mac-os-x

recent posts related to the mac os x operating system

Rapid Mac HTML form prototyping

Earlier this week I needed to create some HTML prototypes for a client, and when I looked around for simple Mac OS X HTML form prototyping tools, I was disappointed to see, well, nothing.

Five to ten years ago I used to sit down with clients and create HTML form prototypes using Microsoft FrontPage, and since their 2000 version, it was actually very good. It created very clean code, kept your changes in tact, and was as simple as could be to create HTML forms.

Mac startup/login programs (startup items)

Mac startup/login programs FAQ: How do I set up a Mac program to automatically startup when I log in?

If you have a normal Mac application that you want to setup as a Mac startup program (also called a Mac "startup item"), the process is fairly simple, and I'll demonstrate the approach in this article. For other Mac applications, like a command line program, the approach is different, and I'll cover that in a separate article.

How to schedule an automatic Mac wake up time

Summary: How to schedule a Mac automatic wake up time (or sleep time).

While answering a reader's question about an unrelated Mac issue, I stumbled onto a solution of how to wake up my Mac at a specific time every day. This is very cool for me, because it fits in very well with my Mac AppleScript iTunes alarm clock.

Mac launchctl StartInterval not working

It looks like the Mac launchd launchctl StartInterval is broken in Mac OS X 10.6.x, at least the current version (10.6.7). When I run a Mac launchctl script like this, which used to work just fine:

Mac crontab - Mac OS X startup jobs with crontab, er, launchd

Mac OS X crontab FAQ: How do I run a Unix job (or shell script) through the OS X crontab facility? I keep trying to edit my Mac crontab file, but my Mac OS X system won't save my crontab changes, or run my program (or shell script).

Mac OS X - crontab, launchd, and launchctl

As of this writing (updated in 2011), the Mac crontab command seems to be deprecated on Mac OS X, and the Apple documentation encourages you to use their "Mac launchd" facility. Here's a blurb from the Mac OS X crontab man page:

A Java version of Xeyes

In my spare time over the last two days I've created a Java version of the old Unix Xeyes application. If you ever used Xeyes, you know it as a pair of eyes that are displayed on-screen, and follow the mouse cursor as you move it around.

Here's a little one-minute video that demonstrates how my Java Xeyes application works:

Preventing the Mac Defender trojan

From everything I've read on Apple's discussion forums, the Mac Defender trojan/virus can only be installed on your Mac OS X system under the following circumstances:

Removing the Mac Defender trojan

From what I've read on the Apple discussion forums, here's how you delete the Mac Defender trojan from your system.

Mac Defender trojan (virus) information

It looks like reports of the "Mac Defender" trojan/virus/malware are the real deal. Several Apple discussion forums related to the Mac Defender trojan (it's not a virus) have several thousands page-views and hundreds of comments. You can find these threads by searching Google with this query:

MacBook Air external monitor connectors

MacBook Air external monitor FAQ: How do I connect an external monitor to my MacBook Air?

Because the MacBook Air and the iMac use the same Apple Mini DisplayPort technology to connect to external monitors, the process of connecting an external monitor to a MacBook Air is nearly the same as connecting a dual monitor to an iMac:

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