After downloading the last security update, I force quit the Update app since I did not feel like restarting at that moment.

A while after that, and without being able to confirm the connection between updating and the following issue, the folders I have aliased in the Dock would not pop open when clicked on them, and the Finder would not open a new window when clicked on its icon, even though there was no other Finder window open.

It affected the Trash too, and trying to open a subfolder via context menu in any of those aliases did not work either (the contents showed up in the context menu, but the subfolders would not open up when clicked on).

Logging out or restarting would not solve the problem. Deleting com.apple.finder.plist in Library/Preferences inside my Home folder and logging out did. The file is simply where the Finder prefences are stored and it is safe to delete it, since it will regenerate itself when logging in again.

[Editor's note: You could probably also force-quit the Finder to have the changes take effect without logging out.]

Control click on the Dock divider and ... presto!, a menu to change:

1. Magnification
   
2. Hiding
   
3. Position on screen
   
4. Genie/Scaling option
   
5. Goto Dock prefs

Especially helpful when the Hide/Show Dock shortcut (++D) isn't responding due to a problem of some sort. Quicker for me than the Apple Menu option.

[Editor's note: I know I've been on vacation for a while, but I thought for sure we had published this basic tip before, but I certainly don't see it while scanning the archives ... if someone can prove me wrong, please do so!]

Here is a script to change the desktop picture without relaunching the Finder (as was required in the method listed in this hint). I've included an example I use to get a webcam image and make that image the desktop. Customize at will. The trick is using osascript to run an AppleScript program. Here's the script:

#!/bin/csh -f

rm -f ./BURLINGTONLARGE.JPG
wget http://www.hazecam.net/images/photos-large/
  BURLINGTONLARGE.JPG >& /dev/null
set pic=BURLIGNTONLARGE.JPG
set here=`pwd`
set myFile=$here/$pic

/usr/bin/osascript <<END
tell application "Finder"
  set pFile to POSIX file "$myFile" as string
  set desktop picture to file pFile
end tell
END

NOTE: The 'wget' line has been broken into two rows for easier reading. Enter it as one line with no spaces between the "/" and the "BUR..." bit. Save the script, make it executable (chmod 755), and it's ready for use!

This is not earth-shattering, but I like to listen to the RealAudio version of NPR's All Things Considered. However, I've grown tired of clicking on the web page to fire it up every time. Today I realized I could do this with a simple alias. In my .aliases file I added this:

alias realatc 'curl www.npr.org/atc3.smil >
  ~/Desktop/atc3.smil; open ~/Desktop/atc3.smil'

That's all one line, by the way, but it's been shown on two lines to narrow it for display purposes. Add a space after the > sign and enter the text on one row if you're adding this to your .aliases file.

Now when I type 'realatc' in the Terminal, it downloads the daily All Things Considered RealAudio file to my desktop with curl, then opens that file, which launches RealOne and plays it for me.

A free way to create BootPanels (and other image-sized PDFs).

Part One - Install Two Apps

First off, I had fink install ImageMagick, a command line program for converting a whole bunch of different picture formats, including Portable Document Format and Encapsulated PostScript Interchange. Unfortunately, converting to PDF doesn't work right, but converting to EPSI does.

Next, I downloaded Stone Studios' PStill application, which has a limited functionality Demo Mode. The limitation (a splash page is appended to multi-page documents) does not affect image-sized PDFs. The version I use is 1.8.4, and I haven't tested any newer versions than that.

Read the rest of the article for Step Two...

Ever wondered how to make an Aqua-styled button in your preferred graphics application? Here are two quick-and-easy tutorials to follow in either Macromedia Fireworks or Adobe Photoshop. There you go!

I have been using eMusicAlbumDownload and TafKar for my eMusic album downloading for a while. Sometimes, when I download an .rmp file that will save without the extension, sometimes it saves it in the iTunes format. In iTunes 2.0, double-clicking it wouldn't do anything, but in iTunes 3.0, it actually opens the file and allows you to stream each music track like a radio station. Unfortunately, I don't see a way to use this method to download the music through iTunes, but an enterprising individual may find a way; I have already emailed both authors of the above-mentioned programs with this discovery.

Although I can't save the music to CD without actually downloading it, this means I don't have to store a lot of eMusic MP3s on my computer. I can just keep the RMP files of the albums I want (unless eMusic or Apple changes their formats). Big space saver! I hope others find this tip handy.

iTunes 3.0 is not able to directly downloaded eMusic MP3 albums or songs within iTunes, but dragging a song from the iTunes window to the Desktop results in an .html document. Opening up the document (in my case, with IE) will result in the song being downloaded. It didn't save it in an MP3 format though, but tinkering around with the MIME prefs would probably fix that. This is good for the users who want to preview a whole album without downloading the whole thing, only the tracks they want.

Otherwise, by setting up playlists instead of having the actual MP3 files on my hard drive, I have saved over 4GB of space! Remember, this trick works well if you have a broadband "always on" connection.

[Editor's note: I'm not familiar with the emusic service, but if you use it, these tips may be useful to you.]

If you need to copy a list of files you have in a folder to email somebody, or just for yourself, then do the following:

1. Open the desired folde in the finder
   
2. Select the items you need to list
   
3. Go to Edit / Copy
   
4. Then go to your e-mail or text-edit program and select Edit -> Paste

[Editor's note: When using this copy and paste method, make sure you've clicked into the destination app before pasting, otherwise you'll invoke the Finder's "other" definition of paste, and make a copy of everything you've selected!]

To make multi-session CD-Rs in OS X, you do not need the CLI or the hdutil (as explained in previous hints 1 and 2).

First burn a CD as usual in the "Finder" with whatever data you want on it. Then when you want to add data, just create a blank DMG (using Disk Copy) of whatever size you need to hold that data. Of course, the size you specify must fit on the partially burned CD. Put the files you wish to burn on the DMG. Unmount the DMG and then use "Disk Copy" to "Burn Image". Put in the CD to which you wish to add the data.

"Disk Copy" now says "Click the "Append" button to burn", and the button says "Append" instead of "Burn". And there you go, a multi-volume multi-session CD-R or -RW burned in OSX with no additional software required!

I just noticed today that you can drag your iPhoto thumbnails directly to applications in the Dock. I've been exporting my images and then opening them in Photoshop, but now I can just drag them right to the Photoshop icon in the Dock.

[Editor's note: I'd been dragging the thumbnails to my desktop to export, but I'd never thought to try dragging them directly to the application icon in the dock. Neat trick!]