Turning On Mac Touch-To-Click Support from the Command Line osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Turning On Mac Touch-To-Click Support from the Command Line

Touch-based clicking is an alternate input form that uses trackpad (or Magic Mouse) taps as a click. For most Mac users, turning on tap-to-click is best done from OS X System Preferences, but advanced users who require more control, automation, or remote enabling of the feature can also enable tap-to-click through the command line by using defaults strings. Using this advanced method also offers the benefit of allowing touch-clicking at the login screens of OS X, something that isn’t available by default if enabled through the GUI controls.

This requires a multitouch compatible Mac trackpad or mouse, whether that’s a newer model MacBook Pro or Air, or a Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse. If you’re not comfortable with the command line and Terminal, you’re better off using this approach instead.

Enabling Universal Tap-Clicking on a Mac from the Terminal

You’ll notice there are three separate and unique defaults strings listed, one of which enables the general tap click behavior, while the next enables the feature for the Magic Mouse, and the other provides support for tap-to-click at the login and boot screens of OS X. To be thorough and get full touch-click support throughout OS X, issue all three commands separately in the Terminal, then reboot the Mac. As usual, each command should be placed on a single line when executed at the terminal.

sudo defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -bool true

sudo defaults -currentHost write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1

sudo defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1

These three strings were found in a MacRumors forums thread and have been tested to work in OS X.

Disabling Tap-Clicking from the Terminal

If you want to reverse the above settings, or remotely disable the feature on a Mac, you can use the following defaults strings to turn off touchpad clicking. You’ll notice this is mostly a matter of looking at the above defaults strings and switching ‘true’ to ‘false’ and 1 to 0 where appropriate. Just as above, issue all three commands to be thorough:

sudo defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -bool false

sudo defaults -currentHost write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 0

sudo defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 0

Again, reboot the Mac for all changes to take effect when using this command line approach.

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Turning On Mac Touch-To-Click Support from the Command Line osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Turning On Mac Touch-To-Click Support from the Command Line

Touch-based clicking is an alternate input form that uses trackpad (or Magic Mouse) taps as a click. For most Mac users, turning on tap-to-click is best done from OS X System Preferences, but advanced users who require more control, automation, or remote enabling of the feature can also enable tap-to-click through the command line by using defaults strings. Using this advanced method also offers the benefit of allowing touch-clicking at the login screens of OS X, something that isn’t available by default if enabled through the GUI controls.

This requires a multitouch compatible Mac trackpad or mouse, whether that’s a newer model MacBook Pro or Air, or a Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse. If you’re not comfortable with the command line and Terminal, you’re better off using this approach instead.

Enabling Universal Tap-Clicking on a Mac from the Terminal

You’ll notice there are three separate and unique defaults strings listed, one of which enables the general tap click behavior, while the next enables the feature for the Magic Mouse, and the other provides support for tap-to-click at the login and boot screens of OS X. To be thorough and get full touch-click support throughout OS X, issue all three commands separately in the Terminal, then reboot the Mac. As usual, each command should be placed on a single line when executed at the terminal.

sudo defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -bool true

sudo defaults -currentHost write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1

sudo defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 1

These three strings were found in a MacRumors forums thread and have been tested to work in OS X.

Disabling Tap-Clicking from the Terminal

If you want to reverse the above settings, or remotely disable the feature on a Mac, you can use the following defaults strings to turn off touchpad clicking. You’ll notice this is mostly a matter of looking at the above defaults strings and switching ‘true’ to ‘false’ and 1 to 0 where appropriate. Just as above, issue all three commands to be thorough:

sudo defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Clicking -bool false

sudo defaults -currentHost write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 0

sudo defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.mouse.tapBehavior -int 0

Again, reboot the Mac for all changes to take effect when using this command line approach.

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Include Mac System Files in OS X Searches with a Simple Adjustment osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Include Mac System Files in OS X Searches with a Simple Adjustment

Need to find a system file or several, but you aren’t entirely sure the directory path of where that system item is located? Maybe you’re looking for a plist file and you aren’t sure if it’s in the user Library folder, or the System Library folder? Rather than digging about in the variety of / root directories, use this excellent Finder based Spotlight search trick to include system files within your search results.

This uses the Finder based Spotlight Search feature that is built into the top-right corner of every OS X Finder window, it is not accessible through the standard search feature found in the Spotlight menu bar.

1. Type the search query for a system file into a Finder window search as usual


2. Click the plus (+) button to add additional search parameters


3. Click the “Kind” menu and choose “Other”
   

   

   
   


4. At the attribute selection box, type “System” and choose the “System files” attribute, then click “OK”
   

   

   
   


5. Now click the next search parameter for “aren’t included” and select “are included” instead
   

   

   
   


6. Find the searched for system file(s) as intended

If you just want to test this out and can’t think of a system file off the top of your head, use “Finder.app” as the search query in spotlight as demonstrated in the screen shots above. You’ll find nothing shows up initially, but after the attribute change for ‘System Files’ has been included and set to “are included”, the Finder.app application shows up in the Finder search results. Because Spotlight looks inside files as well as the file name by default, you’ll also find any other system file that references Finder.app included in the results, like plist files and other system documents.

You can choose the “Save” button in the search query to save the system files attributes for easy access in the future.

If you’re not finding specific files that you know are supposed to be included in this list, you may be attempting a search during the time that Spotlight is reindexing, or you may have excluded the directories or files from Spotlights indexing abilities. You can also manually rebuild the index yourself if you suspect there is an issue with what files and folders are returned by Spotlight.

Thanks to Christian on our Facebook page for the reminder about this great trick!

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Include Mac System Files in OS X Searches with a Simple Adjustment osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Include Mac System Files in OS X Searches with a Simple Adjustment

Need to find a system file or several, but you aren’t entirely sure the directory path of where that system item is located? Maybe you’re looking for a plist file and you aren’t sure if it’s in the user Library folder, or the System Library folder? Rather than digging about in the variety of / root directories, use this excellent Finder based Spotlight search trick to include system files within your search results.

This uses the Finder based Spotlight Search feature that is built into the top-right corner of every OS X Finder window, it is not accessible through the standard search feature found in the Spotlight menu bar.

1. Type the search query for a system file into a Finder window search as usual


2. Click the plus (+) button to add additional search parameters


3. Click the “Kind” menu and choose “Other”
   

   

   
   


4. At the attribute selection box, type “System” and choose the “System files” attribute, then click “OK”
   

   

   
   


5. Now click the next search parameter for “aren’t included” and select “are included” instead
   

   

   
   


6. Find the searched for system file(s) as intended

If you just want to test this out and can’t think of a system file off the top of your head, use “Finder.app” as the search query in spotlight as demonstrated in the screen shots above. You’ll find nothing shows up initially, but after the attribute change for ‘System Files’ has been included and set to “are included”, the Finder.app application shows up in the Finder search results. Because Spotlight looks inside files as well as the file name by default, you’ll also find any other system file that references Finder.app included in the results, like plist files and other system documents.

You can choose the “Save” button in the search query to save the system files attributes for easy access in the future.

If you’re not finding specific files that you know are supposed to be included in this list, you may be attempting a search during the time that Spotlight is reindexing, or you may have excluded the directories or files from Spotlights indexing abilities. You can also manually rebuild the index yourself if you suspect there is an issue with what files and folders are returned by Spotlight.

Thanks to Christian on our Facebook page for the reminder about this great trick!

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How to Prevent Control Center Access from the Lock Screen of iOS osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® How to Prevent Control Center Access from the Lock Screen of iOS

The Control Center feature of iOS offers quick access to some of the more frequently used settings toggles on the iPad and iPhone, like wi-fi and orientation lock. This is undeniably convenient, but not every user wants these toggles to be readily available to anyone who picks up their device, and in some higher security situations these functions may be considered inappropriate to have easy access to. If security is more important than convenience, consider disabling access to Control Center from the lock screen.

This will prevent all lock screen based access to the toggles and functions of Control Center, so if you frequently use things like the flashlight from the lock screen, you probably won’t want to do this. Disabling lock screen access does not turn off Control Center completely, it’s just that you will have to unlock the device, enter the passcode, and then access Control Center from the home screen or an application.

1. Open the Settings app and then go to “Control Center”


2. Toggle the switch for “Access on Lock Screen” to the OFF position


3. Exit out of Settings

With this setting turned off, nothing happens when someone swipes up to bring up Control Center. You can test it out immediately by tapping the lock / power button at the top of the iPhone or iPad and swipe up.

This is limited to Control Center and all settings and toggles within, including AirPlane mode, wi-fi, Bluetooth, Do Not disturb, orientation lock, brightness adjustments, music playing, AirDrop, the flashlight, stop watch, calculator, and the camera. For the camera, it won’t have any impact on the lock screen camera swipe-up gesture, though that can be disabled separately if desired.

For users who would rather only have access to Control Center from the home screen of iOS, there is also the option to prevent it from showing up in apps. That setting is actually fairly helpful for gamers or apps that have a lot of swiping gestures, where Control Center can accidentally appear.

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How to Prevent Control Center Access from the Lock Screen of iOS osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® How to Prevent Control Center Access from the Lock Screen of iOS

The Control Center feature of iOS offers quick access to some of the more frequently used settings toggles on the iPad and iPhone, like wi-fi and orientation lock. This is undeniably convenient, but not every user wants these toggles to be readily available to anyone who picks up their device, and in some higher security situations these functions may be considered inappropriate to have easy access to. If security is more important than convenience, consider disabling access to Control Center from the lock screen.

This will prevent all lock screen based access to the toggles and functions of Control Center, so if you frequently use things like the flashlight from the lock screen, you probably won’t want to do this. Disabling lock screen access does not turn off Control Center completely, it’s just that you will have to unlock the device, enter the passcode, and then access Control Center from the home screen or an application.

1. Open the Settings app and then go to “Control Center”


2. Toggle the switch for “Access on Lock Screen” to the OFF position


3. Exit out of Settings

With this setting turned off, nothing happens when someone swipes up to bring up Control Center. You can test it out immediately by tapping the lock / power button at the top of the iPhone or iPad and swipe up.

This is limited to Control Center and all settings and toggles within, including AirPlane mode, wi-fi, Bluetooth, Do Not disturb, orientation lock, brightness adjustments, music playing, AirDrop, the flashlight, stop watch, calculator, and the camera. For the camera, it won’t have any impact on the lock screen camera swipe-up gesture, though that can be disabled separately if desired.

For users who would rather only have access to Control Center from the home screen of iOS, there is also the option to prevent it from showing up in apps. That setting is actually fairly helpful for gamers or apps that have a lot of swiping gestures, where Control Center can accidentally appear.

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How to Enable Tap To Click in OS X for All Mac Trackpads osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® How to Enable Tap To Click in OS X for All Mac Trackpads

The tap-to-click ability is enabled by default on most PC laptops, while on the Mac side of things it’s usually disabled by default. For the unfamiliar, tap-to-click means that a single tap or touch on the MacBook trackpad or Magic Trackpad is registered as a click, thereby preventing the need to actually press down the trackpad to click on a screen item.

Many users really like the touch-tap feature for it’s ease and low intensity, but it’s certainly not everyones cup of tea and others users find it annoying. Because it’s turned off by default in OS X, you’ll need to adjust the setting manually, which we’ll show you how to do easily through System Preferences, or using a more advanced and thorough method through the terminal.

Turn On Tap To Click with OS X Trackpad Preferences

The best way for most users to enable touch tapping on their Mac is through System Preferences:

1. Go to the  Apple menu and open “System Preferences”


2. Choose “Trackpad” and go to the “Point & Click” tab


3. Check the box next to ‘Tap to click’

The setting takes effect immediately system wide, there is no need to relaunch any apps or restart the Mac. You can immediately test the setting out by moving the cursor over anything, then simply touch tapping on the trackpad (rather than pressing) to click.

By default this will also enable the touch-to-click setting for the system-wide secondary click, which is done with two fingers rather than one, or by setting a literal right-click on the lower right portion of the trackpad to to be a tap target instead.

(Above animated gif was recorded from the animation played in the OS X System Preferences Trackpad settings of Mavericks)

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How to Enable Tap To Click in OS X for All Mac Trackpads osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® How to Enable Tap To Click in OS X for All Mac Trackpads

The tap-to-click ability is enabled by default on most PC laptops, while on the Mac side of things it’s usually disabled by default. For the unfamiliar, tap-to-click means that a single tap or touch on the MacBook trackpad or Magic Trackpad is registered as a click, thereby preventing the need to actually press down the trackpad to click on a screen item.

Many users really like the touch-tap feature for it’s ease and low intensity, but it’s certainly not everyones cup of tea and others users find it annoying. Because it’s turned off by default in OS X, you’ll need to adjust the setting manually, which we’ll show you how to do easily through System Preferences, or using a more advanced and thorough method through the terminal.

Turn On Tap To Click with OS X Trackpad Preferences

The best way for most users to enable touch tapping on their Mac is through System Preferences:

1. Go to the  Apple menu and open “System Preferences”


2. Choose “Trackpad” and go to the “Point & Click” tab


3. Check the box next to ‘Tap to click’

The setting takes effect immediately system wide, there is no need to relaunch any apps or restart the Mac. You can immediately test the setting out by moving the cursor over anything, then simply touch tapping on the trackpad (rather than pressing) to click.

By default this will also enable the touch-to-click setting for the system-wide secondary click, which is done with two fingers rather than one, or by setting a literal right-click on the lower right portion of the trackpad to to be a tap target instead.

(Above animated gif was recorded from the animation played in the OS X System Preferences Trackpad settings of Mavericks)

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Give Your Mac a Black Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks with ObsidianMenuBar osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Give Your Mac a Black Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks with ObsidianMenuBar

The menu bar of OS X has two default color choices, simple grey, or translucent, which varies a bit based upon the wallpaper used. Neither of these looks are really anything to write home about. That’s why the third party mod ObsidianMenuBar is a nice alternative, it gives your Mac a black menu bar. It’s not perfect, but it still looks absolutely fantastic, and really, this is the menu bar that OS X should have.

ObsidianMenuBar is free, easy to install, and just as easy to reverse if you decide you don’t like it.

Get the Obsidian Black Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks

1. Head to System Preferences from the  Apple menu, then go to “Desktop & Screen Saver” and disable the ‘Translucent menu bar’ option in the Desktop tab


2. Download the ObsidianMenuBar package from the developer and unzip the file


3. Right-click the “Install Obsidian Menu Bar.app” application and choose “Open” to bypass the “unidentified developer” warning


4. Enter the admin password to install the Obsidian mod


5. Optional but recommended: install the “WhiteUIServer.menu” mod as well


6. Log out of the current user account, then log back in for changes to carry over to the menu bar

You’ll immediately see the difference, the Mac menu bar is suddenly much more attractive. It looks mostly fine throughout OS X, in the Finder, and in third party apps.

No, it’s not perfect, and there are some quirks with how certain menu bar elements look, but if you don’t mind the clock (the emoji clock stays looking good) and battery percentage being mostly invisible you probably won’t be overly bothered by those menu items with low contrast. Installing the optional WhiteUIServer addition helps, but some third party menu bar items are a lost cause for now.

Black menu bars are nothing new, so why bother with Obsidian? Well other than the obvious attractiveness, it’s also the only way to get a black menu bar in the newest versions of OS X. The old tricks of going black with the Nocturne app or MenuBarFilter haven’t been updated in a while and they don’t work with OS X Mavericks at all, yes you can modify them, but they wind up being buggy and probably not worth it. MenuBarFilter is generally my preferred choice for it’s simplicity, but until it gets updated for Mavericks, it’s looking like Obsidian is the way to go.

Removing ObsidianMenubar to Revert to the Default

The developer made removal of Obsidian much easier than it was before, with a simple script to automate the process for you. The removal tool is bundled with the original package, thus if you delete what you downloaded originally you’ll want to grab it again to get the easy remover app:

1. Right-click “Restore Default Menu Bar.app” and choose ‘Open’ to bypass Gatekeeper


2. Enter the admin password to remove the menu bar mod, then log out and back in for the default menu bar to return

Finally, if you used the translucent menu bar before, head back to System Preferences and re-enable it.

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Give Your Mac a Black Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks with ObsidianMenuBar osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® Give Your Mac a Black Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks with ObsidianMenuBar

The menu bar of OS X has two default color choices, simple grey, or translucent, which varies a bit based upon the wallpaper used. Neither of these looks are really anything to write home about. That’s why the third party mod ObsidianMenuBar is a nice alternative, it gives your Mac a black menu bar. It’s not perfect, but it still looks absolutely fantastic, and really, this is the menu bar that OS X should have.

ObsidianMenuBar is free, easy to install, and just as easy to reverse if you decide you don’t like it.

Get the Obsidian Black Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks

1. Head to System Preferences from the  Apple menu, then go to “Desktop & Screen Saver” and disable the ‘Translucent menu bar’ option in the Desktop tab


2. Download the ObsidianMenuBar package from the developer and unzip the file


3. Right-click the “Install Obsidian Menu Bar.app” application and choose “Open” to bypass the “unidentified developer” warning


4. Enter the admin password to install the Obsidian mod


5. Optional but recommended: install the “WhiteUIServer.menu” mod as well


6. Log out of the current user account, then log back in for changes to carry over to the menu bar

You’ll immediately see the difference, the Mac menu bar is suddenly much more attractive. It looks mostly fine throughout OS X, in the Finder, and in third party apps.

No, it’s not perfect, and there are some quirks with how certain menu bar elements look, but if you don’t mind the clock (the emoji clock stays looking good) and battery percentage being mostly invisible you probably won’t be overly bothered by those menu items with low contrast. Installing the optional WhiteUIServer addition helps, but some third party menu bar items are a lost cause for now.

Black menu bars are nothing new, so why bother with Obsidian? Well other than the obvious attractiveness, it’s also the only way to get a black menu bar in the newest versions of OS X. The old tricks of going black with the Nocturne app or MenuBarFilter haven’t been updated in a while and they don’t work with OS X Mavericks at all, yes you can modify them, but they wind up being buggy and probably not worth it. MenuBarFilter is generally my preferred choice for it’s simplicity, but until it gets updated for Mavericks, it’s looking like Obsidian is the way to go.

Removing ObsidianMenubar to Revert to the Default

The developer made removal of Obsidian much easier than it was before, with a simple script to automate the process for you. The removal tool is bundled with the original package, thus if you delete what you downloaded originally you’ll want to grab it again to get the easy remover app:

1. Right-click “Restore Default Menu Bar.app” and choose ‘Open’ to bypass Gatekeeper


2. Enter the admin password to remove the menu bar mod, then log out and back in for the default menu bar to return

Finally, if you used the translucent menu bar before, head back to System Preferences and re-enable it.

Email this Give Your Mac a Black Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks with ObsidianMenuBar to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!

16 Excellent Apple Logo Wallpapers osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® 16 Excellent Apple Logo Wallpapers

Looking for some new wallpaper to decorate your Mac desktop, or the home screen of an iPad or iPhone with? How about some that are themed with the Apple logo, or maybe even the 30th Mac Anniversary logo from this past week? That’s what this wallpaper roundup is focused on.

Half of these fan-made desktop backgrounds are featuring the standard Apple logo, while the other half are using the fancy multi-colored 30th anniversary Macintosh rendition of the Apple logo that was used on the anniversary Mac website (where the Mac anniversary icon font came from) or a slight variation thereof which removed the 3 but left the  Apple. They’re all pretty snazzy, ranging from subtle gradients and colors, to some that are louder and brighter colors that will fit right into iOS, and even a few based on the familiar iOS nebula image and the big Mavericks wave from OS X. Check them all out below.

Each wallpaper image is available in whopper high resolutions ranging from 2880×1600 up to 2880×2200, making them suitable for just about every resolution Mac or iPad out there. Thanks to Ryan J. and Martin P. for sending these in, and enjoy!

By the way, if you’re looking to use these on an iPhone or iPad, be sure to stop the stretching thing from happening by turning off parallax or resizing it locally with a screen capture in the Photo viewer as described here.

Not into these? Check out some of our past wallpaper roundups instead.

Got any fancy wallpapers you want to share with us? Send them in!

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16 Excellent Apple Logo Wallpapers osxdailynews.blogspot.com

osxdailynews.blogspot.com ® 16 Excellent Apple Logo Wallpapers

Looking for some new wallpaper to decorate your Mac desktop, or the home screen of an iPad or iPhone with? How about some that are themed with the Apple logo, or maybe even the 30th Mac Anniversary logo from this past week? That’s what this wallpaper roundup is focused on.

Half of these fan-made desktop backgrounds are featuring the standard Apple logo, while the other half are using the fancy multi-colored 30th anniversary Macintosh rendition of the Apple logo that was used on the anniversary Mac website (where the Mac anniversary icon font came from) or a slight variation thereof which removed the 3 but left the  Apple. They’re all pretty snazzy, ranging from subtle gradients and colors, to some that are louder and brighter colors that will fit right into iOS, and even a few based on the familiar iOS nebula image and the big Mavericks wave from OS X. Check them all out below.

Each wallpaper image is available in whopper high resolutions ranging from 2880×1600 up to 2880×2200, making them suitable for just about every resolution Mac or iPad out there. Thanks to Ryan J. and Martin P. for sending these in, and enjoy!

By the way, if you’re looking to use these on an iPhone or iPad, be sure to stop the stretching thing from happening by turning off parallax or resizing it locally with a screen capture in the Photo viewer as described here.

Not into these? Check out some of our past wallpaper roundups instead.

Got any fancy wallpapers you want to share with us? Send them in!

Email this 16 Excellent Apple Logo Wallpapers to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!