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Tinkering with Your Mac Settings

TMO Quick Tip - Tinkering with Your Mac Settings

by , 7:30 AM EDT, June 2nd, 2006

Mac OS X gives you quite a bit of control over how your Mac works through the assortment of Preference Panes in System Preferences. Sometimes, however, you still want more control, and TinkerTool is one of my favorite tools for just that. This handy little application works with Mac OS X 10.2 and higher, and lets you disable the Finder's sound effects, place the Dock on any edge of your display (even the top), enable the elusive "suck" minimizing effect, disable Dashboard, enable Safari's debug menu, control Safari's stored items size, and more.


TinkerTool gives you the system level controls that Apple left out.

I set the Dock to display hidden applications with transparent icons so I can easily tell which applications are hidden, and which ones are open, but aren't displaying any windows (that's in the Dock options). I also changed my scroll arrows so that they are together in the bottom corner of open windows (check the General options for that one).

TinkerTool is an amazingly handy utility, and it's free, too. You can find the latest version at the MBS Web site.

if you have ideas for Mac related tips that you think other TMO readers might find helpful.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:Guest
Fri Jun 02, 2006 2:19 pm Subject: It can also be surprisingly dangerous

It reveals hidden files that normally you wouldn't see, and someone forgetting it is on might accidently delete or move a file that is important to the operating system. I've written a FAQ on what is safe to delete or move:

http://www.macmaps.com/safetodeleteormove.html


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