I have been using Adobe Photoshop for years. And by years I mean years. I got my hands on a copy way back when in 2001, and I’ve been hooked on it ever since.
Sadly, eight years experience with Adobe Photoshop/Adobe CS did not enlighten me to the fact that there is a very simple way to get a perfect left, right, center, top, middle, and bottom alignment on a layer. It was right in front of my face the whole time, yet it took a quick Google search and an informative blog entry to allow me to see the light!
So, how do you align a layer in Adobe Photoshop/Adobe CS? Simple. Select the layer you wish to align from your layers palette. Then select the move tool. Now hit Ctrl + A, or whatever shortcut command you use to select all. Now, check out the following row of icons that will appear below the toolbar:
The three on the left control horizontal placement (top, middle and bottom alignment), and the three on the right control vertical placement (left, center and right alignment).
That’s it! Click until your layer is positioned to your satisfaction, and you’re good to go.
Just a little bit ago I was using Cute FTP Pro. I attempted to transfer a folder to my computer, but the transfer never took place, and I was instead greeted with this message:
You must be an administrator or have the appropriate permissions to perform this operation.
Come again? I had never received that message before. After trying to transfer another folder, a folder from a separate FTP account and trying to do the transfers to different folders on my computer, I gave up and hit Google. The general consensus is that it’s a quirk that arises With Windows 7 RC. Some have suggested clearing caches and temp files.
I did just that, using CCleaner. For good measure I restarted my computer, and as I type this several transfers are successfully taking place. :)
If you have an Android powered cell phone, then you know all about the Market and the thousands of free & paid apps available within it. I have a lot of apps installed on my Android powered phone (a T-Mobile G1, for those interested), and there are definitely some that are just practical to have.
One such practical app is Flashlight. It is just what it sounds like — an app that turns your phone into a Flashlight. Upon being opened it turns the display bright white. I installed this app on a whim, but I have to say, I have used it on numerous occasions! From hunting for keys in my purse to distinguishing the keyhole on a door knob to looking for the remote when my husband is sleeping, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put the Flashlight app to good use.
You can get it for free in the Android market. :)
Xmarks (formerly known as Foxmarks) is an extension that I can’t imagine being without! It allows you to synchronize bookmarks and passwords (passwords is optional, and you have to use a special pin code — separate from your Xmarks account password — in order to synchronize passwords and accessed stored passwords) with a secure server. You can then install the Xmarks extension on as many computers as you like, and use your registered Xmarks account (it’s quick & free to register) to synchronize bookmarks and/or passwords with those computers.
I have been using Xmarks for over a year now, and I find it quite handy! It’s useful since I work with both a desktop and a laptop, and it’s also quite handy for the times that I reformat (such as the reformats I did on both my desktop and computer in the last few days!). It makes setting up new installations of Firefox quick and painless, since I don’t have to worry about manually adding bookmarks or trying to remember a bunch of passwords.
As a follow-up to my last post, Make older Firefox add-ons work, here’s how to install extensions whose “Add to Firefox” download buttons have been replaced with This add-on is for older versions of Firefox because they’re for older versions of Firefox.
- Once you’re on the page of the add-on that you would like to install, right click and select View source
- Hit F3 and do a search for class=”install install-container”
- Look 1-2 lines after that for the extension’s direct URL. It will end with .xpi
- Simply copy the extension URL. It should look like this: /en-US/firefox/downloads/latest/####/addon-####-latest.xpi (in place of # will be a single digit)
- In the address bar or in a plain text editor, set up the full URL so that it looks like this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/downloads/latest/####/addon-####-latest.xpi
- Plug the URL into your address bar (if it isn’t already there) and hit enter
That’s it! It’s refreshingly simple, isn’t it? :)
You’ve no doubt run into a situation where you have upgraded your installation of Firefox, only to find that with the new upgrade comes the disabling of one or more of your favorite plugins, because their authors haven’t yet updated them for use with the newest version of Firefox. So, what do you do? Well, you could sit and cry into your keyboard… or use this handy little workaround!
- Open up Firefox. In the address bar, type about:config
- Once the configuration window loads, right click and select New > Boolean
- Type extensions.checkCompatibility and hit OK
- For the value, choose false
- Restart Firefox
That’s it! Older versions of plugins should now work.
I couldn’t be happy with having OS X 10.5.2 installed on my desktop’s second hard drive. Noooooooooooo. Of course not. Leave it to me to not leave well enough alone!
Using Kalyway software updates & instructions, I was able to successfully go from 10.5.2 to 10.5.3, and then 10.5.3 to 10.5.4. 10.5.4 to 10.5.5 involved using Apple’s official update, and that went okay too! But I screwed something up in the manual process of going from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7, which resulted in an installation of OS X that would not load.
So for the past few hours I have been trying to use another version of “hacked” OS X software, iATKOS, but something about it is not compatible with my computer. Or vice versa. I’ve followed instructions to the letter and have tried every combination of install + customized kernel selection that I can think of, but I can’t seem to get around the issue where the OS looks as though it has installed, but upon reboot it freezes at the gray screen with the apple logo. If I boot in safe mode, or using -v to see the diagnostic messages, a whole bunch of text flies by until it promptly stops with the following:
unable to mount /dev/disk1s1 (status code 0×00000047)
A BIOS update and trying to install 10.5.7 on my first hard drive (both are SATA) did not work. So, I think I’m going to give it a shot with my laptop. My laptop is only a few months old (I purchased it directly from HP.com in May, it was custom built), whereas my desktop is four and a half years old. Perhaps the problem is simply age…
Wish me luck! As I type this I am making sure I have copies of all of my photos and work on an external hard drive. My music is already backed up on another external and on my desktop, and I just need to transfer over my work and my Outlook .pst file, and then I’m good to go! Of course, I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I can successfully partition my hard drive and install OS X on it without fudging my Windows 7 installation. But if not… well, you know what they say: hope for the best and prepare for the worst!
I’m one of those girls that isn’t satisfied with just one. Two kids, five cats, three hermit crabs, two computers, six pairs of sports sunglasses… well, I think you get the idea. And when it comes to operating systems, I’m certainly no different! I have been using Vista since it was first available to download and test in October of 2006.
When I installed Windows Vista on a separate hard drive, The Windows Vista/7 boot manager automatically provided me with the choice to choose which operating system I would like to boot up to. And from within Windows I could choose which one I’d like to be the default. But when I installed Mac OS X on my PC, there was no option to choose between Windows 7 and OS X. My computer simply started up and booted into Windows 7.
After some quick Googling, I decided to try my luck with EasyBCD. And thank god, my luck held. All I had to do was install EasyBCD, run it, and under the Settings area add in another operating system. I simply had to choose the type of operating system I was adding (in my case, Mac OS X) and give it a name. I didn’t have to “point” the software to the location of the installation (thank god for that; Windows 7 didn’t even acknowledge the existence of the other hard drive. I’m guessing this is the case because it was partitioned and formatted for use with OS X software, and not Windows software). I was a bit dubious about how easy the process was, but it worked! Upon restart my two operating systems were listed, and I was good to go.
So if you’re looking for an easy dual boot solution, give EasyBCD a whirl.
For those interested, it is possible to take a standard made-for-Windows computer or laptop and install Mac OS X onto it. I have done so successfully on two different occasions, using two different computers. The first installation was successfully done on an HP zd8000 laptop. The second installation was successfully done on an HP a867c desktop computer. Both of these computers are several years old (the desktop was manufactured in January of 2005, the laptop in November of 2005), with all original components (the exception being the desktop — I added a separate graphic card to it a few years back, so that I could enjoy all of the visual goodness that Windows Vista had to offer).
How did I do it? Well, I’m going to outline the steps as simply as possible. Please note that because all computers are different, you may encounter issues that I did not — just as I encountered issues that you may not. As always, BACK UP ANY EXISTING DATA ON YOUR COMPUTER. Even if you’re using a separate partition or a separate hard drive, mistakes DO happen, and data CAN be lost. A prime example is my first failed attempt to install Mac OS X on my desktop — despite the installation being done on my primary hard drive, the Windows 7 installation I had on my second hard drive refused to boot, forcing me to reformat.
Again, I must emphasize: BACK UP ANY EXISTING DATA ON YOUR COMPUTER. Better yet, use a separate hard drive AND a separate computer. You may need to do the installation several times before you get things right. With no data to worry about, you can simply go about your business of tinkering with a “foreign” operating system until you get everything situated.
Ready? Here’s what I did in order to successfully install Mac OS X (Leopard) on a desktop computer. If you’re lucky, these five steps will also work for you.
1. Download & burn a Mac OS X .iso (CD/DVD image)
I personally recommend using the Kalyway builds, as I have had the most success with them. You can find them on all of the popular torrent websites. Some other blog articles will even link directly to them, as well as provide you hash codes and such to compare files with. There are several versions of Kalyway out there. I believe that 10.5.6 is the most recent, but I chose a slightly older and more stable version — 10.5.2.
Once you have downloaded the .iso, burn it to a CD or DVD. Make sure to burn at the lowest possible speed, so as to reduce the possibility of burning errors.
2. Boot up your computer with Kalyway
Pop the freshly burned disc into your media drive and restart your computer. Your computer should boot from the disc (if not, check your BIOS settings). You’ll probably see a screen or two worth of text and blurbs and such. Barring any errors, you’ll eventually be presented with the Kalyway Mac OS X install screen.
3. Prepare your hard drive
To make sure your hard drive or partition is ready to have Mac OS X installed on it, you’re going to want to format it first. From the main installation screen, look up at the top and select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Once there, choose your desired partition from the left side of the window (be careful if you have multiple partitions/drives on your computer. Don’t choose the wrong one!). On the right side of the window, you will want to choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Give it a name, confirm your settings, then click Erase. Disk Utility will proceed to erase any existing content on the partition and then format it and name it with the settings you specified.
4. Install Mac OS X
Once your partition is ready to go, you can exit out of Disk Utility and proceed with the installation of Mac OS X. The installation will take a bit of time to check the installation disc for consistency, and then proceed to allowing you to install the operating system. Now you’ll need to select the partition you formatted and named within Disk Utility. Chances are it’s the only one that is compatible with Mac OS X, so you won’t need to worry about choosing the wrong installation destination.
Once you have chosen the destination, you’re at the point you’ll simply need to confirm the additional options you’d like to have installed (kexts and programs and such; in the interest of saving space you may wish to remove the additional languages that are installed by default), and then sit back and wait for Mac OS X to install!
5. Say a prayer
If you’re lucky, the installation of Mac OS X will take off without a hitch. Once the installation is complete your computer will automatically restart. If all goes well, upon restart you’ll be presented with Mac OS X’s welcome screen, and from there you’ll go through the basic setup process that every newly installed operating system presents to you, and you can hit the ground running!
Errors? Problems? Not sure what to do?
There are many great resources available for helping Windows users get Mac OS X installed on their computers. One important thing to remember is that there are certain keywords you may wish to use if you are going to be searching for blogs and forums that may help. Hackintosh is a term that refers to a built-for-Windows computer that is running Mac OS X. OS X86 is another important term — again, it identifies installations of Mac OS X that are on built-for-Windows computers. Using these terms along with descriptions of the problems you are having (using specific error codes and phrases are always a good idea too!) will help you to find relevant information, and hopefully solutions!
Things worth noting
- The Insanely Mac forum is a godsend. I have found answers to 99% of my questions on this forum!
- If you’re interested in installing Mac OS X on an existing hard drive, then you will need to create a separate partition for it. You can do so quite easily with Parted Magic. I have used this software myself (for my first attempt at installing Mac OS X on my desktop computer), and it was very easy to work with. Simply download, burn to a CD or DVD, and then pop the disc into your drive and re-start. Boot using the disc — select the first option and you’re good to go with working with your partitions.
- Drivers are to Windows as kexts are to OS X. So if you need drivers for your sound card, graphic card, network adapter, whatever, you’ll want to use the term kexts instead of drivers.
- Key re-mapping! If you’re going to continue to use a Windows-based keyboard and don’t want to give up the familiar process of ctrl + a, ctrl + c, ctrl + v, etc., then you will definitely want to re-map your keys. This article explains how to do it quickly. Basically: map command to control and control to command. Viola, you can once again make use of ctrl + c and all of the other fun ctrl + shortcuts!
What do you think of Windows 7?
Hands down, Windows 7 kicks some major ass. It’s a lot like Vista, only with better features, cool additions, and a huge boost in performance. Right now it’s in beta mode, but that hasn’t stopped me from installing it on both my desktop computer and laptop computer, as well as my husband’s laptop and my mother’s laptop. I definitely plan on upgrading to the full retail version when it comes out this fall!
Hi! I'm Jenn, aka Tech Girl. I'm practically chained to my computer, and I love all things technology. I may not be an expert, but I certainly have interesting posts and tidbits of info to share! Psst... you can find my personal blog at 