Apple OS X: Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most Out of Your Mac

El Capitan – Updated form of Operating System of Apple’s Mac

El Capitan is the up-to-date form of the operating system of Apple’s Mac and the next edition would be announced very soon, though the concluding software would not be released till autumn. A multifaceted OS such as this tends to have abundant features as well as capabilities though there seems to be plenty of secrets which need to be discovered. Some worth mentioning are:

Find the Cursor

Sometimes one may not find the cursor. In this type of OS X, a mouse wiggle tends to make the cursor increase massively so as to enable in locating it. It remains big for as long as you do so and then returns to its normal size.

Swipe to delete as in iOS

If one is familiar with the handy swipe-left-to-delete motion in the Mail app of the iPhone, one will find the same on your Mac also. Utilising a trackpad, you could bring up the familiar red `Trash’ box with a two finger left swipe, while one finger is used on an Apple Magic Mouse.One could choose a natural swipe direction for the mouse and trackpad wherein swiping down tends to move the onscreen content down which seems to happen on an iPhone or iPad though is the opposite of what happens on a computer.

Suggestions in email

When one receives an email, the program tends to search the text for new statistics like event or contact details which is not recorded. A new line seems to appear towards the top of the message stating `1 Event found in this email’ and with a single click it can be added to your calendar. It will recognise a flight number also, so clicking on the arrow which tends to appear towards the right of the words makes knownthe flight information. If it states New Contact info found in this email, you can update your contacts’ details.

Mail in full screen

Full screen apps, raised on clicking the green button towards the top left area of the document of bar application, assists in focusing on one job at a time. However if one needs to work on many emails simultaneously, you would need flexibility. You could click on the yellow button in the traffic-light three, in mail, on the new message window in order to see it glide to the bottom of the screen. Thereafter you could develop more new messages which are together ready to be called back to the main screen by clicking on them. In order to work on plenty of new messages, you could click the new message button continually which will be identified by a tab at the top of the messages and you could click between them with ease.

Smarter Spotlight

To launch Spotlight, you could click the magnifying glass towards the extreme right of the menu bar. On editing the word weather, you get to see the forecast for your area. Entering the name of a sports car, a movie stars etc. to see the latest headline. You also get the updates of sports score here and could also move the Spotlight window around the screen, resizing its depth.

Safari tabs

Should there be browser windows which are used continuously, there is an easy method rather than plucking them from the top sites which Safari window tends to provide. A right click on the tab tends to turn it into a `pinned tab which sits towards the left edge of the tab bar like a small icon. It is also easy to suppress a tab which plays audio when you don’t seem to need it. Rather than having to mute the entire computer you could go to a blue speaker icon in the browser bar to mute any kind of audio pick a selected tab to silence. It is also simple to switch between tabs and click on the tab, However you can hold down the Command key and a number key to select a tab – 1 is the left-most tab, 2 the next along and so on.

The cleanest desktop so far

For long, Apple featured an application dock which tends to sit on the bottom of the screen while in the same menu there is a check box to `automatically hide and show the Dock’. It means that the dock slides in view only when the mouse heads towards it which is useful if the screen real estate seems to be limited.

Notes

This seems to be one of the best recently introduced application which seems to be developing. If one has an iCloud account, a note made on the iPhone would seem as if by magic on your iPad and Mac. Searching the notes seems to be easy and you could also save web addresses to notes together with photos and much more. You could also display element by type portraying all the URLs that have been saved together. Besides this, it is also simple in creating list, with bullet circles that tend to be satisfying when you have completed your task. The latest on the list is a padlock icon that enables you to lock individual note or the complete lot so that no one can get hold of it without your password.

Live Photos

Shooting live photos with multiple frames as well as audio saved along with the main shot seems to be the support of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus which can be viewed on a Mac by just hovering the mouse over the thumbnail pic in Photos. On clicking on the Live logo towards the bottom left of the image, when the image is full screen, it tends to come to life.

Use Makeshift Tags

There seems to be one thing which Apple has not introduced to notes, which are tags. If these tend to be a consistent part of the workflow, one would have to do with a hack. You could use hashtags in your notes and later search for them utilising the search box in Notes by using Spotlight in order to filter notes depending on hashtags.

Apple – OS X Safe from `Bash’

It was revealed that Red Hat security researchers had uncovered a huge exploit in the `Bash’ command shell found in OS X and Linux named `Shellshock’ by security experts wherein the exploit enables hackers to gain access through web connected devices and service with the use of malicious code.

The exploit which was called `as big as Heartbleed’, by Robert Graham, security researcher was referring to a flaw which was discovered earlier this year in the well-known open source software OpenSSL that had affected the internet by 66% .

Apple had informed that Hearbleed had not affected its software or key services and had also released updated for AirPort Extreme as well as Time Capsule assuring users that they would be fixing the Bash exploit issue at the earliest.

Shellshock Enabling Access to Hackers 

Bash being the software in controlling the command prompt on several Unix computers,can be exploited to take total control of the system. Linux is used to everything and the bug could affect Windows, Android and IBM machines.

 According to the Director of Cyber at Warwick University, Professor Tim Watson, he informed MailOnline stating that `the impact could be very severe and it’s not overstating it to say that it’s a more serious bug than Heartbleed’.

He further continued saying that `the primary way this is going to be exploited is through the web; a hacker could use the bug to place malicious things on the website or steal information like banking details.

The bug going by the name Shellshock could also allow potential hackers in gaining accessing to every internet enabled device which could be used in the user’s home with the use of something as a smart lightbulb.The danger with regards to this is that no sooner it gains access to an internet connected device; it could jump onto others which include smart locks which can open locked doors.

Software Update for OS X

Apple has been aware of this recent discovered bash exploit named Shellshock and is striving to work quickly in providing a software update for OS X, which is the operating system running on the Mac. As per Apple spokesperson conveyed to iMore is that the vast majority of OS X users would not be at risk to the recent reported bash exploit.

Bash, is a Unix command shell and language that is included in OS X, has a weakness in enabling unauthorized users to gain control of vulnerable systems, remotely. Systems are safe by default with OS X and are not exposed to remote exploits of bash unless they tend to configure advanced Unix services.

Apple is working on ways to provide a software update for users of advanced Unix services. Most of Linux and Unix based operating systems including OS X, across the globe have been affected by the exploit and millions of computers as well as embedded devices will be needed to be updated at the earliest.

If a user is advanced enough in enabling the types of service that can be exploited by Shellshock then there is a chance of turning those services off temporarily or patch bash using Xcode.For others, they could stay informed with updates to understand that there is no high level risk at this point.

Know more about OS X Mavericks -2

Other highly anticipated features that helps more to the new users: better management of configurations with multiple screens. Until then, OS X was bad enough when we plugged a (second) screen to your Mac. The most glaring example was the full screen introduced with OS X Lion and required to have the same application on any screen mode. OS X Mavericks profoundly modifies the operation and offers a much more powerful solution, but probably more complex. The idea is to bring autonomy to each of the screens that you use: there is the menu bar on all screens and you can place applications in full screen on one monitor, but especially on any monitor. Specifically, you can now organize your windows as you want and simply work in OS X Mavericks. In this example, when writing an article, therefore, we have a compose window and a browser window on the right, a preview window, the corrector and Twitter on the left.

You receive an email? You can use Mission Control directly or trackpad gestures to change only the left screen. The right one is writing mode, the time to respond to email received. A gesture later, you will find the previous virtual desktop, one that allows a glimpse of the current document and correction.
Since it refers to the full screen mode, we regret that this release is not more evolved Mail application. The edit window is modal in part: it blocks the entire interface when writing a new message or a reply from the application, but if you create a mail from another program, the window is placed over another screen.

In theory, OS X Mavericks is supposed to remove any notion of primary or secondary display. Apple's new system has to guess that you are using at any given time and place the dock, knowing that the menu bar is constantly present. In fact, this operation does not seem to develop and can still be found in the System Preferences option available which allows you to choose the main screen. Last, Apple also supports these new options available for Apple TV. AirPlay can be used for a presentation on a television screen while using the Mac on.

Apple's browser has received some significant new features, but they do not apply to all OS X Mavericks. The new version of Safari is offered to remain with Lion and Mountain Lion and you can find the main news item in that other user: Small new Safari 6.1. In Apple's new system, the browser is Safari 7 and not 6.1. The change is not only symbolic, even if the interface has few differences, are important internal changes between the two versions. OS X 10.9, Safari and finally adopts the separation process for tabs. As in Chrome, for example, each open tab is a process, which should both accelerate and stabilize the browser. In case of problem on a tab, the browser will simply interrupt the matching process and avoid the complete crash. Apple ahead of many figures to prove that the browser is faster: from what we could tell, Safari is better than before and the gain is sensitive. This is especially the case on a Mac with Retina display, the computer that was just on the point with OS X 10.8.