os

Prevent resume from occurring at application launch

Apple's autosave and resume features are convenient for maintaining your workflow, even when you do not save documents. So in a program like Pages, for example, you could work on a document and simply quit the program or restart your computer, and the next time the program opens, your documents will be reopened with the changes to them preserved.

While convenient, especially in the event of a crash, hang, or power outage, this feature does have one potential drawback: it could reveal some personal or otherwise private information at inopportune times.

You can avoid this by quitting programs with … Read more

How to prevent Spotlight from indexing files

Apple's Spotlight search technology is a quick way to find files, applications, contacts, and numerous other items on your system, but there are times when you might like to keep some things from being indexed and included in search results.

For example, if you have a collection of outdated program versions in a folder called "past versions," you might wish to keep Spotlight from showing them all, and only have it locate the most recent one that you use. This might also be true for temporary files you have on your system, such as those in the … Read more

iOS 7, OS X banners spotted at WWDC preshow setup

In case it wasn't clear that Apple planned to show off the next major version of iOS and OS X at next week's WWDC, there are now banners for both.

Spotted by MacStories on Friday, a very simple and minimal banner with colored "7" on it set against what looks much like the dotted aluminum found on the Mac Pro tower. Apple later put up one for OS X, which simply says "X" with a wave on it.

Apple typically keeps some banners hidden ahead of official announcements at WWDC, though had ones for … Read more

Install multiple apps with ease with Get Mac Apps

Dear recent graduate,

First off, congratulations. Secondly, allow me to ask: did you, perchance, receive a shiny, new MacBook for your scholastic achievements? Would you like to quickly and painlessly install a number of the more popular Mac apps on it this summer before heading off to college or into the real world? If so, I would direct your attention to a new Web app, Get Mac Apps.

Get Mac Apps makes it incredibly easy to install multiple apps at once. Simply head to its Web site and click on the apps you'd like to install. The site lists … Read more

Friday Poll: What Apple announcement do you want most from WWDC?

Apple's big annual developers' conference kicks off next week. That has left plenty of time to speculate and entertain rumors about new announcements. We won't know for sure until the Worldwide Developers Conference actually gets going, but there are some likely, and unlikely, scenarios for new hardware and software.… Read more

Sorry, Z10. BlackBerry A10 coming soon

CNET Update is prepared:

Monday is going to be a wild day with announcements about Apple, Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. This episode of Update breaks down the questions we need answered at the E3 video game conference, along with what to expect from Apple's WWDC keynote. Case maker Gumdrop is so confident that the iPad 5 will be announced, that it already is selling a case for it!

CNET's live coverage of Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote

There's a keyboard shortcut to jump to the top of a Web page

Back in the days before Mac OS X Lion (not to mention Mountain Lion), I used a handy trackpad gesture when I found myself mired in a particularly lengthy web page that would let me jump back to the top. I just swiped upward on the trackpad with three fingers and I was right back at the top of the page.

When OS X Lion hit, one of the many features it introduced was Mission Control, which you accessed by swiping up with three fingers (or all four, if you tweaked a setting in System Preferences). Mission Control is great … Read more

Three ways to move left on the Task Switcher

Once you commit to the Task Switcher in Mac OS X, it quickly becomes an essential tool in your workflow. With it, you can easily switch among open apps.

To call up the Task Switcher, hit Command-Tab and then while still holding down the Command key, you can hit the Tab key repeatedly to cycle through the icons in a rightward direction. If you have many apps open, however, it might be quicker to move to the left to make you desired app switch. Moving to the left is also useful if you overshot your intended app and want to … Read more

Terminal Tip: Close windows after clean exit

If you regularly script tasks in the Terminal, you might find at times that handling windows can be a burden. While an unused Terminal window can quickly be closed by pressing Command-W or clicking the red button at the top of the window, if you run numerous scripts then you may be left with a number of windows to close.

One way you can better manage these windows is to change the default Terminal behavior for when a terminal shell exits. By default, the Terminal will keep the window open and display the text "[process completed]," leaving you … Read more

Mac tip: Five useful keyboard shortcuts for Mission Control

After learning a few keyboard shortcuts, my embrace of Mission Control has tightened. Because my 13.3-inch MacBook Pro has only so much screen real estate, I spread out the applications I use most frequently across a handful of virtual desktops in Mission Control in an effort to avoid feeling cramped when multitasking. I have come to rely on it and its virtual workspaces throughout the workday, and I get in and out of it more quickly now than when I relied solely on my MacBook's trackpad to navigate my way around it.

Without further ado, I present a … Read more