Calling the Mac experts

[frogbeastegg]

Thanks. I'm now browsing and posting from my macbook instead of the desktop, so I must be getting somewhere.

Anything which will make clicking easier or further boost scrolling speed (I've maxed out the slider under options) would be greatly appreciated. This touch pad is not frog friendly and it's going to be a while before I can afford a mouse. I don't fancy disconnecting the one on my desktop each time I use this.

Scrivener is a wee bit awesome. I'm working through the tutorials now and the potential of the programme is shining brightly enough to blind.

Typing this I have noticed that there seems to be some sort of spell checker running. That's not bad ... if I can fully figure it out. I have found out to how add words but I don't know if this spell checker is limited to safari or whether it has a wider effect. I don't want to go to a lot of bother with it if it's safari only.

Is there are any way to speed up the rate at which characters are deleted when holding down backspace? It currently deletes at the rate of an arthritic pensioner walking up a steep hill. Needs to be at least twice as fast, preferably three times.

By this point in my post I have decided that this keyboard is ok. I was skeptical at first; I prefer a 'deeper' depression on my keys. I do miss the nice clicky sound of my desktop board - I've been using it for over a decade!

Resuming my planned post contents, is there a way to get safari to fill the whole screen? I can't get it to fill more than 1/3 of it no matter what I do. Annoying.

Installing was easy. Locating the applications folder was less so

I lost 30% of my battery charge in half an hour! Is that right? I'm wary because of it being a refurb, want to be sure everything is correct.

What is 'spaces'? It's living in my thingy bar and when I try to find out what it is so I know whether to boot it out or not it asks that I install it. It won't tell me what it is.

Likewise for 'preview', except it opens up what appears to be a limited and mostly useless PDF manual for the OS.

I do like this screen. So clear, so easy on the eyes.


EDIT: 1 hour later and I have found the tap instead of click option. So much better!

[Lemur]

Is there are any way to speed up the rate at which characters are deleted when holding down backspace?

System Preferences→Keyboard & Mouse→Key Repeat Rate

Resuming my planned post contents, is there a way to get safari to fill the whole screen? I can't get it to fill more than 1/3 of it no matter what I do.

That's very strange. The bottom right of the window should have an indented triangle which allows you to drag the window size.

I lost 30% of my battery charge in half an hour! Is that right? I'm wary because of it being a refurb, want to be sure everything is correct.

Remember that's just what the OS is reporting, your actual charge may be different. That said, it sounds kinda off. You should be able to work off a plug for at least three hours.

What is 'spaces'?

Seems like it's some sort of virtual window function. Never used it myself.

Likewise for 'preview', except it opens up what appears to be a limited and mostly useless PDF manual for the OS.

Preview is a built-in PDF/JPEG/.doc/.rtf/PNG viewer. It's convenient enough, but I install Adobe Viewer anyway.

[Husar]

Just guessing but some batteries need to get some use before they work for as long as they should, I'd wait until you have emptied and loaded it a few times and see how long it lasts then.

[frogbeastegg]

Here I am testing how well I can write something in scrivener and then copy/paste it out onto the internet. Italics, bold, underlined, link to google. Ignore this.

System Preferences→Keyboard & Mouse→Key Repeat Rate

That's better! I put both sliders to the fastest setting and it's now usable. I do wonder at some of the defaults this system had; they weren't very user friendly and made it look less pleasant to use than it is now proving.

That's very strange. The bottom right of the window should have an indented triangle which allows you to drag the window size.

I got it to work now that I have edited the touchpad options to tap. Strong pressure required + awkward dragging motions without lifting my fingers = pain and failure.

Which reminds me of something I'm finding tricky about this OS and its programmes. There's a distinct lack of feedback when you click things. Unless a programme immediately launches or similar it's hard to tell if you clicked correctly, missed, or whatever. If a programme takes a bit to load then I'm left wondering if it's doing anything or if I need to try again. In scrivener it's impossible to tell which window is active unless I start typing, and that can get messy. Is a little highlight or a busy cursor be so much to ask for?

Misc battery life from two sources

I shall let it run off the battery and see how it does against a timer, and repeat a few times over the next week.

[Lemur]

There's a distinct lack of feedback when you click things. Unless a programme immediately launches or similar it's hard to tell if you clicked correctly, missed, or whatever.

I take it you've hidden the dock, then. When you launch an app its icon shows up in the dock with a little white dot next to it. Un-hide the dock and you'll see what I mean. This is an easy way to see what apps are open.

[Fragony]

apple + space is really all you need. Type in the program and it finds it, if you forgot who Solon is just type 'Solon'

"Athenian statesman and lawgiver. One of the Seven Sages, he revised the code of laws established by Draco. His division of the citizens into four classes based on wealth rather than birth was the basis for Athenian democracy."

my favorite feature.

[frogbeastegg]

I take it you've hidden the dock, then. When you launch an app its icon shows up in the dock with a little white dot next to it. Un-hide the dock and you'll see what I mean. This is an easy way to see what apps are open.

No, it's still there. I emptied it out and shrunk it down a bit and am happy to leave it be. If a programme has launched then it's not much help, e.g. swapping windows.

It's just ... awkward. Sometimes I'll click on something and nothing will happen, leaving me wondering if I missed the icon's catch area. So I try again after a bit and the program comes up and I'm not sure if that's because I got it right the second time or because it took a while. Or I'll click a button or link inside a programme and nothing will happen leaving me wondering again. Sometimes I know it takes a few seconds; sometimes I know I missed. The rest of the time I have no idea.

apple + space is really all you need. Type in the program and it finds it, if you forgot who Solon is just type 'Solon'

Now that is neat! It knows Pericles and Augustus too. Doesn't seem to know any medieval kings, pity.

[Fragony]

You would be amazed how much actually is there, if I don't know anything macbook first, then wiki. It's a fantastic feature, if you know the document/program/song/whatever you are looking for you can open it in the blink of an eye.

[Fragony]

wth?

[Banquo's Ghost]

The battery should be new in a refurb, but you should nonetheless make sure you calibrate it. It's usually best to do this once a month as suggested, though for my MacBook Pro - which is on the mains more often than not - I don't bother more than once a quarter.

You can check your battery condition in System Profiler (click the little Apple logo at the far left of the menu bar, then choose About This Mac and then More Info - also go here to ensure your system is up to date with Software Update). A very useful widget (small applications that live in your Dashboard) is iStat, which will help monitor your battery easily. It's free (one can make a donation).

There's a collection of guides on the Apple site, that may be of use.

If your dock icons for applications don't seem to respond to your click, try going to System Preferences, Dock and select Animate Opening Applications. The dock icons will now bounce while they're opening. Note that in Sys Pref and many other OSX apps, there is no need to click "Apply" or "OK" as the change takes effect immediately you select it.

Spaces is a delight. You can assign applications to open in their own space - so you might have Safari in Space 1, Scrivener in 2, Excel in 3 and so on. You swap between them with Apple key + arrow keys. Much easier to flip between research sources. Add this to Exposé (which reduces all open windows on a desktop space to fit the screen, where you can select the one you want to go to) and working with multiple sources open becomes really easy. Of course, this may not be your modus operandi.

With Scrivener, don't overlook the full screen writing mode. Everything goes away but your words. It's very productive, and your research is only a click away.

[frogbeastegg]

How do you run the equivolent of a deep virus and spyware scan on a mac? Some has stolen my credit card details and I want to be sure that didn't happen because of something malicious on my macbook. I did use it for a single card transaction on a site I normally use, so the details have been on there.

[Lemur]

ClamXav is supposed to be pretty good, but I seriously doubt you've got malware on your laptop. Not saying it's impossible, but it's the least probable avenue of infection.

[frogbeastegg]

Thanks.

I seriously doubt that it's any fault of mine full stop; it's infinitely more likely I'm the victim of a random number generator or an employee stealing details. Peace of mind's all I'm really looking for.

[frogbeastegg]

Froggy's mac musings number 1: why can I accidentally put the cursor into drag and highlight mode all the time just by scrolling up or down a page, yet can seldom activate the mode when I want to use it?

[Lemur]

Ars Technica weighs in with their 10.6 review. Worth a read.