Mac Must Knows

Did you know that you can run Leopard in tons of different languages? And not only leopard, most of your applications probably have a few language translations.

All this language support takes up space though. And more then a few megabytes. Getting rid of the language files you don't need could easily scrape 5gb off your hard drive.

So how do you choose the ones you want and get rid of the ones you need?

It can be done with a program called "Monolingual". It let's you choose the language files you want to use and get rid of the ones you don't.

Start by opening it up.

In the languages section check all the languages you aren't going to use and uncheck the ones you will.

Next simply click remove and your done!

You'll be amazed at how much space this saves.

Removing unnecessary code saves disk space and speeds up your computer.

Most applications are made to run on Intel and PPC computers. This means there programmed to run for 2 different configurations. But nobody has both, they either have one or the other.

So why keep configurations for something you don't have?

Well now you don't need to. Programs like Xslimmer remove the unnecessary code, leaving you with only what you need.

This makes the application run faster and also saves you disk space.

Unfortunately removing unnecessary code is the one thing that you need to pay a bit of money for.

Xslimmer is not free. It costs 12.95.

I'd say it's worth it because it does more then just remove unused code. It will also get rid of language packs you don't use (another thing to save space).

You can learn more about Xslimmer here.

"10 Ways To Speed Up Your Mac": Clean Useless Startup Items

When you log on to your computer, it has a few programs that it loads as soon as it starts.

The more it has to load, the longer it will take to load. You can cut down the load time by removing some of these startup items.

To do this go to:

System Preferences --> Accounts --> (Click the account you want to clean) --> Login Items

There you can find a list of Applications that launch at the start.

Look through them to see which ones you don't need.

When you find one you want to remove click it to highlight it and click the minus button.

Do this with all the accounts you want. This will make your computer start and run faster!

Ever been using your computer and noticed it getting a bit slow?

Sometimes it's because your running tons of applications, or you haven't restarted your computer in ages. So you close a few things, reboot it up and problem solved.

Other times it's something else. Well there are things you can do to speed up your mac other then just running less apps.

I have made a list of "10 Ways To Speed Up Your Mac". Most of these ways are free so don't worry about pulling out your wallet. They're also fast so you can do them whenever you have some free time.

Here are "10 Ways To Speed Up Your Mac":

1. Clean out useless startup items.
2. Turn off unnecessary services.
3. Remove "Other" unused preferences.
4. Update Your Software
5. Remove unnecessary code from your applications.
6. Remove unused languages and translations.
7. Get rid of power hogging widgets.
8. Check "Activity Monitor".
9. Clean up your hard drive.
10. Run Onyx.

Don't worry, that's not all I'm leaving you with. This is a big subject though... to big for one post. I'll post a more detailed explanation for each tip in a separate post (like with the "Top 10 Favorite Mac Applications").

I keep up-dating, you keep checking back!

I'll start posting soon.

#2 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is AppZapper.

With a Mac, installing and uninstalling is as easy as moving a package to or from the "Application" folder.

Or is it?

Adding an application is very straight forward. Drag the app to the "Application" Folder. But how about removing applications?

Well, when you move the file and run the app, other program files get moved to different areas in your computer.

Then down the road you don't want that anymore. So what do you do? Drag the file to the garbage. Fine, but one small problem with this though.

The other files that were installed are left behind.

AppZapper is an application that removes the ENTIRE application, leaving no trace behind.

Now this isn't much for something you have to buy, so it does other things.

AppZapper also makes it easy to install plugins, widgets and preference pane items you may have installed. It's kind of like the ultimate Mac uninstaller.

You only buy it once (for the small price of 12.95$) and you get free updates for life, give it a try at:

AppZapper website: http://www.appzapper.com/

#3 On my list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is ClamXav.

One of the reasons you bought your Mac was most likely the thought of "No Viruses". And good for you because it's true, Mac hardly has any viruses for it.

But even though there's not many doesn't mean you can't get them.

Your computer has all your pictures, music, videos, documents, files... why take the chance losing that all?

Even if it's a low chance, it's a chance so be cautious. This is why I will recommend ClamXav.

It's a free Virus Scanner that works just as well as the few other virus scanners you can buy.

You don't need to scan everyday or every week (not that you would want to, ClamXav is quite slow) but every 1 or 2 months would be nice.

This way you can always be sure your stuff is safe and nothing has found it's way on your computer.

Definitely try it out, it's not a big thing to have and it may save you a lot of stress in the future. Here's the website.

ClamXav Website: http://www.clamxav.com/

#5 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is "Onyx".

After using your mac for a while it is going to accumulate junk type files, permissions get changed and so on.

This can cause your computer to slow down and so on.

For this reason it is good to have a application to clean out the crap and check that everything is working alright. There are a few applications that do this but my favorite is Onyx.

Why?

Well all these applications do pretty much the same thing... Onyx just does it for free.

You can get a variety of different apps but they cost money and do the EXACT same thing. Why pay?

Onyx also lets you get at some of your Mac's hidden features allowing you to customize things like your Dock, Finder, Dashboard, Login, Safari and other things.

Onyx is a great application to have to do regular cleaning and change hidden preferences.

Definitely worth looking at.

The Onyx Website: http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html

#7 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is Xslimmer.

Xslimmer is a great app that "slims" your applications. It can take your 500mb Applications and shave them down to 200mb.

How?

Applications are full of other stuff you don't really need.

Language support files are the big one. These are used if you want to use whatever app in a different language.

It's great that you can use iTunes in everything from Chinese to Spanish but nobody does. Most people use only 1, maybe 2 and barely ever 3.

Xslimmer let's you choose the languages you want to keep and deletes the rest. Doing this to all your applications will save you tons of space.

This application is great. It frees space, speeds up your computer and makes your applications load faster.

Unlike most of the other applications which are free, Xslimmer costs 12.95 but's worth every penny.

Check it out.

Xslimmer Website: http://www.xslimmer.com/