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Macintosh

General

Here's how to switch icons amongst files & folders.

Well, this one is easy to figure out, so here's an example to help you catch on.

Single-click on the Macintosh HD icon and press Command + I (for Information).

A window should pop up displaying some general information. See the HD icon in the left corner? Click on it and press Command + C. Then go to another file or folder and click Command + I to bring up the same box. Next, click on the icon in the upper left corner and press Command + V (paste).

That's how you switch around icons. Have fun.

Detecting & deleting duplicate files

While there are various programs to search for duplicate files, there is an easy way to find and dispose of unneeded applications with software provided by Apple Mac OS 8.x.

Select the Apple System Profiler in the Apple Menu and select the Applications tab. Look for redundant listings and old versions. If you have too many to remember, you can drag the file name to the desktop and a clipping will appear. You can use Sherlock to locate these files and drag them to the Trash from the Sherlock window. It would be nice to be able to use the Profiler for this, but it will just put a clipping of the file in the trash.

I once found six Internet Config programs in various folders. To find which one was needed, I connected to the Internet and used Sherlock to move them all to the trash. A dialog box appeared saying it couldn't delete a file because it was in use. That file remained and all the rest were disposed of.

You can single-click an alias in Sherlock and Command-i to find out where the original is located. If it shows it is in the trash, drag the alias there also.

Clicking Around

Dragging a file somewhere while holding down the Option key will duplicate it.

Option-Clicking outside the window of an application makes the application go in the background.

Drag the file menu somewhere and get an active list of open Applications.

Control-Clicking somewhere will give the effect of clicking the right mouse button on a PC (which, by the way, is slow). Also, it will allow you to search the actual file of an alias.

Index your hard disk so you can find files REALLY fast with Sherlock.

Delete Windows, install MacOS 9.

Getting screen shots

Command-Shift-3
Places PICT of entire screen on root of boot drive.

Command-Shift-4
Places PICT of selected area onscreen on root of boot drive.

Command-Shift-3 with Caps Lock
Places PICT of active window on root of boot drive.

Command-Shift-4 with Caps Lock
Places PICT of chosen window on root of boot drive.

Pressing the Control key in conjunction with any of these combinations places the image into the Clipboard rather than in a PICT on the drive.

A utility such as Snapz Pro will allow you to take shots of games such as Riven, Myth II, and the like, which don't allow normal screen shots.