The tenth major release of OS X - Mavericks - proves beyond doubt that Apple refuses to rest on its laurels, even if it is all out of cats.
This iteration looks to improve your Mac's battery life, introduces Finder enhancements, and continues the trend of iCloud and iOS integration.
If you haven't already, check what's new over in our OS X Mavericks feature, or simply keep reading. These tips are guaranteed to help you get the most out of your Mavericks Mac.
1. Turn off App Nap
In
a bid to conserve battery life, Mavericks now has the ability to 'power
down' individual apps when it thinks you're not using them. The jury's
still out on how invisibly App Nap
will work with third-party apps; fortunately you can turn it off for
specific ones by right-clicking the app's icon, selecting Get Info and
checking the Prevent App Nap option. (If you don't see said option, the
app doesn't support it.)
2. Disable Auto Updates
Like
iOS, Mavericks can not only check for updates automatically, but also
download and install them in the background. No more faffing around in
the App Store, then. But what if you want manual control of updates so
you can review changes to your favourite app, swat away newly introduced
bugs or bat off so-called 'improvements'? Simply head to System
Preferences > App Store and uncheck 'Automatically check for
updates'.
3. Keep Notifications off the lock screen
OS
X Notifications are also more aligned with iOS, in that they appear on
your Mac's lock screen. Cool, but not exactly security-conscious.
Thankfully a trip to System Preferences > Notifications puts you in
command of which notifications get displayed when your account is
locked. Select an app from the list and check/uncheck 'Show
notifications when display is off or locked'. Here's hoping a global
switch shows up in a forthcoming update.
4. iCloud Keychain password suggestions
The iOS 7
feature that was pulled at the last moment is alive and well in
Mavericks. iCloud Keychain encrypts and saves your website usernames and
passwords for use on all your devices, and can also fill them in for
you. It even boasts an on-the-fly Password Generator. Turn it on by
going to System Preferences > iCloud and check the Keychain box in
the list on the right. You'll be prompted to enter your Apple ID
password. Now, whenever a website asks you to input a new password,
Safari will cough one up for you.
5. Reply to Messages inside Notifications
You
can now reply to Messages instantly from within Notification Centre -
but first you need to link the former to the latter. Go to System
Preferences > Notifications, select Messages from the list on the
left and check 'Show in Notifications'. Now choose to have them show as
either Banners or Alerts. Alerts show Reply and Close buttons by
default; to reply to a Banner Message, hover your pointer over it and a
Reply button will appear for you to start typing your witty response.
6. Kill Dashboard
It's
been with us for eight whole years and six iterations of OS X, and
still Dashboard hangs on. This is what to do if you have no use for it.
Open up Terminal and type: 'defaults write com.apple.dashboard
mcx-disabled -boolean true' followed by Enter. Relaunch the Dock by
typing 'killall Dock', and the deed is done.
7. Do Not Disturb
Click
on the Notification Center menu item at the top right of your screen.
Now scroll up the side-loading bar and you'll see a Do Not Disturb
toggle. Turn it on and you'll not be bothered by notifications until
tomorrow. You can also schedule Do Not Disturb to activate daily between
specific times, whenever the display is sleeping, or when mirroring to
TVs and projectors, all from the Notifications pane in System
Preferences.
8. Multiple Display support
Anyone who used Mountain Lion
with an external display will recall the useless linen veil that got
strewn across it whenever an app went fullscreen on their main screen.
Well, relegate those frustrations to the dustbin, because Mavericks
offers vanilla multiple display support. Misson Control's where it's at:
swipe between full-screen apps on your Mac's desktop and your external
display remains wonderfully inert. That's because each screen is granted
its own set of spaces and its own fullscreen mode, gaining true
independence in the process.
9. Go fullscreen in Finder
Now
that Finder has gained browser-like tabs (yes, finally) it's time to
strap in and engage in some heavyweight file management. And for that,
make the most of the new fullscreen Finder mode. Click on the arrows
button in the upper right corner of any Finder window, and let the
management mayhem begin.
10. Calculate travel times between events
Thanks
to Maps' deep integration with Mavericks, Calendar can now calculate
travel times between events, so long as you input their location.
Double-click an event, click its time and you'll see a 'travel time'
field, which you can define manually or choose from the driving and
walking times calculated from the preceding event's location.