preferences

OS X is localized to a number of languages, and with a few settings changes, you can set the OS interface -- as well as many programs -- to display in a different language. This is handy for multilingual types, but if you have inadvertently changed it to a language you do not understand, you might find it quite difficult to revert.

Fortunately, while the languages change, the layout still stays essentially the same. To switch back to your preferred language, you will need to follow these steps:

First go to the system preferences by opening the Apple menu and … Read more

When connected to a Wi-Fi hot spot, especially if the hot spot uses multiple access points and there are multiple networks in the vicinity, you may encounter a problem where your Mac keeps losing its network connection and then attempts to establish a connection with a network for which you do not have access.

Additionally, even after you have selected a working connection, if you put the system in sleep mode, restart it, or if you just temporarily lose your connection for some reason, the system will again attempt to connect to that network. Having to continually select your Wi-Fi … Read more

Users may want to change preferences in their Quicktime player without having to do it every time the program opens. Quicktime X Preferences for Mac's options window allows changes to a number of default settings, which is a welcome feature for some users.

After startup, this freeware application installs easily as an additional preference pane in the system preferences menu. There did not appear to be any technical support available, but there was a basic readme file that explained the various options present and how changing each impacted the Quicktime program. Some of the options include automatically playing movies, … Read more

For users who frequently download applications, finding a program to completely remove them is important. Amnesia for Mac performs this function well and has some easy-to-use additional features.

Download and installation of Amnesia for Mac completed quickly due to the native installer. The program does require that the user accept a licensing agreement before allowing program use. After startup, the program did not offer any instructions, but the interface made them unnecessary. Large buttons at the top of the program indicate the main program functions. Users can designate a specific, known program for deletion, and search for a list of … Read more

Everything on a Mac looks so polished on the outside that it may become unclear how to fine-tune settings under the hood of its graphical interface. Cocktail for Mac allows you to access an impressive number of useful tweaks and enhancements without entering a single line of code.

Cocktail for Mac can manually trigger maintenance scripts, optimize inactive RAM manually or periodically, toggle Spotlight indexing for chosen drives, force special startup modes, and access a lot of the hidden Finder and core app settings, to name just a few options. By "hidden," we mean those settings that are … Read more

Apple's cash problem is easy to solve, one of its most outspoken shareholders said today.

During a conference call with Apple investors today, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital -- which is currently in litigation with the iPhone and iPad maker -- made the case that Apple's strategy to stockpile cash was flawed, and argued that his plan to bring some of that back to investors could be solved with a new program called "iPrefs."

"Many have asked, why not just increase the dividend?" Einhorn said. "This sounds too complicated. It's not complicated. … Read more

Apple has recently released a couple of Java updates for OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 that bring its in-house supported Java runtime (Java SE 6) up to the latest version issued by Oracle. The update tackles a couple of security bugs in the runtime, but those who have installed the updates have noticed that in addition Apple has apparently removed the Java Preferences utility, which was used to configure how the Java runtime is managed in OS X.

While Java Preferences is missing for those using OS X 10.7 or later, the utility is still … Read more

OS X applications and services often contain a number of hidden settings that can be used to tweak your Mac's behavior to improve performance or provide an option that is not available by default. To manage these hidden options, you can use the "defaults" terminal command to edit the target preferences file associated with a service and manually adjust a variable's value.

Since the defaults command performs these edits in a single line in the Terminal, it is relatively easy to use and is often suggested as a way to edit property list (plist) files, which … Read more

In OS X, Apple supports the configuration of various network proxy servers for individual ports in its Network system preferences. In some instances users have been reporting odd formatting issues in which entered proxy port settings either adopt commas or decimal points, though the proxy settings still work just fine.

As with most network services, proxy settings require a specific communications port to be set so network traffic can be directed to the appropriate background tasks that require it. In many cases such as Web browsing (port 80) or FTP access (port 21) these ports are fairly well established and … Read more