Flickr

HF Controller – Macintosh Application

So say you need to access some hidden files/folders on your Macintosh, but you can’t figure out how to find them on your system?

Well, you could resort to finding the Unix commands to do the job. That’s not hard at all, but some people just think using a Terminal to execute specific commands is too complicated, or they might just be afraid that they might screw something up. Or maybe you just want a simple script to do the job for you, but either you can’t find one online or don’t want to try to figure how to write one?

For the non-techie people out there, I made this super-simple app to do the job for you. No command input, no script writing, just a simple interface with two buttons; Enable and Disable. Simple as it gets.

I first wrote a script to enable and disable hidden files for myself as I was constantly needing to do this for some things I was working on. Then I figured, there’s most likely a few people out there that want to avoid code/script completely but do the same thing. So I wrote this app. Like they say, there’s an app for everything, this being one of them.

I named it HF Controller, obviously, standing for “Hidden File Controller”. It’s not an official, trademarked name, and I have no intention of creating any issues using the name, so if you need the name changed for some reason, go ahead and email me with your reason and some legal evidence if necessary, and I’ll replace the title.

When you open the app, you’ll have a simple window with some text explaining what the Enable and Disable buttons do, along with the buttons themselves. Once clicked, Finder resets and changes are in effect. It’s basically a switch.

There is no official author site for this app, so it’s just going to be on a file hosting site, which I may decide to change the location of later on. If you do decide to use this application, and use it a good amount, I recommend checking back on the site you download it from once in a while to see if a new version is available, even though they all will do the same thing.

Obviously it’s completely free, as anything so simple should be. And I’m not asking for any donations or money from this. The current version you’ll be downloading is version 2.0. The difference from 1.0.6 and 2 is that version 2 has a completely new User-Interface(UI) and a few minor improvements. Even though it does something so simple, it’s still software. Therefor it will be updated and treated like any other piece of software.

Here’s the download link. Compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.11 and up. Please email me about any bugs, issues, incompatibilities, or recommendations at Kamprath445@hotmail.com.

Screen Shot

Main window. Texture will be different on other versions of Mac OS X, this one is on 10.4.11 Tiger. e

Sweet Alternative to Mac OS X Leopard’s “Spaces” for Tiger

On Mac OS X Leopard, there’s an application called “Spaces”. It’s what’s called a desktop manager, which allows you to switch between multiple desktops if you don’t want all of your windows and applications cluttering one desktop. Unfortunately for older Mac users on OS X Tiger, Spaces isn’t available. But there’s an alternative, that in my opinion has way better features than Spaces. It’s called VirtueDesktops, developed by Tony Arnold.

VirtueDesktops pretty much does the same thing as Spaces. The thing is, you only get three desktops, which is still better than one! But if you’re turned off by only three desktops, you can always go find another manager for like $60. You’re able to set a variety of transitions for when you switch between desktops, including the “cube” effect, a warp transition, a couple swap effects, and some others, which all look pretty sick!

Also, VirtueDesktops doesn’t require any complicated setup or installation, you just open it, pick if you want to open it on login, and you’re set. You can assign custom triggers to switch desktops with, making it super easy to flip through desktops. It’s actually pretty easy to use.
It also adds an icon in the menubar for easy access, so you can quickly switch desktops. It’s really simple, no installation, no actual application interface required to switch desktops with, just a simple menubar drop-down menu and some hotkeys.

VirtueDesktops isn’t in development anymore, though there are builds and patches by other developers. The latest official version of it has been a beta since 2007, when the original developer dropped the project, but it still runs perfectly. I haven’t noticed any problems with it after using it for several months. So check it out, it’s well worth it if you’re looking for an alternative to Spaces for you older machine, or if you just want a sweet desktop manager! Oh yeah, did I mention it’s totally FREE?

DL Links:
Macupdate
Version Tracker
Softonic
Softpedia
Download Squad

Summer, goals, updates.

It’s been a few weeks since my last blog post, and that’s because I have been busy with school. Obviously, as you may know, my summer has finally started. Schools out, no more projects to worry about. I have absolute freedom – which comes with a ton of free time.

I plan on reviving my Youtube channel once I get a new iMac, because then I will have a microphone, web-cam, and in general a better system that will allow better productivity. I’ll go more into the Youtube channel later, along with the iMac, which hopefully I will be able to order sometime in July.

Now, about some other goals I plan to accomplish; first of all, I have been wanting to improve in scripting/programming for a long time. So far, I’ve only gotten to HTML, AppleScript, a start on Python, and a portion of Unix. I plan on web programming first, because that’s a good starter, plus I eventually want to develop my own personal site. That’s just a goal though, I’m not saying I will automatically be able to learn anything I want, it takes commitment. I also would like to try to learn Unix, because that can unlock so much potential. Those are just a few things I want to try to learn, I have a lot more, which I know I won’t be able to accomplish in just one summer.

If you haven’t noticed already, I am limited because of the computer I have right now. As I mentioned earlier, I probably will be getting a new machine in July, after I de-tassel. I plan on getting an iMac, which indeed is pricey, but well worth it. I prefer the Macs for a lot of reasons. First of all, the interface is much more comfortable and clean than Windows in my opinion. I also feel that I have a lot more potential using a Mac, because I’m already extremely familiar with Macintosh systems, and it just in general seems more versatile. The Mac I’m currently using is an older version, with limited abilities, and outdated hardware. It definitely still gets the job done for me, and I’m not in urgent need of a new system, the one I use is just old, and really can’t benefit me much more.

As a reader, you should expect a lot more blog posts during the summertime, because I will have a lot of time to concentrate on my blog, unlike the school year, which required me to concentrate on other things, and any time I updated the blog was considered a distraction. It might have been a good idea to have started blogging at the start of summer, but now I’m already set, and all I have to do is make new posts, not focus on getting started and trying to find readers.

If you didn’t know I had an active Youtube channel, well, I do. I don’t really advertise it much because I really don’t have good enough content to brag about due to my limited resources. I primarily produce Mac tutorials and other computer-related things. I don’t have a video camera, so that’s the reason I don’t make any REAL videos. Mostly, I show off apps or do tutorials. Nothing special. What I hope to do in the future, once I get a new machine, is remake my videos and have better audio and video quality. Until then, I won’t be anywhere near as active on Youtube as I will be when I upgrade.

There are a ton of other goals I hope to nail, not all just geeky things like programming, which I could talk about, but people seriously don’t have time to sit here reading every little thing I plan on doing. So thanks for reading, look forward to new posts, and have a good summer!

-JBK

Can’t find the original icon after pasting an icon onto a file?

If you have no clue what I am talking about already; when you select a file on your Mac and hit command+i, you will get the file/folder’s information. At the top of that window there is an icon that represents whatever icon is currently being displayed on that file. You can change that icon without overwriting the original .icns file or normal image by simply bringing up the information window for another file, clicking on the icon so it’s highlighted, then copying it (+c, or edit>copy), and pasting it over the icon of the designated file. Then that file will have an icon of your choosing, without even replacing the original icon file!

But wait! I decided I don’t like the new icon and can’t find the old one, help!

Don’t panic, that’s why I’m writing this post. First of all, when you paste an icon onto a file, it creates a temporary hidden icon file within that file itself. If you paste an icon onto a folder, the hidden icon file will be inside that folder. If it’s on an application, you can just right-click the application, and select the “Show Package Contents” option, which will bring up a window containing a folder named “contents” and a file named “icon”.

Sounds simple, right? Well it’s not done yet. The icon file is a hidden file, meaning it won’t be viewable unless you have access to hidden files from the GUI  (Graphical User Interface). Other methods are possible, but probably won’t be able to be executed directly from the GUI. So to view hidden files on your Mac, you are going to have to run a short UNIX command in a Terminal, or use a simple app that I’ve created specifically for hidden file access.

Now to enable and disable hidden files manually, with a UNIX command, you are going to need to open an application called “Terminal”, which can be found in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app, or spotlighted. Once you have Terminal up and running, type in the following command:

Defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

Once you’ve typed that, hit enter, and now you’re going to need to reset Finder for changes to take effect. Any Finder windows you have open will be closed.

killall Finder

Now Finder will reset, and you will have access to hidden files. To disable hidden files, retype the previous commands, except this time, replacing the YES in the first command with NO.

If you don’t want to have to enter any confusing codes than you can just download the app I created to do this for you in a simple click. Get it here. All you have to do with the app is open it, and choose “Enable Hidden Files”, “Disable Hidden Files”, or “Cancel”. All it does is run a shell script containing the same command that I mentioned. Please note that tampering with hidden files is not always safe, so make sure you are familiar with any files you are going to edit. You can identify a regular hidden file by seeing if it begins with a period. For example, a common hidden file is “.DS_Store”. I wouldn’t recommend messing with that file either, but that’s what most hidden files will look like.

Now hopefully you have succeeded in gaining access to hidden files, so go to the file, folder, or disk that has the icon you want to remove, if it’s an application then right click on it and select “Show Package Contents”, and delete the file “icon”. To get rid of the icon on a folder or mountable disk (hard drives or USB devices), simply open them, locate the “icon” file, and delete it. That’s it.

The confusing thing about hidden icon file is it doesn’t start with a period like most hidden files, so at first you wouldn’t recognize it as a hidden file.

Hopefully this saved you from making your roommate or parents mad at you for replacing an icon and not knowing how to get rid of it, thanks for reading!

-JBK

OS X Interface Customization

You’ve probably ran into many Windows users claiming that Mac OS X cannot be customized at all. Turns out, OS X is actually just as customizable (depending on the version). Though Apple didn’t include a customizable interface option by default, many other groups have made it possible.

Let’s take Mac OS X Tiger for example. This is actually the easiest version of OS X to modify in my opinion. Now let’s look at how it’s actually done. I’ve came across a great, simple application from Unsanity called Shapeshifter that unfortunately is not available for OS X Leopard so far. Upon installing ShapeShifter, it will be added to the “other” category in your system preferences menu. When you open it, you will have several options. Under the “Apply” tab, you can choose from a range of themes you’ve downloaded to set as your computer’s theme, or if you’ve downloaded “Mighty Mouse” from Unsanity (which I’ll cover next), then you can set a custom cursor that comes with a theme.

ShapeShifter window.

There is also the option to download themes directly from the window, but you’ll find a lot more themes online at Interfacelift.com or other similar sites. There is also a preferences tab and an exclude list, which is useful if themes are causing problems with a certain app, or simply aren’t looking that great. Note that ShapeShifter is not a free application; you are on a 30 day trial until you purchase a registration key. Available here.

Now if you are more into changing your cursor, Unsanity also offers another program called “Mighty Mouse”, which yes, shares the same name as Apple’s mouse. Mighty Mouse let’s you change your cursor’s size (which is also a default option in OS X), or change the whole cursor all together with a simple click-and-drag of a cursor file. Even a Windows cursor file can be used, as long as it shares the same extension as the default Windows cursors. Again, it is also a trial, but a very cheap and fun application – available here, sadly, this is only available for OS X Tiger, though the rest of the world is updating to Leopard, there are still some Tiger users out there, like myself.

Still on the topic of mouse customization, there are a few more applications I’ve found that will add effects to your cursor. The first one is PinPoint. PinPoint is another application that is installed to your System Preferences menu. It allows you to add different patterns or effects to your cursor, and many other small features that you can explore if you want to look into this application.

A separate application, called MousePose, is great for video tutorials. If you’re familiar with a screen capture tool called ScreenFlow, you should know the option that allows you to dim all surrounding area of a region around the cursor, to highlight a specific point on your screen with your cursor. MousePose will allow you to do the same thing, without having to use ScreenFlow. MousePose has numerous options and effects, including a feature that will display keystrokes you enter, so if you’re recording a video, it will be easier to understand what you’re showing, and generally make your video look more professional.

If you want to change the icons on your Mac all at once, without having to copy/paste each item one by one, then check out CandyBar (Leopard only). CandyBar allows you to select certain categories of icons and change them. You also can restore icons if you get tired of any applied ones. You can apply icon packs to change your Mac’s overall icon theme, or change individual application icons, etc. Also a great application worth trying, click here to see the download page.

Now the last applications I want to cover are for Leopard only, so you won’t feel left out from ShapeShifter These apps will change your Leopard dock to different styles, graphics, etc.

DockDoctor is an application that will let you change the opacity of icons, add custom skins to your dock, add spacers, and a few other options. As of my knowledge, DockDoctor is free of charge, but donations are encouraged. You can get this app here.

The last application I want to cover is Dock Library, which is primarily used to change your dock skins. It’s also free as of my knowledge, and extremely useful if all you want to do is change your dock’s theme or skin. Available here.

Conficker.

Well if you haven’t heard of it already, Conficker, part of a worm called “Downadup” or “Kido”, is a major internet worm targeting weak vulnerable Windows systems. Conficker has been reported to have infected from 3-8 million PC’s so far. The worm is expected to increase in malicious behavior soon, April 1st to be exact. After this increase, Conficker is expected to infect many more computers, send spam, jam servers, overload server traffic, you name it. But don’t get scared over the whole thing, all you need to do is make sure you’ve downloaded the latest security updates from Microsoft, if you haven’t been hit yet.

This worm is supposed to gain control of millions of machines, allowing the creators to send commands to any infected computer. This day might be on April 1st, might not. You never know a hacker’s next move.

This worm works by finding weak, older systems that are vulnerable, and it then infects the whole network that they’re in, all by downloading itself onto a system from who knows what sites. The sites can become infected by hackers breaking in and using the servers to host the worm. If a computer has open file sharing and no protection, it’s screaming to be attacked.

Another hazard with Conficker is that it targets USB devices also. When you connect the device, the worm finds it’s way onto the device, so then you’re dealing with an infected USB device also, connecting to other machines and infecting them when you plug it in. To add to all that, the worm has the ability to restrict you from accessing important security sites, and downloading security updates.

What about Mac users? Conficker is so far reported only compatible with Windows, therefor most Mac users are safe. However, many newer Macs have Windows-compatible software or virtual machines. It has not been a reported problem, but there may be a slight risk existing. There are a few Windows-environment emanulators that will run windows files directly on your mac, which could result in the execution of the worm. You still should be safe though, OS X hasn’t been a target yet.

There already are teams working on tracking the worm and disabling it’s abilities to do any more harm, and there is an offer of $250,000 to anyone that can stop the worm.
All you need to do to avoid the Conficker worm is install the latest security updates, make sure you have a safe network if you’re on one, have a strong password protected system, and try to avoid known sites to host the worm.

-JBK

Yes, it IS possible to set up hotmail/live with the Mail app for Mac.

Mac users should be familiar with the application, Mail, which lets you set up your corporate, domain email, or any other type of email account with, and easily check all of your incoming messages from multiple accounts without having to log in to a site each time. The turnoff for many casual Mac users is, it’s very difficult to figure out how to set up a Hotmail or Live account with the app. Mainly, Mail supports accounts that already have a specific server that you hopefully would know. People can’t seem to figure out the set up with their Hotmail/Live accounts because they become confused when the setup asks for incoming/outgoing servers, account type, etc. Well I’ll explain how to get past this if you’re still searching for a solution.

First, open up Mail if you haven’t already. Then, under Mail, go to preferences. There’s a list of categories at the top of the window, go to the accounts category. At the bottom left of the window, there should be a + and a – button. To add  a new account, click the +. If you’ve succeeded through that so far,  a new window will pop up, asking for general account info. Set the account type to POP, then enter what you want the account to appear as in your sidebar, under Account Description. Fill out the necessary info for the rest. Click continue when you have that part down.

Now you’re going to have to enter the incoming mail server details. The incoming server will be “pop3.live.com” since you’re using a Hotmail/Live account. Your username and password is the same as your email.

Your outgoing mail server will be “smtp.live.com”, and the username and password are the same as your email once again.

And that’s it! That easy. Hopefully it was successful for you. Once you get to the last window, it will display info about the account you just set up. Now you’ve successfully set up a Hotmail/Live account with the Mail application.

-JBK

AppleScript: How to run a terminal/unix command without opening Terminal

This post is mainly to tell people who are wondering, “How do I run a Unix/Terminal command in AppleScript?”, how to run a unix command (people using script editor usually refer to them  as “terminal commands”) without telling the app to open terminal and enter the command and quit. Surprisingly, there aren’t many simple, accurate answers to this question. Well noobs, here it is for you.

So say you need to reveal hidden files on your system, and know the Unix command for it, but just get tired of having to always open up a Terminal and enter it. But with AppleScript, you can create a small shortcut app to run the command for you. Now that’s not the only thing AppleScript is used for, you can also tell the system to carry out an endless amount of tasks, or have applications do specific functions, even control internet browsers. But in this post, I’ll be explaining how you can make a simple shortcut app to run commands. The majority of scripting/programming geeks already know how to do this, but there is still that portion or you that may not know how, and want to learn.

(If you just want to know the command and already know the basics of AppleScript, then here’s the command: do shell script “” , entering the command in between the quotes. Now if you are clueless on how to do ANYTHING with AppleScript, then keep reading.)

Script Editor

There are probably many other applications that support AppleScript, but the most basic and simple one that I recommend is Script Editor, which comes default on all OS X Macs. You will have numerous options with this app, all which are simple to figure out and use.

The script

If you want the app to display a dialog and ask you what to do, right click the text input area, and go to dialogs, and select the dialog type. In this example, I’m going to use a 2 button 2 action dialog.

This is what 2 buttons 2 actions should look like.

So now I’m going to have the dialog say “Would you like to enable hidden files?”, placing the text inside the quotes after display dialog. That way, when I open the application, that dialog will pop up. Now I want to add buttons and actions for them to run the command. Type in what you want the buttons to say in between the quotes after buttons. Where it says default button 2, two is the button number, so the default button on dialog will be the second button. Where it says if the button returned of the result is “” then, enter the text of the first button in between the quotes. Now to the function. In this case, I want to run the “defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES” command when I click the first button. My first button will be called “run”. Replace the –action for 1st button goes here with do shell script “” , and enter the Unix command in the quotes. That way, when I click on the first button, it will run my command.

Pretty much, all you do is just enter the necessary text or command where it’s needed, and you should be set. If you thought “Why’d this kid make me sit through all this, just to learn the simple command?”, that’s because you failed to notice that I mentioned “stop reading if you know the basics” somewhere above. Anyways, hope this helped those of you who needed it.

-JBK

What you may not know about Google AdSense

First of all, you may not even have a clue what Google AdSense is. Well, Google AdSense is a program set up by Google to allow different companies or organizations to advertise on sites and reach many users based on previous content the user has viewed. How are they supposed to reach the group of people that could actually be interested? Well that’s the whole point of this post. 

When you visit a website with AdSense, Google saves a cookie with information about that site’s content, so when you visit other sites with AdSense, more advertisements on that page will be related to the content that you previously viewed. So say someone is looking at sites selling auto parts, and that website happens to have AdSense advertising on their site. When the person goes and browses another site, maybe not even related, they will get ads about auto parts. 

So here’s another example of how it goes; you visit a couple sites or watch some videos about fitness programs. Google saves a history of that as a cookie, and when you are browsing around the web again, you’ll be getting some ads about fitness programs, and at the same time, Google will be saving a history on the site you’re seeing the ad on, so you’ll be getting ads about that too.

These cookies are called Tracking Cookies. If you run a virus or spyware scan on your web cookies, some programs will read those cookies as spyware or malware sites, and block them. It happened to me, but I really didn’t even know what a Tracking Cookie was, therefor I didn’t even care. It can be a hassle trying to get rid of them by using a program, so if you really want an easy way, just go to the source. Google has a preference page, and on it you can find the option to disable Tracking Cookies from Google AdSense. If you want to view the preferences page, click here. If you’d rather just read the details and then go to the preference page, then click here.

If you’re not too familiar with all of this, it may concern you, but you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s just a minor thing that many people don’t even know or care about. If you don’t want Google to keep track of your history and display advertisements based on it, then all you have to do is disable it. Then you won’t ever have to worry about it again.  So now you know how Tracking Cookies can effect the advertisements on the page you’re visiting. Again, it’s no big deal, but it might be something of interest to you. Thanks for reading.

 

-JBK