Full screen Applications – OS X Lion

One of OS X Lion’s most raved about features is the ability to switch (certain) applications into their very own ‘virtual desktop’ full screen environment. Even OS X Lion’s terminal application contains the required arrows in the top tight hand corner. Hitting the arrows will switch the application or terminal in this case, into it’s own ‘full screen’ virtual desktop.

This enables complete, uninterrupted use of the application.

 

If however, the app you want to run in full screen does not sport the double ended arrow then you can download and use Maximizer this nifty little app uses SIMBL to force unsupported app’s into touch!

Not sure what you would use full screen for? Well how about… Full screening Safari, then hitting the ‘full screen’ button in your word press post editor for a truly uninterrupted typing experience!

To switch back to your other apps, you can either use ‘cmd’ & Tab or ‘ctrl’ & arrow keys.

To exit a full screen, either hit the double headed arrow again, or press ‘ctrl’ & ‘cmd’ & f in the full screen view. This will return your full screen app to it’s normal sized window version.

Do you use Full Screen for something else? Or do you hate it with a passion? Let me know in the comments below!

 

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Disable spotlight indexing – OS X Lion and Mountain Lion

spotlight iconMac OS X Spotlight search is a powerful beast, returning all types of search results in seconds. However, if you don’t use it to launch apps, or find files then it can take up precious CPU cycles for no good reason.

As with all features such as this, if you don’t use it or use alternatives such as QuickSilver then switch it off. Doing so will prevent Spotlight index service from indexing the drives on your machine, thus meaning it will return no results when used.

To switch off the indexing open a Terminal window and type:

NB: You will be prompted to enter your admin password.

If you change your mind about Spotlight, and decide to give it another try, then it’s just as easy to switch back on as it was to switch off.

Again, in a terminal window type the following:

NB: You will be prompted to enter your admin password.

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Make an ISO using nothing but Terminal

If you want to make an ISO backup of your important disks, then Linux is a good place to do it.. As it has all you need built in!

From a Terminal window simply type:




mkisofs -o /tmp/cd.iso /tmp/directory/

Obviously replacing the path to the ISO and the path to the directory with where you want to store the ISO, and the path to the disk you want to backup.

It really is as simple as that! If only Windows had that facility built in!

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