Every Mac spec

There is a website called everymac.com that lists all the specifications of every mac ever made. It also has specs to every iPod, iPhone, iPad and Mac clone in the world, with technical, configuration, and pricing info. Get specs on every Mac, answer your Mac questions, compare Macs side-by-side, lookup Macs, and more!

Lion doesn't come on any physical media.  Instead, you have download it from Apple's servers from the Apple store.  What if you bought a Mac with Lion already installed and you desperately need the install DVD because your hard drive got hosed.  The following will give you instructions on how to burn your own install DVD.

1. Download Lion from the Mac App Store. The installer should show up in your Applications folder.
2. Right-click on the installer and hit "Show Package Contents". Navigate to Contents > SharedSupport and look for a file called "InstallESD.dmg".
3. Open up Disk Utility and drag the DMG file into the left-hand sidebar. If you're burning it to a DVD, insert your DVD, select the disk image in the sidebar, and hit the "Burn" button. Skip down to the last step to use it.
4. If you want to burn Lion to a USB flash drive, plug it in and click on it in the left-hand sidebar in Disk Utility. Go to the Partition tab and select "1 Partition" from the dropdown menu. Choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) on the left.
5. Hit the Options button under the partition table and choose "GUID Partition Table". You'll need this to make the drive bootable on a Mac. Hit the Apply button when you're done to format your drive (note: it will erase everything on the drive).
6. Click on the "Restore" tab, choose the InstallESD.dmg file as the source and your flash drive as the destination. Hit the Apply button and it will create your bootable USB drive.
7. Reboot into OS X and hold the option key when you hear the startup chime. You can boot into your DVD or flash drive from there.

Exclude files and folders from Time Machine

I was asked if there were any default exclusions from Time Machine a while back.  While searching the internet, I came up with the following document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<!-- paths we do not want to include in a system backup -->

<key>PathsExcluded</key>

<array>

/.Spotlight-V100 

/.Trashes 

/.fseventsd 

/.hotfiles.btree 

/Backups.backupdb 

/Desktop DB 

/Desktop DF 

/Network/Servers 

/Previous Systems 

/Users/Shared/SC Info 

/Users/Guest 

/dev 

/home 

/net 

/private/var/db/efw_cache 

/private/var/db/Spotlight <!-- old tiger location of the Spotlight db -->

/private/var/db/Spotlight-V100 <!-- old tiger location of the Spotlight db -->

</array>

<!-- paths where we need to capture top level folder to restore disk structure, but don't want to backup any contents -->

<key>ContentsExcluded</key>

<array>

/Volumes 

/Network 

/automount 

/.vol 

/tmp 

/cores 

/private/tmp 

/private/Network 

/private/tftpboot 

/private/var/automount 

/private/var/folders 

/private/var/run 

/private/var/tmp 

/private/var/vm 

/private/var/db/dhcpclient 

/private/var/db/fseventsd 

/Library/Caches 

/Library/Logs 

/System/Library/Caches 

/System/Library/Extensions/Caches 

</array>

<!-- paths where we need to capture entire subtree folder layout to restore disk structure, but don't want to backup contained files -->

<key>FileContentsExcluded</key>

<array>

/private/var/log 

/private/var/spool/cups 

         /private/var/spool/fax 

         /private/var/spool/uucp 

</array>

<!-- standard user paths we want to skip for each user (subpath relative to root of home directory) -->

<key>UserPathsExcluded</key>

<array>

Library/Application Support/SyncServices/data.version 

Library/Caches 

Library/Logs 

Library/Mail/Envelope Index 

Library/Mail/AvailableFeeds 

Library/Mirrors 

Library/PubSub/Database 

Library/PubSub/Downloads 

Library/PubSub/Feeds 

Library/Safari/Icons.db 

         Library/Safari/WebpageIcons.db 

Library/Safari/HistoryIndex.sk 

</array>

</dict>

</plist>

You can click here to view a page with similar content, or use can go to the Finder and pull down the Go menu then Go to Folder... and copy and paste this path:

System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/StdExclusions.plist

The following paths are my own exclusions.  To define your own set of exclusions, simply go into System Preferences, click on Time Machine and click on Options.

User Defined (my) Exclusions

~/Desktop/Facebook

~/Frostwire

/Users/Shared/Parallels
/Users/seanski/Library/Mail/V2/IMAP-seanski35@imap.gmail.com/

User Library in Lion and Mountain Lion

After upgrading to Lion you will notice that your user's Library's folder is missing.  Don't worry, It's still there.  Apple decided to hide it so users don't mess around with this very important folder.  To unhide it, simply open Terminal (Applications ==> Utilities ==> Terminal) and input the following command:

chflags nohidden ~/Library/   #to show the Library folder

To change the setting back, input into the Terminal:

chflags hidden ~/Library/ #to hide the Library folder

You can also click this link to access this secret on Blacktree's Secret's page.  Secrets is a preference pane that gives you a graphical interface to access all of your Mac's hidden treasures.  You can download the software here

Setting up Outlook for use with AT&T

Someone just asked me to help them to reset their sbcglobal.net email password.  It's as easy as going to their 'Password Reset' page.

If you're still having trouble sending and receiving mail, just follow steps steps for setting up Outlook:

To set up your AT&T Mail account in Outlook(R) 2010, simply add a new email account to your existing Outlook profile. 

• Click Start >All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Outlook 2010.
• Select File > Info > Add Account. 

Note: If you are using Outlook 2010 for the first time, the Outlook 2010 Startup Wizard may automatically open. If the Wizard opens, click Next. On the following screen, select Yes when you are asked, Would you like to configure an E-mail Account?, and then click Next..

• Select the radio button beside Internet E-mail.
• Click Next.
• in the User Information section:
• In the Your Name field, enter your name the way that you want it to appear to other people when you send a message.
• In the E-mail Address field, enter your full AT&T email address including domain (e.g., YourName@att.net). 
    
  Note: If you are setting up this account for an AT&T Email Alias, input the alias email address in this field. 
   
• In the Server Information section:
  • From the Account Type drop-down, select POP3.
  • In the Incoming Mail Server field, enter inbound.att.net
  • In the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server field, enter outbound.att.net
• In the Logon Information section:
• In the User Name field, enter your full email address including domain (e.g., YourName@att.net).
• In the Password field, enter your password.
  
  Note: If you are setting up this account for an AT&T Email Alias, input the full email address of the ID (Primary or Sub Account) associated with the email alias in this field. Do not input the email alias address in this field.
• Select the check box beside Remember password.
• Select More Settings.
• Select the Outgoing Server tab.
• Verify these settings: The check box beside My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication is selected AND The radio button beside Use same settings as my incoming mail server is selected.
• Select the Advanced tab.
• Verify these settings:
  • The Incoming server (POP3) displays 995
  • The check box beside This server requires a secure connection (SSL) is selected.
  • The Outgoing server (SMTP) displays 465
  • The drop-down beside Use the following type of encrypted connection displays SSL.
• Click OK.
• Click Next.
• Click Finish.

iTunes notifications in the Mac's Dock

a secret preference setting built into OS X Lion that allows song notifications to pop up over the iTunes Dock icon. Here’s how to enable them:

First, quit iTunes if it’s already running. Fire up Terminal (from /Applications/Utilities/) and paste in the following command, then hit Return:

defaults write com.apple.dock itunes-notifications -bool TRUE;killall Dock

The first part of that command turns on the Dock’s ability to display iTunes notifications; the second part restarts your Dock. (That restart may take a couple of seconds.)

Now, relaunch iTunes, select a track, and press play. Down in the Dock, you’ll see a brief notification with the song’s name and artist. The notification will appear whenever the track changes, regardless of the app you’re currently using; it will then fade away on its own.

If you decide you don't like the notifications, you can get rid of them by issuing the same command, but replacing TRUE with FALSE.

Update: if Hyperdock is installed then you don't need this command because this preference pane takes care of this for you,

Email your files to Google Docs

A lot of people have asked me if was passible to e-mail files your Google Doc's account and the answer was, "yes".  It was indeed possible to to do this but, unfortunately the feature was plagued with problems. So, Google has pulled this feature for the time being and is currently working on a fix.  You can access the FAQ here