Macintosh users:In this issue of whit.bits, we're going to talk about some handy shortcut keys on the Macintosh. These can be little hidden features or tricks to do some useful things on your computer.
Screen Shots - Ever wanted to get a picture of your screen? Well, there's an easy way to do it... just press Command-Shift-3 Ð if the sound is turned up on your machine, you should hear a camera shutter. (The Command key is the funny twirly-squiggle thing next to the space-bar). If you open up your hard drive, you should see a file called Picture 1. This is a pict file of whatever was currently on your screen at the time!
You can then take that pict file into Photoshop or another graphics package and change it however you want.
Rebuild the Desktop - To keep your computer running well all the time, it's a good idea to rebuild the desktop occasionally (as in once a month). The desktop is a file that tells the computer about the physical locations of all the files on your computer. Sometimes, parts of this file can get a little corrupted, and funny things will start happening. Icons will turn blank, double-clicking a file won't automagically open the right application, etc.
To solve this, reboot the machine. As your computer is starting up, hold down Command-Option-Shift at the same time. Hold those keys down until you're asked, "Are you sure you want to rebuild the Desktop on Macintosh HD?". Say yes...
Something else.... holding down the space bar during boot will bring up the extensions manager. Want no extensions because your machine just won't boot? Hold down the Shift key during boot. And finally, give this a whirl: in the Finder, hold down the Option key and go to your Apple Menu. Select the "About this Computer" option... :-)
