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This week, we take a look at Archive Utility, one of the many built-in apps that Apple has hidden away as a core service of OS X. It is Archive Utility that lets us automatically unzip files downloaded with the Safari browser, and decompress attachments in Mail. Even better, you can use the compression features of Archive Utility to manually zip and unzip files and folders as needed; you don't need to find a third-party app to do the job.
In personal news this week, I'm about to move my home office from the north side of the house, which is the best location during the summer, to the south side of the house, where the view to the backyard is grand, and the proximity to the pellet stove is even grander.
I mention this because I always find interesting tidbits when I move the office; long-forgotten papers, software, manuals, miniature action figures, etc. If I dig up anything interesting, I"ll let you know next week. By the way, what's the most interesting thing you found when you cleaned up or moved your office?
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How to Zip and Unzip Files and Folders on a Mac
Tucked away in Apple's OS X software is a built-in compression app that the Finder uses for zipping and unzipping files and folders. When you download files from the web, this built-in app does the heavy lifting and decompresses the files for you.
You can also use the Mac's built-in compression capabilities for your own purposes. If you would like to compress a bunch of photos to send off to family, this is the tool to use. Need to zip or unzip a folder of work documents? The built-in compression tool is at your beck and call... Read more
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How to Fix a Spinning Pinwheel of Death
I was recently asked about the spinning pinwheel of death. That's my pet name for it; the individual who posed the question referred to it in less family-friendly terms.
In this case, whenever the individual tried to access a web site or send email, the spinning pinwheel of death would show up and annoy the heck out of them.
There are many reasons for the beach ball or spinning pinwheel of death to make its appearance. The first thing I usually do is clear the dynamic link editor's cache. This cache of shared programming library entry points is used to speed up the loading and operation of applications. If the cache becomes corrupt, it slows things way down and eventually results in the spinning pinwheel of death.
Clearing the cache is a simple process... Read more
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Test Your DNS Provider to Gain Faster Web Access
If you're like most people, you don't give much thought to DNS (Domain Name Server) once you've entered the DNS IP addresses your ISP (Internet Service Provider) provided into your Mac's network settings. You're ready to browse the web, so what more is there to do with DNS?
Turns out that for many Internet users, the DNS settings an ISP assigns may not provide the best speed when you move from web site to web site.
Luckily, you're not stuck with the Domain Name Servers your ISP suggests; you can use others that may provide better performance... Read more
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Favorite Sites for Thanksgiving Coloring Pages
Printable coloring and activity pages are one way to keep everyone happy (or at least occupied) while Thanksgiving dinner is cooking. This list contains web sites that offer a variety of autumn- or Thanksgiving-themed coloring and activity pages that should be a hit at keeping tiny hands busy. In many cases, kids can color the pages or complete the activities on the Mac, instead of on paper, if you prefer... Read more
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