Alfred is a fantastic productivity tool that is triggered using just the keyboard. Many of us simply use it as an application launcher, though delve further into the app and you'll find some powerful features including workflow support.
The developers have published a useful guide for anyone beginning their journey with Alfred that takes a look at how to import and create workflows within Alfred.
As you might have read from the previous guides published on The Instructional, the Mac can be booted from either its built-in OS X Recovery volume an external storage device to aid in the troubleshooting and resolution of any software issues that might have occurred. Unfortunately, these methods could be used maliciously and result in your Mac being either erased or, perhaps worse, information stored within to be taken.
As a way to prevent this sort of access from occurring, the Mac has a built-in function that, when enabled, requires a password to be entered before it can be booted from either OS X Recovery or external drive.
Read MoreStarting today, you can purchase an ebook of any previously published multi-part guides in its entirety, provided in both DRM-free ePub and PDF format, for just $1.99.
Each ebook contains every part to a guide's series, brought together in a single place for your convenience.
Think of the ebook as your own permanent copy of a guide. It's yours to keep forever, always available without an internet connection and can be read on most ebook readers, tablets and mobile devices.
While there may not be any additional content or exclusive material, each ebook has been specially formatted for optimal reading and, in the case of the ePub version, include a full Table of Contents. This can be much easier than reading within a browser or a Read Later service.
Finally, purchasing an ebook is also another way of supporting the site. At just 99¢ each, they're great to keep stored on your preferred reading device and will contribute to the continued success of The Instructional.
Reader support for The Instructional has been fantastic and I'm thrilled so many of you have been generous enough to take up a membership subscription of $2 per month to help keep the lights on.
As a bonus to members who have decided to help support the site, as well as tempt new ones, you'll be able to download every ebook published on The Instructional for free.
Each member will receive a special coupon code that can be used during checkout to discount the order down to zero, and can be used as often as needed.
This coupon code is unique to each member and no two codes are alike. In the words of Gandalf the Grey: Keep it secret, keep it safe.
Just click on the Ebooks link at the top of the page to access the ebook store. As new ebooks are added, each guide will contain a link at the end to the respective listing.
For those who would prefer to use the iBookstore, I've submitted the first two ebooks and they are currently awaiting approval. Once they have been approved, links to their listings will be provided in the ebook store.
I hope many of you will consider trying out an ebook or even becoming a member, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback about them.
If you need a way of preventing your Mac from going to sleep whilst it performs a specific task or utility, Brett Terpstra explains how to use the Mac OS X command caffeinate to do just this.
Many apps don't offer a built-in option to prevent the Mac from going to sleep so if you're often changing your Mac's Energy Saver preferences, it's a great tip to know.
An external hard drive containing a bootable copy of OS X is probably the most important tool for any Mac technician to have. Whether you're trying to troubleshoot a failed software update or need to install Mavericks onto hundreds of Macs, an external hard drive loaded with OS X can be just what you need to perform whatever software task might be needed.
Serving as an epilogue to our series Disk Management from the Command-Line, we'll explore how to build an external boot drive and automate the process if multiple drives are needed.
Read MoreThe Short Name is the name that Mac OS X assigns to your account and gives to your home folder, as seen in the Finder sidebar. Because of the how Mac OS X references your user account and information, the Short Name has never been something that could easily be renamed.
It still isn't as straightforward as you might think, but luckily Macworld's Dan Frakes takes us through the process and explores some alternatives that could prove to be just as useful.
A little known fact about using a Bluetooth keyboard with an iPad (or iPhone) is that keyboard shortcuts within iOS and apps are available. For example, you can open a new tab in Safari on iOS 7 by using ⌘T, the same shortcut used on the Mac.
Federico Viticci at MacStories has created a dedicated section of the site to documenting this increasing number of shortcuts within 3rd-party apps.
System apps like Safari and Mail aren't included on the list though he does link to previous posts covering them in great detail.
If you're an iPad user and regularly make use of a Bluetooth keyboard, keep this page within easy reach.
Disk imaging is a highly useful tool if you're wanting to create a whole copy of a volume and restore it back at a later date, either to the same disk or another one entirely. It's an integral part of Disk Utility and, as with partitioning, creating & restoring images can be executed via the command-line.
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In the first part of this series, we explored the basics of disk and partition management via the command-line. Next, we'll see how we can perform disk partitioning as well as how to split, merge and erase ones created.
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Disk Utility within Mac OS X provides a range of disk management tools, from erasing and repartitioning hard disks to restoring images and repairing volumes. It's a simple way of interacting with attached storage on your Mac.
Beyond this graphical front-end are some powerful command-line tools that we can use directly. In this series, we'll look at how to replicate the functionality of Disk Utility at the command-line.
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