Think you know everything about your mac? Here are some of the top tips and tricks that you may not know about.
Calculator in Spotlight
Spotlight is a great way to instantly find files and programs you are looking for based on their file name or context. But did you know that Spotlight can also function as a quick (and scientific) calculator?
Simply open Spotlight (keyboard shortcut command + space) and type an equation. It can be simple such as 2+2 or advanced such as (3.2-1.4)*1.99. It accounts for order of operations and supports most mathematical functions.
Silent Volume Change
Have you ever been in a place where you want to adjust your volume, but don't want to disrupt those around you in a meeting or in class with the “clicking” that is produced from your speakers?
Try holding down the shift key while pressing volume up or down. The volume is changed silently.
Unmount Multiple Volumes At Once
With the introduction of the Time Machine feature and Boot Camp, I have found that my external hard drive has three separate partitions. When unmounting, I found it annoying to drag each partition to the trash to eject them all.
Instead, try holding the alt/option key while dragging a single partition to the trash to eject it. All partitions on the same physical device will be ejected simultaneously.
The last two tips require that you install Onyx. Onyx allows you to modify features that are currently present on your computer, but normally hidden. It does not install anything that is not currently on your computer.
Slick Dock
I have found that the new reflective 3D dock format is sometimes hard to see when there are many applications open and with certain desktop images. It is also difficult to see which applications are “glowing” and open.
Open the Parameters window in Onyx and select the Dock tab. Under Appearance choose 2D With Transparency Effect. This will give your dock a new and clean look that you may not have ever seen.
Disable Processor
When in class with my MacBook I always try everything to conserve battery power. It used to frustrate me knowing that two processors were eating up my battery power when the only thing open was Word.
There is a Preference Pane that can be unlocked through Onyx called Processor Prefs. To access this open the Parameters window in Onyx and select the General tab. At the bottom of the screen click on Install Processor Preference Pane.
From there, you can see how hard your processors are working (on multi-core systems). You can then disable the processors that you choose to conserve battery power. A quick icon can also be added to the toolbar by the clock.
I have seen a 45 minute increase in battery life solely by disabling my second processor.
I hope you find these tips interesting and useful! I would appreciate any feedback you may have.
