OSX appearance

apple osx is great, but the options to change the appearance of the user interface are so limited and arbitrary.
why can the menu bar be transparent and not e.g. black? why can the dock auto-hide but not the menu bar?
i know apple wishes a conform look for a constant usage feeling and is limiting therefore the user interface changings. but in my opinion apple is getting to restricted. i wish more and more logic possibilities in further os.
i patched my snow leopard system. the menu bar auto hides and dock and menu bar are black now. everything works fine and the free workspace witout the menu is great. imagine how glad other macbook air 11' would be about more screen size.
have a look:
http://img641.imageshack.us/i/fullscreenr.png/
http://img822.imageshack.us/i/withdock.png/
http://img703.imageshack.us/i/withmenu.png/
hans

Are you asking a question, or just pointing out how you hacked your Mac?
Note: system wide hacks that involve appearance may break with the next operating system update, or prevent the next operating system update from working. Sometimes too much customizability contributes to instability of a system, and ability of a system to be tampered with. http://www.haxies.com/ is a website dedicated to finding ways of working around the Mac OS X interface. But still their hacks often break in the next free update.
http://www.apple.com/feedback you can suggest offering more customizability.

Similar Messages

OSX 10.5.8 and Mail incompatibility

Hope someone can help!
Have been using Mail 3.6 with 10.5.8 OK but installed a software update several days ago and since then Mail won't open and the message: "You cannot use this version of the application Mail with this version of Mac OSX" appears.
The folder Last Software Update shows the updates were: GarageBand, iWeb, iTunes and MacOSX Update Combined. The OSX update showed the string<key>zzzz041-0488</key> if that's a help.
Have restored an earlier back-up of Mail with the same result.
Can anyone offer an explanation and fix please?
THX

joham wrote:
When I check Mail from the Applications Folder, it tells me that I have Mail 3.0.
That's the real version number.
I guess the main question is: has my OS somehow corrupted or is there really a problem between the OS and Mail versions as per the original message?
For reasons that may be hard to determine, you have mismatched Mail versions. However, I wouldn't suspect that updater. Please download and install the OS X 10.5.8 "combo" updater:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL866
Should I consider reinstalling my OS? I don't want to lose all my files etc!
Unless you pick the "erase" option, that won't happen. But try the "combo" updater first.
Would the custom install option (for Mail only) delete my mailboxes etc?
I'm not sure what "custom install option" would allow installing Mail only.

Highlight color in OSX

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Make the change in System Preferences... then quit and re-load Excel.
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OSX Hang Issue

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I've created a bug case.
https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=3746380

hi i have been having exactly the same problem as you. same exact message. it has happened 4 times now to me, a couple times i was watching a video file and the other 2 times i was on itunes. on all 4 times, i had azureus (a bit torrent client that downloads files) running in the background? did you have anything similar? i also have been running leopard. let me know thank

Filevault, and osx resetting default apps

Hi...
First off, I have a Mac book pro running OSX 10.5.1 and have filevault enabled (as it is a company computer, and is required) however I (and my collegues) are seeing that OSX appears to forget all about which apps to use for which type of files (ie. I use acrobat for PDFs, textmate for .txt, default browser is firefox, mail client is thunderbird etc etc.) but after a reboot all this is forgotten and I need to reassociate everything again.
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Solutions and recommendations are welcome.
Regards
Thomas

Turn off FileVault and see if the problem continues. If not, delete the filevault sparseimage. Once that's done, reset the LaunchServices database as described in http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031215144430486 but with using this command:
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External HD won't stay mounted

I have a WD Passport (1TB) that's been exhibiting some strange behavior lately. When its plugged in, after a couple of minutes an error message will appear that says:
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Tried this and it definitely had an impact on the operation of my MacBook, but in the end, no change. I deleted the preference file and restarted a couple times prior to trying to open my external HD, but same result.
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System settings cant launch windows OS

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Did you install the Windows support software from Apple?
In OSX go to System Preferences > Startup Disk
Does Windows and OSX appear there? Set OSX as startup disk if you prefer that.

Firewall and such

I was just wondering how to set up the firewall on my imac as i have no clue what to do. i was also wonderingin if there is a built in anti virus feature in OSX. thanks

Hi Daniel,
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The last actual Mac virus that I saw was in the mid 1990's. I've seen 4 (all contracted from floppies when students tried pirating software in an educational environment), since I began using macs in 1986. I generally receive more PC viruses than this EACH DAY.
Unless you really have to use a virus checker, because of employer IT service requirements or because your Mac is being used in the fashion descrbed above, you are really likely to be far, far safer without one, given the problems which they have, on occasion, caused in the past, at least until a virus which can genuinely affect OSX appears. We've been waiting for several years now!
Cheers
Rod

Cant launch OS Lion after Bootcamp

During the windows 7 installation on my macbook pro with bootcamp;
I formated the bootcamp partion and installed Win 7.
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How to reinstall?

Did you install the Windows support software from Apple?
In OSX go to System Preferences > Startup Disk
Does Windows and OSX appear there? Set OSX as startup disk if you prefer that.

Apps & other stuff in Chinese, randomly

Hi there,
I've been dealing with the most random behavior on OSX ever encountered for the most part of this year.
Thing is, random stuff in OSX appears to be in Chinese. I've never ever set it up as my main system language, although I do have pinyin input as a language input option activated.
Apps like Aperture, Final Cut, Logic all have random stuff in their interface showing up in Chinese. I've had to use language switcher.app to make them show at least most of their interface in English, but Finder dialogs (like the Save dialog) and other things will still appear in Chinese.
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I'd say the problem started showing up when I had a problem with an app not getting recognized as bought on the App store and I followed the suggestion to change my os language to English. The app did then show as bought on the app store, but then all of this started happening.
Does anybody have any idea how to fix this? It seems like Finder has stuck to a wrong language... Or at least I think.
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Marco

Hi there,
thank you for replying.
I've never set up Chinese in my system pref->lang&region.
I'll post some screenshots to let you feel the extent of this madness
Chinese labels in one app's Finder popup:
Chinese button labels in Aperture's export versions
Update on the app store getting Chinese info:
The aforementioned Spotlight result:
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I'm lucky that I can actually read Chinese, but it still feels odd.

Skins for mp4

I am not using flash for my videos. I have been using mp4 files. The controller that appears is from a previous flash flash file. I want to not use it. How do you get a variety of skins to use with mp4s?
Stumped

o ok im glad you put that up that makes it a little clearer to me. while i do agree the apple skin does break the windows appearance (cant really argue it at all) they did stick to the order and placement of the buttons at least. also though as far as i know isnt iTunes for windows the same way (please correct me if i am wrong). if they were to break the sys appearance they could have gone all teh way and just make it into the osX appearance (but there may be contract/legal/etc issues to why they didnt)
i may also have an opinion of "what ever" to it just because i use key commands 99% of the time so the little buttons done mean much to me. so if my response seems a little "meh get over it" i apologize.
i really dont personally see it being a huge issue but i didnt swap my display over to the quick calibration i did with the 2.2 gama (same gama as pc displays typically have) and can see how it may get a little more camouflaged but i still can tell there are 3 distinct buttons and just from use would expect i would know which one is which just by positioning.
i would suggest you send in feedback to give apple your thoughts on the subject
-matt

Now this is very wierd

I bought a G3 BW yesterday, with no hard drive, today I found an emac that was non working with a good 80 gig drive with osx on it.
Now for the G3 it has an adb keyboard and mouse, and a pci ati video card.
When I put the emacs drive in the G3 I got the apple logo and the clock, then it would shut off. I tried over and over for about 30 minutes and gave up and went and cooked dinner.
while eating dinner I tipped the keyboard on the floor with my shoe and wa la OSX appeared and operated. I know I must have tapped some sort of key configurating, but for the life of me I don't know which.
I did a reboot and got that same apple and clock again and it turned off.
Help, please..........................

photohap,
I am able to press down massive keys on the left of the keyboard and OSX will wake up
Sounds like you have a sticky key on your keyboard and when you press down on 'massive keys' you are overriding the one or two keys that are stuck, allowing the CPU to ignore the incorrect keyboard command. Startup with only the mouse connected, no keyboard.
"The old emac had a cd/dvd drive in it. Could I put that in the G3 and have it work?"
Why not? You have all the software for it on the drive you swapped. That CD/DVD drive is working fine in my first B&W. ( Odd thing of my own, though, ASP says it is burn capable but it is not. Toast does not see it as a burner, either.)
Jim

Crashed Screen at login

Hi there,
When I turn on my iMac my desktop comes up as normal, but has a kind of crashed screen with black and white squares and I'm unable to access any of my icons.
I think my disk is in need of repair. Unfortunately I'm unable to access Disk Utility by holding the C button when starting up as my Optical slot drive is broken. Is there any other way to repair my disk?
Yours
JF

Sorry if this is too much, but this log shows the progression from me booting up normally, to it failing, then me restarting it in safe boot.
13/05/2010 19:48:44 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist
13/05/2010 19:48:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.RemoteDesktop.PrivilegeProxy) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:48:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.usbmuxd) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:48:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
13/05/2010 19:48:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.ntp.ntpd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
13/05/2010 19:48:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.x.privileged_startx) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:48:54 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd[49]) posix_spawnp("/Library/Rapport/bin/rooksd", ...): Bad CPU type in executable
13/05/2010 19:48:54 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd[49]) Exited with exit code: 1
13/05/2010 19:49:03 org.ntp.ntpd[23] Error : nodename nor servname provided, or not known
13/05/2010 19:50:00 com.apple.loginwindow[32] Shutdown NOW!
13/05/2010 19:50:00 com.apple.loginwindow[32] System shutdown time has arrived
13/05/2010 19:50:43 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist
13/05/2010 19:50:43 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.RemoteDesktop.PrivilegeProxy) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:50:43 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.usbmuxd) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:50:43 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
13/05/2010 19:50:43 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.ntp.ntpd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
13/05/2010 19:50:43 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.x.privileged_startx) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:50:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd[51]) posix_spawnp("/Library/Rapport/bin/rooksd", ...): Bad CPU type in executable
13/05/2010 19:50:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd[51]) Exited with exit code: 1
13/05/2010 19:50:54 org.ntp.ntpd[25] Error : nodename nor servname provided, or not known
13/05/2010 19:52:20 com.apple.loginwindow[34] Shutdown NOW!
13/05/2010 19:52:20 com.apple.loginwindow[34] System shutdown time has arrived
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** /dev/rdisk0s3
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Root file system
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking Extents Overflow file.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking Catalog file.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking multi-linked files.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking Catalog hierarchy.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking Extended Attributes file.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking volume bitmap.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** Checking volume information.
13/05/2010 19:55:33 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] ** The volume Mac OSX appears to be OK.
13/05/2010 19:55:35 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist
13/05/2010 19:55:35 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.RemoteDesktop.PrivilegeProxy) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:55:35 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.usbmuxd) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:55:35 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
13/05/2010 19:55:35 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.ntp.ntpd) Unknown key: SHAuthorizationRight
13/05/2010 19:55:35 com.apple.launchd[1] (org.x.privileged_startx) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:56:15 org.ntp.ntpd[13] Error : nodename nor servname provided, or not known
13/05/2010 19:56:19 com.apple.ATSServer[70] FODBCheck: New annex file created
13/05/2010 19:57:03 com.apple.dyld[10] updatedyld_sharedcache[10] regenerated cache for arch=ppc
13/05/2010 19:57:18 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.UserEventAgent-LoginWindow[77]) Exited: Terminated
13/05/2010 19:57:19 com.apple.launchd[91] (com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:57:19 com.apple.launchd[91] (org.x.startx) Unknown key for boolean: EnableTransactions
13/05/2010 19:57:29 SystemUIServer[106] There is no output device, unloading
When I'm prompted to login my password the computer will forward on to my desktop wallpaper which will have either black and white squares over some sections or generally looking like the computer has crashed.You can still make out that it is my wallpaper, though. It justs looks slightly off. The dock sometimes comes up and sometimes doesn't....either way I'm unable to access them with my cursor. If the icons come up on my dewsktop I'm unable to access the either.
The screen is pretty much dead so it doesn't recognise if I click or right click on it or anything.

Blank Blue Screen After Log In

Hello ladies and gents...ill describe the problem im having and how it occured.
I was browsing the web and playing music when my Powerbook G4 froze suddenly. I did the usual and restarted it. After the loading bar that says "Starting MAc OSX" appeared and fully loaded it went to the normal blue screen that appears when loading the whole desktop and dock...however nothing appeared and it just stayed there. I could still move the mouse around but thats it. I restarted again and was taken to a black screen and DARWIN appeared i put in my username and password and then it said "Welcome To Darwin". I let the powerbook sit for like 2 minutes and it went back to the Blue screen again, nothing loaded. Im basically at a standstill on what to do. I Do not have the installation CD's that came with my powerbook and I dont know what 2 do.
Anyone know a solution to the problem??????
And another thing, if its some sort of harware failure is there a way i can get my programs and digital design work onto an external harddrive i realllyyyy cant afford to lose that stuff.
Help is greatly appreciated.

See if this works...
Might try fsck...
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup. Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found: 
The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK  
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message: 
*** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***   Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

OSX appearance

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