Macworld's best tips, tricks, and How-To's

Dust kills

Dan Frakes takes his own advice about Mac maintenance and winds up fixing a problem involving dusty internal components.

Search for some iTunes lyrics in LeopardIn OS X 10.5, you can use Spotlight to search for lyrics in certain types of iTunes music files.
Digital Photo: Color correcting digital camera images As far as digital technology has come, there’s still one thing that digital cameras won’t do: give you perfect color every time. But unfortunately, every digital camera sneaks some kind of color cast into your images. Here’s how to get your color in line.

Latest Tips, Tricks, and How-To's

Dust kills
Dan Frakes takes his own advice about Mac maintenance and winds up fixing a problem involving dusty internal components.
Search for some iTunes lyrics in Leopard
In OS X 10.5, you can use Spotlight to search for lyrics in certain types of iTunes music files.
Digital Photo: Color correcting digital camera images
As far as digital technology has come, there’s still one thing that digital cameras won’t do: give you perfect color every time. But unfortunately, every digital camera sneaks some kind of color cast into your images. Here’s how to get your color in line.
Moving Mail accounts offline
Here are a couple of options for moving specific Mail accounts offline.
Adding some magic to GarageBand songwriting
Stuck on how to achieve that perfect sound for your song? Try GarageBand’s Magic GarageBand feature, which is also a great way for beginners to get started with music-creation software.
Bugs & Fixes: This document will be updated
Ted Landau finds two recent examples of Apple-recommended Terminal work-arounds.
Turn off the ‘Use disk for Time Machine?’ warning
Learn how to disable the “Use this drive for Time Machine?” dialog that pops up in Leopard when you connect an external drive for the first time.
Open new windows via Command-Tab in Leopard
A simple trick to open new windows—or undock a docked window—using the Command-Tab application switcher in OS X 10.5.
Wrestling with DVD region coding
Care to play both Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs in your new Mac? Here are your options.
See Spotlight’s indexing progress
Learn a simple trick to see how much of your hard drive Spotlight has indexed during a re-indexing operation.
This, that, and the iTunes Store
Apple has been quietly tweaking the iTunes Store. Here are some changes you might not have noticed.
Geek Factor: Automating Word with AppleScript
Unfortunately, Word 2008 doesn’t support VBA. The good news is that, with a little tinkering, almost anything you could do with a VBA macro in previous versions of Word, you can now do with AppleScript in Word 2008.
Photo Booth and flipped images
You say you'd like to reverse Photo Booth's mirror images? It's easily done with a single command.
Fix and prevent iPhone freezes and crashes
Freezes and crashes are generic iPhone problems that can occur in any iPhone software, from Safari to Maps. In this excerpt from Take Control of Your iPhone, Ted Landau explains how to recover from freezes and crashes and how to avoid them in the first place.
Disable the 10.5 X11 warning-on-quit dialog
If you use X11 in OS X 10.5, you’re probably annoyed by its new ‘are you sure?’ warning whenever you try to quit the program. Learn how to disable it.
Bugs & Fixes: Apple TV network and authorization hassles
Is your Apple TV not showing up in iTunes? Are you getting error messages when you attempt to sync your Apple TV? Ted Landau covers these troubles in the latest installment of Bugs & Fixes.
Open Mail links in the background
Here’s a quick tip on how to make Mail open links in your browser while keeping the browser in the background.
Songwriting with GarageBand
Jim Dalrymple’s efforts to create his first record album on a Mac continue, with a glimpse into the songwriting process. When it comes to composing music, GarageBand takes on a leading role.
Liven up your tracks with artwork
The quickest way to find a CD in a pile of jewel cases is by looking for its cover. Similarly, you can use Cover Flow in iTunes to scroll through your songs and albums, and the iPod lets you do the same thing; the iPod touch and iPhone even let you flick through a Cover Flow view with your fingertip.
Windows and AirPort's Equivalent Network Password
Windows wants your AirPort base station's key code. Here's how to find it.

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Dust kills
Dan Frakes takes his own advice about Mac maintenance and winds up fixing a problem involving dusty internal components.
Search for some iTunes lyrics in Leopard
In OS X 10.5, you can use Spotlight to search for lyrics in certain types of iTunes music files.
Digital Photo: Color correcting digital camera images
As far as digital technology has come, there’s still one thing that digital cameras won’t do: give you perfect color every time. But unfortunately, every digital camera sneaks some kind of color cast into your images. Here’s how to get your color in line.
Adding some magic to GarageBand songwriting
Stuck on how to achieve that perfect sound for your song? Try GarageBand’s Magic GarageBand feature, which is also a great way for beginners to get started with music-creation software.
Bugs & Fixes: This document will be updated
Ted Landau finds two recent examples of Apple-recommended Terminal work-arounds.
Turn off the ‘Use disk for Time Machine?’ warning
Learn how to disable the “Use this drive for Time Machine?” dialog that pops up in Leopard when you connect an external drive for the first time.
Open new windows via Command-Tab in Leopard
A simple trick to open new windows—or undock a docked window—using the Command-Tab application switcher in OS X 10.5.
Wrestling with DVD region coding
Care to play both Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs in your new Mac? Here are your options.
See Spotlight’s indexing progress
Learn a simple trick to see how much of your hard drive Spotlight has indexed during a re-indexing operation.
Geek Factor: Automating Word with AppleScript
Unfortunately, Word 2008 doesn’t support VBA. The good news is that, with a little tinkering, almost anything you could do with a VBA macro in previous versions of Word, you can now do with AppleScript in Word 2008.
Photo Booth and flipped images
You say you'd like to reverse Photo Booth's mirror images? It's easily done with a single command.
Fix and prevent iPhone freezes and crashes
Freezes and crashes are generic iPhone problems that can occur in any iPhone software, from Safari to Maps. In this excerpt from Take Control of Your iPhone, Ted Landau explains how to recover from freezes and crashes and how to avoid them in the first place.
Disable the 10.5 X11 warning-on-quit dialog
If you use X11 in OS X 10.5, you’re probably annoyed by its new ‘are you sure?’ warning whenever you try to quit the program. Learn how to disable it.
Bugs & Fixes: Apple TV network and authorization hassles
Is your Apple TV not showing up in iTunes? Are you getting error messages when you attempt to sync your Apple TV? Ted Landau covers these troubles in the latest installment of Bugs & Fixes.

All Topic Tips, Tricks, and How-To's

Search for some iTunes lyrics in Leopard
In OS X 10.5, you can use Spotlight to search for lyrics in certain types of iTunes music files.
Digital Photo: Color correcting digital camera images
As far as digital technology has come, there’s still one thing that digital cameras won’t do: give you perfect color every time. But unfortunately, every digital camera sneaks some kind of color cast into your images. Here’s how to get your color in line.
Moving Mail accounts offline
Here are a couple of options for moving specific Mail accounts offline.
Adding some magic to GarageBand songwriting
Stuck on how to achieve that perfect sound for your song? Try GarageBand’s Magic GarageBand feature, which is also a great way for beginners to get started with music-creation software.
Turn off the ‘Use disk for Time Machine?’ warning
Learn how to disable the “Use this drive for Time Machine?” dialog that pops up in Leopard when you connect an external drive for the first time.
Open new windows via Command-Tab in Leopard
A simple trick to open new windows—or undock a docked window—using the Command-Tab application switcher in OS X 10.5.
Wrestling with DVD region coding
Care to play both Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs in your new Mac? Here are your options.
See Spotlight’s indexing progress
Learn a simple trick to see how much of your hard drive Spotlight has indexed during a re-indexing operation.
This, that, and the iTunes Store
Apple has been quietly tweaking the iTunes Store. Here are some changes you might not have noticed.
Geek Factor: Automating Word with AppleScript
Unfortunately, Word 2008 doesn’t support VBA. The good news is that, with a little tinkering, almost anything you could do with a VBA macro in previous versions of Word, you can now do with AppleScript in Word 2008.
Photo Booth and flipped images
You say you'd like to reverse Photo Booth's mirror images? It's easily done with a single command.
Fix and prevent iPhone freezes and crashes
Freezes and crashes are generic iPhone problems that can occur in any iPhone software, from Safari to Maps. In this excerpt from Take Control of Your iPhone, Ted Landau explains how to recover from freezes and crashes and how to avoid them in the first place.
Disable the 10.5 X11 warning-on-quit dialog
If you use X11 in OS X 10.5, you’re probably annoyed by its new ‘are you sure?’ warning whenever you try to quit the program. Learn how to disable it.
Bugs & Fixes: Apple TV network and authorization hassles
Is your Apple TV not showing up in iTunes? Are you getting error messages when you attempt to sync your Apple TV? Ted Landau covers these troubles in the latest installment of Bugs & Fixes.