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For some of us using a Mac is natural. Its like having another arm or leg. For others it’s a bit more complicated. We all know someone who thinks Mac is synonymous with utter chaos masked in sleek perfection. No matter what category you fall into, however, you will surely find this list of 25 Mac Hacks and Tips helpful, or perhaps even amusing. And if you know someone that could also benefit from these mac hacks, be sure to show them this list.

25. Hot corners

Hot corners allows you to designate some sort of event that should take place when you scroll your mouse into one of the four corners of your screen. For example, you can set it up so that when you place your mouse in the bottom left your computer will go to sleep. This is one of those features that is hard to live without once you get used to it. You can configure hot corners in Expose and Spaces under System Preferences.

24. Spaces

Spaces almost goes hand in hand with hot corners. This feature allows you to split your desktop into multiple screens and is very useful for multitasking. It can be configured on the same screen as hot corners.

23. Change command button to control

For many new Mac users this can be the hardest thing to adjust to. For those of you struggling with this, we bring you good news its very easy to remap the control button to function as the command button. Go to System Preferences Keyboard & Mouse. On this screen select Modifier Keys which will allow you to remap the functionality of the most important keys on your keyboard, including command and control.

22. Safari Debugger

Although Safari probably doesn’t have as good of a rep as some other browsers, it still packs a lot of power. One of the coolest hidden features is the very useful debugger. In order to activate it type this command into your terminal: defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu YES

21. Gimp

Although it has features like iPhoto, Mac doesn’t come with any advanced photography editing tools like Photoshop. The good thing is that there are a lot of free alternatives out there, the best beingGimp. Because it is open source there are even some hacks that make it function almost exactly like photoshop.

20. Textmate

If you need something more than TextEdit thenTextmatemay do the trick. Designed especially for developers this is a powerful platform that extends Apple’s approach to operating systems into text editors.

19. Invert screen colors

Not many people know about his trick, but if you want to see your Mac invert its screen colors hold downCtrl-Option-Cmd-8on the keyboard.

18. Slow motion windows

Normally when you minimize a window by clicking on the yellow button it zooms to the bottom of your screen. If you’re really bored one of these days try doing it while holding down the shift button. Hey, it might not get you a girlfriend but its still cool.

17. Quick Look Expanded

Quicklook is one of those features that really sets a Mac apart. You don’t even have to open the file to read what’s inside. As unbelievable as it may seem there are somepluginsout there that can make it even better.

16. Maximize screen zoom

One of the biggest complaints by new Mac users (after no right-click) is the behavior of the zoom button (the green button in the top left corner). It acts nothing like its Windows counterpart. There are severalpluginsout there that will force it to behave more like the maximize button in Windows.

15. Activity monitor in dock

By using this tool you gain similar functionality to the task manager in Windows. It is a good idea to add this item to your dock because it will take on some extra functionality. Its icon will actually display a pie chart of memory use and if you want to force quit applications it will provide you with a lot of extra information about processes you have running.

14. Screen Dim

If you travel a lot or you just want to conserve your battery life you may like the fact that your Mac automatically dims the screen to save your batteries. Sometimes this can be annoying, however, and it can be changed by going to System Preferences Energy Saver and selecting the options for battery.

13. VLC

As far as media players are concernedVLCis one of the best you can get for your Mac. All you have to do is download it. It is completely free and it will play almost anything, including your DVDs.

12. Songbird

Although iTunes is the default music player for Mac many people prefer using something else.Songbirdis one such opensource alternative that will give you myriad of features to manage all of your music files.

11. Sketchbox

As cool as the Mac stickies are there is a lot of room for improvement.Sketchboxallows you to upgrade your stickies functionality to add drawings, set individual reminders, or even use them as an alarm clock.

10. Built in dictionary

This is one of the coolest features on Mac and arguably another reason to use native programs like Safari. This is because as long as you are in Cocoa applications (things like Safari and TextEdit that are native to Mac) you can pressCtrl-Cmd-Dwhile hovering your mouse over a word and you will receive the dictionary definition.

9. Thunderbird

If you are having trouble using the default mail application on Mac thenThunderbirdmay be a viable alternative. It was developed by the Mozilla team so if you are used to using Firefox it should be relatively easy to pick up.

8. Carbon Copy Cloner

Making a copy of your hard drive is fairly important as anyone whose computer has crashed will tell you andCarbon Copy Cloneris one of the best applications to help you with this.

7. Transmission

This is one of the best bit torrents for Mac. Its lightweight and because it is also open source you don’t have to worry about anyone playing games with you to get your money. Not only this but it works great and was styled to fit right into the Mac GUI.

6. Open-with defaults

If you are tired of always specifying what program to use to open files of the same type do this: open one of the files and click get info. This will bring up a lot of information about the file so find the section that says open with. Select the program you want to use and then press Change All. From now on every file of this type will open with that program.

5. Log in items

If your Mac is taking a long time to boot one way of speeding it up is to decrease the number of applications that open immediately after you log in. You can do this by going to System Preferences Accounts and selecting Login Items.

4. Custom Dock

The dock is one of those features unique to Mac that people either love or hate. Since Mac doesn’t really give people many options when it comes to customization there are a lot of plugins and hacks out there to accomplish this. One plugin that works well isCandybar. It gives you a wide variety of styling options and lets you customize your dock fairly easily.

3. Right click

This has been the bane of many a person’s existence who has made the switch from PC to Mac. The fact of the matter though, is that it shouldn’t be a problem. Mac actually does support right-clicking as long as you enable it. You can do this by going to System Preferences Trackpad.

2. Mouse tracking speed

The reason mouse tracking feels different on Mac than PC is because it doesn’t accelerate. One way to adjust for this is to turn the tracking speed all the way up to fast. (see image above)

1. Hackintosh

After such a long list of amazing things you can do with your Mac we know that you are probably considering turning all of your computers into Macs, including your PCs. Well, you are not the only one.Hackintoshis a project devoted to making OSX available on unsupported computers, so now you can.

The post 25 Useful Mac Hacks And Tips You Should Be Using Today appeared first on Photography Guide To Everything.

Gear Guide:

This is a little tutorial on the equipment that you need to get started with off camera flash work or strobist. All of the equipment is very affordable, especially when you consider how much it can affect your photography. A small investment for priceless images.

Light Stand:

Umbrella Bracket:

Yongnuo RF602/603 Flash Triggers:

Yongnuo YN-560 Flash:

Umbrella:

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25 Useful Mac Hacks And Tips You Should Be Using Today