NZMac.com - Supporting the New Zealand Mac community

How do I take snapshots of windows or parts of my screen on a Mac?

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There are many options...

• Holding down the Command (Apple) key + Shift + 3 takes a shot of the entire screen. An image file is then created.
• Holding down the Command (Apple) key + Shift + 4 produces a 'crosshair' that you then drag over the area you want. An image file is then created.
• Either of the same key combination plus "Shift" at the same time produces no file but instead copies the image to the clipboard. Then just go to whatever program you want and then choose 'Paste'

Or...You can also use the Grab application designed specifically for screen shots that is included as part of Mac OS X. You’ll find it in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.
Last Updated Sunday, 09 March 2008

How to check the health of your hard drive

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Most disk drives include S.M.A.R.T. hardware developed by IBM that allows hard disks to test themselves for potential problems. You can check the health of your hard disk in Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities.

To check the status of a disk, go into your Applications folder, into the Utilities folder and double-click on the Disk Utility application. Click on your hard drive disk in the left-hand column (make sure you click on the disk name and not a partition). Look at the bottom of the window to see the S.M.A.R.T. status (as shown in the example below).

If your disk is "verified," it's a valid disk with nothing wrong at this time. If you see "About to Fail" in red letters, back up your disk immediately and have the disk replaced. It will fail.

Taken from this page at Apple that includes more information.

Last Updated Monday, 10 March 2008

Using older printers with Mac OS X

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If you are unable to print to your favourite (but maybe slightly older printer) go to http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net and get Gimp Print. It allows you to print to many printers not supported in OS X and you won't even know it's there.
Last Updated Tuesday, 11 March 2008

How do I repair Disk Permissions?

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Some suggest doing at Disk permissions repair on a regular basis, especially when installing new software.

• For Mac OS X 10.2 or later, open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/).
• Select your Mac OS X startup volume in the column on the left of the Disk Utility window
• Click the First Aid tab.
• Click the Repair Disk Permissions button.

Users are advised to read Apple pages on the use of Disk Permissions:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106712

Some also advocate regular disk permission repairs (such as weekly) as a way to improve performance, although there isn't a consensus on this approach. The following is an excellent article worth reading and looking at the Pros and Cons of using disk permission repair...http://www.macworld.com/article/52220/2006/08/repairpermissions.html

Last Updated Friday, 25 April 2008

How do I control the countdown and flash options in Photo Booth?

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These options are available only in Mac OS X Leopard (10.5)

• To turn off the countdown, press the Option key while clicking the Shutter button.
• To turn off the flash, press the Shift key while clicking the Shutter button.
• To turn off both the countdown and flash, press Option-Shift while clicking the Shutter button.

Last Updated Friday, 25 April 2008

How do I have NZ statutory holidays put automatically into iCal?

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Go to the apple.com website, search for "New Zealand Holiday Calendar", select the first result (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/calendars/newzealandholidaycalendar.html) , then click download.

The calendar does not include Easter dates and does not include provincial holidays. 

Last Updated Friday, 25 April 2008