One of the features that sets Macs apart from other computers is how you can switch languages. You can actually set the language of the entire Mac OS X system to one of your choosing, something that’s not possible with Windows for example. The other thing you can do very easily is to switch the layout of your keyboard. Most of us will never need to change the keyboard layout. But if you routinely type in different languages, or have guests using your computer who [...]

Have you ever needed to take a video of your computer while you were using it? Regular readers will know that every so often, here at Macstarter, we give video demonstrations of something cool. But how do you make those videos? Since Snow Leopard, Quicktime Player has this feature built right in. Simply open up Quicktime Player, and go to File. From there, you have an option to record a Movie (Using your Mac’s webcam), and Audio Recording or a Screen Recording. If you choose [...]

Unless you own or buy software, there doesn’t seem to be a logical way to copy a CD on your Mac. But there has to be a way surely? Disk Utility Once again, our old friend Disk Utility comes in handy here. Put in a CD (or DVD for that matter) you want to copy. Then start up Disk Utility (surely you know you should be using Spotlight to do this by now, don’t you?) Once Disk Utility is open, look for your CD / [...]

When I first got back to using Macs around in around 2001, I was using the very first iMac and OS X 9. I loved the idea of Finder windows, as opposed to My Computer. The one thing that threw me a little was the fact that in OS 9, every time you double clicked on a folder, a new window would open up to show you the contents of that folder. So let’s say you were rooting around for a file that happened to [...]

iPhoto is one of my favourite Apps. The fact that you can plug a camera into your Mac and have your photos imported without any fuss is something I just take for granted. iPhoto can easily share your Photos with Facebook, or Flickr, or email. What though, if you need to get some photos out of iPhoto to put on a USB stick, for example? Well, you can simply select some photos and drag them where you want them to go. This can though cause [...]

When Lion was released, I was quite amazed at the amount of overlap between my iPad and my MacBook. Many of the system icons were changed to look similar, natural scrolling (which is one of my favourite features) and the much reduced and less visible scrollbars. When you’re on your iPhone, iPad or iPod, scrollbars aren’t vital to be visible. In fact, making your scrollbars disappear can reclaim valuable screen space to display your Apps. Lion comes with a default behaviour for your scrollbars. That [...]

One of those strange keyboard shortcuts for this week! One of my favourite features of OS X has always been the “genie” effect that minimizes program windows into the dock. Normally, you’d click on the yellow button in the top right of your program windows to minimize. But I always find double clicking the top of a program window a much faster way of doing this. Note: Lion users, inexplicably Apple turned this lovely feature off in Lion by default. To switch it on, go [...]

This weeks shortcut has the benefit of working in a few programs. By pressing cmd + [ or cmd + ] you can go back and forwards in your Finder windows. This is very useful if you’re on the hunt for a file but can’t quite work out where it is. It’s also quite useful in your browser, to be able to go backwards and forwards without having to reach for the mouse / trackpad / pointy device. I find it works best if you [...]

When you’re thinking of gifts, especially for the people closest to you, sometimes the extra mile is worth going for. In the first 3 parts of our Christmas Gifts series, we talked about Macs, and accessories. Buying your teenage son / daughter a MacBook Pro for their studies will certainly put you in line for the “best mother / father” award. But sometimes, a gift created by you for somebody specifically will really touch somebody’s heart in a way no other gift can. So, here [...]

For this week’s keyboard shortcut of the week, I thought I would make a short video. It’s not so much an instructional video, but more a demonstration of what is possible with your arrow keys when you’re simply in Finder. I find myself nowadays taking my hands away from the mouse / trackpad and simply using the keyboard to navigate through files. As you will see from the video, you can navigate your folders in Finder using just the arrow keys. You should be able [...]