Common questions, simple answers
Without question, I find the column view of OS X’s Finder the easiest to work in. One of my few complaints with column view is that I spend a lot of time resizing columns so that I can view full file names etc. This quick tip will show you how to resize columns in a snap. Continued…
Posted in Mac.
– June 20, 2008
While migrating your data to a new Mac, or upgrading from a previous version of iPhoto, it’s possible that your iPhoto database may have become corrupt (all photos missing when you open iPhoto, errors when it launches etc). Fortunately, fixing it is quite simple. Follow the instructions outlined below and you’ll have all your photos back in no time. Continued…
Posted in Mac.
– June 20, 2008
OS X includes a number of “canned” (pre-created) searches in Finder. But there are some that weren’t included by default. To add these additional searches, follow the instructions outlined below. Continued…
Posted in Mac.
– June 19, 2008
Ever since Rebecca explained how to create a screencast in OS X, I’ve been messing with Snapz X Pro. The only real problem I have with it is that the resulting files (.mov) are huge. There are a few compression/save as options and I will review them, but I’ve found it much easier to take the resulting files and convert them using ffmpegX, a free audio/video conversion tool. This tutorial will take you through the steps to convert .mov files to Flash. Continued…
Posted in Mac, Screencasts.
– June 19, 2008
Miss604 is on a screencasting-roll – here’s one on how to customize the Firefox 3 Toolbar, just in case it installed with some of the buttons missing (or you want to add others). You can subscribe to all of Rebeccas screencasts on Viddler using this feed. The video is after the jump – Continued…
Posted in Firefox, Guest Blogger, Screencasts.
– June 18, 2008
As a part of Firefox 3, the Location Bar got a few upgrades. One of them is that it now uses a XUL richlistbox widget for the auto-complete dropdown. This means that typing in the Location Bar will now search not only URLs, but page titles, bookmark names, and tags. A drawback to this new feature is that if you start typing something like ebay in your Location Bar, the things like thepiratebay will show up (assuming you’ve visited that site, have it bookmarked or its title is in the URL you’ve previously visited. While many folks (myself included) like this feature, some do not. This brief tutorial will show you how to disable that feature.
Posted in Firefox.
– June 18, 2008
Rebecca has put together another excellent screencast for Simple Help – this one shows off the very useful features (and some less useful but definitely fun) of Omnidazzle. Omnidazzle is fully functional shareware, but is limited to one hour of use before you have to restart the application. It’ll set you back $14.95 USD to use without the one hour restriction. Continued…
Posted in Guest Blogger, Mac, Screencasts.
– June 18, 2008
If you use Windows Media Center in Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, these keyboard shortcuts might come in handy. Put your mouse away.
Posted in Windows.
– June 18, 2008
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve already heard that development on Firefox 3 is pretty close to done. Well as of today, it’s done. The Mozilla crew want to set a world record for most software downloads in 24 hours, so head over to http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/firefox3 and grab your copy today!
Posted in Firefox.
– June 17, 2008
Hi all – this is a first for Simple Help, today marks the first time I’ve had a guest blogger contribute to the site – I’d like you all to meet Rebecca, aka Miss604. Rebecca is one of, if not the most, prominent Vancouver bloggers. Miss604.com covers everything from Vancouver tech happenings (she’s a live-blogging specialist) to sports, music and local events. If you’re a local you already know about her site, if you’re not, check it out to get a great feel for our city.
Resources: Snapz Pro X, Snapz Pro X tutorials
Posted in Blogging, Guest Blogger, Mac, Screencasts.
– June 17, 2008
One of the benefits of being a Mac user is that generally you don’t have to worry about spyware, malware and viruses quite as much as a Windows user. In fact, until I ran across MacScan, I honestly didn’t even know there was a spyware scanner for OS X. Well it turns out there is – so I gave a run. The following tutorial will guide you through using MacScan to check your Mac for spyware, malware, tracking cookies etc. Continued…
– June 15, 2008
This very brief tutorial will show you how to enable a useful feature in Grid view of Dock item stacks. Why it’s disabled by default is beyond me, as it’s actually quite useful. Continued…
Posted in Mac.
– June 15, 2008
This very brief tutorial will show you how to change the VLC icon set from the pylon to a sleek black “play” button.
Posted in Mac.
– June 13, 2008
This tutorial will guide you in installing all of the required software (and in which order) to get iTunes to play .flac files. This works for iTunes version 7.4.1 and up (and Quicktime 7.2.0) running on OS X.
Update: I’ve added a 2nd, much easier way to accomplish the same thing (playing FLAC files in iTunes. And this method works using iTunes 7.6.2 or higher.
Posted in Mac.
– June 12, 2008
Banshee is a media player that includes the following features: listen to music, watch videos, rip and burn CDs, displays cover art, tons of plugins, controllable via keyboard shortcuts, smart playlists, the ability to rate your music and manage your iPod and/or MP3 player. Banshee recently hit version 1.0, and this guide will walk you through installing it in Ubuntu linux.
Posted in Linux.
– June 12, 2008
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