- How to Work with Open Directory in Leopard Part 1: Life Without NetInfo
- Dec 21, 2007
- In Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, one of the biggest and least-visible changes is the complete retirement of NetInfo and some of the related processes to streamline and improve user and group management. Ryan Faas explains what these changes mean and whether they will affect how you and your Mac interact with each other.
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- How to Use Leopard’s Time Machine
- Nov 21, 2007
- If you’re the type of person who knows you need to back up your system, but just can’t ever get around to actually doing it, you’re going to love Leopard’s new Time Machine. Ryan Faas explains why.
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- Robin Williams’s Guide to the Most Overlooked New Leopard Features
- Oct 27, 2007
- Best-selling Mac author Robin Williams digs beneath the surface to reveal the top 10 most overlooked features in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
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- Top Ten Leopard Features That Will Change How You Use Your Mac
- Oct 27, 2007
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- How to Get the Most Out of Leopard’s Spaces
- Oct 27, 2007
- Ryan Faas takes you through Leopard’s Spaces with a quick look at how to set up Spaces and use it to speed your workflow while keeping your desktop neat and tidy.
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- Nine Steps to a Happier, Healthier Mac
- Sep 14, 2007
- Like any machine, a Mac works best when given regular maintenance. If you follow Neale Monks’ nine tips for caring for your Mac, you’ll have a happy machine and an even happier owner.
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- Windows Users' Guide to Buying a Mac
- Sep 7, 2007
- Choosing when to buy your Mac and which one to get can be a daunting prospect. Neale Monks cuts through the hype and tells you how to make sensible and timely decisions.
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- Put Your Mac to Work: Top Automation Tips
- Jun 29, 2007
- Computers are good at doing the repetitive tasks that humans find annoying. Neale Monks looks at some of the best ways to automate your Mac.
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- The Art of TextEdit
- May 4, 2007
- Need a fast and easy-to-use word processor/page layout program with lists, styles, tables, advanced typography, and support for multiple languages? Ladies and gentlemen, Neale Monks wants to introduce you to TextEdit, which is a viable, attractive alternative to heavyweight word processors.
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- Alternate Authentication Methods Under Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server
- Apr 27, 2007
- Using smart cards or similar products can greatly enhance the security of a network and of individual workstations (including portable computers and those used for remote access). Ryan Faas shows you how to implement these alternatives to static usernames and passwords on the Macs in your network.
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- Mac OS X Business Tools: There Are More Than You Think
- Apr 20, 2007
- Macs have never been considered business machines and yet record numbers of small and mid-size businesses are running on Mac OS X today. Ryan Faas illustrates why the idea that Macs aren't up to the needs of business computing is indeed a myth by pointing out top business tools that exist for Mac users.
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- To Server or Not to Server: Does Your Small Business Need to Invest in Mac OS X Tiger Server?
- Apr 13, 2007
- So you started your small business with a single Mac and now you're adding more Macs and more employees. Does that mean you need Mac OS X Server? Ryan Faas helps you decide whether a full-blown Mac server gets you the best bang for your buck or whether other small business solutions will ultimately be more cost-effective.
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- Mac OS X Security Part 2: The Mac Forensic Toolkit
- Mar 23, 2007
- Part 1 of Ryan Faas' security series discussed the processes behind investigating inappropriate or criminal activities using data forensics, including the importance of not contaminating evidence by acquiring and working with forensic-quality disk images of affected hard drives. This article moves from the basic methods for performing a forensic investigation under Mac OS X to profiling the various tools that are available to perform such investigative work.
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- Get Acquainted with Font Book
- Mar 16, 2007
- Font Book is Tiger's font-management utility. Its obvious purpose is to install and remove fonts without your having to run around to all the Fonts folders, but it can do so much more. To do anything beyond blindly installing a font, however, you need to know at least the basics of Font Book, which are all covered in this sample chapter.
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- Mac OS X Security Part 1: Investigating Security Breaches and Illegal Use
- Mar 16, 2007
- Knowing how to investigate a security breach, potential crime, or policy violation on a Mac computer or server is crucial for understanding the incident and building a chain of evidence that clearly identifies the culprit. In this article, Ryan Faas describes data forensic methods as they apply to Mac OS X and shows you how to ensure that evidence on a compromised Mac is not contaminated during an investigation.
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- Remote Mac Management on a Budget: Low-Cost Alternatives to Apple Remote Desktop
- Mar 9, 2007
- Observing and controlling computers remotely is a great tool for systems administrators, help desk staff, teachers, and even home users. Apple Remote Desktop gives you that power and more, but if you only want the most basic remote observation and control features, there are low-cost and free options for Mac OS X. Ryan Faas gives you the best alternatives.
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- Master Mac OS X Users and Groups by Making Your Mac Think It's a Server
- Mar 2, 2007
- One of the challenges of creating a small Mac network (or even sharing files among multiple users on a single Mac) is that Mac OS X doesn't allow you to create groups of users or share folders (among local users or over a network) other than preset Shared and Public folders. But, as Ryan Faas illustrates, when you have the right tools, you can get Mac OS X to support groups, permissions, additional shared folders, and even managed user preferences.
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- The Top Five Mac Hard Drive, Diagnostic, and Repair Utilities
- Feb 23, 2007
- Macs are notoriously reliable computers, but even the best computers sometimes have problems: be it a hard drive crash, Mac OS X problem, or a more extensive hardware failure. Having the right diagnostic, repair, and data recovery tools can make all the difference for recovering your data and for diagnosing or resolving issues. In this article, Ryan Faas identifies and compares the five best tools for working with the hard drive, keeping your Mac running, and diagnosing problems.
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- The Top Five Shareware Alternatives to iWeb
- Feb 16, 2007
- iWeb is often the first thought for many Mac users wanting to easily create websites, blogs, and podcasts without needing to deal with creating code or dealing with server issues. And although iWeb is a great tool, it isn't always the best or the easiest to use. Ryan Faas describes five shareware tools that all offer one or more of the features of iWeb (including publishing to Apple's .Mac service), but they also each offer one or more distinct advantages over iWeb, making them the top five shareware alternatives for Mac users.
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- Top Five Shareware Tools for Getting More Out of .Mac
- Jan 19, 2007
- Many commercial and shareware Mac applications offer some type of integration with Apple's .Mac service, typically for publishing content to the Web. However, a handful of tools actually offer features that go beyond web publishing and make for a better .Mac experience. Here are Ryan Faas's picks for top shareware tools that make .Mac easier and more useful.
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