MacTech - By Thomas Kloos

If you are switching from the windows world, you may have noticed that extracting common zip files requires a little more effort in OS X.

OS X comes with a app called BOMArchiveHelper.app, but the unarchiver is an even better choice since it supports several common archive formats. But I found the interface to the Unarchiver a bit clunky and my double clicks usually resulted in archives being extracted where I didn’t intend for them to go.

So in my ongoing quest to find programs for the mac that operate in a way I am more used to, I found a great solution for the unarchiving task. Enter Zipeg…

Zipeg is available for both Mac and Windows, the mac version is a universal binary so it works on both intel and power pc macs. The interface is a lot more like the winzip interface I am used to , and no more misplaced archive extractions.

Give Zipeg a try, Oh did I mention it’s FREE?

http://www.zipeg.com

written by admin \\ tags: unarchiver, winzip, zip

In the PC world, PortableApps, is probably the best suite of applications you can get to put on a USB stick. Well after a little digging I came across quite a few Mac OS X portable apps.

• Portable Firefox OS X
• Portable Thunderbird OS X
• Portable Adium
• Portable Abi Word OS X
• Portable Nvu OS X
• Portable Sunbird OS X
• Portable Cyberduck

The list goes on, you get the idea… The website, FreeSMUG, doesn’t say what the minimum size USB stick needed for All the applications, but You get links to each program, and you can download and install only the ones you want to use. It’s really a nice collection.

Check it out at FreeSMUG

written by admin \\ tags: OS X portable apps

If you are like me, and use a normal keyboard with your shiny new mac, this tip is for you.

You can remap keys, for instance, F3, F4, F5, etc and do some of the things that the mac keyboard does for you.

First Download an app called Proxi by Griffin Technology.

Once you install proxi, Click the gear icon on the bottom left.

Then Click Insert Trigger, and select Hotkey monitor from the list.

Now click the set button in the right pane, and select your key or key combination.

Now click the gear icon to the bottom right, and select insert task, then select Keypress.

Now select your task from the drop down, and you are all set.

I mapped F1 to the eject task, F3 to mute, F4 to volume down, and F5 to volume up. It works really well for those of us who like a windows keyboard, or maybe have a mac mini where you supply your own keyboard.

Enjoy your new keys!

written by admin \\ tags: hot keys, map keys, monitor keystrokes, proxi