Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Get the Right Memory / Ram for your Mac. Top Quality, Competitive Prices, Lifetime Warranty. Expert Support and Video Installation Guidies too! 4.0GB Matched Sets from $87.99, Options up to 32GB. Click here

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

36 Ways to Tweak Tiger with TinkerTool

- 2006.02.02

How many functions does your favorite software package perform? Most of the time, we're happy to pay for an app that has one or two core functions, as long as it does those functions well.

How about a freeware package that sports about three dozen different functions? Unbelievable, but it's true in the form of TinkerTool.

How can a piece of software be so useful and still be free? TinkerTool pulls it off by simply being a front end to a Terminal command. The defaults command, which originated in NeXTstep and made its way to OS X, allows you to change application preferences, including stuff that's not available from the app's preferences window.

TinkerTool has been with us since at least Mac OS X version 10.0 (Cheetah, although Apple didn't use the big cat names publicly then). I can remember using it back then to pin the Dock at the top of the screen and hide it under the menu bar - and to add a Quit menu to the Finder.

As more defaults commands have been discovered and new apps that support the command (i.e., Safari) have been added to the OS, TinkerTool has grown into quite the little powerhouse.

Since all preferences are set at the user level and not the system level, there's no risk of doing any damage to your OS. Preferences can be set back one at a time, or all preferences can be turned back to a pre-TinkerTool state with the click of a button.

One of the newer features is the ability to speed up the opening and closing animation of sheets. This makes open and save dialog boxes, and other informational sheets, roll up and down very quickly. Although it's a placebo, this gives you the appearance of a much faster Mac.

I always make sure to install TinkerTool even if just for this feature, even on the fastest Macs I use.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger brings back the ability to change the screen shot format, which you could do in 10.0 and 10.1, but not 10.2 or 10.3. I like to set the format to JPEG, although there's nothing wrong with the default PNG in 10.4. It's just nice to have that extra control over your system.

From the TinkerTool site, here's a complete list of features available with OS X 10.4 (other features available in earlier OS versions omitted):

Prevent the Finder from using the Desktop background
Disable the animation effect when opening files in the Finder
Enable the Finder to show hidden and system files
Enable the "Quit" menu item of the Finder
Disable sound effects of the Finder
Disable display of the full user and group list in ownership settings of the Finder
Disable the animation effect when opening information panels or Desktop icons
Disable the animation effect when selecting information categories
Disable the display of arrows in the Finder's column view
Set the maximum number of label lines in the Finder's icon view
Disable the creation of hidden Finder .DS_Store files on network volumes
Use transparent Dock icons to show hidden applications
Display the Dock with a shadow
Put the Dock to the top screen position
Place the Dock at the beginning or end of any screen border
Set the Dock minimization effect to a "suck in" animation
Place both scroll arrow buttons of any scroll bar at both ends of the bar
Set the file format for the creation of Desktop screen shots
Enable extended options for conversion of disk images
Automatically skip checksum verification when opening disk images
Accelerate the animation of opening and closing sheets
Enable the diagnostic menu of the Address Book
Automatically activate Terminal windows by pointing at them with the mouse cursor
Control how Mac OS X handles application crashes
Enable the Mac OS X Menu Extra to open optical disk drives
Enable the diagnostic menu of Safari
Disable Dashboard
Enable the developer mode of Dashboard (allows you to put Widgets on your Desktop)
Force an updated import of Internet Explorer favorites into Safari
Set the number of visible entries in the main history menu of Safari
Set the maximum number of entries stored in the history list of Safari
Reduce the delay time of Safari before page content is displayed
Disable native PDF display support in Safari
Set nine categories of default fonts used in Cocoa applications
Enable or disable restrictions for the permission settings of newly created files or folders
Set font-smoothing limits for all types of applications

And all of this for free!

Link: TinkerTool

Recent Plays Well with Others articles

End of G4 models points to unprecedented value for used G4 Macs, 06.02. The PowerPC G4 may no longer have a place in Apple's product line, but that's a far cry from saying G4-based Macs are obsolete. If anything, there value is going to increase.
X11: Your window for using Unix apps on the Mac, 05.17. Mac OS X is a Unix variant. X11 is the tool that lets you access Unix applications using a graphical interface with mouse support.
6 extensions to make Firefox even better, 03.29. Improve Firefox with everything from web developer tools to nuking unwanted ads, from faster page loads to knowing the weather.
Intel Mac mini confounds market with higher price, 03.23. After the raging success of the $499 Mac mini, why did Apple feel a need to move away from the entry-level market by making the Intel Mac mini more expensive?
More in the Plays Well with Others index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Plays Well with Others articles copyright ©2005-06 by Leaman Crews. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.