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Mac OS X Tips

posted Jul 7, 2011 1:59 PM by Amol Kolhe   [ updated Jul 23, 2011 6:52 AM ]
** These are tested to work on Mac OS X (10.5.8) **

Clear Caches
# Clearing cache defeats the purpose of caching. However, I've noticed that the mac gets slower as this cache grows.
# Clearing the cache, makes everything faster.
# I'm guessing, apple didn't implement it properly, or that the disk I/O speeds on the current generation of hard drives makes it slow.
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*
reboot

Make Dock transparent in 3D view
# Backup the dock, in case you feel like restoring later
cd /System/Library/CoreServices; tar -cf Dock.app.tar Dock.app
cd /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources; rm -rf scurve*.png frontline.png && killall Dock

Make Dock transparent in 2D view
# Backup the dock, in case you feel like restoring later
cd /System/Library/CoreServices; tar -cf Dock.app.tar Dock.app
cd /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources; rm -rf bottom?.png && killall Dock

Set Dock Size
defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -Number 42 && killall Dock

2D Dock Background
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES && killall Dock

Dock Pinning Start
defaults write com.apple.dock pinning -string start && killall Dock

Dock Pinning Start
defaults delete com.apple.dock pinning && killall Dock

Dock show transparent icon for hidden applications
defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool true && killall Dock

Add Recent Applications to Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }' && killall Dock

Show only running apps in Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool TRUE && killall Dock

Set Login Picture
defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture "/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/vortex.png"

Dashboard Disable
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES && killall Dock

Dashboard Enable
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO && killall Dock

Auto Mount disks on startup

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/autodiskmount AutomountDisksWithoutUserLogin -bool true 

Disable Ping
defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool TRUE

Spacer Tile on Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="spacer-tile";}'

Disable .DS_Store and other hidden files on network folders
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true