Category Archives: Apple & Mac

Taking Desktop Screenshots Under Mac OS X and Windows OS (Windows XP) for Boot Camp Users

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Mac OS X Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz 24 inch icon

As you probably know, taking desktop screenshots is pretty simple under Mac OS X. Actually, you won’t know how simple this OS is designed as far as taking desktop screenshots is concerned unless you use other operating systems. Anyway, if you want to take a full-screen desktop screenshot, you just need to press Command + Shift + #3. And you can take as many desktop screenshot as you need consecutively or not consecutively by using this shortcut combination. Press Command + Shift + #4 to take a desktop screenshot after making a selection. If you want, you can open System Preferences and click on Keyboard & Mouse Preference Pane to customize these shortcut key combinations. (See Screenshot 01.)

Mac OS X Windows XP taking desktop screenshots
Screenshot 01: Source – MacHouse		 Mac OS X Windows XP taking desktop screenshots
Screenshot 02: Source – MacHouse		 Mac OS X Windows XP taking desktop screenshots
Screenshot 03: Source – MacHouse

By the way, default system settings are such that screenshots will all appear on the desktop. And the default screenshot format is set to PDF. You can change these default settings, using system utility freeware/shareware like OnyX, which gives you access to hidden Unix commands. For example, after launching OnyX, click on the Parameters button at the top and then the General tab. (See Screenshot 02.) Now, if you want to change screenshot formats, click on the pull-down menu under Screen capture format. Supported formats include BMP, JPEG, PICT, PNG, TIFF and more. (See Screenshot 03.) You can also change the default location for saving screenshots by clicking on the button that says Select under Path.

How does taking desktop screenshots work under Windows OS? What is the short cut key combination for taking desktop screenshots? So let’s see what Boot Camp users have to know about taking screenshots under Windows (Windows XP).  Continue reading →

Mac Software Review: Screenflick 1.6.2

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Mac shareware Araelium Group Screenflick
Mac software review

We have reviewed several screen-capture software titles for Macs in the past. We have recently got to know a relatively new one from Araelium Group. Visiting their website and reading its description, we were very much interested in Screenflick. They say

Screenflick can now record “captured” displays. Keynote, slideshows, and video games for example will “capture” the screen, which previously would prevent Screenflick from recording. (See Screenshot 01.)

Mac shareware Araelium Group Screenflick
Screenshot 01		 Mac shareware Araelium Group Screenflick
Screenshot 02		 Mac shareware Araelium Group Screenflick
Screenshot 03

So Screenflick can capture game play screens, huh!? That’s cool. Let’s try out Screenflick, then.  Continue reading →

Product Review: A-DATA USB Flash Drive PD9 16 GB (for Mac & Windows): Using USB Memory on Mac OS X Leopard and Windows XP

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A-Data USB Flash Drive PD9
Mac product review

More than 15 years ago, Apple introduced System 7. It was an unprecedented operating system, compared with its predecessor System 6.0.8, that came with many new software features. One of them is RAM Disk. RAM Disk allows the user to create a volatile, virtual disk where you can store data. Mac OS X doesn’t support RAM Disk. But there are several freeware/shareware solutions for creating RAM Disk under OS X. One advantage of using a virtual disk is its fast Read/Write speeds. One major disadvantage is… Of course, it’s volatile. If a Mac suffers a sudden system error, you can lose entire data stored in a virtual disk.

If you don’t want to allocate a small share of fast, random access memory, there’s a different way of creating a virtual disk at low cost. How about using a USB memory stick? Prices for USB memory sticks are quite affordable these days. You can find a 16-GB USB memory stick for $50 to 60. And we purchased A-DATA USB Flash Drive PD9. In fact, it’s our first experience in using a USB memory stick. And our initial, innocent questions were

  1. Are Read/Write speeds different, depending on whether you use it with USB 1.1 or 2.0?
  2. Does the disk format matter when it comes to the Write speed?

One major reason why we wanted to test a USB memory stick is to find a good data storage medium for swapping data between Mac OS and Windows through Boot Camp. And the USB memory stick can be a good candidate because its memory is not volatile. And many USB memory sticks are compatible with both Mac OS and Windows without an additional hardware driver.  Continue reading →

Apple Releasing Security Update 2008-005

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Mac






TOKYO (MacHouse) – Exactly one month ago from today, Apple, Inc. released Security Update 2008-004. Today, the company released the latest security update. Security Update 2008-005 applies to Mac OS X 10.4.11, Mac OS X 10.5.4, Mac OS X Server 10.4 and Mac OS X Server 10.5. According to the company, this security update covers vulnerability issues for such OS X components and applications including Disk Utility, OpenSSL, PHP 5, QuickLook and more.






Click on the button for more information on Security Update 2008-005. VTC

Mac/Win Software Review: MacDrive 7

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Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Mac software review

So we are using Windows XP through Apple’s Boot Camp. PC games including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Far Cry and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth run with no problem on our iMac Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz at all.

Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Screenshot 01: Game screenshot from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare		 Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Screenshot 02: Game screenshot from Farcry		 Mac Windows file share Mediafour MacDrive 7
Screenshot 03: Game screenshot from The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth

Soon after we installed Windows XP, we started thinking about the best way of swapping files between Mac and Windows partitions. Fortunately, we have a lot of CD-RW and DVD-RW + disks. So we can just put Windows files and burn discs on Mac easily. But exchanging data in this way is kind of time-consuming. Is there an easy software solution for exchanging data between Mac and Windows?

Basically, a Windows operating system installed on your Mac’s internal hard disk drive cannot read data written on the Mac format. One software title that will let you read Mac data is MacDrive from Mediafour. With MacDrive, you can have real-time access to Mac data installed on media drives while using a Windows operating system. Hmm… Sounds good… Before using MacDrive 7, our innocent questions were

  • Do we gain access to Mac files that are installed not just on the internal hard disk drive but also on external drives?
  • Does MacDrive also let us access Windows files while we are using Mac OS?

    • So let’s see how MacDrive 7 works while we answer these simple questions one by one.  Continue reading →