In previous versions of OS X, it was possible to have several virtual desktops (spaces) for grouping open applications by activity, and quickly switching between them.
With Lion, Apple introduced one user interface feature Mission Control to replace both Spaces and Exposé. In this new version, full screen apps become separate desktops of their own. But it’s not entirely obvious how to add your own desktops, like you used to be able to do with Spaces.
One of Mac OS X Lion’s new features is the ability to restore your applications to the state they were in before you closed them. The idea being that if you were to restart your computer, it will resume into the same state as before. Or re-opening a closed application will resume to the previously opened files. Microsoft Word would open with the documents you were editing last, the Preview app will open with the pictures your were viewing previously, etc… You can probably see how this feature may become more interfering than helpful.
Enabling the TRIM command will allow Mac OS X to perform garbage collection on the Solid State Disk (SSD) to optimize write speeds. SSDs are very fast out of the box, but without TRIM, write speeds can gradually decrease over time as the disk becomes slower at overwriting previously used blocks. If your mac came with an SSD from the factory (like those awesome new MacBook Airs), then TRIM is already enabled and you’re good to go. But if you upgraded to an SSD on your own, and you’re experiencing slowdowns you may want to read on.
As someone who reads a lot of content on the web, I commonly come across long articles with small text. You may know that web browsers can change the zoom levels from 100% to larger or smaller, but it’s a hassle to go into menus to change settings. This quick keyboard shortcut makes zooming in and out a snap. Once you learn this shortcut, you will be wondering how you managed this long without it.
A common problem on a mac is not being able to empty the trash because the files are locked. You get a nasty error message “The operation cannot be completed because the file is locked.“ The first thing you should do is check to see the file is open in any of your running applications, close it, and try again. If this doesn’t help than it may be locked due to some file permissions issues. Here is what to do: More
Glossy screens can be great, in ideal lighting conditions they provide crisp details and deep contrast. However, in the real world lighting conditions are not ideal, and glossy screens will reflect a lot of light. Apart from just being annoying, reflections will increase eye strain. For the past month I’ve had a Power Support Antiglare film (model TV184LLA) on my 15″ glossy MacBook Pro and it’s been a great relief.
It can be a pain to go into System Preferences every time you want to hide the dock. Instead, try this:
You should see the dock slide away. This is especially useful when you want to temporarily hide the dock for extra screen real estate.