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The OS X system menu's support for menu extras is a convenient way to access system and application settings and services. While a default set of menu extras such as the time and date, volume, wifi indicator, Time Machine status, and Spotlight menus are enabled, others can be turned on in their respective system preferences or application settings. Usually these menu extras stay to the right and out of the way of application and system menus, but in some instances they may run into the menus of various applications and be hidden.

Menu extras can usually be moved around … Read more

If you regularly use the Terminal to modify or manage files in the filesystem, it may be helpful to be able to select a file in the Finder and open it directly in a specified Terminal editor such as vi, pico/nano, or emacs. While you can always launch a Terminal window and enter the command to launch the file in the desired editor, there is a way to do this directly in the Finder.

Luckily, like most Terminal commands, common text editors use the syntax "command targetfile" to launch and target a file. Using this, you can … Read more

While the launch services in OS X use file name extensions to associate files with various applications, generally users do not need to interact with these extensions and the system keeps them hidden by default; however, you can have the extensions shown, either globally or for specific files. If you edit the extension the system should prompt you for confirmation and then change the extension, but sometimes the system may revert the file name back or continually append the old file name to the new one.

For example, if you have a script file such as a JavaScript routine that … Read more

The trash in OS X is generally used to delete items, but because items can be placed in the trash without being immediately deleted, people commonly end up storing items in the trash. When this happens it may be difficult to remember exactly where the items originated from on disk, so if you empty the trash and then need to recover a document it may be difficult to locate it using Time Machine. You can use Spotlight searching from within Time Machine to try to locate the file (using Quick Look to help this procedure); however, there are times when … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer e-mailed questions from our readers. This week there were questions about the location and duplication of iTunes music folders, USB flash drives not mounting in the Finder, and how to read ClarisWorks and AppleWorks documents. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we certainly welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: iTunes music duplicated in two locations

MacFixIt reader Ali asks:

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer e-mailed questions from our readers. This week there were questions on upgrading OS X for use with iLife, transferring bookmarks from Safari to Firefox for the iPad, increasing the size of interface elements in OS X, and managing blinking question marks when installing OS X. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we certainly welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Upgrading Mac OS X to run iLife MacFixIt reader "Henry" asks:… Read more

OS X Snow Leopard has an ongoing bug when handling inherited Access Control Lists (ACLs) for files, which results in an Error -41 message in the Finder when copying files. As outlined on the tech blog Brunerd, the error happens because the Finder applies numerous copies of inherited ACLs to a file when that file is copied into or within a directory hierarchy that has inherited ACLs in the directory structure.

ACLs are elaborate file permissions rules. In OS X when you get information on a file you can see a list of users and combinations of "read" … Read more

Window Zooming in OS X does not magnify a window's contents, but rather resizes the window to fit its contents. While this is the most common use of this button, the function is application-specific and may do anything from changing the overall window appearance such as switching to the mini player in iTunes to doing absolutely nothing at all.

Invoking the zoom function is done by clicking the green button to the right of the close and minimize buttons, but it can also be accessed from the Window menu that most OS X applications have. Unlike the Close and … Read more

Expanding its efforts to help restore contact among people separated by the Japanese disasters, Google said today it's creating computerized versions of lists of people at emergency shelters.

"To help the many people in shelters get word of their whereabouts to loved ones, we're...asking people in shelters to take photos of the handwritten lists of names of current residents and e-mail them to us," Google said in a blog post. Google scans the data to add to its Japan person-finder site, "but it's a big job that can't be done automatically by … Read more