Top 5 Daily Questions About OSX

• STFU Firefox

  How do I tell firefox3 to stop checking ssl certs. I access many sites using self signed ssl certificates and up until now that was fine but now I have encounter two self signed certs that have the same serial number and firefox wont even let me add an exception. I cant even access the second site. How do i just tell firefox I don't care if a site is using a bad ssl cert. - 2 days ago

• #@$%!!! Flash!!

  Annoyingly specific question about a failed Flash installation on a Mac: 1. Some website told me to update flash. In retrospect, I think I already had version 9, but I went to the Adobe sight and downloaded the installer for power PC Macs anyway. 2. The installer opens fine and then gets to "Items remaining to be installed: 4" and just stops. Nothing happens from there even if left all night. 3. So I go download the UNinstaller. Downloads fine, but when I open it, my computer freezes - every time. 4. Have tried restarting computer several times. 5. Opened Terminal and put in: cd "/Volumes/Adobe Flash Player 9/Install Flash Player 9 UB/Contents/MacOS" It says: No such file or directory sudo "./Install Flash Player 9 UB" It says: command not found 6: For the hell of it, I also used Disk Utility to Repair Disk Permissions. Computer Specs: iBook G4, Power PC, OS 10.4.8. I mostly use Firefox 2 but also have Safari and Explorer. Flash does not work at all on my computer now, which is a problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated! I also welcome you to tell me a better forum for this question! Thank you! !! - 6 days ago

• Windows XP-Boot Camp-File Checking nonsense

  We are having a problem with hours-long file checks when booting into Windows XP (Home Edition, with SP2) via Boot Camp on an iMac running Leopard. Here's what happens when we restart the computer and seek to go into Windows: - Restart - Hold down Option key - Choose Windows XP image - Windows XP "loading" screen appears (with progress bar moving) - Blue DOS-ish screen asking if we want to perform a file check to weed out corrupted files (I don't have the exact text), with the prompt to skip it by pressing any key - Sometimes pressing the key works and XP finishes loading and the desktop appears... - But sometimes it doesn't and we wait anywhere from 6 to 12 hours for the thing to finally get to the desktop! - During the interminable wait, a tally of files and a percentage-complete figure are displayed on the screen, still in blue DOS-ish mode. Some other details which might be helpful: - This problem didn't occur for the first few weeks we had the computer (which we obtained last year); - We have wiped the partition and reinstalled XP once, which didn't seem to help; - The Windows side of things is used to play a MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI, the vast majority of the time, and might have some sort of third-party software installed, while the Mac side is more productivity-oriented; - We have all the original installation stuff for both OS X and XP but would prefer to not lose all our data; - The word "FAT32" seems to figure prominently in the blue-screened file checks and I'm not sure why after reading the Wikipedia page on FAT, unless this is some sort of defragmenting thing (though that may be a red herring). Finally, this computer is mostly manned by a teenager (*points accusingly at non-MeFite brother*) who's heavy on the gaming and light on the technical details of how it all works; rare excursions into the brother's lair have been my only encounters with the problem. We use the computer for games, internet surfing, and light office stuff, so we haven't really tinkered under the hood; any step-by-step/simple explanations or advice you can offer would be fabulous. If you can help us solve this we will, no joke, send you (edible) cookies. Thanks! - 6 days ago

• I'd like a Preview.app replacement that won't disappoint!

  I make a lot of images. Help me find a multiple-image viewing application to meet my needs on Linux... Up until now, I've been a very happy user of Preview.app on OSX. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to use on Linux, and I intend to accelerate my migration back from Appleland. There are a couple things about it that are getting to be a bit tough to beat; I can generate a hundred plots with some other code, open them all up and get a scroll bar next to a pane with the image set at full-size, and it will update within an application instance automatically if the file is modified on-disk. I've tried opening up the plots inside a bunch of firefox tabs and reloading all, but that is a heavyweight solution to a simple problem. "Display" doesn't really behave the way I expected it to, and the various digital camera apps (digiKam for instance) are all aimed at solving a different problem than mere image gallery viewing. So what's the best app out there that will update on the fly, has a nice simple interface, and allows for full-size viewing within the main application pane? Is there such a thing? Thanks, MeFi! - 6 days ago

• Create local finder links for mail.app

  A few of us work off a local OS X Fileserver. We often need to point each other to files deep with it by email. I am looking for an automated way to create clickable local links in the mail.app friendly format of "file:///Volumes/Server%20Portal/". Any solutions? I have found applescripts that nearly do it. But they only make POSIX links. For Mail to recognise and launch links they need both file:/// appended and spaces replaced with %20. I am guessing it could be achieved by a few additions to current applescripts, but unfortunately it is above me. - 2 weeks ago

Mac OSX Hints from MacWorld

• Disable shadows in 10.5 window screen captures

  Learn two ways to prevent 10.5’s (large) translucent shadow from being captured when you take screen shots of windows. - 2 days ago

• Change Excel's ‘edit in cell’ keyboard shortcut

  Learn one way to change Excel’s Control-U shortcut to the easier-to-use F2 (which also matches the Windows’ shortcut). - 2 days ago

• Two text selection tricks

  Learn how to select text not just character-by-character, but also word-by-word or paragraph-by-paragraph. - 4 days ago

• Annotate non-PDF images in 10.5’s Preview

  Learn how to use Preview’s annotation tools on non-PDF images in OS X 10.5. - 8 days ago

• Add superscript, subscript buttons to Office toolbars

  Learn how to add superscript and subscript buttons to the toolbars in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel in both Office 2004 and 2008. - 9 days ago

• Work around a Word 2008 image placement issue

  Learn how to avoid an issue when trying to precisely position images in Word 2008’s new .docx format documents. - 2 weeks ago

• Gain quick access to log files in 10.5

  Use a new feature in OS X 10.5’s Console program for fast access to certain log files. - 2 weeks ago

• See more AirPort Extreme Base Station radio modes

  If you’re using an AirPort Extreme Base Station on a network without 802.11n-capable machines, you can use a hidden feature in AirPort Utility to set a non-802.11n radio mode. - 3 weeks ago