
feature, because it fills the Dock with tiny
window icons. With Snow Leopard, Apple
offers a new way of hiding windows that may
turn out to be more popular than the old one.
To change the fate of minimized windows,
visit the Dock preference pane and select
the Minimize Windows Into Application Icon option.
Now, when you minimize an open window, it’ll fly
down to the Dock and disappear into the icon of its
associated application. To get it back, you simply
click and hold on the application’s icon in the Dock.
The screen will dim, and you’ll see all open windows
for that program in Exposé mode (minimized windows appear as smaller icons toward the bottom of
the screen). Just click a minimized window to bring
it out of the Dock. In fact, Exposé always shows
minimized windows when triggered. So if you prefer
to retrieve a minimized window by pressing F9 or
F10 and picking it out, you can do that, too (see
“Two Ways to Access Windows”).
If you don’t want to switch to Exposé, Controlclick (right-click) the application in the Dock and
choose the window from the list (minimized windows
appear with a diamond next to their name).
Refined Dock
For quickly launching apps and switching between
programs, the OS X’s Dock is a powerful ally. This
handy strip at the bottom of your screen gives you
immediate access to any running application, as well
as favorite apps and folders. Snow Leopard brings a
few new improvements to the Dock.
Less Clutter One of the biggest changes
concerns minimized windows. Some people use the
yellow button in the left corner of most window tool-
b
a
Two Ways to Access Windows In Snow Leopard there are a couple of ways to access minimized windows quickly.
When you click and hold on an icon in the Dock, Exposé displays all open windows for that application (left). Minimized windows appear as smaller icons at the bottom of the screen A. Alternatively, you can Control-click (rightclick) the app’s icon in the Dock (right); a diamond appears next to the names of minimized windows b.
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Work Smarter
Savvy shortcuts and timesaving tricks to make Snow Leopard roar
Y
ou may love your Mac, but that doesn’t mean you want
to spend any more time than necessary managing your
files, switching applications, or copying and pasting text
between documents.
Luckily for you, OS X 10.6 is teeming with productivity-boosting
features like keyboard shortcuts, customization options, and powerful
automation tools that can trigger complex multiprogram tasks with a
single click of the mouse. But most of these features aren’t obvious.
That’s where these tips come in. They’re all about learning to make
better and more productive use of what’s already there. We’ll show
you how to speed through the Finder, unlock Quick Look’s more
mysterious powers, manage unwieldy windows with Spaces, and
automate your Mac by building your own systemwide services.
Table of contents
30
37
38
39
Quickly Track Down Files
and Folders
Tame Cluttered Windows
Fill In Text with
Substitutions
Automate Repetitive Tasks
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Work Smarter
Quickly Track Down Files
and Folders
S
ome OS X programs, such as the Finder,
the Dock, and Quick Look, are such an
essential part of the Mac experience that
it’s easy to take them for granted. By learning how to
use these tools more efficiently and by taking advantage of lesser-known shortcuts, you can cut down on
numerous clicks—which can add up to some serious
time savings over the long haul. Here are some of our
favorite tips.
To make it easier to burn these files on a schedule,
first create a burn folder as usual. Instead of dragging
items into it, though, next create a new smart folder.
Set the criteria so that the desired files appear in the
search results, then click Save. In the new dialog box
that appears, name your smart folder, and then save
it into your newly created burn folder.
That’s all there is to it—now you have a smart burn
folder that will constantly update with all the relevant
files. When it’s time to burn your backup, you’ll automatically get all matching files, without having to do
any work on your own.
See More Info in Open and Save As
Dialog Boxes
You’re trying to open the budget your coworker sent,
but several files on your system have similar names.
While browsing an Open or Save As dialog box, you
can get additional information about any file by selecting it and pressing 1-I.
Add Items to the Toolbar
Are there certain files, folders, or even programs you
want to access quickly from any Finder window? Add
their icons to the Finder’s toolbar at the top of the
window (see “Personalize the Toolbar”).
Drag an icon to a free area in the toolbar—say, to
the right of the buttons—and wait a second; the cursor will show a plus-sign (+) icon, and then the item
will show up in that space. 1-drag an icon to remove
it from the toolbar. For even more options, Controlclick the toolbar and select Customize Toolbar from
the contextual menu.
Create Smart Burn Folders
You probably know that you can create burn folders (File ▶ New Burn Folder) to make it easier to
burn DVDs and CDs, and that you can create smart
folders (File ▶ New Smart Folder) to store often-used
searches, but did you know that you can mix the two
to create smart burn folders?
Say you have a set of files that you’d like to
regularly burn to disc, and that they share a common
characteristic—they all reside in one folder, or they
have a certain extension, or you’ve coded them all
with an identical Spotlight Comment.
Use the Path Bar
Want to relocate a file one or more levels up in its
folder hierarchy? Use the often-overlooked Path Bar.
Choose View ▶ Show Path Bar to reveal this bar at
a
Personalize the
Toolbar The sidebar
isn’t the only place you
can stash important
programs and folders.
You can drag their icons
onto the Finder’s toolbar A for easy access.
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OS X’s Hidden Tools
Rediscover three of Snow Leopard’s most underappreciated apps
S
ome programs need no introduction. Mail, iCal, iChat—
these OS X stalwarts are an integral part of the Mac
experience. Other programs, meanwhile, languish in
the Applications folder waiting to be noticed—which is a shame,
because these apps are often brimming with unrealized potential.
Consider Image Capture, for example. This trusty program
doesn’t just download photos; it can also share your photos with
any Mac on your network. Likewise, Preview is best known as a
PDF viewer, but dig deeper and you’ll find it has plenty of tricks
up its sleeve—including erasing a photo’s background. And if you
think TextEdit, OS X’s free word processor, is a bare-bones writing app, you’ll be amazed to discover just how flexible it is.
Here’s a look at some of the more surprising features in these
often overlooked programs.
Table of contents
46 Image Capture
49 Preview
53 TextEdit
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OS X’s Hidden Tools
Image Capture
I
mage Capture may be one of OS X’s bestkept secrets. This photo-savvy program,
which lives in your Applications
folder, may not have iPhoto’s beautiful interface or vast feature set. But it does a great
job of allowing you to grab a quick shot and
perform complex actions without having to
first add those images to iPhoto’s library.
And in Snow Leopard, Apple has overhauled
Image Capture to make it even more useful.
Once you fire up the app, you can connect anything
from an iPhone to a Canon 5D Mark II to your Mac,
browse images on the memory card, then download
only the ones you want. You can hook up multiple
devices at once and choose among them, and even
share their images with other people on your network.
If you haven’t taken a look at Image Capture lately,
here are some of the timesaving tricks you’ve been
missing out on.
for the camera. This means the program will launch
when you plug in the device. You can also choose
to have nothing happen when the camera is
plugged in.
But here’s the best part: thanks to Snow
Leopard, you’re no longer stuck with an allor-nothing approach. In OS X 10.6, you can
set different actions for different devices. If
you want iPhoto to launch when you connect your compact camera, for example, but
you don’t want anything to pop up when you plug in
your iPhone, Image Capture will take care of it.
Grab a Quick Shot
Have you ever come home from an event and wanted
to quickly e-mail one or two photos from the day?
Even if you use iPhoto to manage your photos, you
may not want to go through the whole process of
launching the app, importing the hundreds of photos
you took, and then exporting just the one shot. Image
Capture can help here, too. (In fact, Image Capture is
one of the easiest ways to grab full-resolution photos
off your iPhone.)
Connect your camera or card reader and launch
Image Capture if it’s not already open. You’ll see
thumbnails of all the images on your camera. Click
the shot you want, use the Import To pop-up menu
to specify where you want to save it, and then click
the Import button. (Don’t let the glowing blue Import
All button tempt you; that downloads the entire
Keep iPhoto in Its Place
If you’ve been terrorized by iPhoto’s habit of launching
every time you plug in your camera or iPhone, you can
fix the problem with a few clicks in Image Capture.
Launch Image Capture, connect your device, and
make sure it is highlighted in the left column. Now
choose what you want to have happen from the
pop-up menu at the bottom of the column. Image
capture will list all of the available photo programs;
selecting one will set it as the default application
a
Many Devices, One
Program In the latest version
of Image Capture, you can set
different default applications
A for each camera, iPhone,
or other compatible device.
Turn on the Share option B to
share the device’s photos with
other Snow Leopard Macs on
your network.
b
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Search Your Mac
Use Spotlight to find files fast and track down anything
D
o you want to open documents without digging through
nests of folders? Trying to find a long-lost e-mail from
an old friend? Need a way to bring up all the files you
worked on last Friday? Spotlight can help. First introduced in
Tiger, Spotlight provides a quick and easy way to locate and
open scattered files and missing documents, as well as applications, contacts, and events.
With useful features such as Boolean searches, keywords that
help you home in on a greater variety of content, and the ability to search by specific dates, Spotlight is an indispensable tool
for finding anything you seek on your Mac. All you need to do is
learn its tricks.
Table of contents
68 Spotlight Basics
70 Create Smarter Queries
74 Perform Advanced Searches
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search your mac
Spotlight Basics
A
lthough you can access Spotlight’s searching power from many parts of OS X—including the Finder, System Preferences, Mail,
Preview, and iCal—most Spotlight queries start in the
Spotlight menu. To bring up the Spotlight menu, click
the Spotlight icon on the right side of the menu bar or
press 1-spacebar.
To start a search, type in one or more words—you
don’t have to worry about capitalization. Spotlight
immediately starts presenting matches, looking for
search terms in your files’ names, content, and hidden information called metadata. As you type in more
of the word or phrase, Spotlight will refine its results.
Navigate the Spotlight Menu
Spotlight sorts results into categories such as Documents, Folders, Images, and Messages. Depending on the words you’re searching for, you may also
come across more application-specific groupings
such as Contacts (for entries found in Apple’s Address Book or Microsoft Entourage), Events & To-Dos
(for iCal data), and Webpages (for Safari bookmarks
and history).
Within each group, results are prioritized according to when they were last viewed or saved, so the
things you’ve worked on recently will pop to the top
of the list. The menu also highlights a result called a
Top Hit—the one Spotlight considers most relevant,
based on Apple’s secret formula that takes into account file type, recent usage, and other criteria. If the
item you’re searching for turns out to be the Top Hit,
you can open it simply by pressing the Return key.
To launch a different file, use the up- or downarrow keys to navigate to it, or click it with your
mouse. (For a list of handy keyboard commands, see
“Spotlight Shortcuts.”)
Some results open an application rather than an
individual file. For example, clicking an event displays the particulars in iCal, while selecting a contact
shows the details in Address Book (or Entourage
if that’s your contact manager of choice). What’s
more, some programs are extra smart when it comes
to Spotlight queries. If Preview is your default PDF
reader, for example, selecting a PDF file in a Spotlight
search both opens the document and highlights the
first occurrence of the word.
Spotlight Gets Results Spotlight searches file names,
content, and metadata on your Mac, to bring up a
list of matching results—such as definitions, images,
PDFs, text documents, Web pages, e-mails, and
music files.
Change Spotlight’s Preferences
If you’d like to prioritize certain types of files over others, or if you want to exclude certain sections of your
computer entirely, you can do so by choosing Spotlight Preferences from the bottom of the Spotlight
menu (or navigating to the Spotlight pane in System
Preferences).
Set Categories The Spotlight menu displays
categories according to the order in which they’re
set in the Search results section of Spotlight’s preference pane. You can drag categories around to alter
the order in which they appear, or choose to not
display certain groups at all by deselecting them in
the list.
Exclude Locations You’ve got lots of files on
your Mac, but that doesn’t mean you want Spotlight
to search them all. You may want to keep some of
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Snow Leopard Security
Keep your system safe from snoops, thieves, and malware
S
now Leopard has added a few security improvements,
including a beefed-up malware detector and new
firewall settings, to help you protect your Mac and your
data from thieves, viruses, hackers, and other dangers.
This chapter will give you the essentials to safeguard your files,
personal information, and communications. With a little work and
knowledge, you can greatly decrease the likelihood that your
information will fall into the wrong hands.
Table of contents
78 80
81
82 83 Put User Accounts to Work
Create Strong Passwords
Encrypt Your Data
Make Secure Connections
Stay Safe Online
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snow leopard security
Put User Accounts to Work
O
ne of the easiest things you can do to keep
out casual snoops and to protect the files
on your computer is to require users to log
in. OS X lets you set up separate user accounts for
everyone who uses your Mac, giving you precise
control over how much access each account has
and who can access your Mac at all. But for user
accounts to be effective, you have to make sure
you’ve set them up in the most secure way.
make it easier to mistakenly change or delete something crucial to your computer’s operation. Second,
you open a potential security hole: if you step away
from your computer for a moment without logging
out, anyone who walks up to your Mac has complete
access to your data and any unlocked settings. The
safest course is to set up a second user account
without administrative privileges, and use that as
your main day-to-day account. To set up a new nonadministrator account, create a Standard account
and make sure that the Allow User To Administer This
Computer option is not selected.
Set Up Multiple Accounts If more than one person uses your computer, make
sure each user has a separate account. Doing so
keeps mail, documents, keychains, browser history,
Disable Automatic Login
and other personal data safe from casual snooping.
By default, OS X logs you in when you turn on your
Every Mac has at least one administrator account,
computer. This is convenient, but it also leaves your
which gives you the freedom to install software in the
Mac and its files vulnerable to anyone who pushes
root-level Applications folder,
change preferences that affect
It’s not a good idea to give other users too much power over your system. That’s
the entire system, and create
why OS X offers several types of accounts that offer a variety of limits on activities:
and delete other user accounts.
Administrator for full access, Standard for other adults, Managed to use parental
However, it’s not a good idea
controls, and Guest for a onetime visitor. Here’s how the options stack up.
to give other users this much
Account
power over your system. That’s
features
Administrator
Standard Managed
Guest
why OS X offers additional types
●
❍
❍
❍
of accounts that place limits on
Can change
all system
these activities: Standard, Manpreferences
aged (with the option of parental
●
●
❍
●
Can change
controls), and Guest (see “PriviSystem
Prefleged User”).
erences that
When adding accounts on
affect his or
her account
your Mac, make sure the Allow
User To Administer This Comput●
❍
❍
❍
er option is deselected. If you’d
Can manage
user
like to further limit the account,
accounts
select the Enable Parental Con●
❍
❍
❍
Can install
trols option, and then click the
software for
Open Parental Controls button to
all users
define what programs and activi●
●
❍
❍
Can install
ties that user can access.
Privileged User
Use Admin Accounts
Sparingly
Using an administrator account
as your normal, day-to-day login
account can be risky. First, you
software for
personal use
Can run all
applications
installed on
the Mac
●
●
w
❍
● = yes. ❍ = no. w = only those selected by the administrator.
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Troubleshooting OS X
How to deal with common Snow Leopard issues and protect your data
Table of contents
86
90
92
94
Your Troubleshooting Toolbox
Advanced Fixes
Seek Outside Help
Back Up with Time Machine
Photograph Courtesy of Apple
M
ost of the time, your Mac is the picture of health—it
crunches numbers, plays music, and tackles the most
difficult tasks without so much as a hiccup. But many
things can go wrong with such a complicated system. When
something does go wrong, a good backup of your system can
help give you peace of mind and get you back on your feet
quickly—which is why Apple includes the user-friendly backup
program Time Machine in Snow Leopard. This chapter will go
through all the Mac fixes you can try on your own, tell you where
to turn for outside help, and show you how to keep your data
safe with Time Machine backups.
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Troubleshooting OS X
Your Troubleshooting
Toolbox
O
ccasionally something that looks like a
complete computer meltdown actually has
a simple fix. Before heading to the Genius
Bar or rushing into more-complicated troubleshooting techniques, try these tried-and-true remedies for
commonplace Mac problems.
gram—such as the Dock—that doesn’t have a Dock
icon or appear in the Force Quit window. In that case,
launch Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities).
From its list, select the frozen application. Click the
Quit Process button in the toolbar. In the dialog box
that appears, click Force Quit.
Force-Quit
Relaunch
It happens to all Mac users sooner or later. You’re
about to select a menu command when suddenly
your cursor turns into a beach ball that just spins
and spins. OS X offers several ways to force-quit a
program. You can go to the Apple menu and select
Force Quit (or press its keyboard equivalent:
1-Option-Escape). This brings up a list of all your
currently open applications. Typically, the name of
the frozen one will be followed by the phrase “not
responding.” Select the program’s name and click
Force Quit (see “Use the Force”).
You can also force an application to quit from the
Dock. Click and hold over the frozen application’s
Dock icon. When the menu pops up, the item that
normally reads Quit should say Force Quit. If it still
just says Quit, hold down the Option key to make the
Force Quit command appear.
On rare occasions, you may need to quit a pro-
Just as unwelcome as the application freeze is the
application crash. In this case, you’re not trying to
force a program to quit; you’re trying to prevent
it from quitting on its own. When an application
crashes, you typically see a dialog box informing
you that the application has “unexpectedly quit.” As
with application freezes, the good news is that these
crashes rarely bring down an entire Mac—they usually affect just the one application. The “unexpectedly
quit” dialog box includes a Reopen button. Click it to
launch the application again. With luck, the crash will
not reoccur.
Update Programs
Does a particular program consistently crash when
you try to perform a particular action, such as saving a file? If the symptom doesn’t occur with any
other applications, check to make sure the application doesn’t have a conflict with the version of OS
X you’re using. It’s possible that after you update to
Snow Leopard, you will need to update the problem
program. Check the company’s Website for details.
Oftentimes, it will have a new version that fixes some
bug (or some conflict with other software) that is
causing the symptom. Snow Leopard will also automatically check for conflicting programs at installation
and move them to an Incompatibility folder.
Many programs automatically check for updates
upon launch. Take advantage of this option—if you
see a dialog box asking whether you want to check
for updates, accept the offer. Other software comes
with a separate update utility that can launch on a
schedule—say, once a week. For example, look for
the Microsoft AutoUpdate program in your Applications folder if you want to check any of your Office
programs right away or set up a schedule. To check
Use the Force When an application brings your Mac to
a screeching halt, try a Force Quit and start fresh.
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Terminal Tricks
Get to know Snow Leopard’s hidden side
W
ith a little bit of know-how and the right commands,
even first-time Mac owners can use Terminal. By tapping into the power of Unix, you can streamline your
workflow and manipulate files in ways otherwise impossible in the
OS X interface. Though it might seem a little intimidating at first,
Terminal is a snap to use once you learn its secrets.
Table of contents
98 Terminal Basics
100 Easy System Tweaks
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snow leopard terminal
Terminal Basics
T
his is a collection of the top tricks, new and
old, that make using Terminal easy and fun.
Test them out and make them part of your
Terminal routine.
Open Terminal URLs in Your Default
Browser
To load a URL into your default browser, 1-Shift–
double-click on the URL.
Get File Paths Fast
OS X lets you drag a file or folder to the Terminal
window to add its path to a command. You can also
copy the file or folder, and then paste it into the Terminal window to add its path.
Open Tab You can use tabs instead of keeping multiple
Terminal windows open. Just press 1-T to create a
new tab.
Set Terminal’s Welcome Message
Manage Tabs in Terminal
When you open a new Terminal window in Snow
Leopard, you see the date and time you last opened
a new Terminal window. To customize this greeting
line, open Terminal, enter cd /etc, press Return,
and type sudo pico motd. That second command
launches a text editor and loads a new file called
motd (message of the day). Type what you’d like as
your message; then press Control-X (for exit), Y (for
yes, to save changes), and Return (to accept the file
name, which will appear as motd). From now on, new
Terminal windows will display your custom greeting,
right below the date and time of the last login.
Tabs in Terminal can perform many of the same tricks
that tabs in Safari do. In practice, that means you can
turn any tab into a new window by simply dragging it
off the tab bar. You can also rearrange tabs by clicking and holding a tab, sliding it along the tab bar, and
then releasing the mouse button; as you move one
tab, the others will jump out of the way.
You can also merge multiple windows into one
tabbed window. If you have many open windows and
want to combine them all, just use the Window ▶
Merge All Windows menu command. If you’d rather
be more selective about which windows to merge,
you can drag and drop a stand-alone window into the
tab area of another window. (For this trick to work,
the tab bar must be visible in both windows.) You can
set the tab bar to always be visible using the View:
Show Tab Bar menu item.
Navigate Terminal Tabs
Instead of having five separate Terminal windows
open, you can have just one main window containing five tabs. To create a new tab, press 1-T; you can
then switch between tabs by pressing 1-Shift–close
bracket ( ] ) and 1-Shift–open bracket ( [ ) (see “Open
Tab”). If you find that last combination awkward to remember and to execute, you could use the Keyboard
Shortcuts panel in the Keyboard & Mouse preference
pane to reassign it. But that’s time-consuming, and
you would have to repeat it on each machine you
use. Instead, try pressing 1-Shift and the left- or
right-arrow key. Some people prefer this undocumented shortcut to the one using the brackets. If you
leave out the Shift key, that same shortcut will cycle
between open windows.
View Split Terminal Panes
A new feature in Snow Leopard is the ability to split
one Terminal window into multiple panes. To create a
split Terminal window, click the split icon (the square
at the top of the scroll bar on the right). You can also
press 1-D (see “Doing the Splits”).
Protect Information with Access Control
Lists
Unix geeks will appreciate OS X’s support for Access
Control Lists (ACLs). ACLs give you more control
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Nobody spends more time with Apple’s computers
and software than the writers and editors at Macworld,
the world’s foremost Mac authority.
Now Macworld’s team of experts take you inside
Apple’s latest update to the popular Mac OS X operating system: Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6. Snow
Leopard is an OS X update unlike any in recent memory—one that boosts speeds, reclaims disk space,
tweaks dozens of features, and lays the groundwork
for a new generation of computers featuring 64-bit
multicore microprocessors, ultrapowerful graphics processors, and massive amounts of memory.
In this book we’ll walk you through Snow Leopard’s new
features and help you master OS X basics, find hidden
tricks, and work around glitches—all to make sure you
have the best Snow Leopard experience possible.
Inside these pages you’ll find all the information
you need to install Snow Leopard smoothly and get
started with its most important new features. Use this
book to master the Web with Safari 4, get e-mail with
Exchange, and increase productivity with text substitutions and the Services menu.
Our experts don’t just focus on what’s new in Snow
Leopard. This book is filled with practical information on using OS X, including step-by-step advice on
recovering from crashes, freezes, and other Mac ailments, and tips on how to best back up your system
with Time Machine to ensure that you can recover
quickly from more serious problems.
Let Macworld’s experts show you how to get the most
out of Snow Leopard and your Mac.
ISBN 978-0-9822621-4-6
52499 >
9 780982 262146
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