Five tips for cleaning and speeding up your Mac

Boost your Mac's performance and reclaim hard-drive space with this handful of spring cleaning tips.

My wife and I cleaned out our attic and basement last week, throwing out and donating six years' worth of accumulated clutter. We celebrated each run to the dump as we literally lightened our load. Now, our attic isn't as overwhelming, and our basement is less creepy.
I wanted to continue our spring cleaning momentum so I turned to my MacBook Pro, which just surpassed its one-year anniversary. Sure, the amount of garbage I've put on it in the past year can't match the amount of crap I found in my attic and basement, but it is slowing down some. I see the spinning beach ball more than I care to. If your Mac struggles to keep pace from time to time, the following are some ways you can clean and speed it up.
Step 1: Back it up
Before you engage in any maintenance, it's always a good idea to back up your data. For Macs, it's easy: grab an external drive and run Time Machine.
Step 2: Check Login Items
If your Mac is slow to boot up, the problem may be it simply has too many applications to open that it can't load the OS in a timely fashion. Many applications by default open automatically at startup. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups and then click on the Login Items tab to see a list of the apps that open when you boot your Mac. Uncheck the apps you don't need at startup.

Step 3: Identify and eradicate offending apps
If your Mac acts like it needs a nap every afternoon, when you are at the height of multitasking, there is an easy way to see which of your open applications is using the most system resources. Open the Activity Monitor. The numbers are constantly fluctuating, but they show you the amount of CPU and memory resources each app is using. After watching the Activity Monitor for a while this morning, I see that Firefox generally takes up more CPU resources and more than triple the memory resources. Perhaps it's time for me to abandon Firefox and use Chrome exclusively. Also, I found that the sluggish iTunes isn't nearly the resource hog I thought it was. My apologies, iTunes.
Similarly, to get a picture of what's taking up the most space on your hard drive, install the free Disk Inventory X utility. Run it and it scans your drive for a few minutes before spitting out a graphical representation of the applications on your hard drive. The bigger the block, the more space it's taking up. You can't delete any files with Disk Inventory X, but the app is a good first step in identifying which apps are eating up the most space.

Step 4: Clean up your hard drive
The biggest chore of your Mac housekeeping efforts is reclaiming space on your hard drive. I'm fairly certain there are files and applications on your Mac that you no longer need. Your Mac has a utility to root out evil, and there are a handful of free apps that will also help you clean up your hard drive.
First, to start cleaning your hard drive, open your Mac's built-in Disk Utility program and click on your hard drive in the left panel. Make sure you are viewing the First Aid tab and then click the Repair Disk button in the lower-right corner. This will run a lengthy scan of your desktop, making repairs as necessary.
To clear the cache that your Mac's various applications and processes have stashed on your hard drive, install the free utility, Onyx. It's a fairly extensive program, much of which I will not cover here. For our spring cleaning purposes, I will direct you to the Cleaning tab at the top of the app. Here, you can check off items across six categories, clicking Execute to delete the cache of the checked items, freeing up hard-drive space.

It's never a bad idea to take a gander at your Applications folder on occasion. The same goes for your Downloads folder. If there are apps in there you can't remember installing, odds are you can live without them. Move them to the trash to reclaim some hard-drive space. There are files associated with every application you install, however, and they are left behind when you simply move an application to the trash. Mac OS X lacks anything resembling an uninstaller, but AppZapper is one such app. With it, you can uninstall apps and the related files. AppZapper is free for the first five zaps, after which you'll need to pay $12.95.

My two biggest offenders in terms of taking up hard-drive space are iTunes and iPhoto, which does not come as a surprise. Every year or so, I move a year (or two) of photos to an external drive (while also backing up my iPhoto library to another drive via Time Machine) to reclaim some of my hard-drive capacity. I also delete the occasional album from iTunes or move it to an external drive if I haven't listened to it for a while. (I gave "Chinese Democracy" a listen and then immediately removed it from my hard drive; I wanted to reclaim the space, and I wanted to pretend that album never happened.)
Admittedly, keeping your iPhoto and iTunes libraries in order is a Sisyphean task. There are two tasks you can perform, however, which can help. The first, is emptying the trash in iPhoto. The app has its own trash, so all of those photos you have deleted remain on your hard drive until you empty the trash in iPhoto itself. Right-click on the trash can in the left panel in iPhoto to remove deleted photos from your hard drive. And in iTunes, you may have accumulated a few duplicate tracks over the years. Hold down the Option key and select File > Display Exact Duplicates to view a list of duplicate songs. Be careful, some duplicates may actually be a live version of a song or from a different album. Choose File > Display All to view your entire library again.
Apple ships each Mac with a variety of language files, which take up space. Unless you are a polyglot, you'll never use these files. Or miss them when they're gone. Install Monolingual, a free utility that removes unneeded languages. Just click the languages you want to remove and click the Remove button. The scan takes longer than you'd expect; it ran for 20-30 minutes on my machine, but ended up saving me 2.4GB of space.

Step 5: Add RAM
Perhaps the cheapest way to boost your Mac's performance is to add more memory. The sealed, brushed aluminum enclosure of the MacBook Pro doesn't exactly invite you inside, but it's not that difficult an endeavor.
For starters, do not buy memory from Apple. It charges $400 for 8GB of memory, and you can find that online for less than $50. The brand doesn't matter; everyone has his or her favorite. Just make sure you are buying the right amount, type, and speed. Apple has a handy support page that shows the memory specifications for a variety of models, along with an illustrated guide to replacing the memory.
In my case, I know my early 2011 MacBook Pro has two DIMM slots, each of which is occupied by a 2MB module. Since I don't have any free slots, I will need to replace those two modules with two 4GB modules. I need DDR3 memory with a speed of 1,333MHz.
After finding the right RAM for your MacBook Pro, you will need to power it off and remove the 10 small screws on its bottom panel. Be sure you note the position of the screws when you remove them; some are short and some are longer. Since I need to replace the existing memory instead of simply adding a new module to an open memory slot, I had to push outward on the two levers holding the sides of the memory module to release it before gently sliding it out. Repeat for the second module. Install your new memory by lining up the bottom notch of each module with the memory slot and push it in until it clicks. Once your new memory is installed, screw the bottom panel back into place.

Disable User Account Control (UAC) the Easy Way on Win 7 or Vista

Disable User Account Control (UAC) the Easy Way on Win 7 or Vista

This is an easier method that you can use to do the same thing from the GUI interface in either Windows 7 or Vista. To recap my earlier article, UAC is ANNOYING.
Note: Disabling UAC will lead to a less secure system, so be warned.
Disable UAC on Windows Vista
Open up Control Panel, and type in “UAC” into the search box. You’ll see a link for “Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off”:

On the next screen you should uncheck the box for “Use User Account Control (UAC)”, and then click on the OK button.

You’ll need to reboot your computer before the changes take effect, but you should be all done with annoying prompts.
Disable UAC on Windows 7
Windows 7 makes it much easier to deal with UAC settings, and in fact you don’t have to completely disable UAC if you don’t want to. Just type UAC into the start menu or Control Panel search box.

You can simply drag the slider up or down, depending on how often you want to be alerted.

If you drag it all the way down to the bottom, you’ll have disabled it entirely.

Seven useful Windows 7 tips and tricks

Tweaking Windows settings and using keyboard shortcuts can enhance the Windows experience. We'll show you seven useful tips and tricks to help you get more out of Windows 7.

 

Windows 7 is a good operating system right out of the box, but tweaking some of the settings and using keyboard shortcuts can enhance the Windows experience.
Here are seven useful Windows tips and tricks to help you get more out of Windows 7:
1. Bypass the Recycle Bin
The Windows Recycle Bin is a good safeguard against accidental file deletions. However, when you know you want to permanently delete a file, you can bypass it. Instead of pressing the Del key, press Shift+Del, then Shift+Enter to confirm.
If you prefer, you can also permanently disable the Recycle Bin. First, right-click on the Recycle Bin, then choose Properties. Click on the drive you want to disable the Recycle Bin for, then select "Don't move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted." Click the OK or Apply button to save the changes.

2. Open Windows Explorer faster
Are you still mousing over to a Windows Explorer icon or double-clicking on My Computer to browse your files? Try pressing Windows Logo+E instead, to instantly launch Windows Explorer.
3. Enable underlining of keyboard shortcuts
Windows has many menu shortcut keys, but they're hidden by default. To enable the underlining of the shortcuts, go to Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Change how your keyboard works. Click on the box next to "Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys," then hit the OK or Apply button to save.

On the left, underlining is disabled. On the right, underlining is enabled.

4. Bypass the Windows splash screen
Disabling the Windows splash screen can shave a couple seconds from your total boot time. Launch the Windows Run command (Windows Logo+R), then type msconfig. Under the Boot tab, check the box next to "No GUI boot." Hit the OK or Apply button to save the changes.

5. Lock Windows quickly
Whether you're at the office, library, or cafe, it's always a good idea to lock Windows before you step away. To lock Windows quickly, press Windows Logo+L.
6. Show hidden files, folders, and drives
To view files, folders, and drives that Windows hides, open the Windows search box (Windows Logo) and type folder. Next, select Folder Options from the search list and navigate to the View tab. Under Hidden files and folders, check the box next to "Show hidden files, folders, and drives."

7. Rename multiples files
To rename multiple files in Windows, highlight the files you want to rename, then hit the F2 key. Rename the first file, then hit Enter. All your files will be renamed and a number in parenthesis will be added to the end of the name. If you change your mind, you can hit Ctrl+Z to undo the rename.

That's it. If you know of any other cool Windows tips and tricks, feel free to share them in the comments.

Make Free Phone Calls Over Wi-Fi/Data Using Talkatone [Android & iOS]

In the future, your phone will only need a data connection. Paying for voice minutes and text messages will be an outdated concept and you’ll be able to communicate entirely over Wi-Fi. Google already offers free calls from your web browser, but they don’t offer this feature on smartphones to avoid upsetting the carriers. Talkatone does what Google won’t and offers free calls and texts over Wi-Fi.
Talkatone piggybacks off Google’s infrastructure, so it only offers free calls to the US and Canada. If you’re a Google Voice user, you can also receive phone calls and use text messages. Talkatone can even turn that iPod Touch, iPad, or Android tablet into a phone.

Making Free Mobile Calls

Talkatone is available from Google Play and the Apple App Store. The screenshots here are from the Android app, but the app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is more mature and should work similarly. The free version is ad-supported. There’s also a premium version that removes the ads and offers improved call quality, among other features – but the free version works just fine.
Launch Talkatone and you’ll be prompted to add a Google or Facebook account. You’ll have to provide a Google account to take advantage of the free calls.

Outgoing Calls

You’ll see a dialpad after Talkatone connects. You can also use the icons at the top of the screen to select a number from your contacts, recently called list, or favorites.

Placing a call is as easy as dialing the number. No further configuration needed!

If you have never placed a phone call from Gmail’s web interface before, you may need to open Gmail in your web browser and place a single outgoing call before Talkatone will work properly with your Google account.

You can also participate in VoIP calls over Google Talk or Facebook. Use the Contacts pane to start calls with your Google Talk or Facebook contacts.

SMS Messages & Incoming Calls

If you’re in the USA, read on – you can use Talkatone with your Google Voice account to send text messages and receive incoming phone calls. Talkatone has the features that should be built into the official Google Voice app, allowing you to use your Google Voice account entirely over a Wi-Fi or data connection. The How To screen under the Help menu will guide you through the setup process, if you need the help.
To receive incoming calls, log into your Google Voice account and enable the “Forward to Google Chat” option. You must also be signed out of the chat feature in Gmail.

Talkatone runs in the background once you sign in with it, so you’ll get a notification when you receive a call. Place a call to yourself to verify everything is working properly.

To get SMS support working, enable the “Text Forwarding” feature in Google Voice to forward text messages to your email. Once it’s enabled, you can send and receive SMS messages from Talkatone.

Status Message

By default, Talkatone advertises itself by adding itself to your Google Talk status message when you’re using it. You can change this – open the Settings screen, tap Accounts and tap the name of your Google account to customize your status.

Adjusting Call Quality

The Call Quality settings screen offers a variety of options to control call quality, with separate settings for Wi-Fi and cellular data connections. You can optimize Talkatone for high-quality calls over Wi-Fi and low-bandwidth calls over the cellular network.

Quick & Easy Ways To Hide A Folder In Windows 7

 Privacy is hard to come by these days. Whether you are sharing a computer or are generally suspicious of peers who occasionally have access to your computer, you may have the desire to store sensitive information or private files in a safe place. This article provides a summary of three quick and easy ways to hide folders in Windows 7.
Note that none of these solutions will effectively hide your data from knowledgeable users. For truly sensitive and confidential data, I recommend more advanced solutions, which not only hide or luck, but also encrypt your data. For pointers, please see the additional resources section below.

1. Hide Folders

Windows offers an easy way to quickly hide folders from unsuspecting eyes. This method requires that Windows does not show hidden files and folders. So to begin with, you have to check this setting:

• Open Windows Explorer (open any folder) and go to > Tools > Folder options…
• Within Folder Options switch to the > View tab.
• Under > Files and Folders find the option > Hidden files and folders and select > Don’t show hidden files, folders, or drives.
• Click > OK and proceed to hiding a folder.

To hide a folder do the following:

• Right-click the folder you want to hide and select > Properties.
• In the > General tab check the option > Hidden.
• Go to > Advanced change archive and index attributes.
• Click > OK to save your changes.

Once you wish to access your folder, go through folder options to temporarily make hidden folders visible. Obviously, this is a little inconvenient. To take a shortcut and hide or unhide several folders at once, you can use the tool Free Hide Folder. It can hide and unhide selected folders, given the folder options are set to not show hidden files and folders.

Although access to this tool is protected by a password, it does reveal that there are hidden folders somewhere and advanced users will find them with ease.

2. Make Folders Invisible

This method will make your folder invisible and not hidden. On the one hand you won’t have to go through folder options to unhide your folder, on the other someone may discover your invisible folder by accident. To make an invisible folder, you have to do two things: first remove the folder name and second make the folder icon transparent. To hide the folder name…

• …select the questionable folder and click F2.
• Then hold the > ALT key while typing the numbers > 0160 using the number pad.
• Hit > Enter and the folder name should be gone.

Next, you need to make the folder icon invisible:

• Right-click your folder and select > Properties.
• Switch to the > Customize tab and click the > Change Icon… button.
• Several blank icons can be found in the default Windows 7 icon collection. Find one, select it and click > OK.

If the invisible folder sits on your desktop, make sure it’s along the edge of the screen and towards the right side. This will decrease the chance of it being found by chance. Note that anyone can still access the folder, given they find it. For example clicking [CTRL] + [A] will select and highlight all files and folders, including invisible ones.

3. Hide Folders With My Lockbox

My Lockbox is a utility to lock and hide folders. When you first launch the tool, you need to create a password. Next, you can assign a Lockbox folder. In the free version, the amount of folders is limited to one, although you can change the folder anytime. When you launch My Lockbox, you can lock (hide) and unlock (unhide) your Lockbox folder. Unlike Free Folder Hide, My Lockbox will also hide your folder when the folder options are set to show hidden files, folders, and drives.

In the advanced view, you can access additional options, for example to set trusted applications allowed to access your folder or to create hotkeys.

We have previously reviewed My Lockbox here: How To Lock Windows Folders With MyLockbox.

How To Restore Accidentally Deleted Bookmarks On Firefox & Chrome [Windows]

It happens to all of us: things get deleted by accident, and by the time we’re wise to it, they’re gone. Our browser’s bookmarks are no different. The bookmarks interface in both Firefox and Chrome is a bit confusing at times, and I can think of at least one time when I deleted a whole folder of bookmarks by mistake, thinking I was just removing it from the bookmarks toolbar.
Fortunately, restoring accidentally deleted bookmarks is rather easy, both in Firefox and Chrome. While in Firefox it has become a built-in feature, in Chrome it still requires some folder digging. In either case, don’t despair. There is a good chance you can recover your deleted bookmarks.

Chrome

If you’ve accidentally deleted some Chrome bookmarks, and you haven’t restarted Chrome more than once or twice since, you’re probably in luck. Chrome automatically backs up your bookmarks every once in a while, and your missing bookmarks may be waiting for you in that backup. So how do you restore those bookmarks from backup?
In Explorer, browse to: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default. Note that AppData is a hidden folder, and you might not see it if Explorer is not set to show hidden folders. In any case, you can simply copy the path and paste it into Explorer. Just make sure to replace “USERNAME” by your own user name.
In this folder, you’ll find two important files: Bookmarks and Bookmarks.bak. Bookmarks includes your current bookmarks, and Bookmarks.bak is the backup you’re aiming at. You can check the date next to Bookmarks.bak to make sure the backup was done before you deleted the bookmarks. And now, to work: change the name of Bookmarks to Bookmarks.old.

After you’ve done that, erase the “.bak” from Bookmarks.bak, so it simply becomes Bookmarks. The backup is now your main bookmarks file.

When you change the names, Windows will warn you than you might ruin the file forever and ask if you’re really sure you want to take this step. You can go with “Yes” this time, you’re safe.

Now restart Chrome, and your good old bookmarks will be back where they should be!


Obviously, if you’ve added or changed bookmarks after the accidental deletion, you will lose these changes by restoring the backup. So make sure you don’t lose newer bookmarks by restoring older ones.

Firefox

Firefox provides an easier way to restore lost bookmarks. This can be done even if you’ve restarted Firefox several times, and even if it’s been several days since the “accident”.

Firefox automatically backups your bookmarks, much like Chrome does, but unlike Chrome, it saves the last 10 backups for you, instead of just one. In addition, you don’t have to go digging around in folders and changing names – Firefox has built this into its interface.
In the Firefox menu choose Bookmarks and then Show All Bookmarks. Alternatively, you can simply hit Ctrl+Shift+B. In the bookmarks library window, choose “Import and Backup”, and then “Restore”.

Here you will get to choose which backup you want restore. The best bet would be to choose the latest one before you deleted your bookmarks. If you’re restoring just after deleting them, choose the most recent one. If you’ve done this several days ago, go for an older backup.
Firefox will now warn you that restoring bookmarks will replace all your current bookmarks. Take this into account if you’ve done any changes lately besides deleting bookmarks by accident. Ideally, the only change between now and the backup should be the deleted bookmarks.

After you click OK, the change is immediate. You don’t even have to restart Firefox. Your lost bookmarks will simply reappear out of the abyss.

Final Note

It’s prudent, of course, to always back up everything you have on your computer, including bookmarks. It’s nice to know there’s a way to restore accidentally deleted bookmarks, but don’t rely on it too heavily, especially when using Chrome.
Do you know of other ways how to recover deleted bookmarks? Is there something else you’ve accidentally deleted and wish you could restore? Share in the comments!

A Brief Guide To The Secrets Of The Windows 8 User Interface

For most users, Windows 8 will come as something of a surprise when it is released, thanks to the unusual implementation of the Metro UI. If you’re not inclined to make use of whatever methods are available to disable Metro, you will be left with attempting to understand the tile-based user interface.
Whether you’re using Windows 8 on a keyboard-and-mouse device such as a desktop or laptop or enjoying it on touch-based hardware such as a hybrid or slate, Windows 8 takes some getting used to.
There are swipes and gestures for touchscreen users which have to be replicated by mouse on standard computers, while the controversial Start screen itself is full of secrets…

Swipes and Gestures

If you have any familiarity with Windows Phone, you might already be aware of the finger gestures required to use Metro UI on a touchscreen device.
The most basic is the tap, employed to select items to launch from the Start screen, open menus and type. Following this is the tap and hold, or long tap, which on the Start screen can be used to rearrange the tiles by simultaneously dragging them to the preferred position.
Using a mouse, this process is tricky, requiring you to left-click and hold. While the motor aspects of that are simple enough, the user interface is geared to respond to a finger.
Fortunately there is a better option for scrolling left to right on the Start screen and other wide Metro screens, in the shape of a scroll bar at the bottom. Meanwhile, touchscreen users can simply swipe a finger left to right across the display.

Understanding the Start Screen

The Start screen itself is something of an enigma on Windows 8. While it does a good job in presenting the main apps that are installed on the system, it fails to allow users to see what other options are available, and this could be described as true in all screens, certainly in the Consumer Preview release.

An example is the “quick return” button, found in the lower left corner of all screens except Start. This is only available by tapping or dragging your mouse into the corner, and unless you know it is there it might be completely overlooked.

On the Start screen itself there are a couple of other useful but hidden features. Right-clicking your mouse, for instance, will display the All Apps button, which is currently hidden away at the bottom of the screen. There is a strong argument for placing this in its own tile, however.

Similarly, by dragging the mouse into or tapping the lower right corner of the display, you can watch as the Start screen falls back, Mac OS X style, so that the groups of app tiles can be rearranged.

You’ll also find that there is a hidden menu on the right edge of the screen, found by tapping and holding or leaving your mouse over that side of the screen for a few moments. Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings can all be accessed from here.

Metro Conventions

The Settings screen introduces some other conventions of the Metro UI – that of switches. Our previous guide on downloading and purchasing apps and games will give you an idea of the clarity of the new user interface, and this is clearly demonstrated in the Settings screen, where various options can be enabled and disabled at the swipe of a finger or click of a mouse.

For instance, if you tapped Settings – Notifications you would be able to alter how notifications are displayed, which apps display them and whether or not they should be accompanied by sounds or display on the lock screen.
Clearly these are useful features, but long-term Windows users will notice that there is an absence of an OK or Apply button. Instead, graphical switches must be flicked in order for you to specify your preference.

Conclusion

Remember, of course, that Metro is largely an overlay for an operating system that bears a strong similarity in all other ways to Windows 7. The Desktop view is a clear giveaway for this, as is the presence of Windows Explorer, complete with a strangely anachronistic ribbon toolbar.
We all know that Windows 8 is going to be a big deal, one way or another. It will either be warmly received when released later this year, or cast aside with derision after failing to convince reviewers that Metro UI is a useful implementation.
Whichever way it goes, the Start screen will remain tile-based and the user interface optimized for fingers and thumbs rather than a mouse. As easy as it is to use, Metro UI is going to represent a considerable culture shock for many users.
Of course, let’s not forget Xbox 360 in all of this, where a working implementation of Metro UI can already be found, one that can be controlled either via a controller or Kinect. Along with Windows Phone, Xbox 360 represents a success story for Metro, so don’t be discouraged – this user interface can be mastered and enjoyed.