Macenstein

Now even ugly people can use Leopard’s iChat

Now ugly “facially challenged” people have TWO new visage-obscuring iChat themes to choose from that will allow them to communicate with the outside world! MacRumors.com forum member Zneo11 has created a brilliant theme compatible with Leopard’s iChat called “iPod Person”. As the name (and photos imply), “iPod Person” allows you to look like (if not dance like) those wacky iPod people we’ve all grown to know and tolerate. (And yes,... Read More

Apple releases Login & Keychain Update for Leopard

Well, it comes a day late for me… but hopefully this will help the rest of you would-be Leopard updaters. About the Login & Keychain Update 1.0 The Login & Keychain Update 1.0 for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is recommended for all Leopard installations. It addresses issues you may encounter when: Logging in with an account originally created in Mac OS X 10.1 or earlier that has a password of 8 or more characters. Connecting to some 802.11b/g wireless networks. Changing... Read More

Mauled by a Leopard

I was mauled by a Leopard yesterday, and while I somehow managed to survive his initial attack, he came back this morning to take another bite. Luckily I am a quick healer, so I am back to 90% health, but I urge anyone out there taking the Leopard upgrade for granted take a quick moment and listen to my tale. The sad story I admit I may have been lulled into a false sense of security by how smoothly my last four OS X updates went, and perhaps I should have been more prepared.... Read More

Leopard: Still no FTP support? WTF?!

The early reviews of Mac OS X Leopard are coming in from those lucky enough to have been shipped a review copy, had their pre-order shipped early, or stolen downloaded a copy through the Torrents. And while these reports are all well and good, what matters most to us is what the faithful Macenstein readers have to say. One such faithful reader (and early Leopard adopter) The Hendry, was overall pleased with the release, but lamented to us that Leopard still sports one glaring... Read More

Just 10 days ’till Leopard “Ultimate” Edition

Fans of translucent menu bars everywhere rejoice! Apple has finally let the cat, er, Leopard, out of the bag, (no one’s ever used that joke, right?) and announced an official launch date of October 26th for their new OS. “Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we’ve ever released,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And everyone gets the ‘Ultimate’ version, packed with all the new innovative features, for... Read More

Tips/Howto: Refresh a Finder Window

One of the few non-viral things Windows users have that Mac OS X users don’t is an easy way to refresh a Finder (Explorer) window. Their “refresh” command (located under their VIEW menu) is a handy way to update the contents of the open window to see changes that do not (for whatever reason) display automatically. This non-updating of windows actually happens to me quite a bit in OS X. I find for the most part the refresh problems occur when an application is... Read More

Let’s bring back “Command-Y”

Is it too late to request a feature for Leopard? Probably. But here’s one for the 10.5.1 release. Let’s bring back Command-Y. Those of you who have never known a Mac Pre-OS X likely do not remember Command-Y, but it performed a pretty cool trick. In earlier Mac OS’s, that keyboard shortcut combination invoked the “Put Away” function, which did 2 things. First, if an optical disk (CD, ZIP, JAZ – anyone remember Iomega?) were selected and Command-Y... Read More

Quick Mail Tip: Find out how much space your messages are taking up

Posted by Dr. Macenstein Here’s a quick little tip you may already know about, but I just discovered while screwing around in Mail. If in your main Mail window you select an account under your INBOX, then hit “CMND+i” (the usual “Get Info” shortcut), you are presented with the Account Info window. This window defaults to the MESSAGES ON SERVER tab, which provides a sortable list of all messages currently residing on your mail server, along with their... Read More

The unofficial death of the G4 processor

Posted by Dr. Macenstein Does it mattter that your OS can run on a bare bones machine if the apps you use can’t? Apple lists the current minimum system requirements for the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard as a very reasonable “G4 (800 MHz or faster)-, G5- or Intel-based Mac“. This was very welcome news for G4 owners like myself who like to try to keep as many of our machines as current as possible. However, at this week’s iMac/iLife/iWork unveiling, G4 owners... Read More